Revue celtique - National Library of Scotland

Pilgrimage of an Hnngarian Nobleman. 483
n° 1 598: Incipit registrum de pargatorio sancti patricii, and has been men-
tioned already by Denis (Cod. mss. Theol. Bibliothec£ Palat. Vind. I,
part II, p. 639). The other is preserved in the Bénédictine monastery
at Meik : Incipit prologus cuiusdam Georgii qui fuit in purgatorio Sancti
Patricii anno domini M. CGC. LUI". Amen; it fills p. 185-266 of a 4toms.
that is notfurther described. According to Montfaucon (Bibl. mss. I,
i6)oneofthemss. of Queen Christine nowat the Vatican n° 122, contains
a German version of the same woric : Peregrinatio Georgii Equitis Unga-
rici et de Purgatorio^ germanice scripta. Mr. Toldy has made use of the
two mss. of the Latin version only. The Melk ms. has been compiled in
141 4 as appears from a colophon of the scribe and contains a more récent
version of the pilgrimage. The Vienna ms. has the original version,
vritten not by George himself, but by some priest or monk who must
hâve taken down his narrative.
George was born in the year M 29; he was son of an Earl of Crissa-
phan, a high Hungarian nobleman, whose narae is mentioned nowhere
but in this narrative. He went to Naples like many other Hungarians
with king Lewis of Hungary and made himself conspicuous by his talents
and his cruelty. Before 24 years of âge, he had already committed 250
murders, and many other sins. So either to avoid being punished by the
king, or feeling repentant, he decided to go to Rome to confess his sins.
He went there on foot, with only one servant. According to the Viennese
ms. he was at Saint James of Galice, where he had been sent from Rome
to pass six months of an hermit's life, when he heard of St. Patrick's pur-
gatory. He resolved to go thither.
Mr. Toldy has given in his notes some chapters of the narrative con-
taining the visions George had in the Purgatory. They are edifying, but
without interest, and hâve no bearing on St. Patrick^s purgatory itself.
When he went away, Richard, Archbishop of Armagh', delivered him a
letter to testify his pilgrimage: « Laudabiiiter fecit percgrinacionem eiusdem
purgaîorii iusta ordinem et regulam cenobii nostri, in quo qnidem purgatorio
diversa tormenta fuit passus, et post eadem tormenta sanctus Michhael archan-
gelus sibi apparuit et secum per unam dietam naturalem permansit, et ipsum
Georgium cum suo corpore humano finaliter perduxit... quoniam nobis ad
plénum constat de consclencia dicti Georgii et de confesslone élus. Audlta
namque confesslone élus, Ipsum auctorltate sancti Patricii et ordlnls absolulmus,
et sic Ipsum absolutum Ire permlslmus, et Intrare puteum et scalani putealem,
et profundam valde, de qua descendltur ad purgatorlum sancti Patricii, et sic
I. We hâve not at hand a list of the Archbishops of Armagh, but we doubt whether
the Germanie name Richard had so early penetred into Ireland.