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Patrick, Tara and king Loegaire

national | history and heritage | opinion/analysis

Wednesday March 15, 2006 15:12

by Muireann Ni Bhrolchain

Report this post to the editors

Some information on Patrick and his associations with Tara, Slane

Anyone who can, would they carry a SAVE TARA banner at their Patrick's Day parade or whatever event is being held in their town or city? Here or abroad?

Two Latin biographies of Patrick appear in the seventh century and
it is no accident that his major confrontation with druidry and
paganism happens at Tara the main pre-Christian site in Ireland.

One tells the story of Patrick lighting his Easter fire at Slane before
a fire is lit at Tara. The druids at Tara warn the king, Loegaire
son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, that unless they put out the fire
it will outlive their pagan fire forever. Loegaire is feasting in
the banqueting hall when Patrick enters and confronts the `great,
fierce, pagan emperor of the barbarians reigning in Tara, which was
the capital of the Irish' and he compares it with Babylon.
Loegaire is eventually converted in this version but this is not the
case in another version of this scene where he refuses baptism and
insists on being buried in pagan fashion – that is upright and fully
armed in the ramparts of Tara facing his hereditary enemy, the king
of Leinster. The king of Leinster is likewise buried in the Liffey
plain facing Loegaire.
The druids are defeated again and again by Patrick, one is burned in
a wooden house that has two sides: a green side where he is
destroyed and a dry side where Benignus, a disciple of Patrick, is
saved.
In another account a druid falls dramatically from the sky at the
hands of Patrick. He lands on the ground frozen with hailstones and
snow and the monument is still there on Tara known as the druid's
stone.
On the other hand, the judges and poets are shown as those who
accept the new faith, and early Irish law and traditions are
compiled by order of Patrick when he meets Loegaire on Tara. In
contrast with the destruction of Tara's pagan power by Patrick, he
blesses the site of Tailltiu.

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