This question has a factual answer, so here I post:
(Although I’m not sure if it can really be solved due to the lack of specific historical facts)
Was St. Patrick born in Wales? or,
Was St. Patrick born in Scotland?
Can anyone sort the wheat from the chaff and provide a decisive answer.
All pages seem to have their (seemingly valid) reasons for claiming the birthplace.
Thanks.
St. Patrick’s own words say that he was from “Bannavem Taburniæ”. However, there is no place today that can be identified as “Bannavem Taburniæ”, so it is presumed to have been somewhere between Hadrian’s Wall and Cornwall. Anything else is pure speculation.
So definitely not Scottish then? Someplace in England or Wales.
Why the strong link to Dumbarton that many historians seem to champion?
According to the catholic encyclopedia, there’s no mystery:
Popup, the reason I was asking is because, although a multitude of scholary sources claim to know his birthplace, it does not necessarily make it so:
Wales
Pembroke
Scotland or Wales
Probably Wales
Okay, some of these pages look like they are cutting & pasting from each other and merely perpetuating myths. It’s hard to know.
Like I said, it’s not so clear-cut. But like Dogface implied, I guess we’ll never actually know.
Dogface’s argument against Kilpatrick isn’t quite a knockdown. “Bannavem Taburniæ” is presumably Latin, but Roman influence in Scotland can’t be ignored. For a start, Hadrian’s Wall was not the ultimate northern limit of the empire; there was both the somewhat less substantial Antonine Wall constructed from turf between the Firths of Clyde and Forth and an entire network of forts well to the north of that. Possibly coincidentally, Old Kilpatrick, as the locals now refer to it, exactly marks the western end of the Antonine Wall. Furthermore, Dumbarton, a couple of miles to the north, was probably the site of a fairly substantial Roman military base. Which is not a surprise: Dumbarton Rock is the obvious strategic stronghold in the area.
Over and above this, the idea of Hadrian’s Wall as an absolute defence against hostile Picts is a bit dated. Archaeologists argue over these things, but many see a flexible border rather than a hard one.
While not terribly well written, this site seems the most through on the Kilpatrick claim. The tradition seems to securely date back to the medieval period at the latest and it has certainly flourished into the present day. Growing up in Dumbartonshire, the version I was told of the origins of Dumbarton Rock was that the Devil (not witches) had dug a chunk out of Dumbuck Hill and thrown it at him in a boat in the river, but missed.
Of course, it’s hardly impossible for independent traditions to have grown up in different places. For that matter, even Gaul has been suggested.
The Catholic Encyclopedia says that St. Patrick lived to be 106? I dunno if I’ll buy their “near exact” bith location if they say he lived to be that old.