y
lasted nearly two centuries (Sec. 20). This statement is in accord with
known facts. The genealogical table gives sufficient evidence that it
began not earlier than the accession of Dubdalethe II. (965), and
continued to the accession of Murtough. If there is no evidence that the
three predecessors of Dubdalethe were of the Clann Sinaich, neither is
there anything to disprove it. But their immediate predecessor, Joseph,
was certainly not of that sept; for _A.U._ (MS. A, 935) tells us that he
was of the Clann Gairb-gaela, and the list of coarbs in the Book of
Leinster notes in addition that he came from Dalriada (_R.I.A._ xxxv.
327, 359). Thus the succession cannot have been established before the
death of Joseph (936). Hence it lasted for a period of between 167 and
196 years. A period of 167 years, or a period of 196 years, might be
described as "well-nigh two hundred years" (_annos ferme ducentos_),
though the latter suits St. Bernard's language better than the former.

But how can this be harmonized with the statement that "fifteen
quasi-generations had passed in this wickedness" (Sec. 19)? Obviously
a "quasi-generation" is not a generation of human life: apart from the
facts just mentioned, the very word _quasi_ forbids the supposition.
Colgan (_Trias_, p. 301) suggested that the word indicates the period of
office of a coarb; and this is very probable. The figure of generations,
so applied, is in line with St. Bernard's conception of a bishop as "the
seed" of his predecessor (Sec. 34). But the first of a series of coarbs,
of which Murtough was the fifteenth, was Maelcoba, the second predecessor
of Joseph. So that, even on Colgan's hypothesis, St. Bernard's two
statements are irreconcilable. Yet it is difficult to believe that an
error so manifest was in his source. I suggest that he wrote "fifteen"
in error for "twelve": in other words his document had _xii_, and he
misread it _xu_. The confusion of _u_ with _ii_ is very common in
manuscripts. If this explanation is accepted, St. Bernard's authority
implied that the hereditary succession was upheld without interruption
from the death of Joseph to the accession of Murtough, which is
"well-nigh two hundred years."

This investigation may convince us that St. Bernard depended on an
excellent document for his knowledge of the history of Armagh. But he
certainly went astray in the interpretation of the document when he
styled the predecessors of Cellach metropolitans