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a court at Listewder in S. Kevern, a fleet of Irish arrived in Hayle Harbour, and that he fell upon them when they landed and killed a number of them. Some took refuge on Tregonning Hill, and entrenched and maintained themselves there. In the end the Irish must have got the upper hand, for they meted out the whole of the present deaneries of Penwith, Kerrier and Carnmarth between them, and extended their foundations into Powder as well. Whereupon they elevated those of their party who had been killed by Tewdrig to the position of martyrs. Had the Irish been expelled, Fingar would not have received a cult, but have been regarded as a free-booter who had met with his deserts.

The occasion of this migration is matter of conjecture, but this seems to best explain it.

The Hy Bairrche, descendants of Daire Bairrche, second son of Cathair Mór, King of Leinster and of all Ireland, had occupied the country between the Slaney and the Barrow, whilst the Hy Cinnselach, who held what is now the county of Wexford, had been growing in numbers and power, and had become straitened between the Slaney and the sea.

Some time about the middle of the fifth century, Crimthan, King of the Hy Cinnselach, invaded the Hy Bairrche territory and expelled the Hy Bairrche, although Mac Daire, the King, was his own. son-in-law. There was no alternative; as chieftain, he must allot habitations and land to the men of his tribe, and that could only be done by dispossessing a neighbour. It was an obligation not to be evaded. The expelled family sought and obtained assistance, and many and furious battles were waged between them. In 480 the Hy Bairrche defeated the Hy Cinnselach at Kilosnadh, and in 485. in another battle, Eochaidh of the Hy Bairrche slew Crimthan, his own grandfather. Again ensued battles at Graine in 485, 489, and 492, in which latter Finchadh, King of the Hy Cinnselach, was slain The Kings of Munster had become involved in the contest. 489 in a desperate fight at Kelliston in Carlow, Aengus Mac Nadfraich, King of Munster, fell fighting against the Hy Bairrche. On the death of Eochaidh, his son Diarmidh succeeded, but the strife with the Cinnselach was chronic.

Now it is precisely about this period of internecine war and of mutual expulsion of defeated rivals, 490-510, that the great influx of colonists from Leinster to West Cornwall took place, and it was from the district of the Hy Bairrche and of the Hy Cinnselach. With the limited means at our disposal, we are unable to fix the date closely, but we know that colonists arrived when Tewdrig was King in Corn

wall, and his date can be approximately determined from the Life of S. Petroc. We have further a certain number of Irish Lives of the Saints of Leinster that help to fix the period. When looked into, it will be seen that the saints who settled in West Cornwall came almost entirely from Wexford and Waterford and Ossory. The reason of their coming from Ossory we will now consider. This emigration was also apparently due to political causes.

The kings of Munster had claimed from Ossory what was called the "Eric of Edersceol" since the first century. This consisted in an annual payment of three hundred cows, as many horses, the same number of swords with gold-inlaid hilts, and purple cloaks, all to be delivered up at Samhain, the pagan Winter Feast, i.e., November 1, at Cashel. And the south of Ossory was especially charged with this intolerable burden. It was resisted repeatedly.

Ossory is divided by mountain ridges into three great plains: to the north is the Magh Arget-Ros, the middle is occupied by the Magh Reighna, and southernmost of all is the Magh Feimhin. Ossory itself is the Land between the Waters-the Suir and the Barrow. It was the seat of the great tribe of the Hy Connla, divided into three septs.

During the first part of the second century, a distinguished chief of the race of Connla arose, named Aengus. He disputed the right of Munster to either jurisdiction or tribute in any part of Ossory. A battle was fought and the Munster men were completely defeated. The effect of this victory was the entire emancipation of the middle and south plains, on which the Eric of Edersceol had been levied.

In or about 170, when Eochaid Lamdoit was king of Ossory, the Munster men burst into the plains, with resolve to exterminate the Hy Connla. The Ossorians, in their distress, appealed to Cucorb, king of Leinster, and he sent Lughaidh Laoghis, at, the head of a large force, to assist the Ossorians. The Munster men were defeated with great slaughter, but the kingdom of Ossory had to pay for this assistance by the cession of a large portion in the north-east, which thenceforth constituted the kingdom of Leix, under the overlordship of Leinster.

Another cession of territory took place later to the Hy Bairrche, who occupied the barony of Slieve Marghie in Queen's County. Ossory was consequently becoming contracted, and thrust more and more to the south, where most exposed to the attacks of Munster. Then Corc, king of Munster, about 370 encroached on Magh Feimhin, and established his fortress therein at Cashel. At the same time he revived the claim for the Eric of Edersceol, and to enforce it occupied

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the whole of the southern plain. This was the beginning of a terrible time for the Ossorian royal family, and indeed for all the inhabitants. of the central and southern plains. Lughaid, the prince of the Hy Duach, one of the septs of the Hy Connla, was, somewhat later, removed from Magh Reighna, and sent in banishment among the Corca Laighde, in the south-west of the county of Cork, or West Carberry.

Presently the Ossorians rose in a body, and, headed by such of their princes as were not detained in Munster, made a desperate struggle to recover their independence. They apparently met at first with some success, but very speedily Aengus Mac Nadfraich, grandson of Corc of Cashel, entered Magh Feimhin and swept through it to drive the Hy Duach out of the middle plain. At the same time a kinsman, Cucraidh, great-great-grandson of Corc, burst into Magh Reighna and Magh Airghet Ros from the north-west.

Aengus annexed the whole of Magh Feimhin, from which he expelled the Ossorians, and he peopled it with the Déisi, who were then settled in what we now call Waterford. As to Cucraidh, he was given all the remainder of Ossory, the two upper plains, as a kingdom under the overlordship of Munster. For seven generations this intrusive dynasty occupied upper Ossory.

Aengus had been baptized by S. Patrick in 470, and he fell in battle 489. We may set down this invasion and partition of Ossory as taking place about 460-480. We know that some of the Ossorian princes fled north, but what became of the people generally? May we not suppose that it was at this time, when life was impossible in the Land between the Waters, that they took ship and crossed into Cornwall? But it is not there only that we find them but in Brittany as well. It is certainly significant that among the saints of Western Cornwall and of Western Brittany we find so many Ossorian names. That the same sort of thing went on in Alba from Dal-Riada we know for certain. The Irish colonists and conquerors of the Picts gave their name to Scotland.

The Saints of Wales belong to eight great families.

1. That of Maxen Wledig, or Maximus the Usurper, 383-388. He is held to have married Elen, daughter of Eudaf, a petty prince in Arfon, and Aurelius Ambrosius probably claimed descent from Maximus. From the same stock came Rhydderch Hael, the prince who established himself supreme over the Cumbrian Britons; also Ynyr Gwent, prince of Gwent, who resided at Caerwent. This family. would seem to have represented the Romano-British civilisation. The pedigree has been disturbed by confounding Elen, the wife of

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Maxen, with S. Helena, the wife of Constantius and mother of Constantine the Great.

2. That of Cunedda, which came from the North, from the defence of the Wall, and which had been seated in the ancient Roman Valentia. This family is said to have expelled the Gwyddyl from Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Môn, and to have also occupied Merioneth, Osweilion and Denbigh. From it proceeded the royal line of Gwynedd, which only came to an end with the last Llewelyn. From this family proceeded those important saints, Dewi and Teilo.

3. That of Cadell Deyrnllwg in Powys, which sent out a branch into Glywyssing. Cadell became prince of Powys with his seat at Wrox

eter or Shrewsbury, in the fifth century, in consequence of a revolt of the Romano-British and Christian subjects of Benlli against their prince, who favoured paganism. Cadell was grandfather of Brochwel Ysgythrog. This family died out in the male line in Cyngen, murdered at Rome in 854. It produced several saints, notably S. Tyssilio of Meifod; and its branch in Glywyssing afforded the still more illustrious S. Pedrog and S. Catwg.

4. That of Brychan, king of Brycheiniog. This was an Irish family. Anlach, father of Brychan, made himself master of Brecknock. The family produced an incredible number of saints, who are found not only in their native district, but also in North-east and East Cornwall.

5. That of Caw of Cwm Cawlwyd in North Britain. Caw, however, was son of Geraint ab Erbin, Prince of Devon. Owing to the inroads of the Picts, the family of Caw was forced to abandon Arecluda. and fly to Gwynedd, where they were well received by Cadwallon Lawhir (v. Life of Gildas), and Maelgwn, his son, who gave them lands, mainly in Môn, but apparently with the proviso that they should enter religion, so as not to form any small principalities which might be politically disadvantageous to the interests of the crown of Gwynedd. To this family, which never after its expulsion from the North obtained any secular importance, belonged Gildas, the famous abbot of Ruys.

6. That of Coel Godebog. According to Skene, he was king in North Britain, and from him Kyle now takes its name. He was ancestor of a large and important family, of Llyr Merini, prince in Devon and Cornwall, of Urien Rheged, and of the poet Llywarch Hên. From him descended a great many saints, but none of any great importance. Pabo Post Prydynn, and Dunawd, and Deiniol of Bangor, are the most conspicuous.

7. That of Cystennin Gorneu, a stock that, like the family of Maxen Wledig, derived from an usurper of the purple, Constantine the Tyrant, 408-411. It was from this stock that issued the family of Caw, given above (5). It would seem to have supplied Domnonia (Devon and Cornwall) with princes, who were called either Constantine or Geraint. The saint of this family that proved most remarkable was S. Cybi, unless we prefer the notorious Constantine whom Gildas denounced for his crimes and immoralities, but who was afterwards converted,

8. That of Emyr Llydaw from Armorica. The Welsh pedigrees derive Emyr from Cynan, son of Eudaf and brother of Elen, wife of Maximus. But this is certainly imaginary. All that we really know about Emyr is that probably, on account of an usurpation

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