Note 435 — Chapter IV

The Book of Armagh, now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. The manuscript was written at Armagh early in the ninth century by a scribe named Ferdomnach; but at an early date it came to be supposed that it was the work of St. Patrick himself. From this belief, perhaps, arose the name by which it was known for many centuries, and which can be traced back to the year 936—the Canon of Patrick. It is strange that it should be called here a "copy of the Gospels"; for in addition to the complete text of the New Testament it contains two lives of St. Patrick, his Confession and other historical documents. But the word Gospel was very loosely used in Ireland (see R.I.A. xxxiii. 327 f.). Misled by this description, de Backer (n. ad loc.) identifies the book mentioned by St. Bernard with the so-called "Gospels of St. Patrick," found in the shrine known as the Domnach Airgid, about 1830, which have no connexion with Armagh or St. Patrick (R.I.A. Trans. xviii., "Antiquities," pp. 14 ff.; xxx. 303 ff.; R.I.A. xxxiv. 108 ff.). For further information about the Book of Armagh the reader may consult Gwynn, especially pp. ci.-cxvi.