ared to the men who
witnessed them. We find the first record of the Northern raiders under
the year 795: "The burning of Lambay by the Gentiles. The shrines were
broken and plundered." This Lambay is an island of considerable extent,
off the Dublin coast, some six or seven miles north of Howth. It rises
gradually from the south extremity into a purple cliff of porphyry
facing the northern sea, and on the sheltered slope under the sun a
little church colony with schools and dwelling-houses had been built.
Against this peaceful solitude the raiders came, burning and plundering,
and when they rowed away again in their long ships towards the north, a
smoldering black ruin bore testimony that they were indeed Gentiles,
unblessed by Christian baptism.

Three years later the little island of St. Patrick, six miles north of
Lambay, met with a like fate. It was "burned by the Gentiles," as the
Chronicles say. And from that time forth we hear of their long ships
again and again, hovering hawk-like around the coasts of Ireland and
Scotland. In 802, and again in 806, the Scottish Iona of Colum of the
Churches was raided, and the next year we find the pirates making a
descent upon Inismurray, off the Sligo coast, between the summit of
Knocknarea and the cliffs of Slieve League. This last settlement of
saints and scholars was founded by Molaise,--he who had pronounced
sentence of exile on Colum of the Churches, the banishment that was the
beginning of grace for the northern Picts. His oratory still remains on
the island, beside the Church of the Men, the Church of the Women and
the circular stone fort, which was very likely built to guard against
new attacks, after this first raid. There are holy wells and altars
there also, and Inismurray, better than any other place, gives us a
picture of the old scholastic life of that remote and wonderful time.

Five years later, the Northern raiders made their way further round the
coast, under the shadow of the western mountains and the great cliffs of
Achill; we read of "a slaughter of the people of Connemara by the
Gentiles" in that year, and the year following, other battles with
Gentiles are recorded in the same part of Ireland.

In 818, if we are to believe the Annalist, a singular thing happened:
"An army was led by Murcad, having the Ui-Neill of the North with him.
Concobar king of Ireland with the Ui-Neill of the South and the
Leinstermen came from the South on the other hand. When th