The Vision of Adamnan

 1. Noble and wonderful is the Lord of the Elements, and great and
marvellous are His might and His power. For He calleth to Himself in
Heaven the charitable and merciful, the meek and considerate; but He
consigns and casts down to Hell the impious and unprofitable host of the
children of the curse. For upon the blessed He bestows the hidden
treasures and the manifold wages of Heaven, while He inflicts a
diversity of torments, in many kinds, upon the sons of death.
2. Now there are multitudes of the saints and righteous ones of the
Lord of Creation, and of the apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ, unto
whom have been revealed the secrets and the mysteries of the Heavenly
Kingdom, and the golden wages of the righteous; likewise the divers
pains of Hell, with them that are set in the midst thereof. For unto the
Apostle Peter was shown the four-cornered vessel, let down from
Heaven,^[1] with four cords to it, and they with sound as sweet as any
music. Also, the Apostle Paul was caught up to Heaven,^[2] and heard the
ineffable words of the angels, and the speech of them that dwell in
Heaven. Moreover, on the day of Mary’s death, all the apostles were
brought to look upon the pains and miserable punishments of the
unblest; for the Lord commanded the angels of the West^[3] to open up the
earth before the face of the apostles, that they might see and consider
Hell with all its torments, even as Himself had told them, long time
before His Passion.
3. Finally, to Adamnán ua Thinne, the High Scholar of the Western
World, were revealed the things which are here recorded; for his soul
departed from out his body on the feast of John Baptist, and was
conveyed to the celestial realm, where the heavenly angels are, and to
Hell, with its rabble rout. For no sooner had the soul issued from out the
body, than there appeared to it the angel that had been its guardian
while in the flesh, and bore it away with him to view, firstly, the
Kingdom of Heaven.
4. Now the first land to which they come is the Land of Saints. A
bright land of fair weather is that country. In it are diverse and
wondrous companies, clad in cassocks of white linen, with hoods of
radiant white upon their heads. The saints of the Eastern world form a
company apart in the East of the Land of Saints; the saints of the Western
world are to the West of the same land; the saints of the Northern world
and of the South, in their great concourse, are to the South and North.
For every one that is in the Land of Saints may freely listen to the music,
and may contemplate the vault,^[4] wherein are the nine classes of Heaven,
after their rank and order.
5. For one spell, then, the saints keep singing marvellous music in
praise of God; for another, they are listening to the music of the heavenly
host; for the saints have no other need than to listen to the music that
they hear, and to contemplate the radiance that they see, and to sate
themselves with the fragrance that there is in that land. The wonderful
Lord is face to face with them, in the Southeast,^[5] and a crystal veil
between; to the South is a golden portico, and through it they discern the
form and adumbration of the people of Heaven. No veil, however, nor
cloud is between the Host of Heaven and the Host of the Saints, but
those are ever manifest and present unto these, in a place that is over
against them. A circle of fire surrounds this place, yet do they all pass in
and out, and it does scathe to none.
6. Now, the Twelve Apostles and Mary the pure Virgin form a band
apart, about the mighty Lord. Next to the Apostles are the Patriarchs and
Prophets, and the disciples of Jesus. On the other side are holy Virgins, at
Mary’s right hand, and with no great space between. Babes and
striplings are about them on every side, and the bird-choirs of the
heavenly folk, making their minstrelsy. And amid these companies,
bands of angels, guardians of the souls, do perpetual suit and service in
the Royal presence. No man is there in this present life who may describe
those assemblies, or who may tell of the very manner of them. And the
bands and companies which are in the land of saints abide continually in
even such great glory as aforesaid, until the great Parliament^[6] of Doom,
when the righteous judge, on the Day of Judgment, shall dispose them in
their stations and abiding places, where they shall contemplate God’s
countenance, with no veil nor shadow between, through ages
everlasting.
7. But great and vast as are the splendour and the radiance in the
Land of Saints, even as hath been said, more vast, a thousand times, the
splendour which is in the region of the Heavenly Host, about the Lord’s
own throne. This throne is fashioned like unto a canopied chair,^[7] and
beneath it are four columns of precious stone. Though one should have
no minstrelsy at all, save the harmonious music of those four columns,
yet would he have his fill of melody and delight. Three stately birds are
perched upon that chair, in front of the King, their minds intent upon the
Creator throughout all ages, for that is their vocation. They celebrate the
eight [canonical] hours, praising and adoring the Lord, and the
Archangels accompany them. For the birds and the Archangels lead the
music, and then the Heavenly Host, with the Saints and Virgins, make
response.
8. Over the head of the Glorious One that sitteth upon the royal
throne is a great arch, like unto a wrought helmet, or a regal diadem: ^[8]
and the eye which should behold it would forthwith melt away. Three
circles are round about it, separating it from the host, and by no
explanation may the nature of them be known. Six thousand thousands,
in guise of horses and of birds, surround the fiery chair, which still burns
on, without end or term.
9. Now to describe the mighty Lord that is upon that throne is not for
any, unless Himself should do so, or should so direct the heavenly
dignitaries. For none could tell of his vehemence and might, His glow^[9]
and splendour, His brightness and loveliness, His liberality and
steadfastness, nor of the multitude of His Angels and Archangels, which
chant their songs to Him. His messengers keep going to and from Him,
ever and anon, with brief messages to each assemblage, telling to the one
host of His mildness and mercy, and to the other of His sternness and
harshness.
10. Whoso should stand facing about him, East and West, South and
North, would behold on each side of him a majestic countenance, seven
times as radiant as the sun. No human form thereto, with head or foot,
may be discerned, but a fiery mass, burning on for ever, while one and
all are filled with awe and trembling before Him. Heaven and earth are
filled full with the light of Him, and a radiance as of a royal star encircles
Him.^[10] Three thousand different songs are chanted by each several choir
about Him, and sweeter than all the varied music of the world is each
individual song of them.
11. Furthermore, in this wise is the fashion of that city, wherein that
throne is set. Seven crystal walls of various hue surround it, each wall
higher than the wall that is before it.^[11] The floor, moreover, and the
lowest base of that city, is of fair crystal, with the sun’s countenance
upon it(?), shot with blue, and purple, and green, and every hue beside.
12. A gentle folk, most mild, most kindly, lacking in no goodly
quality, are they that dwell within that city; for none come there, and
none abide there ever, save holy youths, and pilgrims zealous for God.
But as for their array and ordinance, hard is it to understand how it is
contrived, for none turns back nor side to other, but the unspeakable
power of God has set, and keeps, them face to face, in ranks and lofty
coronels, all round the throne, circling it in brightness and bliss, their
faces all towards God.
13. There is a chancel rail^[12] of silver between each two choirs,
cunningly wrought upon with red gold and silver, and choice rows of
precious stones, variegated with diverse gems, and against that lattice
are seats and canopies^[13] of carbuncle. Between every two chief
companies are three precious stones, softly vocal with sweet melody, and
the upper halves of them are lighted lamps. Seven thousand angels, as it
were great candles, shine and illumine that city round about; seven
thousand others in the midst thereof are aflame for ever, throughout the
royal city. The men of all the world, if gathered into one place, many as
they are, would derive sustenance enough from the sweet savour of any
one of those candles.
14. Now, such of the world’s inhabitants as attain not to that city
after their life is spent, and to whom a dwelling-place therein is allotted
after the Words of Doom shall have been spoken, find a restless and
unstable habitation, until the coming of Judgment, on heights and
hilltops, and in marshy places. Even so fare those hordes and companies,
with the guardian angel of every soul in their midst, serving and tending
them. In the main doorway of the city they are confronted by a veil of
fire and a veil of ice, smiting perpetually one against the other. The noise
and din of these veils, as they clash together, are heard throughout the
world, and the seed of Adam, should they hear that din, would be
seized thereat with trembling and intolerable dismay. Faint and dazed
are the wicked at that din; howbeit, on the side of the Heavenly Host,
nought is heard of that rude discord, save a very little only, and that
sweeter than any music.
15. Awful is that city, and wonderful to describe; for a little out of
much is that which we have told concerning its various orders, and the
wonders of it. Seldom indeed may a spirit, after its converse and
co-habitation with the body, in slumber and repose, in freedom and
luxury, win its way to the throne of the Creator, unguided of the angels;
for hard of essay are the seven Heavens, nor is any one of them easier
than the rest. Six guarded doors confront all those of mortal race who
reach the Kingdom. There sits a porter and warder of the Heavenly
Host, keeping guard over each door. At the door of that Heaven which
is nearest on the hither side sits the Archangel Michael, and with him
two youths,^[14] with iron rods in their laps to scourge and smite the
sinners as they pass through this the first grief and torment of the path
they have to tread.
16. At the door of the next Heaven, the Archangel Ariel is warder,
and with him two youths,^[15] with fiery scourges in their hands,
wherewith they scourge the wicked across the face and eyes. A river of
fire, its surface an ever-burning flame, lies before that door. Abersetus is
the angel’s name who keeps watch over that river, and purges the souls
of the righteous, and washes them in the stream, according to the
amount of guilt that cleaves to them, until they become pure and shining
as is the radiance of the stars. Hard by is a pleasant spring, flowery and
fragrant, to cleanse and solace the souls of the righteous, though it
annoys and scalds the souls of the guilty, and does away nought from
them, but it is increase of pain and torment that comes upon them there.
Sinners arise from out of it in grief and immeasurable sadness, but the
righteous proceed with joy and great delight to the door of the third
Heaven.
17. Above this, a fiery furnace keeps ever burning, its flames reaching
a height of twelve thousand cubits; through it the righteous pass in the
twinkling of an eye, but the souls of sinners are baked and scorched
therein for twelve years, and then their guardian angel conveys them to
the fourth door. About the entrance door of the fourth Heaven is a fiery
stream, like the foregoing. It is surrounded by a wall of fire, in breadth
twelve thousand measured cubits, through which the souls of the
righteous pass as though it were not there, while the souls of the sinful
tarry therein, amid pain and tribulation, for another twelve years, until
their guardian angel bears them to the door of the fifth Heaven.
18. In that place is a fiery river, which is unlike all other rivers, for in
the midst of it, is a strange kind of whirlpool, wherein the souls of the
wicked keep turning round and round, and there they abide for the
space of sixteen years; the righteous, however, win through it
straightway, without any hindrance. So soon as the due time cometh for
the sinners to be released thereout, the angel strikes the water with a
rod, hard as though it were of stone, and uplifts the spirits with the end
of that rod. Then Michael bears them up to the door of the sixth Heaven.
but no pain nor torment is meted out to the spirits at that door, but there
they are illumined with the lustre and the brilliancy of precious stones.
Then Michael cometh to the Angel of the Trinity, and one on either side
they usher the soul into the presence of God.
19. Infinite and beyond all telling is the welcome wherewith the Lord
and the Heavenly Host then receive the soul, if he, be a pure and
righteous soul; if, however, he be an unrighteous and unprofitable soul,
harsh and ungentle is the reception of him by the Mighty Lord. For He
saith to the Heavenly Angels, ‘Take, O Heavenly Angels, this
unprofitable soul, and deliver him into the hand of Lucifer, that he may
plunge him and utterly extinguish him in Hell’s profound, through ages
everlasting.’
20. Thereupon that wretched soul is parted, fearfully, sternly,
awfully, from sight of the Heavenly Kingdom, and of God’s countenance.
Then utters he a groan, heavier than any groan, as he comes into the
Devil’s presence, after beholding the bliss of the Kingdom of Heaven. He
is then deprived of the guidance of the Archangels, in whose company he
had come unto Heaven. Twelve fiery dragons swallow up every spirit,
one after the other, until the lowest dragon lands him in the Devil’s
maw. There doth he experience the consummation of all evil, in the
Devil’s own presence, throughout all ages.
21. After that his guardian angel had revealed to Adamnán’s spirit
these visions of the Heavenly Kingdom, and of the first progress of
every soul after parting from its body, he brought him to visit the
nethermost Hell, with all its pains, and its crosses, and its torments.
Now, the first region whereunto he came was a land burnt black, waste
and scorched, but with no punishment at all therein. A glen, filled with
fire, was on the further side of it; huge the flame of it, extending beyond
the margin on either hand. Black its base, red the middle, and the upper
part thereof. Eight serpents were in it, with eyes like coals of fire.
22. An enormous bridge spans the glen, reaching from one bank to
the other; high the middle of it, but lower its two extremities. Three
companies seek to pass over it, but not all succeed. One company find the
bridge to be of ample width, from beginning to end, until they win
across the fiery glen, safe and sound, fearless and undismayed. The
second company, when entering upon it, find it narrow at first, but
broad afterwards, until they, in like manner, fare across that same glen,
after great peril. But for the last company the bridge is broad at first, but
strait and narrow thereafter, until they fall from the midst of it into that
same perilous glen, into the throats of those eight red-hot serpents, that
have their dwelling-place in the glen.
23. Now the folk to whom that path was easy were the chaste, the
penitent, the diligent, they who had zealously borne a bloody testimony
to God. The band who found the path narrow at first, but afterwards
broad, were they who had hardly been constrained to do God’s will, but
had afterwards converted their constraint into the willing service of
God. They, however, to whom this way was broad at first, but strait
thereafter, were sinners who had listened to the precepts in God’s word,
and after having heard, fulfilled them not.
24. Furthermore, vast multitudes abide beyond, feeble and powerless,
upon the shore of perpetual pain, in the land of utter darkness. Every
other hour the pain ebbs away from them, and the next hour it returns
upon them again. Now these are they in whom good and evil were
equally balanced, and on the Day of Doom, judgment shall be passed
between them, and their good shall quench their evil on that day; and
then shall they be brought to the Haven of Life, in God’s own presence,
through ages everlasting.
25. Another great company is there, near to the last-named group,
and monstrous their torment. And this is their plight: they are fettered to
fiery columns, a sea of fire about them up to their chins, and about their
middle fiery chains, in the shape of vipers. Their faces are aflame with
agony. They who are tormented thus are sinners, fratricides,^[16] ravagers
of God’s Church, and merciless Erenachs,^[17] who, in presence of the relics
of the Saints, had been set over the Church’s tithes and oblations,^[18] and
had alienated these riches to their private store, away from the Lord’s
guests and needy ones.
26. Great multitudes there are, standing in blackest mire up to their
girdles. Short cowls of ice are on them. Without rest or intermission,
through all time, their girdles are perpetually scorching them with
alternate cold and heat. Demon hosts surround them, with fiery clubs^[19]
in their hands, striking them over the head, though they struggle against
them continually. These wretches all have their foreheads to the North,
and a rough, sharp wind blowing full upon their foreheads, in addition
to every other woe. Red showers of fire are raining on them, every night
and every day, and they cannot ward them off, but must needs endure
them throughout all ages, wailing and making moan.
27. Some of them have streams of fire in the hollows of their visages;
some, fiery nails through their tongues ; others, through their heads,
from side to side. They who are so punished are thieves and liars, and
they who have practised treachery, reviling robbery and rapine; judges
of false judgment and contentious persons ; women who have dealt in
poison and spells, reivers,^[20] and learned men who have practised heresy.
Another great throng is set upon islands, in the midst of the fiery sea.
About them is a silver wall [built] of the raiment and the alms [which
they had bestowed]. These are they who have practised mercy without
zeal,^[21] and have remained in loose living, and in the bonds of their sin,
until the hour of their death; but their alms are a bulwark unto them,
amid the fiery sea, until the Judgment, and after Judgment they shall be
brought into the Haven of Life.
28. Another great multitude is there, clad in red and fiery mantles
down to their middle.^[22] Their trembling and their outcries make
themselves heard, even unto the firmament. An unspeakable throng of
demons is throttling them, holding in leash the while raw-hided, stinking
hounds, which they incite to devour and consume them. Red glowing
chains^[23] are constantly ablaze about their necks. Every alternate hour
they are borne up to the firmament, and the next hour they are dashed
down into Hell’s profound. Now they that are punished in this wise are
the regulars who have transgressed their rule,^[24] and become loathers of
piety; also, impostors who have deceived and seduced the multitude,
and have undertaken miracles and wonders which they are not able to
perform. Moreover, the children that are tearing the men in orders, are
they who were committed to them for amendment, but they amended
them not, neither reproved them for their sins.
29. Thereafter, is another vast company; East and West they go,
unresting, across the fiery flagstones, at war with demon hosts.
Innumerable showers of red-hot arrows are rained upon them by the
demons. Running, they go on without stop or stay, making for a black
lake and a black river, that they may quench those arrows therein. A
weeping and wailing, truly miserable and piteous, do the sinners make in
those waters, for in them they only meet with augmentation of their
pain. Now they that are punished thus are cheating artificers, weavers,
and merchants; judges that judged falsely, both Jews, and others
likewise; impious kings, Erenachs of lewd and crooked ways, adulterous
women, and the panders that destroyed them by their evil practices.
Beyond the land of torment is a fiery wall; seven times more horrible
and cruel is it than the land of pain itself. Howbeit, no soul dwells
therein till Judgment, but it is the province of the demons only, until the
Day of Judgment.
30. At that time, woe unto him that shall dwell amid those pains, in
company with the Devil’s own tribe! Woe unto him that is not ware of
that tribe! Woe unto him over whom a vile and savage demon is set in
dominion! Woe unto him that shall be hearkening unto the spirits,
making moan and complaining unto the Lord, for the speedy coming of
the Day of judgment, that they may know whether they shall find any
remission of their doom; for they get no respite ever, save only for three
hours on every Sunday. Woe unto him unto whom that land shall be for
a lasting inheritance, even for ever and ever! For this is the nature of it:
Mountains, caverns, and thorny brakes; plains, bare and parched, with
stagnant, serpent-haunted lochs. The soil is rough and sandy, very
rugged, icebound. Broad fiery flagstones bestrew the plain. Great seas
are there, with horrible abysses, wherein is the Devil’s constant
habitation and abiding-place. Four mighty rivers cross the middle of it: a
river of fire, a river of snow, a river of poison, a river of black, murky
water. In these wallow eager hosts of demons, after making their holiday
and their delight in tormenting the souls.
31. What time the holy companies of the Heavenly Host are singing
the eight hours with harmonious melody, praising the Lord with
cheerfulness and great gladness, then do the souls of the wicked utter
piteous and weary wailings, as they are buffeted unceasingly by the
demon hordes.
Such then are the pains and torments which his guardian angel
revealed to the spirit of Adamnán, after his journey towards the
Heavenly Kingdom. After which he was borne in the twinkling of an eye
through the golden forecourt,^[25] and through the crystal veil, to the Land
of Saints, whereunto he had been brought at first, after his departure
from the body. But when he bethought him to rest and tarry in that land,
he heard, through the veil, the angel’s voice enjoining him to return again
into that body whence he had departed, and to rehearse in courts and
assemblies, and in the great congregations of laymen and of clerics, the
rewards of Heaven and the pains of Hell, even as his guardian angel had
revealed them unto him.
32. This, then, was the doctrine that Adamnán continually taught to
the congregations, from that time forth, so long as he remained in life.
This, too, is what he preached in the great assemblies of the men of
Éire,^[26] wherein the Constitution of Adamnán was imposed upon the
Gaels, and the women were emancipated by Adamnán and by Finnachta
Fledach,^[27] King of Éire, and the princes of Éire, of one accord. Such, too,
were the tidings which Patrick, son of Calpurnius, at the Gospel-dawn,
was ever wont to proclaim -- to wit, the rewards of Heaven and the
pains of Hell -- to all them that would believe in the Lord, through his
teaching, and would accept his guidance of their souls.^[28] That, too, is the
doctrine most constantly taught by Peter and Paul, and the [other]
apostles likewise, to wit, the enumeration of the rewards and pains
which had been revealed to them in like manner. And so did Silvester,
Abbot of Rome, teach Constantine, son of Helen, High King of the
World, in the General Synod when he offered Rome to Paul and to
Peter.^[29] Even so did Fabian, successor to Peter, teach Philip, son of
Gordian, the King of Rome, whereby he believed in the Lord, and many
thousands beside believed in that hour.^[30] For he was the first King of
Rome that believed in the Saviour, Jesus Christ.
33. And these are the tidings which Elias declares continually unto the
souls of the righteous, under the Tree of Life, which is in Paradise. So
soon as Elias opens his book in order to instruct the spirits, the souls of
the righteous, in form of bright white birds, repair to him from every
side. Then he tells them, first, of the wages of the righteous, the joys and
delights of the Heavenly Realm, and right glad thereat are all the throng.
After that he tells them of the pains and torments of Hell, and the woes
of Doomsday; and easy it is to mark the look of sorrow that is upon his
face, and upon the face of Enoch; and these are the two sorrows of the
Heavenly Kingdom. Then Elias shuts his book, and thereupon the birds
make exceeding great lamentation, straining their wings against their
bodies till streams of blood issue from them, in dismay of the woes of
Hell and of the Day of Doom.
34. Now, seeing that they who make this moan are the Saints to
whom have been allotted everlasting mansions in the Heavenly Realm,
how much more fitting were it for the men that are yet on earth to
ponder, even with tears of blood, upon the Judgment Day, and upon the
pains of Hell. For at that time will the Lord render due recompense to
every one on earth; that is to say, rewards to the righteous, and
punishments to the guilty. And at that very time shall the guilty be set in
the abyss of everlasting pain, and the book of the Word of God shall
then be closed, under the curse of the Judge of Doom, for ever. But the
saints and the righteous, the charitable and the merciful, shall be borne to
the right hand of God, to a lasting habitation in the Kingdom of Heaven,
there to abide without age or death, end or term, for ever and ever.
35. This, then, is the manner of that City: A Kingdom without pride,
or vanity, or falsehood, or outrage, or deceit, or pretence,^[31] or blushing,
or shame, or reproach, or insult, or envy, or arrogance, or pestilence, or
disease, or poverty, or nakedness, or death, or extinction, or hail, or
snow, or wind, or rain, or din, or thunder, or darkness, or cold—a noble,
admirable, ethereal realm, endowed with the wisdom,^[32] and radiance,
and fragrance of a plenteous land, wherein is the enjoyment of every
excellence.

• Acts x. 11.
• 2 Cor. xii. 2–4. Cp. also Galat. i. 12, 16; Ephes. i. 3; and the
  Apocryphal Acts of Paul,
  Ante-Nicene Library, vol. xvi.
• With the ancient Irish, the abode of the departed was beyond the
  Atlantic, towards the setting sun; so, in the Hindu mythology, Yama,
  King of the Dead, crossed the stream towards the sunset, first showing
  the way by which all men were to follow him. This natural idea has been
  shared by many barbarous races.
• Vault; inna luinge, genitive of long, = ship.
  Qy.
  here = ‘nave’?
• South-east, possibly because that is the direction of Jerusalem, the
  Holy City.
• The word used is mórdáil, the name of the Irish National Assembly,
  or States-General. See
  ante,
  Sec. 2.
• Or, ‘a chair highly wrought,’ inna chathair chumtachta.
• The comparison of the arch above the head of the Heavenly King to
  a wrought helmet or a regal diadem, may have been suggested by the
  picturesque and chivalrous custom of the Irish kings recorded in the
  ancient Irish poem upon the Fair of Carman, whence it appears that their
  head-dress on ordinary state occasions was a wrought helmet, the royal
  crown being reserved for the day of battle.
• ‘Glow,’ derge, lit. ‘redness,’ which, Mr. Whitley Stokes suggests,
  symbolises divine love, creative power, royalty.’ If so, cp. Dante’s
  description of a ‘goodly crimson’ as ‘questo nobilissimo colore.’
• Or, qy. ‘comet’?
• Compare the description of the seven walls of Ecbatana, of different hue, in Herodotus, Book i.
• So Windisch trans. crand cairgil, =
  cancelli.
• ‘Seats,’ or qy. stalls; the author appears to have in mind the construction of a Christian church. Cp. note to ch. 31 post. ‘Canopies,’ lit. ‘crowns.’
• Or ‘virgins,’ W. S
• See last note.
• Or ‘parricides,’ fingalach, which O’Donovan translates both as ‘a
  fratricide, one who has killed a tribesman,’ and ‘parricidal’ (Supplement
  to O’Reilly’s Dictionary).
• The Erenach, or aircindech, was the official guardian of Church
  temporalities.
• Dánaib, which signifies ‘gifts,’ ‘arts,’ etc.
• pluic, which W. S. trans. ‘maces,’ or ‘clubs.’
• ‘Reivers,’ aithdibergaig, which W. S. trans. ‘men who mark
  themselves to the Devil,’ but expresses doubt on the subject, and cites
  authorities which seem to imply the sense of rapine or plunder.
• Or ‘without remission, but they,’ etc.
• Co lár, which W. S. trans. ‘down to the ground.’
• Rotha, so Windisch from ruth; W. S. trans. ‘wheels’ from roth.
• Or, ‘the ordained who have broken their vows.’
• Erdam, which, Mr. Whitley Stokes says, was the name used by the Irish ecclesiastical writers as equivalent to the Greek
  pronaos or narthex. See notes i and 2 to Ch. 13, ante.
• Cp. ante,
  Sec. 2.
• The Mórdáil at which these laws were passed was apparently held
  in the year 697, while Finnachta Fledach had been assassinated in 695.
  This anachronism affords yet further evidence of the comparatively late
  composition of our version of the Vision.
• anmchairdine, ‘soul-friendship’; anmchara, ‘soul-friend,’ is the Irish
  name for a father-confessor.
• Professor Bryce considers that the first extant mention of the
  Donation of Constantine is contained in the letter of Pope Hadrian I to
  Charlemagne, dated A. D. 777 (Holy Roman Empire, ch. vii. p. 112 note,
  4th ed.). If so, the allusion is couched in very general and obscure terms.
  Döllinger, who dates the letter in question 775, holds that it refers not to what is commonly understood by the Donation of Constantine, but to
  gifts of land in various parts of Italy, afterwards seized by the
  Lombards. The forgery of the Donation would appear to be later than
  750, but prior to 774, as it refers to the state of things existing before the
  first Frankish settlement in Italy, which took place in 774. In any case, it
  is later than the time of Adamnán.
• Philip succeeded to Gordian iii. in 224, but was not his son, being
  an Arab. He favoured the Christians, and corresponded with Origen,
  whence arose a report, countenanced by Eusebius, that he had embraced
  Christianity, but for this there is no authority.
• Taithlech, so W. S.