Att text: The Prophecy of St. Berchan claims to have been written by St. Berchán, circa 8^th century. However, as the work discusses events up to the 11^th century, scholarship rejects this attribution.

¹ Three score years from tomorrow,
Pleasant to my heart what shall come to pass,
Until the youth shall be born at Rathcro,
Of whom Alba and Erin were full.

² He was a sage, he was a prophet, he was a poet;
He was a wise one of the seed of the Heavenly Goil;
He was a hero, he was a cleric, pure and austere;
He was a sun of virginity, he was a priest.

³ It is he who shall be a foremost prophet beyond measure.
It is he who thereafter was not a bishop.
Heaven and earth were full of him.
To the youth belongs the prophecy.

⁴ Erin shall not be without a wise one
After Brigit and Patrick of great deeds;
With the youth himself there was the cause of
The great slaughter of the battle of Cúl Dreimhne.

⁵ Woe to Erin when that battle shall be heard,
Woe to the youths, woe to the kings,
Woe to freemen, woe to bondmen, woe to the people,
Sea and land lamenting.

⁶ From the midst of Derry the youth goes forth,
Columba, past Cuaille of Ciannacht,
When he hears three shouts after him,
He speaks with the boatman in reverence.

⁷ Loch Foyle beneath waves of blood.
The lament of the birds, no falsehood,
The wind at Derry is furious,
He lamenting in pilgrimage.

⁸ It is then that he shall speak
A true saying, which I shall not conceal,
While a shower of tears upon his clear blue cheek
To the sons of Heaven and Earth.

⁹ My grace in Í without transgression,
And my soul in Derry,
And my body beneath the stone
Under which are Brigit and Patrick.

¹⁰ Angels shall bear me from the East [Luke 16:22] To Erin out of Alba,
Beloved the guest who shall come there
From Alba to Erin.

¹¹ And I am certain, though he comes,
That he shall not be lacking in Í:
Every day in Derry in his choir,
And his body in [Dunda]lethglas.

¹² I beg the Father and the Son
And the gentle, co-powerful Spirit,
That it be long until he goes to death,
To the pure earth, the pilgrim.

¹³ Woe to the Cruithnear to whom he will go eastward,
He knew what was to be;

¹⁴ Nor was it happy with him that an Erinnach
Should be king in the stronghold among the Cruithnigh.

¹⁵ Short shall he be at their bidding in the east;
He will withstand their words.
When he shall embitter them, he would not be king
Under the ravenous Cruithnigh in weakness.

¹⁶ He is the first man who shall take possession in the east,
After the harrying of the Cruithnigh;
He was a red flame, he roused battle,
The restless traveller.

¹⁷ Darts shall leap from the rims of shields;
With him shall go forth his grey-haired men;
The rider of the swift horse, no falsehood,
Shall traverse Erin in a single day.

¹⁸ Thirteen years in all
Against the hosts of the Cruithnigh, gentle the renowned;
When he died, he was not king,
On a Thursday in Kintyre.

¹⁹ A son of the kindred of his son shall possess
The kingship of Alban by strength of arm,
A man who shall feed ravens, shatter battles;
Ferbasach was his name.

²⁰ He is the first king who held sway in the east
Of the men of Erin in Alban;
It was by the force of spears and swords,
By violent deaths, by violent destinies.

²¹ By him the fierce ones in the East are overthrown;
He shall delve in the earth, mighty the skill;
Perilous goad-blades, death and plunder,
At the centre of Scone of the lofty shields.

²² Seventeen years of guarding valour
In the sovereignty of Alban;
After slaughtering Cruithne, after embittering Galls,
He dies upon the banks of the Earn.

²³ Ill was it with Alban then.
Long before another like him shall come.
A short time only had he held the kingship—
The wanton son of the Gaillsighe.

²⁴ Three years to the king,
And three months—who shall count them?
On Loch Adhbha shall be his grave;
He dies suddenly of disease.

²⁵ Another young king shall take possession;
Happy those who wait for him:
The keeper of the byre of the cattle of the Cruithneach,
The tall, fair man, generous with wine.

²⁶ The peril through which three battles are won
Against the Gentiles of fair hue;
The fourth battle, the battle of Luaire,
Against the king of the Britons of the green standard.

²⁷ Happy the Alban who shall possess him.
But short was the time she enjoyed him:
Five years and a half, in full strength,
For the king as king of Alban.

²⁸ –
–
On a Thursday, in pools of blood,
On the shore of Inbhir Dubhroda.

²⁹ Another king shall take possession;
Little gain shall be his share.
Woe to Alban from that time forth,
Whose name shall be Dasachtach.

³⁰ Though brief his rule over Alban,
There shall be no highway without robbery.
Woe to Alban in subjection to him;
Woe to her books, woe to her testaments.

³¹ Nine years to him as king—
I tell it to you, the tale is true—
He dies without bell, without communion,
In the evening, in a perilous pass.

³² Afterwards a king shall take possession,
Whose name was Tuiltigh.
Ah! My heart, west and east—
A Briton shall rule the Gael.

³³ The Briton from Clyde shall possess it,
Son of the woman of Dun Guaire;
Thirteen years of guarding valour. In the sovereignty of Alban.

³⁴ Until Mac Rath shall come.
He shall sit over Alban as sole chief.
Low was Britain in his time;
High was Alban of melodious cities.

³⁵ Pleasant it is to my heart and to my body.
My spirit tells me good tidings,
As king, the son of fortune in the eastern land,
Though under ravenous misfortune to Alban.

³⁶ Seventeen years of guarding valour
In the sovereignty of Alban.
There shall be slaves to him in his house—
Saxons, Galls, and Britons.

³⁷ By him the mighty house shall be assailed.
Ah! My heart, on the banks of the Earn.
Red shall be the hue in the house before him;
He shall fall by the men of Fortrenn.

³⁸ Ill shall it be in Alban then;
To them my prophecy shall come.
After the son of fortune, of a prosperous clan,
Shall fall by the men of Fortrenn.

³⁹ Afterwards a king shall take possession
From the midst of Dùn Dìorn, sallow-faced.
The Baoth from Dundurn of songs—
Though fortunate, yet not wholly victorious.

⁴⁰ Three years to the king;
I tell it to you, the tale is true:
The grave of the coward shall be
Between Letir and Claonloch.

⁴¹ Afterwards Garbh shall possess;
With him shrines and psalms were of little worth.
Alban was altered with him.
He will not render truth so as to spare neglect.

⁴² There shall be abundance of raids in his time,
During the reign of Garbh, whoever he be.
Alban shall be troubled on his account;
He was swift when blows were to be struck.

⁴³ He shall humble the fair Gael;
He shall lay waste their inbhirs.
It shall be seen—they were crushed and flayed
During the reign of deed-doing Garbh.

⁴⁴ Nine years to the king,
Ranging the borders,
One after another, in every place,
With Galls, with Gael.

⁴⁵ He shall scatter the Gael for a purpose;
At the end, over Fotherdun.
On the edge of the waves he lies,
In the east, in his broad, blood-soaked bed.

⁴⁶ Afterwards a king shall possess—I will not conceal it;
I will not sing of him, though I name him.
Half a day shall he possess—a trifling span;
Before night he shall fall into nothingness.

⁴⁷ He is not great, slain in battle;
It is not violent slaughter—he was no man of slaughter.
From the place from where he comes, there he goes.
Alas! He is a false apparition.

⁴⁸ My joy! My joy! If it be he—
Long is the prophecy.
King of kings, it is no reckless saying,
Whose name is Midhaise.

⁴⁹ Alban was brimful from his day.
His was the fair, long reign.
He was just, fit for battle,
Seven years and two score.

⁵⁰ With fruit upon slender trees,
With ale, with music, with fellowship,
With corn, with milk, with active cattle,
With pride, with success, with grace.

⁵¹ Battles shall not be pressed against his face;
Pale was every countenance in his presence.
No spear shall pierce his skin,
Son of man—God loves him.

⁵² When the kingship of the king grew more violent,
After the annihilation of his enemies,
He shall then fight Balldearg,
Until he slays him in Alban.

⁵³ Afterwards greatly to be pitied
Are the men of Alban under the feet of wolves,
Like sheaves of flax when steeped,
Without a sovereign to protect them.

⁵⁴ Afterwards God called him
To the monastery on the edge of the waves;
In the house of the apostle he came to death,
Undefiled was the pilgrim.

⁵⁵ In lofty, slope-faced Alban,
Short the time Bodhbhdearg possesses;
There shall be on the strand graduates with him,
In a strange land, without neglect.

⁵⁶ No fable was his reign—
I declare to you, the tale was true:
With each, at every time and every place,
With Galls, with Gael.

⁵⁷ Nine years to his reign,
Ranging the borders;
At last, on the brink of Dùn Fother,
The Gael shall cry out around his grave.

⁵⁸ A good, well-favoured king shall possess;
Alban thereafter had a good father.
Woe to his enemies abroad,
Whose name was the Jonsaightheach.

⁵⁹ Britons and Saxons—woe in his time.
In the days of the fair-armed Jonsaightheach,
Happy the Albanach with him,
Between land church.

⁶⁰ No division shall he divide
Of Alban of ships, of wide territories.
It is an addition to his kingdom he shall take
From a foreign land by force.

⁶¹ Nine years and a half, of shining fame,
For him over Alban in sovereignty.
In the house of the same pure apostle
He died, where his father died.

⁶² Two kings thereafter over Alban,
Both of them in mutual strife:
Fionn and Dubh together—
Woe! Who placed them in joint reign.

⁶³ Nine years for them in their rule;
Woe! Who set them in joint sovereignty.
Ill shall it be for Alban then.
Woe! Those who waited in hope.

⁶⁴ One of the kings shall go on a feeble hosting
Over Munna to Magh Fortrenn;
He who goes shall not return.
Dubh of the three black divisions fell.

⁶⁵ Fionn shall possess after him
Alban, after being under affliction.
By right of violence he holds
Alban the splendid, the fair, the long.

⁶⁶ The grave of Fionn is on the brink of the waves;
A spear shall cut him down
In a strange land of high valour—
By the Britons shall his death be.

⁶⁷ Alban without a king thereafter
Until Fingalach shall possess.
Woe! Woe! His enemies near him,
Woe! His friends far away.

⁶⁸ He brings peril upon everyone.
Not short was his life:
Four and twenty years, in truth,
Was the power of the sovereign,
Plundering the Gael in their homes,
One after another, with his foes.

⁶⁹ He shall turn his steps without neighbourly deed
To Magh Sliabh at the great Monadh.
The Gael shall cry out around his head;
His death was the end of it.

⁷⁰ A king shall possess, who was not king;
After him Alban was as nothing.
He was weak after the strong,
Yet true is what my mouth shall say.

⁷¹ A king with reproach upon the crown of his head;
Woe to Alban through his brief time.
Men shall be feeble about him
In the land of Scone of resounding shields.

⁷² A year and a half—bright were the deeds—
That was the full measure of his reign.
Seizing the Gael, he goes to death;
He fell, and his people fall with him.

⁷³ A great battle shall be fought in Alban;
With the shame upon his head, colours shall be changed.
Leader of the hosts was he
Of Sruthlinn, which is called Toe.

⁷⁴ Donn shall possess, who dispenses horses;
He shall scatter hosts of Saxons.
After the day of battle he shall possess—
I recall the noble tale.

⁷⁵ His reign is told in the east;
Short shall it be over Alban.
Great strength he had against enemies abroad,
Donn from mighty Duncath.

⁷⁶ Eight years and a half—bright were the deeds—
For Donn in the sovereignty.
Short was the time until they came against him.
Alas! The Gael once more.

⁷⁷ The Gael gathered around him,
On the day when he shall be slain by us,
At his stone of blood between two glens,
Not far from the banks of the Earn.

⁷⁸ Afterwards high Alban shall be possessed
By a warrior, fortunate, praised by bards;
A wrathful heart that wages battle,
Whose name is Forranach.

⁷⁹ The men of the world were full of praise for him;
Angels are prophesying of him—
A heavy warrior of a mighty people,
A good king who shall redden red spears.

⁸⁰ Son of the woman of Leinster, strong in battle,
More excellent—the Forrannach;
Terror of Britons, extinction of Galls,
Mariner of Í and Arann.

⁸¹ Son of the cow-breasted woman from the banks of the Liffey,
Of the red race of swift plunder;
A wolf-dog who shall devour all Alban—
With him shall come all the pure Gael.

⁸² Ten hosts were broken before him;
Angels are they who prophesy it.
Five years and thirty his span
Over Alban in sovereignty.

⁸³ Until the day he goes to battle,
At the meeting of the fratricides,
At the swift morning onset of Monaigh—
Woe to Alban facing him.

⁸⁴ The Gael shall fall in the battle;
They shall strive against the Forrannach.
Woe to whom he comes, woe to whom he goes—
I reveal it to you, no false tale.

⁸⁵ Evil was the time Erin shall have of him.
The prophecy shall be fulfilled upon them,
At every time and every place,
With Galls, with Gael.

⁸⁶ Then shall take possession after him without delay
A king whose name is Ilgalrach.
The king was not young, but old;
He shall demand the hostages of the Gael.

⁸⁷ Alban shall not be defended in the time
Of the many-diseased, much-sung man.
The banner of red gold shall rouse battle;
He was the elder of sufficiency.

⁸⁸ Happy Alban in his possession—
But brief the joy it has of him.
Five years and a half, bright the deeds,
Over Alban in sovereignty.

⁸⁹ Afterwards the diseased king shall take possession,
Whose name was Ilgabrach;
Of that disease he dies—
Such were his lofty tales.