The old Welsh Annals (_Annales Cambriae_: the edition in the Rolls series has been superseded by that of Mr. E. Phillimore in _Y Cymmrodor_, ix. p. 141 _sqq._ 1888) contain a few notices of Irish ecclesiastical history. This chronicle extends from A.D. 444 to 977, but the first entry is under 453 and the last under 954, the preceding and the following years being respectively blank. Mr. Phillimore gives reasons for supposing that the Annals in their present form were finished in 954 or 955 (p. 144). Now it is to be observed that before the year 516 (to which the battle of Badon is falsely assigned) there is no entry bearing on British history. Before this year there are only five entries, of which four relate to Ireland, and the fifth to the celebration of Easter. They are as follows:— an’ [A.D. 453] Pasca commutatur super diem dominicum cum[340] papa leone episcopo rome. an’ [A.D. 454] Brigida sancta nascitur. an’ [A.D. 457] Sanctus Patricius ad dominum migratur. an’ [A.D. 468] quies benigni episcopi. an’ [A.D. 501] Episcopus ebur pausat in christo anno. cccl. etatis suae. The Irish dates do not coincide exactly with those of the Irish Annals. In _Ann. Ult._ 452 and 456 are given as alternative dates for the birth of Brigit; 467 for the death of Benignus; and the death of Ibar appears under three years, 500, 501, and 504. Tigernach gives 502, and adds the legendary age (cuius etas ccciii. annorum erat). The date of Patrick’s death corresponds to the entry in _Ann. Ult._ A.D. 457. _Quies senis Patricii ut alii libri dicunt._ In these (and one or two other Irish dates in the sixth century) there is nothing to suggest a British chronological tradition independent of the Irish Annals. The dates were clearly taken from Irish books, just like the Irish dates in the _Historia Brittonum_; and throw no additional light on the chronology.[341] Leaving out the Irish dates, which were certainly inserted at a late period in the growth of the chronicle,[342] we have a long and empty enumeration of years, unrelieved except by the notice of Pope Leo’s decision as to the celebration of Easter in 455. This notice, which appears under 453, properly belongs either to 454 or 455. (It might appear under 454, because in that year Leo notified his decision to the bishops of the west).[343] This blank table of years, with one Paschal notice, seems a confirmation of Dr. MacCarthy’s theory, and suggests that the original basis of the Cambrian Annals was a Paschal Table.