Haddan & Stubbs (eds.), Councils II.2 (1878) — Irish text, unedited OCR (interleaved English mostly removed)

[The place where the Senchus was composed was] in winter and in spring, on account of the nearness of its fire-wood and its water, and on account of its warmth in the time of winter’s cold.

And they were composed at the same time — in the time of Laeghaire, son of Niall, King of Erin; and Theodosius was monarch of the world at that time, and it was in commemoration of this that the poet said:—

" Patrick baptized with glory, " In the time of Theodosius, " He preached the Gospel without failure " To the glorious people of Milidh’s sons."

And the persons of the Senchus — that is, the persons of the Senchus:—

" Laeghaire, Core, Daire the hardy, " Patrick, Benen, Cairnech the just, " Rossa, Dubhthach, Fergus with science, " These were the nine pillars of the Senchus Mor."

The person of the lay order, moreover, was Dubhthach Mac ua Lugair, royal poet of the men of Erin.

The cause of the Senchus having been composed was this:— Patrick came into Erin to sow baptism and religion among the Gaedhil, i. e., in the ninth year of the reign of Theodosius, and in the fourth year of the reign of Laeghaire, son of Niall, King of Erin.

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After this sentence, then, Patrick commanded the men of Erin that they should come to one place to hold a conference with him. When they came to that conference, the Gospel of Christ was preached to them all; and when the men of Erin saw all the living things that had been killed and brought back to life by Patrick since his arrival in Erin, and when they saw Laeghaire with his druids overcome by the great signs and miracles wrought in the presence of the men of Erin, they bowed down in obedience to the will of God and Patrick.

Then Laeghaire said:— “It is necessary for you, O men of Erin, that every other law should be settled and arranged by us, as well as this.” “It is better to do so,” said Patrick. It was then that all the professors of the sciences in Erin were assembled, so that each exhibited his art before Patrick, in the presence of every chief in Erin.

It was then Dubhthach was ordered to exhibit the judgments and all the poetry of Erin, and every law which prevailed among the men of Erin, through the law of nature and [the law of the prophets] and in the judgments of the island of Erin and among the poets.

They had foretold that the bright word of blessing would come, i. e., the law of the letter; for the Holy Spirit spoke and prophesied through the mouths of the just men who were formerly in the island of Erin, as he had prophesied through the mouths of the chief fathers and the noble fathers in the patriarchal law; for the law of nature had prevailed where the written law did not reach.

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[…]

Now the judgments of true nature which the Holy Spirit had spoken through the mouths of the Brehons and just poets of the men of Erin, from the time this island was possessed until the reception of the faith, were all exhibited by Dubhthach to Patrick. What did not conflict with the word of God in the written law and in the New Testament, and with the consciences of the believers, was confirmed in the laws of the Brehons by Patrick and by the ecclesiastics and the chieftains of Erin; for the law of nature had been quite right, except the faith, and its obligations and the harmony of the church and the laity. And this is the Senchus Mor.

Nine persons were appointed to arrange this book, viz., Patrick, and Benen, and Cairnech, three bishops; Laeghaire, and Core, and Daire, three kings; Rosa, i. e., Mac-Trechim, and Dubhthach, i. e., a doctor of the Berla Feini [the dialect of the Féni], and Fergus, i. e., a poet.

Nofis, therefore, is the name of this book which they arranged, i. e., the knowledge of nine persons, and we have the proof of this above.

This is the Cáin Phátraic, and no human Brehon of the Gaedhil is able to abrogate anything that is found in the Senchus Mor.

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APPENDIX B.

[…as given here in the original work, of Odhran, St Patrick’s charioteer, in the dialect of the Féni…]

Is a Sencas Mar ro airted comdire — In the Senchus was established equal ‘dire’-fine for a King and a Bishop, and the head of the written law, and the chief poet who composes extemporaneously, and for the brughaid who is paid ‘dire’ for his hundreds, and who has the ever-full caldron and his lawful wealth.

There are three things which are paid, viz., tithes and first-fruits, and alms, which prevent the period of a plague, and the suspension of amity between a King and the country, and which also prevent the occurrence of a general war.

The binding of all to their good and bad contracts prevents the lawlessness of the world.

Except the five contracts which are dissolved by the Féni, even though they be perfected: the contract of a labourer without his chief, the contract of a monk without his abbot, the contract of a living son without the father, the contract of a fool or mad woman, the contract of a woman without her man.

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