into France. The King of
Ireland being informed of his arrival, would on no account permit him
to visit him, nor suffer him in his presence. But Eochaidh soon found
an opportunity to execute his design; for one day, perceiving the King
sitting on the banks of the Loire, he hid himself secretly in an
opposite grove on the other side, and shot Niall through the body with
an arrow; the wound was mortal, and he died instantly" ("General
History of Ireland," pp. 311--313). According to O'Donovan's
translation of "Muir N'Icht," Niall lived long enough to reach his
fleet at Boulogne, where he expired.

Notwithstanding, then, Lanigan's positive assertion, it is quite
evident from Keating's history that King Niall twice invaded Armorica;
first, after he had devastated the Island of Britain in the ninth year
of his reign, when St. Patrick was captured, and again in the twenty-
seventh year of his reign, when he sailed directly from Ireland to Gaul
and expired at Boulogne.

The events may be briefly stated as follows: Niall succeeded Criomthan
in the year 376. In the ninth year of his reign, or A.D. 385, he
prepared an expedition against the Picts, who were harassing the Scots
settlers in North Britain. Having completed his task, he overran
England, and finished his raid by crossing over to Armorica, before
returning triumphant to Ireland with St. Patrick amongst his captives.

Now St. Patrick, who was born in the year 373, passed his thirteenth
and fourteenth years while King Niall was chastising the Picts in
Scotland and ravaging Britain; but he had reached his fifteenth year in
the year 388, when the Irish fleet sailed from Armorica to Ireland. The
words of the Saint in his Epistle to Coroticus: "Have I not tender
mercy towards the nation which formerly took me captive," place the
Saint's capture by the Irish Scots beyond doubt, whilst they confirm
Keating's declaration that King Niall captured St. Patrick in his first
raid to Armorica.

The capture of the Saint in Armorica is confirmed by the Scholiast, by
the Tripartite Life, and by Probus. St. Patrick, as we have already
seen, was captured while residing at his father's "villula" in the
suburban district of Bonaven Tabernise, or Bononia, where the Roman
encampment stood. This account harmonises with the "Celtic Legend,"
which narrates that at that period, "when Bononia was invaded by the
Irish pirates, a mutiny broke out among the soldiers in the encampment,
which rende