Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 09.djvu/38

 themselves speak of Cairnech as a Briton, but they make him a native not of Wales but of Cornwall. It appears likely, however, that this is merely a conjecture, founded on an etymological interpretation of the name Cairnech, which MacFirbis regarded as meaning 'Cornishman.' There seems on the whole to be no reason for disputing the identity of Carantacus and Cairnech, or the correctness of the statement that he was born in Wales.

The 'Life' goes on to say that Carantacus returned to Wales, and again occupied for a time the cave which had formerly been his hermitage. The account of his miracles, and of his intercourse with King Arthur, it is not worth while to reproduce here; but there may possibly be some historical foundation for the statement that he founded a church at a place called 'Carrum,' and at another called 'Carrou' (Caerau, Glamorganshire), near the mouth of the 'Guellit.' Afterwards, the biographer says, he went back to Ireland, and was buried at a place called, after his own name, 'the city of Cernach.' The Irish writers call him Cairnech of Tuilen (Dulane in Meath), and say that he is buried at Inis-Baithen in Leinster. MacFirbis says that he was 'the son of Luithech, son of Luighidh, son of Talum,' &c. This pedigree may possibly be authentic, as the story of the aescent of Carantacus from Ceredig is obviously mere legend.

A trace of a dedication to St. Carantacus seems to exist in the name of Carhampton (Domesday 'Carentone') in Somersetshire, jeland states that he saw there a ruined chapel of this saint, which had formerly been the parish church. Although Anglo-Saxon place-names derived from names of saints are extremely rare, a few instances of them seem to exist in the west, near the borders of the native British territory, and there seems to be no ground for questioning the correctness of Leland's derivation of the name.

Carantacus or Cairnech must be distinguished from another Cairnech [q. v.], whose festival is 28 March, and who died about 639.

 CARAUSIUS (245?–293), Roman emperor in Britain in the time of Diocletian and Maximianus Herculius, was a man of very humble origin, and is described by Aurelius Victor (De Cæsaribus, c. 39) as 'Menapiæ civis,' an expression which indicates the district about the mouths of the Scheldt and the Meuse as his native country (cf., Hist of Anc. Geog., ii. 135; in  Dict. of Anc. Geog, s.v. 'Menapii'). The portrait of himself on his coins, which were probably first issued in 287, is apparently that of a man of about forty. In his youth Carausius earned his livelihood as a pilot. In 286 he is mentioned as greatly distinguishing himself in the campaign of the Emperor Maximian against the Bagaudæ — the revolted peasants and banditti of Gaul. About this period Maximian found it necessary to take active measures for suppressing the Frank and Saxon pirates who preyed upon the coasts of Britain and Gaul. Carausius was entrusted with the formation and command of a fleet which was stationed at Gessoriacum (Boulogne). But 'the integrity of the new admiral' (as Gibbon says), 'corresponded not with his abilities.' He allowed the pirates to sail out and ravage as usual, but when they returned he fell upon them and seized the spoil, reserving a portion — apparently a very considerable portion — for his own purposes. Maximian at last gave orders that his admiral should be put to death. But Carausius was strong in the possession of the fleet, and had ample resources for corruption, and on becoming aware of Maximian's intention, he promptly crossed the Channel with his ships, took possession of Britain, and 'assumed the purple' ('purpuram sumpsit,' ), 287. It has been sometimes said that Carausius was 'the first count of the Saxon shore' ('comes littoris Saxonici'), a title only first made known to us in the 'Notitia,' i.e. about the end of the fourth century A.D. If we assume with Guest (Origines Celticæ, ii. 154), Freeman (Norman Conquest, ed. 1867, i. 11), Stubbs (Constitutional Hist. of Eng, Library ed. 1880, i. 67 note), and other writers (see commentary on cap. xxv. of his edition of the Notitia), that the duties of the 'Comes' were to protect 'the Saxon shore,' i.e. the shore on either side of the Channel from the ravages of the Saxon pirates, we may, at any rate, safely affirm that Carausius was practically the first who was appointed to perform the duties of the Comes. Lappenberg (Hist. of Eng. under the Anglo Saxon Kings, 1845, i. 44 ff.; cf., Saxons in England, i. 12), who thinks that the 'comes littoris Saxonici' was the commander of the Saxon colonists settled along the coasts of Britain and Gaul before 460 considers that Carausius was practically the first 'comes' in this sense, remarking that