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Editions

• R. I. Best and O. Bergin (eds), Lebor na hUidre (Dublin 1929, reprinted 1992) 293-5.

• C. Plummer (ed. & tr.), ‘The conversion of Loegaire, and his death’, RC iv (1884) 162-72.

• W. Stokes (ed. & tr.), ‘Loegaire’s conversion and death’, in Tripartite Life of Patrick (London 1887) 562-7.

• G. Petrie, History and Antiquities of Tara Hill (Dublin 1837) 71-6 [Text and translation of the story from H. 3. 18 by John O’Donovan]

Manuscripts

• Lebor na hUidre

• H. 3. 18
  

Date

• Middle Irish period
  

Characters

• Lóegaire mac Néill (d. 461): king of Ireland from the Uí Néill and the eponymous ancestor of Cenél Lóegairi, a minor branch of the Southern Uí Néill.

• St. Patrick (d. in fifth century): the famous apostle of the Irish who was born in Britain, proselytized in Ireland, and became a major figure in Irish religious and secular literature.

• Núadu Derg: the foster-son of Lóegaire mac Néill.

• The following are mentioned in the text but play no real role in the narrative:

• Daire: king of the Ulaid

• Corc mac Lugdech (alias Conall Corc): king of Munster said to have lived in the fifth century.  Corc is an ancestor of the Éoganachta.

• Tuathal Techtmar: king of Ireland and the man who imposed the bórama on the Laigin.  Tuathal is an ancestor of Dál Cuinn (prehistoric ancestors of the Connachta and Uí Néill).
  

Notes

• There are considerable differences between the extant copies of this story.

• Many more anecdotes about Lóegaire, including versions of the events narrated in his text, survive in certain works of Patrician hagiography and in the pseudo-historical prologue to the Senchas Már.  In addition, his death is briefly related in the Bórama.

Summary

[Plummer’s edition] 

After St. Patrick bests his druids in a series of thaumaturgical boutes, Lóegaire mac Néill converts to the Christian faith.  Then he summons the saint and the chief nobles of Ireland to an assembly that is to examine the law and its implimentation (béscna 7 a rechtgai).  However, the day before Patrick is scheduled to arrive for this meeting,  Lóegaire asks his men what aspect of the saint's teaching they find most difficult.  The men say that it is his rule of forgiveness, because, in their estimation, if everyone were entitled to forgiveness, there would be no mechanism to deter men from murder and other serious crimes.  Lóegaire agrees that this teaching is problematic, and he suggests that Patrick's insistence on forgiveness be tested.

When the saint arrives, Núadu Derg, the king’s foster-son, kills the saint’s charioteer without provocation.  Patrick looks up to heaven and the earth begins shaking violently.  Terrified, Lóegaire and the nobles kneel down before the saint and beg for the forgiveness he preached.  Patrick forgives them and even becomes the king’s spiritual advisor (ainmchairdine).  Then, the deliberative assembly begins.  First, a nine-man committee is selected to examine the work of craftsmen and the practice of Irish law.  The nine people in question are Patrick, Benen, and Cairnech (bishops); Lóegaire mac Néill, Dáire of Ulster, and Corc mac Lugdech of Munster (kings); and Dubthach maccu Lugair, Fergus Fili, and Ross mac Tricim (experts in poetry and law).

The essential outcome of their deliberations is a practical legal application of the Christian law of forgiveness: criminals will be allowed to repent and obtain forgiveness for the benefit of their souls, but they will nonetheless be executed for their crimes.  Furthermore, each division of Irish society is granted special tools to help maintain social order: for the Church, the bell and psalm [i.e. for malediction and excommunication]; for the king, hostages; for the poets, lawful trefocal [i.e. a kind of satire]; and for freemen, distraint.  Lastly, the learned classes, specifically the poets, the storytellers, and judges, become subject to Christian teaching.

After this assembly, Lóegaire rules as king of Ireland for the next thirty years until he decides to invade Leinster in an attempt to collect the bórama, the great tribute imposed on the Laigin by Tuathal Techtmar, Lóegaire’s distant ancestor.  Lóegaire is defeated and captured at the battle of Áth Dara, and before he is released, he names the elements as his sureties that he will never again attempt to levy the bórama.

However, not long thereafter, a prophecy is reveal to Lóegaire that predicts that he is fated to die between Ireland and Scotland.  The king assumes this means that he will die at sea and is, therefore, safe to invade Leinster again, despite his promise.  Prophecies, though, are tricky to interpret, and when the king gets as far as Grelach dá Phil, he comes to stand between two hills named Éire (Ireland) and Alba (Scotland).  There is he killed by the elements for violating their guarantee.

Lóegaire’s body is brought back to Tara where he is buried in full armor facing the Laigin.