him among the Mochtheine, who resided in the district
of Armagh. In either case, his portrayal of Patrick as
a conquering hero and a patriarch in the Old Testament
tradition is clearly a piece of propaganda for the church
of Armagh. His Life played a crucial role in assisting
Armagh’s alliance with the Uí Néill dynasty, and by
insisting upon Armagh’s conformity on the Easter
question helped establish her claims over the oldest
churches in the country, namely those of Auxilius and
Isserninus in the midlands and east (Vita Patricii, I
19:3–4, p. 92). Muirchú says that they were conferred
with lower orders on the day Patrick was created
bishop, in order to be sent as his helpers.
The principal MS witnesses to Muirchú’s Life are
the early-eighth-century Book of Armagh (A), the
incomplete eleventh-century text in Brussels, Bib-
lioth–eque Royale (B), and the late-eighth-century frag-
ments in Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek,
ser.n. 3642. The Vienna fragment represents a better
version of the “B-text,” which is sometimes superior
to A, showing that Muirchú’s Life had a separate
transmission outside of Armagh circles. Muirchú’s
Life falls into two main parts. The first section (I 1–12)
tells of the story of his early years, his captivity,
escape, and return home; his decision to go to Rome
for training in the religious life; but how, on his way
there, he decides to stay with bishop Germanus of
Auxerre. Having remained with him for many years,
Patrick is summoned in a vision to return to Ireland.
On his way, he learns that Palladius, the archdeacon
to Pope Celestine entrusted by him with a mission to
the “wild Irish,” had died. Patrick goes to bishop Ama-
torex nearby and is finally consecrated bishop by him,
and he then sets out for Ireland. So far, the narrative
is straightforward and unadorned. The first section
ends with Patrick’s encounter with Miliucc, his former
slave-master, and his celebration of his first Easter in
Ireland on the plain of Brega, close to the royal seat
of Tara.
With Patrick’s arrival in Ireland, Muirchú’s account
(I 10 ff.) takes on the character of a full narrative. The
later chapters (I 13–22) deal with his confrontation
with king Lóegaire of Tara, his contest of miracles with
the king’s druids, Lóegaire’s subsequent conversion,
and Patrick’s setting forth from Tara to convert the
Irish. Muirchú here seems to have followed and elab-
orated upon a more primitive narrative, which in some
form was also known to Tírechán, but he gave it viv-
idness and detail. He was certainly familiar with
Patrick’s Confessio, upon which he is dependent in the
opening chapters. He evidently also drew upon some
other vernacular material of great age, both oral and
written, concerning Patrick. There then follows a num-
ber of brief stories in the order and content of which
texts A and B differ. Armagh then has a colophon
closing Book I and opening II. From II 4 onward, this
deals with Patrick’s final days, his imminent death in
Saul, County Down, on March 17 at the patriarchal
age of 120, and his burial at Dún Lethglaisse (Down-
patrick).
Muirchú claimed at the outset to write “in a poor
style” (Prologue 3), but that, as Bieler put it (1974), is
“a hagiographical commonplace” and “is belied....
by the very context in which it is made.” His style at
times is full of rhetorical colores, and some of his
episodes have literary merit. As a piece of hagiography,
it falls in terms of literary accomplishment between
his predecessor Cogitosus, to whom he is superior in
Latinity and literary ability, and Adomnán’s Vita
Columbae. His principal source is the Vulgate Bible,
but he seems also to have some limited knowledge,
however it was acquired, of classical literature,
because he quotes (II 8:1) one line of Virgil, Aeneid
viii, 369, and one line of Caelius Sedulius, Carmen
paschaleiii, 221, as well phrases borrowed from
Jerome and Sulpicius. His work also contains some
allusions to biblical apocrypha, specifically an apoc-
ryphal text on St. Peter and Simon Magus, perhaps
that known as Actus Petri cum Simone.
AIDAN BREENReferences and Further Reading
Fél. Óeng.; Kenney, Sources269, 331–3.
Bieler, L. The Life and Legend of St. Patrick. Dublin, 1949.
———. “Studies on the Text of Muirchú.” P.R.I.A.52, sec. C
(1950), 179–220; 59, sec. C (1959), 181–195.
———.Bibliotheca Sanctorum 9, 666–668.
———. “Muirchú’s Life of St. Patrick as a Work of literature.”
Medium Aevum 43 (1974): 219–233.
———.The Patrician Texts in the Book of Armagh. (SLH X),
(1979).
Sharpe, R. “Palaeographical Considerations in the Study of the
Patrician Documents in the Book of Armagh.” Scriptorium
36 (1982): 3–28.
C. Doherty. “The Cult of St. Patrick and the Politics of Armagh
in the Seventh Century.” In Ireland and Northern France,
edited by J.-M. Picard. Dublin, 1991.
Sharpe R. and M. Lapidge. A Bibliography of Celtic Latin
Literature 400–1200, pp. 84 ff. 1985.
See alsoArmagh; Armagh, Book of; Cogitosus;
Hagiography and Martyrologies; Patrick; TírechánMUNSTER
Munster is the most southerly of Ireland’s provinces.
Its name, Mumu (a quoMunster), is of unknown ori-
gin. In the second century C.E., Ptolemy showed
Munster being populated by the Érainn (Iverni). In the
course of the fifth century, however, Munster came to be
dominated by the Eóganachta, who may have been Irish
returnees from Roman Britain. There was significantMUIRCHÚ