St Patrick his writings and life Author:Patrick Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTER Ever since the days of Ussher and Ware, this document has been usually known as the Epistola ad Coroticum; but St. Patrick himself ... more »describes it (c. 2) as "sent to the soldiers of Coroticus," a considerable number of whom were Christians by profession. It is a manifesto, a protest, which its author hoped would be read in the presence of Coroticus himself (c. 21). It was called forth by the failure of a previous letter and a deputation of clerics to touch the hearts of the British raiders (c. 3). Muirchu (i. 29) says, "Patrick . . . endeavoured by a letter to recall him [Coroticus] to the way of truth; but he mocked at his salutary warnings." This reference is, in all likelihood, a characteristically muddle-headed confusion of the extant letter with that to which Patrick refers in c. 3. On the other hand, the language of Muirchu is consistent with the supposition that he had not read the document in our hands; though I think he had. As to Coroticus himself, it is now quite certain that he is not to be identified with the Caredig who gave his name to the county of Cardigan (so Todd; St. Patrick, p. 352), but with Ceretic who ruled under the Romans in Strathclyde about A.d. 420-450, or later. This identification, first suggested by Sir Samuel Ferguson (Patrician Documents, xxxii.), has been proved conclusively by Prof. Zimmer (Celtic Church, pp. 54, 55). Prof. Bury conjectures that the date of the raid of Coroticus was 459. His capital was Alcluith (the Rock of Clyde, Dumbarton). He is called the " Kingof Ail" in the title of c. 29 of Muirchu's Life, Book i. (" Regem Aloo," Aloo is genitive of Ail). Ail is evidently Alcluith (see the authorities cited by Prof. Bury, St. Patrick, p. 314). Prof. Bury remarks that "this identification agrees with the c...« less