Peritiaol,2 (1988) 229-47 THE IRISH PROVENANCE OF BEDE’S COMPUTUS DAIBHI 6 CROININ School of History, Univenity College, Galwey In his great studies of Bede's works ‘On Times" Charles W, Jones assembled a large and hitherto unknown body of manuscript material on which to base a history of Insular computistical writings in the seventh century. Compu- tus, the study of time-reckoningand ecclesiastical calendar calculations at all Ievels, from initial learning of numerals themselves up to the mastery of me- thods and tables for constructing and manipulating such calendars, was one of the three principal subjects of the medieval monastic curriculum. In the narrower sense, however, computus can also denote an individual tract or collection of tracts or rules (argumenta) concerning Easter calculations, so that a computus can range in length from the nine brief formulae ascribed to Cassiodorus up to the massive compilation in Milan, Biblioteca Ambro- siana, MSH, 150 Inf., which contains a huge variety of argumenta, computis- tical verses, letters, tracts, tables and acalendar* Tthas of course been long known that the Paschal controversy developed * Gharles W. Jones ‘The “lost” Sirmond manuscript of Bede's “computus™, Engl Hitt ‘Rev 52 1957) 204-19; Bedae pseudepigrpha:scientifc writings falsely ascribed to Bede (Uthaca, NY 1939); Bedae opera de temporias, Medieval Academy of Ameria Publ 41 (Cambridge, Mass. 1943). 1am at all imes hewvly indebted tothe work of this reat Be- ddan scholar, gentleman anda good friend. 3 This fact has been obscured by the tendency of many writers to sec the liberal arte’ as the backbone of Irish monastic curricula in particular. See Paul Lehmann ‘Cassidarstudien I: Die Dtierung der Institutiones und der Gompu- uspaschali, Phdologus 71 (1912) 278-99 (297-99 = text “Ludovico Murstor (ed), Anecdote quae ex Ambrosionae Biblichecee codicibus pri- imum erut Ludovicus Antonius Muratoris ii (Padua 1713) 109-209 = PL 129, 1273- 1372, This collection contains material from Columbanus Burgundian foundations, some of it dating from the seventh century.250 6 cROININ computistical knowledge and skills in Ireland and England toa degree which ‘as far in advance of anything on the continent during the previous few cen: turies.! Professor Jones showed that this knowledge was based principally on a collection of Spanish (and in some cases ultimately African) origin ‘which had reached Ireland by ¢. AD 630, and which travelled subsequently from there to England, where (by the end ofthe seventh century) it formed the basis of Bede's own computstical library at Jarrow. ‘The bulk of this collection comprised Paschal letters of Pope Leo, Prote- rus of Alexandria and Paschasinus of Lilybaeum, the Paschal cycles of Theo- philus and Cyril of Alexandria and their continuator Dionysius Exiguus, to- gether with various other computistical tracts and tables. To these items in the computus the Irish added a number of texts of native origin, among them the pseudo-Anatotian Canton Paschalis, the Epistola Cyrill and the tract of ppseudo-Morinus,* which the Irs then in tum compared with older tracts on the subject of the 84-year cycle. It is quite clear that the reception into Ire- land in the 680s of the ‘Roman’ methods of dating Easter caused a ferment of argument and discussion in the Irish schools conceming the respective merits of the vatious tracts. This transition period between the old andnew cycles can be observed in the evidence of Cummian’s famous Paschal letter* and also in such computistical collections as are contained, for example, in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 14456 (sec. IX¥4, Regens- burg), in the Milan collection previously referred to,” and in the computus which I recently discovered in Brussels, Bibliotheque royale, MS 5413-22 (Gace. DUM, partly Reims), and Vatican, Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana, MS * Jones, ng at Reo $2, 207 2 See'Bruno Krush (ed Studien sur chritchmittlatetichen Chronologie {1}: Der {84:dhrge Ostereycus und seine Queen (Leiptg 1880) 511-27. Commentary in Jones, Bedae oper, 82-87 2 ba, Kuach, Studien 1, 344-49, Commentary in Jones, Bede oper, 98-97. 4 Ed. Jean-Baptiste Pits, Spcdepim Solermens | Pais 1852, epr Graz 1962) 14-15; Aled Cordllan Les computistesinauaie ces cits peudovalexandrn’ Bibl Ecole {artes 106 (1945-6) 5342p 30-3. SEL James Usaher, Vetoum cpitlarum Hidernicarum sylloge (Dublin 1632) 24-85, No Xiligtty emended in FL 87, 969-76. A new eritieal edition with commentary by Ductal nd mye ready forthe prose © See Krush, Studion 1, 10-23: Studien [2] mung. bh Preuss Akad Wis, Jaye 1987, ph hist K, Nr 8 (Bedin 1938) 58; Barholo- tmew Ma Carthy, avals of Uber (Dubin 1901) ii; Eduare Schware Christ che und jische Ostertafla' 408 hgl Gesell Wis GOttigen, RM hst KUNE Vol8, Nt § (eatin 1908) 89-103. 5 Fora ducusson of the relationship between these various collections, ee my paper‘A seventncentury In computes from the crle of Cummianas’, Pre Roy Tr Aced (6) 82 (1982) 405-0.‘THE IRISH PROVENANCE OF BEDE'S COMPUTUS 21 Reg. Lat, 1260 (saec. IX, Fleury?).' These collections, however, clearly show that the debate was along-drawn-cut one and that the adoption of the ‘Roman’ Easter was a gradual process in which Irish computistical scholars tried and tested the respective cycles by practical observation.* ‘The situation with regard to seventh-century England, however, is not so lear.* Our main source of information is of course Bede who, in his account of the synod of Whitby (AD 664) and the events that led up to its" gives some idea of how he at least saw the development of current practice; but even Bede is so vague on the crucial points of technical importance that modern scholars have been unable to agree abcut his intentions.* We are on sure enough ground for Northumbria after AD 635, for with the foundation of Lindisfarne and the establishment of the Irish mission there the Irish 84-year cycleclearly became the basis for subsequent Easter reckonings.® ‘But the discord that had arisen in the 630s among the churches in Ireland manifested itself shortly thereafter in Northumbria, for Bede tells us that, uring the episcopacy of Findn, Aidan’s successor at Lindisfame (AD 651- 661), an Irishman named Rondn ‘who had leamed the true rules of the church in Gaul or Italy" disputed the Easter question vehemently with Fé nn, but to no lasting effect. Though Réndn succeeded (according to Bede) in winning over many to his point of view, the Lindisfame abbot remained unmoved and ‘on the contrary’, to use Bede's extraordinary words, because * am edition ofthis work will accompany our new edition of Cummian’s Letter (ace 25015 above) ? Thave shown cuewhere that the evidence etd by previous scholars in support ofthe claim thatthe Dionysia cyle was known in Ireland before AD 610 is enirely spurious $e=mypaperMo-Sinu maceu Min and the computus of Bangor Perit 1(1982) 382-62, * See Jones, Bedae opera, 78-113; Kenneth Haron, The framework of Ango-Soxon story to AD 800 (Cabrige 1976) 52-75, © Historis Fectesistca Il 25 (hereafter HE); Charles Plmmer (ed), Veneabils Boedae opera historia (2 vole, Oxford 1896, repr, London 1969) 181-94; Berta Colgrave Sid Ro A.B, Mynor (ed), Bede's Feleasticl history ofthe Bgl people (Oxford 1969, repr. 1979) 294-509, £ Jones, Bedae oper, 102-4 Hrion, Framework, 9-65, Saison, Framework, 62, That the lona community decided finally in AD 725 to abandon the Sayer tables was dosbilee du to ther having dacovered from compar. {Son with the Vietorian/Dionysae over the fll 83-year eyle that theirs yn he lest 3 corse table: 715-84 "681, roughly the date when, according to Gumenan' Letter, he ‘Alexandian reckoning was first introducedintosouthem land Ido notacceptany of ‘he speculations on this point in Archibald A. M. Dunean ‘Bede, Tons, andthe Pit’, RHC. Davis and] M. Wallace Hadi (ed), The writing of Mitory inthe Middle ges spiny presented Richard Wiliam Southers (Oxford 1981) 1-42 ‘Tine It 25: in Gala uel Taliae paribus realm cclesiasticac ueritatisedoctus' Col spaveand Mynors, 294; Plummer, 118122 6 cROININ, “he was a man of fierce temper, Réndn made him the more bitter by his re. proofs and tumed him into an open adversary ofthe truth’. What the regula ecclesiasticee ueritatis was that Réndn so assiduously championed Bede, unfortunately, does not say.? Neitheris he more specific about the practice of James the Deacon, ‘who kept the true and Catholic Easter with all those whom he could instruct in the better way? Nor does Bede say exactly how the Northumbrian queen Eanfled was instructed by the priest Romanus, whom shehad brought with her from her native Kent, a ‘man ‘who followed the catholic observance’.* That Bede himself understood the ‘catholic observance’ to be the one that involved use of the Dionysiac Paschal tables can hardly be doubted, but he was too good a scholar to be lieve that what was‘catholic'inhis day was ‘catholic’ also in the seventh cen- tury, and his reluctance to specify those tables by name in his discussion has, led modem scholars to doubt whether, in fact, they were known in England (north or south) before the midseventh century.* ‘The circumstances of this dispute over the correct method of ealeulating the date of Easterhave been seen by Harrison as one of the motivesforthede- parture of Wilfrid (later bishop of York) to Rome in AD 654,* According to Bede, Wilfrid received insteuction at Rome from Archdeacon Boniface and Ieamed, amongst other things ‘the correct method of calculating Easter, as well as gaining, under his teacher's guidance, a knowledge of many other ratters of ecclesiastical discipline which were unknown in hisowncountry.” ‘The role played by Wilfrid subsequently at the Whitby synod, and the pane- sgytic verses inscribed on his tomb, are viewed by Hartison as confirmation " HE U1 25: “quin potis, quod esset homo ferocis ami, aceruiorem castigando et aper- ‘tum veritatis aduersrium reddit Colgrave and Mynors, 296; Plummer, i181. Colgrave and Mynors (296 n 1) suggest that Réndn was the one with the fierce temper, wrongly nmy view. 2 Jones thought that the Victorian tables might have been meant, Bedae opera, 104. If this were the ease then Bede's sllence would be understandable, since the prinelpal pur: [pose ofhs De temparum ratione wai to counter the influence of Vitorius, ‘HE IIt 25: ‘uerum et catholicum paschacum omnibus, qos ad correctiorem wiam era ire poterat: Colgrave and Mynors, 2965 Plummer, i181 “Harrison, Framework, 62: it would sem that Dione tables were not known, in Kent, before 654, or known only in a superficial way’. The possible exception consi- {ered by him is Bitinus, bishop of Wessex from AD 684; but there sin fact no evidence to how what tables, ifany, Birins followed, Fede, ib, ¢ Framework, 62-65. 7 HEV 19: ‘computum paschae rtionabilem [didiit] et alia muta quae in patria ne ‘quinerat, ecclesiastiisdisciplinis acommoda eodem magistro tradeate percepit" Col- save and Mynors, 590;Plummer, i324,‘THE IRISH PROVENANCE OF BEDE'S COMPUTUS 233 of the general impression that ‘Wilfrid is being credited with the promotion in England of the Dionysiac cycle's! Paschalis qui etiam sollemnia tempora cursus Catholici ad iustum correxit dogma canonis, Quem statuere patres, dubioque errore remoto, Certa suae genti ostendiit moderamina ritus. But this theory lays rather too much stress on the alleged continental pro: venance of the ‘catholic observance’, at she expense of other, more imme- iate and (in my view) more likely sources for such instruction. More impor- tantly, it ignores the fact—long since established by Jones—that the bulk of Northumbrian computistical material came from the Irish. ‘Bede’s works show that Northumbrian education [in the computistical field, at any rate} ‘owed comparatively little to Rome and tke Augustinian mission’? and apart from those works which Bede assembled expressly for the composition of his History, there is ‘no indication of a stream of literature from the south, ‘which in any way equals the obvious stream from Ireland’? ‘The basis for these statements was Jones’s important discovery that the computus which Bede himself used at Jarrow could be recovered almost in its entirety by an examination of four computistical manuscripts:* Vati can, Biblioteca Rossiana, MS Lat 247 (sacc. XI) [RJ Pari, Bibliotheque na- tionale, MS lat 16361 (saec. XI) (P], Geneva, Bibliotheque de Université, MS 50 (AD 804, Massai [G], and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 309 (sace. XI, Vendbme) (S]. To these may now be added Tours, Bibliotheque rmunicipale, MS 334 (AD 819, Tours) [T] wiaich in factis the exemplar of P All of these manuscripts (except P) were copied independently from anow lost exemplar whose text is best preserved by $, a codex which once be longed to the French scholar Jacques Sirmond; whence Jones coined the term ‘Sirmond group of manuscripts’ The puspose of this paper willbe to demonstrate that the exemplar of this whole group (which Bede undoubted- ly used at Jarrow) was compiled in southern Ireland in AD 658, and passed from there shortly after to Northumbria and Jarrow, 2 Hartson, Framework, 75, 2 Jones, Bedae opera, 112-13. 2 Jones, Bedae opera, 113. * Sec esp. "Ihe “ost” sirmondmanwscrpt’ passim, and edae opers, 1UD-19. Note that the Tours MS 334 (formerly 42) snow made up af four parts, one at Tours and the others comprising Pars, Bibliotheque nationale, Now. aeq. 1612, 1615, 1614, For simplicity however Tse the sighim T to cover all parts. (Note that in Petia 1,296, accidentally {gave the folioreferencein Ts the texteoncemed oceurrin S on 1060) F°A full list of contents is given by Jones, Eng His! Reo 52 (1987) 213-19 and Bede opere, 106-7, These include unpublished texts cl ‘Palumbus and Patrick whieh I hope to tiscuas in the next volume of Perit,24 6 cromin, Itis an extraordinary quirk of fortune in the circumstances that Professor JJones—having established his case forthe Irish provenance of Bede’s compu- ‘tus on irrefutable textual grounds—should have overlooked an explicit state- ment in four of the manuscripts that he examined which would have clinched his argument beyond cavil. The passage concemed occurs in acol- lection of short synchronistic notes, culled mainly from the Prologue of Vic- torius of Aquitaine, I give the text here from $ and in the apparatus the variants from G,Pand T. ‘Omnibus annis temporibus diebus ac hina maxime, quefuxta Hebracosmenses fait rite discuss, a mundi principio usquein diem, quo fii Irahel paschale mysterium initiauere sn sunt IIT DCLXXXVIIM, praccedente primo mense VIII Aprils una XIML, VI fe ria, assum autem domsinum nostrum Ihesum Christim peractis VCCXX fe VI annis ab fexortu munds, eadem cronicorum rlatione monstratur, VIN Kl. Aprils primo mense, una XUN, VE fei, Inter primum pascha in Aegypto et passionem domial anni sunt DXXXVII.B .£x domini wero pasione uaque in pascha quod secutum est subin fii eémmanniann sunt DCXXXI, A pascha autem supradicto usque ad tempus praefintum consummationis mundi det ex milbus consummati, anal sunt CXLL Victorius, Protagus in cyclo paschalf(Keusch, Studien 24) 1ufacis(undertined) SfacTT -2.usque eras. Paprincipibuscorr. K>aprincipto P SlannaiG lunaXVIITG S.annietG G.revelatione TP 7.R.in marg. S,intext TGP B.dominoG sequu/um + sin fifcommuntT, suini® filicormmamat G, sul. Ni with flidexsexi. om (gop left) Py 10.XCLIGP From the information contaired in the final passage we can calculate not on- ly the date of composition forthe text, but also deduce aprecis location for its compilation. The mathematics of the formulae are simple enough: (1) From the year of Our Lord’s Passion tothe year of writing is 631 (DCXXX1) years. Since Victorius says that the number of years to the Passion is Anni Mundi 5228 (Passum autem. .peractis VOCXX & VIM annis), the total num- ber of years (AM) elapsed = $228 + 651 = 5859;subtracting the number of years to the Nativity (5201) we get 658. In other words, to convert Victo- Tius's annus passioni dating to its AD equivalent, add 27: 631 + 27 = AD 658. (2) The second clause inthe dating formula provides corrcboration of this: from the time of writing to the end ofthe world (traditionally caleulat- cedat AM 6000) is 141 years. Subtracting 14 from 6000 leaves 5859 AM. To reduce a Victorian AM datingto AD we subtract 5201 (as above): AM 5859- 5201 = AD 658 Both these formulae, therefore, give the date of composition as AD 658. More important, however, isthe precise wording ofthe text at this point ac‘THE IRISH PROVENANCE OF BEDE'S COMPUTUS 235 cording to the dating clause, 681 years had elapsed from the year of Christ's Passion usque in pascha quod secutum est subini fil commanni ‘the Easter ‘of Suibine mac Comméin’ which had followed. In other words, the computist ‘was working with a Victorian Easter-tablein the margin of whieh, beside the data for the current year, was noted the death of one Suibine mac Comméin, ‘The text thus comprises one of our earliest dateable Irish annals andis alone sufficient refutation—if such were neededof the argument that our earliest Irish annals do not derive from such Easter-tables. ll the evidence of the ‘text: dating formulae, the form of the Irish name,! and the orthography of, the manuscript? show clearly that we have here a genuine, mid-seventh- century document, and the annal sin fact preserved independently in the Annals of Inisfallen,s.2, 658, where that text reads Kl. Dub Tire ua Mail Ochtraig 7 Conaing mac Muriegin 7 Suibne mac Commain.? (Of the first two persons named here nothing further is known to me,* but Suibine mac Comméin (the man mentioned in the computus) would seem to have been quite an important figure in mid-seventh-century Ireland, and the information which we have concerning him allows us to make a good guess as ‘to where the computistical text was written, Suibine mac Comméin belonged to the Ui Fothaid branch of the Déisi, a south-Munster tribal group settled mainly in the area of modern-day Co Wa " tiiyltbicSubin isa preeyncope form very rare dgcument after themnldseventh century; see James Carney, “Aspects of Archal rsh’ Eigie 17 (1978-8) 417-88, xp. 421-80. Note that in the Life of St Aldegunde (Bibl Hag Let No 244, ed. Chesqutee, 321) the sme wnyllabi form occu as the mane ofan Ih abbot at Nivel (euidam tuo religioso Subino); see Grosjean ‘Notes hagographieceltigue 89° Analecta Bollan- iene 75 (1957) 397 n2, who emends unnecesarly to Sufo, 2 "The ute of short horizontal dashes over every allabl of an ith worditafeatne, ©, ofthe Schaffhausen MS of Adorn’ Vite Cohimbae, where they serve the sme pur: ose a taliciation in modern type. Such horizontal dashes occuralgo inthe Relehenat IMS ofthe seventh-centry Ish commentary onthe Catholic Epistles (sep 238. 4) and jn the Wiraburg MSM. thf 61 (loses) which dscustedinthepaper ced on 232 2 above, In later Ish MSS (eg dhe Book of Armagh) ace accentshave replaced these horizontal dashes Be Mac Ai (ed), The Annlt ofInifallen (MS. Rainn 8503) (Dublin 1981) 94 The anal i added inthe lower margin, witha tferencemark indicating Lsplace inthe rain text; se Richard I, Best and Eoin Mac Nail (ed), The Anna of nefalen repro (icedin acini, et (Dublin 1935 fv (lowermargn). 2 Conaiag mac Musiedins perhaps the Conang mae Marcin mentioned in the Dis ge nealogies se Michael A, O'Brien (ed), Corpus gnealogiaum Hiberiae | (Dublin 1962; repr. 1976) 397. Aon a is, Fland Stanach Hand (or Corin) ismentoned thera =f innanDése. FO Brien, Corpus, $40,400,256 6 croiniy terford, From the accounts ia the annals and genealogies it can be shown that one of his daughters, Uasal, was married to Faelin mac Colmin (died 666),* king of the north Leinster dynasty of Uf Dénlainge and the man chief. ly responsible for the rise to power of that dynasty in the seventh century.? One earnest of Faclin’s dominanceis the fact that brother of his, Aed Dub, ‘was abbot and bishop of Kildare and was styled by the genealogists rig epscop Gilli Dara 7 Lagen uli ‘royal bishop of Kildare and of all Leinster’* “According to Cogitosus, the biographer of Se Brigit who was writing probab- ly in the mid.seventh century; the foundation of Kildare was a great metro- politan city’ where the treasures of kings were kept, doubtless implying that (in his view at least) Kildare vas claiming to be the chief church in Leinster. ‘That the Uf Dimlainge king under whose patronage Kildare flourished should marry a daughter of Subine mae Comaméin clearly implies that Sui bine was a figure of power arzong the neighbouring Ui Fothaid of the Déisi to the south. There may also be some significance inthe fact that Cummie,? who was married to Faélén mac Colméin’s father, was aso a Déisi woman, Assecond daughter of Suibine, Faflend, was (again according to the genea- logies)* married to Crundmaél mac Réndin (+ AD 656), king of the other reat Leinster dynasty of Ui Cennselaig. This Failend~'a queen who reigned ‘but kept her powder dry'seems to have been a woman of some repute, to judge by a remark in the genealogies to the effect that the stories about her and Crundinaél were famous; but the genealogist (doubtless for good rea- sons) thought better of reciting the details of her adventures.” Besides pro- viding daughters as wives'to these two leading dynasts, Suibine also had a son, Congal (F AD 701) who put his name to Cain Adomndin ‘The Law of ‘Adomnén’ (promulgated in AD 697) as rma nDéissiu ‘king of the Déisi'* * See Whitley Stokes (ed), “The Annals of Tigernach’ Rerwe Celtigue 17 (1896) 186: “Bats Une ingine Suibne Maie Calman sigan Fuclain vig Laigen'though AU has only "More hUsisefilze Suibni there no good reason to doubt the identification. However, there annals seems to have been misconstrued by Francis John Byme, Irish kings and ‘high-kings (London 1973) 154. Foran outline of hiscareer see Bye Irish kings, 154 3 orBuien, Corpus, 339; yme, Irish kings, 152. 4 DL 72, 175-90, See James F. Kenney, Sources forthe early history of Ireland i: Ee. ‘leiastial (NY 1929; epr, Dublin 1978) 859-80, No 147; Mario Exposito ‘On the ear liest Latin Life of St Brigid of Kildusc’, Proc Roy Ir Acad (C) 301912) 307-26;Kathleen Hughes, The church in eery Ish society (London 1966) 85-85; Richard Sharpe Vitae S Brigitae: the oldest text’, Periis 1 (1982) 81-106; im McCone ‘Brigit inthe seventh entry asin with eee? Pei 1107-45 Sorprien, Corpus, 340. fia “tg airdvi thrd seanchas na Falinde se0 7 Crundimafl meie Rondin fir 7a raind do- rochtad 7 deonech sexibo', Corpus, 340. Kuno Meyer (ed), Cdn Adamnain: an O1d-Iish trative on the Laws of Adamnan, Anéc-237 ‘THE IRISH PROVENANCE OF BEDE'S COMPUTUS {ong wou x32 06) 09 t (2994) ns 0 yung =upueg upped aenena 30 eam (rou) cn) sweeney ~ N- gins preyed sa sew ous | spa pV epee pug i suooraes, ‘eui0.) I aN 1 pura, youre uu, Sporg 30 laetoye9 HORIID urn Sona 8 dota Oxoniensia, Medieval and Modern Series 12 (Oxford 1905) 18, See Matrin N Dhonnehadha "The guarantor list of Clix Adomniin, 97", Perita I (1982) 178-125: 200. Another son of Suibine’s, Conamal, figures in Irish legen, for which see Seda Coiledin “Thestructure ofa literary cycle’ Hu 25 (1974) 88-125,238 6 crownin ‘There can be no doubting then that Suibine mac Commndin was a powerful and influential figure in mid-seventh century Irish politics—certainly note- worthy enough for his death to warrant mention in an annal. ‘The dating formulae in the Sirmond group of manuscripts thus set the date and location as c. AD 658, in the south-east region of Ireland, This imme- diately brings to mind the group of scholars, mainly exegetical, who have been traditionally associated with the monastery of Lismore, Co Waterford, and other foundations in the south-central area of the country." These are Manchianus (Manchéne) of Min Droichit (+ AD 652) Laidcenn mac Baith Bannaig of Giuain Ferta Mo-Lua (+ AD 661);a Breccanus of unknown loca tion; two other Déisismen: Bereannus mac Afdo and Banbanus (macDonn- gaile? + AD 685/6, of unknown location) or Baithanus (Baithéne); and the unknown author of the De mirabilibus sacrae scripturae (flor. ¢. AD 685). ‘The names of the frst five of these have been recovered from an important Irish commentary on the Catholic Epistles (Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbib- Tiothek, MS Aug, CCXXXII [saec. IX, Reichenau}),* composed probably in the mid-seventh century.’ Manchianus is cited there asdoctor noster and the others are cited also as being exegetical authorities. Their connection with the author of the De mivabilibus lies in the fact that he too mentions Manchianus by name in a passage which is significant in this context for a ‘number of reasons, and which should therefore be cited herein full. The sub- ject under discussion is the miracle recounted in Joshua 12-14, when the sun. ‘and moon halted in their courses at the command of Joshuason of Nun; the author of the De mirabilibus, however, is at pains to explain that this did not disrupt the cyclical revoluticn of sun and moon, and he does so by referring to the computus: » See Paul Grosjean ‘Sur quelques exégttesilandaises du VII" sce’, Secs Bru 7 (1955) 67-98, There are, howrver, strong grounds for believing that this scholarly ‘ecle centred om Clusia Ferta M-Lua rather than Lismore, as Grosjean argued; thearg- iments are laid ont in the work by McGinty, cite below. There are no good grounds for Grosjean’sclaim that the Manchianus here discussed was thesaint of Listh Manchin (Co Offaly), 5°91. 46, 2149-200. See Wiliam Reeves ‘On Augustin, an Irish writer ofthe seventh cen- tury, Proc Roy Ir Acad 7 (1861) 514-22; Mario Exposito On the peudo-Augastinian trentie “De Mirabiibus Sacrae Scripturae™, Proc Roy Ir Aeed (C) 88 (1919) 189-207; Kenney, Sources, 275-7, No 104. Ihave derived much profit from the new edition by Dom Gerard McGinty, OSB, The resise De Mirabifbus Sacrae Seripturae, PD Dissert ‘ion, 2 vols, University College, Dublin, 1971 Robert E. MeNally (ed), Serptores Hibernize Minores |, Corpus Chvstianorum Series Latina 108 B; forthe names se Alfted Holder'Altrische Namen im Reichenauer Codex GCXXXI', Archiv fir eltische Lexieographie 3 (1907) 266-67. F Gh MeNally, xxv.‘THE IRISH PROVENANCE OF BEDE'S COMPUTUS 239 ‘Ucenim hoc manifests approbationibus pateat, cyclorum etiam ab initio condi orbs. cursus in se breuiterdigeremus, quos semper post quingentos triginta duos annossoleut in principio et hina per omaia conuenientibus nulls gubuenientibus impediments in id unde coeperant redize optendemus, Quinto namque cyclo a mundi principio anno cen tesimo quarto decimo generale totus mundi diiaium rub Noe wenit, qaipost dasa quadringentesimo decimo octauo defect; et inde alias incipiens, i ert sextus in octauo actatis Abrahae anno finitur. Et nono cius anno septimusincipien,tricesimo quinto an- no egressionis filiorum arahel de Aegypto quinquennio ante mortem Moysiconeluditur, Post quem octauus, in quo etiam istudsignum insole et lune factum, trcesimo sexto an no egressonis Isabel de Acgyptoincipins in triesimam primum annum Asa regis luda Incedit:eulus trcesimo secundo anno nonus exordium capiens in quo etiam allud signu in tole Ezechne regis tempore, de quo paulisper dicernus factum legitur, centesimo oc- tauo anno post templi rertaurationem quae sub Dario facta es, sui cursus spatiem con sumauit: donec decimus inde oriens nonagesimo secundo anno post passonem Saluato is, Alia et Sparsa [= Auiola et Pansa] consulibas peratiscursibus consumatur. Post quem undecimus « consulatu Pater et Torguati ad nostra usgue tempora decurrens x ‘emo anne Hibemiensivm moriente Manchianofnterceterossapientes peragitut. Etduo- decimus nunc teram annum agens ad fururorumscientam se praeatans, anobisqualem finem st habicurusgnoratur His reference to cycles of 582 years shows clearly that the author was working with Victorian tables, from which he also took the names of the consuls, Indeed, Krusch? long ago pointed out that the curious distortion in the consular names Alia et Sparsa has its closest congener in the Victorian tables of the Sirmond codex (8): Aulia et Parsa—another indication, per hhaps, that this manuscript represents direct witness to the Irish computisti- cal tradition. More importantly, however, the mention of Manchianus in such a context proves that his obit must likewise have been marked as an an- nal in the margin of a Victorian table, beside the Easter data for AD 652.* 1 U4 = PL35, 2175.6, Ihave changed the text slightly in accordance with MeGinty's readings * Die Einfihrung des griechischen Paschalritus im Abendlande’, Neues Archiv 9(1884) 101-69: 159. > The Manichaeo (= Menchiano) of the printed editions gave rise to an extraordinary theory of Kruse's (158-60) thatthe author was ant-trsh(!) and that he washere refer Ing to “der riche Manichier di, kein andere als Bischof Aedan von Holy Island’ (=Li disarne) and that ‘also 654 ist die Berechnung gichrieben, offenbar im Reiche Onwiu’ “The gaffe was piloried by Mac Carthy, nals of Ulster IV, lx, and by Esposito, 2027 1 Unfortunately, the ghost of thie rish Manichaeaa’ was insufficiently exorcised, for ire240 6 caownin ‘Manchianus of Min Droichit is indeed recorded in the annals as having died in that year.* Moreover, this very passage in the De mirabilibus was cited verba- tim by the compiler of the Munich Computus, writing probably not long af- ter? showing once again that exegesis and computistics were the common preoccupation of seventh-century Irish scholars. Indeed, a study of Irish manuscripts shows that computists, exegetes, hagiographers and even gram: rmarians all érew on a common body of materials? the separation of these disciplines is a modern departure from medieval practice. That there was a circle of scholars active in southern Ireland, in all these fields, throughout the course of the seventh century is evident from the con- tents of the Reichenau commentary on the Catholic Epistles and the De mi: rabilibus, as well as from other Hiberno-Latin texts, The letter of Cummian, (c. AD 632), who was probably bishop or fer légind of Cluain Ferta Bré. nainn, shows that he had to hand an extraordinarily rich collection of com- putistical tracts, besides an uncommonly broad selection of patristic, cano- nical and exegetical materials. My discovery in the Brussels and Vatican ma- nuscripts of a computus, which, ifnot Cummian’s own composition, almost, certainly emanates from his immediate circle, indicates that he also had ac- cess subsequently to Isidore's works, the writings of Virgilius Maro Gramma- ticus, and a number of other Latin grammatical texts. Computistical manu- scripts bear clear witness to the fact that such esoteric authors as Virgilius Maro were just as familiar to the computists as they were to the gramma- rians,* just as computistical wacts frequently appearin the writing of Insular hhagiogtaphers and exegetes. Thus Cogitosus, the author of probably the oldest Vita Brigitae, draws on Vietorius for the wording of his Prologue, as also does the anonymous author of the Lindisfame Vita Cuthberti (c. AD 700).' The convergence of sources is perhaps best illustrated by a comment of the anonymous Hibemno-Latin (?) author writing at the end of the seventh appears inthe otherwise exemplary paper by Ann-Dorothee von den Brinken Matianus Scottus, unter besonderer Bericksichtgung der nicht veroffentichten Telle seiner Chronik’ Deutsches Archio 17 (1961) 191-288: p 288, where the reference toa matt cheus Hibernensium in a twelftscentury texts taken by tobe criticism of Marianus by ‘one of his opponents! The passage isin fet copied diecty from the De Mirabilis. Mac Carthy, lox:Stokes, “Anna's of Tigernach’, 192, 2 The passages are cited in parallel by Mac Carthy, lax, and Esposito, 200;the Munich MS isthe bass forthe restoration Menchieno forthe Manichaeo ofthe printed editions (Me- Ginty, 1133). 2 Thope to discuss this point ac greater length on another occasion. * Hig Bpit XI iscited, eg in Bece's DIR XXXVicf, Bedae opere, 369. Infact Rede cites Ving Maro alto in his De orthographie, * See the Prologue, in Bertram Colgrave (ed), Two tives" of Saint Cuthbert (NY 1969) 60-62.‘THE IRISH PROVENANCE OF BEDE’S COMPUTUS 2a century, whose tract De ordine creaturarum! draws on the De mirabilibus, and which was drawn on then in tum by Bede.” Ina chapter ofthe work en. titled De-ole et luna (v 10) the anonymoushas this to say De cursibus autem slisetunae nee temporisne loc] tus est bruitats deserere, quot Ideiro in hoe opasculoneglegentns aseqor, csi tipsivsconpendion breuitas nom pattur ein sum paene omnibus lectorbus dierunfestorum conpotandorim gratia com [As far as he was concemed, those who would read exegesis would be equally at home in matters computistical, and doubtless als in the writings of hagio- sraphers. We need not be surprised, therefore, that Cummian has had as cribed to him also a commentary on the Gospel of Mark,* and that he ap: pears to have been closely associated with Laidcend mac Baith Bannaig of Cain ferta Mo-Lua, about twenty miles south-east of Cluain Ferta Bré- nainn.* We know that Laidcend composed an epitome of Gregory the Great's Moraia in Iob*(in which he cites lidore's De ortu et obitu patrum at length) and we have already seen him cited as an authority in the Reichenau com- ‘mentary. Manchianus, who is cited as dactor noster in the same commenta- zy, was apparently the man at whose instication the author of the De mirab Libus composed his work,” and it may be ‘hat we should seein him thelead- * Manuel C. Dias y Diaz (ed), Liber de ordine eresturarum: un ondnimo iriandés de silo Vil. Monografiae de Ia Universidad de Santiago de Compostelia 10 (Santiago de Compas tells 1972), Profestor Jones har remarked to me privately, however, that he believes the ‘work could be Northmbrian (ether from Lincisfame or Whitby), ajudgement which he ‘baseson the contestual evidence of some MSS with which Diaz y Diaz wasnot familia * See esp. Charles W. Jones ‘Some introductory remarks on Bede's commentary on Gene sh", Secris Erudi 19 (1969-70) 115-98, 2 Dian y Diaz, 118, * Sce Bemhard Bischoff Wendepunkitc in des Geschichte der latenischen Exegese im Frohmittclaler’, Saris Brudir 6 (1954) 189-279 = Mittlalteriche Studien (Stuttgart, 1966) 205-78: p 287-8, No 27 (and 213-18). 1am not convinced by the counterargi- sents of Clare Stancliffe Early “Irish” biblical exegesis’ Studia Patrstca 12 [Tete und Untersuchungen 115] (1975) 361-70: p 365-6, The question of Cummisn'salleged au thorship willbe discussed in our forthcoming edition of his letter. ig may be worth noting thatthe monastery of Min Droichit, with which Manchianusis associated, was about 8 miles eatt of Clusin Feta Mo-Lus. The names CVMMENE and Laden (the one in capitals the other in inusele) are found together on. slab at Peak ‘sun, Aherlow (Co Tipperary) which isnot far ditant;see Mgr Michael Moloney, N Mux Ser Archeco!] 9 (1964) 98-107. © Mare Adrsen (ed), Beloge quem scripst Latheen fine Both de Moralibus ob quar (Gregorius fit, Corps Chistianorum Series Latina 18. "if sach isthe correct interpretation ofthe obscure Prologue: ‘Ab uno enim uestrum id ‘est Bathano (Banbano?), pest patrem Manchianam, si quid intelligentiae addi et ab al- tero,uteredo, sali ors eieuieem laborum causam suscepi":PL85, 2152,242 6 cRoINtN ing light of the circle.' Be that as it may, there can be no reasonable doubt that the compilation of the ‘Sirmond? computistical collection is to be seen against this background of intense scholarly activity in southern Ireland in. ‘the mid. and late-seventh century. ‘The question now arises asto how this corpus of computistical texts made its way to Jarrow, I stated at the outset that the path of dissemination seemed to lead from southem Ireland to southem (or south-western) Eng- land, and thence northwards to Bede, Indeed, I would now suggest that all (or almost all) of the Hiberno-Latin texts which we know Bede used: the De ordine creaturarum, Pseudo-Hllary on the Catholic Epistles, Virgilius Maro, and the Irish computus, travelled this same route. That the computus at least did not come to him via Tona seems to me demonstrable from the fact that—despite his frequent references to it-Bede never seems to have laid eyes on an Irish 84-year cycle.* Knowing what we do of Bede’s methodo- logy, it is scarcely conceivable that he would not have quoted from such a table (ifhe had one), if only to refute it. That he did not do so.can surely be laid down to the fact that the manuscripts of the ‘Sirmond’ group show no trace of ever having contained such 84-year material. The Irish computus Which Bede inherited was concemed almost exclusively with the Alexand- rian cycle and represented the combination of the doctrines of Victorius and Dionysius Exiguus. Such a synthesis couldnothave come to Bede from Iona, where we know the 84-year cycle survived in use until AD 716; it seems clear, on the other hand, that this Irish material had reached Jarrow long. before that time and had comprised the standard teaching of that school pro- ably before Bede himself began to teach there.? It may be possible, however, to trace the steps by which the Irish compu- ‘tus reached Jarrow, beginning with the text tradition in England itself. Our first clue is a passage in Aldhelm’s Epistola ad Geruntium (AD 6722) which hhas puzzled modem computists, In the letter, Aldhelm states that he had re cently been present at a national synod of the British bishops* and that, at + Gronea’s theories need tobe throughly revised in che light of Mcinty'smre recent and.detsiled work 2 pede refers ony to dubitcireua.criously vague description from aprofesed chrono eae Jones, Bede opera, 130-1 4 Rude Ehwald (ed), Aldhetni oper MGH AA 15 (Benin 1919;repr 1961) 475-508 480-86, Ep 4 Ehwad semed to argue for 3 dat c, AD 708 forthe eter, though he ‘quotes with some approval (180-31 n suggestion by Hahn tacit shouldbe dated closer to AD 680, The dating here ivenis tha of Michael Herren, n Michael Lapidge and Mich- gelHferen trans), ldheim: the rose works Ipswich 1973) 104-3. taconel eplscoporum, ubiex tots parnaBritanainnumerablissacedowum cateria conflasi’Ehwald 480.‘THE IRISH PROVENANCE OF BEDE'S COMPUTUS 248 the request of these bishops, he was now writing to Geraint (aking occiden- {alisregni) to inform him of the errors of the British. A part ofthe letter deals with the Easter-question: Escautem ateracradelior animarum perice, quod in sacrosanctapaschalisolemaitate CCOCXVIIpatrum regula non sectantu, quin Niceno conc decemnovenalemIater- cali cealum per ogdoadem et endcadam usque a Gem mundi recto tramitedecuss rum sagaci solr sancerun eta quits deca tuna usque ad vigesimam primam suppu- tations sexiem et paschals calculi trinum taiderant, quem anticipare et transgredt contra set fs ileum fore censueron, Poreost secundum decennem nowennem@ue ‘Anatoli computatum aut potas uxt Sule Seuerzqulam, qui LXXXII annorum ccursum descrip, quarts decina luna cum Tadscs paschaleracramentum celebrant, tum neuirum eclesiae Romanae pontfcesadperfectam calcul ratonem equantirsed ec Vitor paschals later currculum, qui DCCC annorum crulicontinetur, os ferssectandm deereerant* The references to the ‘cycle of the 318 bishops (= Dionysius) and to Vieto- rius are both clear enough; what puzzles modem computists is Aldhelm’s statement that Sulpicius Seuerus was the author of the 84-year eycle.?Ibe- lieve that here, as in so many other instances, Professor Jones was on the right track, He rightly dismissed Aldhdm’s attribution as unbelievable, pointing out that Cummian, for example, had sai that the plac, date and author of the 84 were unknown, and that Bede—who was apparently familiar with the letter? ~had referred only to dubiicirculi* Jones then noted apas- sage Which occurs in all but one of the Sirmond group of manuscripts and ‘which he thought might explain Aldhelm’s confusion; the passage occurs im ‘mediately after the dating formulae which we discussed above: SVLPICIVS, “Christus natus et Sabino et Rufio consulbusVIM KHancas’ Christus ‘pssus duobus geminisconsulibus. A natvitate domini Sabino ct Rufino conulibus ‘aque ad pasionem eis Rufo delice et Rubella consuls gemini sub quibus Chi tus crocifinus estin de. VITL KL Apis suntan XXXI. et menses tre EIT G, {153% P,p 242 8,95 bisT Sulpicius Severus, Chron. IL 27 (Karl Halm (ed), Corpus Scriptorum Keclesasicorum “Latinorum | (Vienna 1865) 82) * head, 485, * Note that both Mac Carthy, exviand Jones, Bedae opera, 101, misconstrue the words of Aldhelm to mean that Rome had rejected the Victorian tables, when in fact therejee- tion was by the Britsh (and Irish). Lapidge and Herren 158, have trandlated the passage correctly, 3 Herren, 142, argues that ‘Bede had no copy of Aldhelm’s letter before him and was ig rorantof the date ofthe work’ and further, tat ‘he seemed to possess yeant knowledge off. * Jones, Bedae opera, 98.8 6 cRoINin, The passage, as Jones remarked, looks at first sight like ashort prologue to an Easter-table, Butts in fact made up of astatement from Sulpicius’s Chroni- cle! about the Nativity and ar item from a Victorian computus. We may sug- gest that perhaps Aldhelm had seen a manuscript of the Irish computus, ‘which contains the text of Anatolius's Canon paschalis—frequently cited by the Irish in support of their usage~as well as the above passage from Sulpi- ius, and that a rather vague memory associated the two in his mind.* Tf we could be sure, then, that the archetype was in Wessex by the third ‘quarter of the seventh century we would be that much closer to tracing the point at which it entered England. The most obvious suggestion would be that the manuscript was broaght to Malmesbury by Maeldub, founder of, that monastery and (apparently) Aldhelm’s predecessor there as abbot.? Un- fortunately, we know nothing about Méeldub’s Irish background, and his in- fluence on Aldhelm has lately been placed in question Nevertheless, we know from Aldhelm’s own writings that he was thoroughly familiar with the teachings of the Irish schools in his time® —he cites a line from Virgilius Maro Grammaticus* —and he seems to have been godfather to Aldirith,’ the Northumbrian king whose Irish connection are well-known,’ English con- nections with southern Ireland are well attested for the seventh century, as all readers of Bede's History will know. Indeed, there is some ground for say ing that the English presence in Ireland has been unduly overshadowed by the more obvious role which the [ona paruchia played in the development of Northumbrian schools. Travellers such as these could have been the means by which the Irish computus passed first to England and then to the conti- nent. Besides the Trish themselves, the Anglo-Saxons at Rath Mailsigi un- * Bischoff, Mitelalterliche Studion 1,282. The Chronicle wasrarein the seventh century, ‘but was used extensively by Adorn; see Denis Meehan (ed), Adamnan's ‘De locis sane {st Seriptores Latin Hiberniae 3 (Dublin 1958) 88,70 * gedae opera, 101. 2 See Plummer, i 310-11, + Lapidge, in Lapidge and Herren, 7, 9. This work labours under an excessive reluctance foadmitany Irish debtin Aldhelm's life and work, Witness hisletters tothe Anglo-Saxons Wiktfith and Heahfrith, Ewald, Epp Sands In the leer to Heanrith, enwaid, 29.1, Herzen and Lapiage ragges (p 7) that Aide helm may have known the (Irish? Hisperica Famin, though the statement (p 182 13) ‘that Aldhelm thereby provides a terminus ante quem for that work must be revised in the light of the present article, There are traces af Hisperic" vocabulary in the Irish com: patus, which would establish Tanallarity with the genre in Ireland a generation earlier ‘than Aldhelm, Note too that Diss y Diaz argues for Aldhelm's familiarity also withthe Deordine creaturarum (p37) Lapidge and Herren, p12: Byrne Irish kings, 104, 111.THE IRISH PROVENANCE OF BEDE'S COMPUTUS mas doubtedly remained in close contact with Northumbria, and they also had important contacts in Francia! The Frank Acgilbert, for instance, who spent the years AD 635-40 as a missionary in Wessex and some further years there as bishop of Dorchester before moving to Northumbria, was for many years before his English sojoum legendarum gratia scripturarum in Hiber- ‘nia His role at the synod of Whitby (AD 664) as eader of the ‘Roman’ par ty against the Irish of Lindisfarne shows clearly where his sympathies lay in the matter ofthe Easter-question, and his knowledge of the ‘orthodox’ cycle ‘may have been obtained during his Irish years. Acgilbert’s close association ‘with Wilfrid, both at the Whitby synod and in subsequent years? strongly suggests that the Frankish group in southem Ireland in the seventh century ‘were located close to, if not indeed in the same place as, the Anglo-Saxons, namely Réth Mailsigi. Only such ties can explain the extraordinary fact that ‘when, in AD 656, the Austrasian mayor ofthe palace, Grimoald, attempted his coup against the Merovingians, the young royal son Dagobert I was des patched in the company of bishop Desidecius of Poitiers to Ireland, and that after tite passage of some years one of the warring parties in Austrasia asked Wilfrid to arrange for the boy’s retum to Francia.* For Wilftid to have had such power he must have had close, personal contacts in southem Ireland,* and the obviotis place to look for such men is among the group of Anglo- Saxon and Frankish scholars there. It was possibly by these channels, and * See ep. Aanethe Lohaus, Die Merowingerwné England. MinchenerBetrage zur Me diviste und Renassance Forschung 1 (Munich 1974), and Eric Fletcher ‘Theifluence ‘of Merovingian Gaul on Northumbria i the wventh century’, Medieval drchacology 24 (1980) 65-86 2 pede, HEI: Colgrave and Mynot,284;Phunmeri,140-41;Lohaus, 46-47 2 Aeglvert was bishop of Pais rom c, AD 667/8 oc AD O80;ae Wild's explo from his see at Yorkin AD 678, he travelled to Rome and wat entertained onthe way both by Acgibert and by Dagobert Il, According to taditionatJouare, Acgilber¢ war» brother of the fis abbeas there, and hence a nephew of Ado‘, he founder Since Ado swat brother of Audoin, Aegiber must have ha connections ais with Rouen, He even wally retired tothe family monastery at Jouane and was buried ther, Such powerful Connections doubtless helped Irish monks in Frarci, a wellas Anglo Saxons. See Fugen Swig-Dietantnchen Leurescne my. Janmmuneer rere 2 22 (1893) 90-134: 190 nda 176 = Spetantine Gallen (2 vols Manich1976-1)£179-230:p 216 anda 176. 4 See Ewig Noch einmal rum Staststrech Grimoal’Spatanties Gallien 573-7; Paul Grosjean ‘Ghonotogie de 5. Fell Notes aglogrophie elique 38, Analcte Bol- [pnaiane 75 (1987) 379-03. £ Teannot agre with Groxean’s claim, $91-92 n3, hat Tona was the place of Dagoberts exile, and not licand,Itseems to me unlikely thet Wilfrid would have Been on such good term withthe monks ofTona after the eventsof Vhiby.246 6 cROININ not by the better-known route from Iona to Northumbria, that the Trish ‘computusmade its way to Jarrow. ‘We do not know for certain, then, at what date the Irish collection tra- velled to England, One theoretical means of transmission has been suggested above in relation to Aldhelm, but there are other routes possible and the date of first reception in England could likewise be different, Bede himself is the source for our knowledge that many prominent Anglo-Saxon clerics in the late-seventh or early-eighth century had been Irish trained, some even (like ‘Tuda, a bishop of the Northumbrians) educated and consecrated in Ireland, [Any one of these, or of the group located at Raith Mailsigi, could have brought a transcript of the collection directly or indirectly to Northumbria It may have been in circulation in Northumbria before the foundation of ‘Wearmouth in AD 674 and of Jarrow in AD 681/2. Wehave scen that it may also have been available to Aidhelm at roughly the same time. Both these suggestions would seem to support the manuscript evidence that the collec- tion received its definitive form in southern Ireland c. AD 658 and that it may have been taken to England shortly thereafter. When and how it tra- velled to the continent is a question that cannot, I think, be answered with the available evidence. Scholars have laboured to show that Bede admired and revered the Irish— except in the matter of the Easter-question. Even so careful a scholar as Charles Jones has been led toremark that ‘to fervent pro-Irish historians who belabor Bede for his untriendly remarks, it must be pointed out that practi cally all our evidence of early Irish intellectual activity comes tous from or through Bede’. Itis acurious defence, surely. Bede leamed a great deal from the Irish, particularly in the computistical field,* and yet his comments on the Irish Easter only once make the point that the southern Irish, at least, “had long since leamed to celebrate Faster in accordance with canonical cus- tom’? But even this grudgingstatement was intended more as condemnation, of the northem Irish than aspraise of their southern compatriots. Jones sug gests that Bede didnot know the provenance of the Jarrow computus, which. 4 Bedae opera, 9922. 2 This is the whole thrust of Jones's pioneering work, Subsequent research has shown. "HE II (Colgrave and Mynors, 218; Plummer i181). Note, for example, that Bede in bis Vita Cuthbert! 39 (Bertram Colgrave (ed), Tio ‘Lives’ of Saint Quthbert (New York 1969) 282-4) has Cuthbert utter the following words om his deathbed: “Cum iis auters ‘gui ab unitate catholicae pacis uel pacha non svo tempore celebrando, uel perserte ie ‘endo aberrant, uobie sit nulla communi’ in fact, however, Cuthbert left Ripon some years before Whitby rather than accept the Roman Easter! (Plummer, i 528). For aerit Cal appraisl of Bede's viewson te Irish see Margaret Pepperdene ‘Bede's Historia Becle- sastca: anew perspective’, Cetica 4 (1958) 258-62,THE IRISH PROVENANCE OF BEDE's COMPUTUS 247 may have been accumulated before his interest in it; even so ‘itis notable that no Irish teacher or school oreven the word Scott is mentioned through- out his computistical works’. Bede nowhere makes acknowledgement of ‘what he had come to know about the ‘orthodox’ Easter-eckoning from the Irish, and very little of what the monks of Lona and Lindisfame had conti buted to the development of Northumbrian schools. In this, a in so many ‘things, he was aman before his time? } edae opera, 181. Lwish to thank Profesior Wesley Stevens, Univesity of Winnipes, forreadinga draft of ‘thiepaper and for making some helpfuleuggestion forts improvernent.