Kenneth O'Hartigan, who died
A.D. 973, gives a glowing account of his magnificence and of his royal
palace at Tara. O'Flaherty quotes a poem, which he says contains an
account of three schools, instituted by Cormac at Tara; one for military
discipline, one for history, and the third for jurisprudence. The Four
Masters say: "It was this Cormac, son of Art, also, that collected the
chronicles of Ireland to Teamhair [Tara], and ordered them to write[105]
the chronicles of Ireland in one book, which was named the Saltair of
Teamhair. In that book were [entered] the coeval exploits and
synchronisms of the kings of Ireland with the kings and emperors of the
world, and of the kings of the provinces with the monarchs of Ireland.
In it was also written what the monarchs of Ireland were entitled to
[receive] from the provincial kings, and the rents and dues of the
provincial kings from their subjects, from the noble to the subaltern.
In it, also, were [described] the boundaries and mears of Ireland from
shore to shore, from the provinces to the cantred, from the cantred to
the townland, from the townland to the traighedh of land."[106] Although
the Saltair of Tara has disappeared from our national records, a law
tract, called the Book of Acaill, is still in existence, which is
attributed to this king. It is always found annexed to a Law Treatise by
Cennfaelad the Learned, who died A.D. 677. In an ancient MS. in Trinity
College, Dublin (Class H.L. 15, p. 149), it is stated that it was the
custom, at the inauguration of Irish chiefs, to read the Instructions of
the Kings (a work ascribed to Cormac) and his Laws.

There is a tradition that Cormac became a Christian before his death. In
the thirty-ninth year of his reign, one of his eyes was thrust out by a
spear, and he retired in consequence to one of those peaceful abodes of
learning which were so carefully fostered in ancient Erinn. The
high-minded nobility of this people is manifest notably in the law which
required that the king should have no personal blemish; and in obedience
to this law, Cormac vacated the throne. He died A.D. 266, at Cleiteach,
near Stackallen Bridge, on the south bank of the Boyne. It is said that
he was choked by a salmon bone, and that this happened through the
contrivances of the druids, who wished to avenge themselves on him for
his rejection of their superstitions.

This reign was made more remarkable by the exploits of his son-in-law,
the famous Fi