THE following account is given in the "Trepartite Life" concerning St.
Patrick's native town, and the country from which he was taken
captive:--

"Patrick, then, was of the Britons of Alcluid by origin. Calphurn was
his father's name. He was a noble priest. Potit was his grandfather's
name, whose title was a deacon. Conceis was his mother's name. She was
of the Franks, and a sister to St. Martin. In Nemthur, moreover, was
the man Patrick born. . . .

"The cause of Patrick's coming to Erin was as follows: 'The seven sons
of Fachmad, namely--the seven sons of the King of Britain--were on a
naval expedition, and they went to plunder Armoric Letha; and a number
of Britons of Strath-Cluaidh were on a visit with their kinsmen--the
Britons of Armoric Letha--and Calphurn, son of Potit, Patrick's father,
and her mother Conceis, daughter of Ocbas of the Gauls, that is of the
Franks, were killed in the slaughter in Armorica. Patrick and his two
sisters, viz. Lupait and Tigris, were taken prisoners, moreover, in
that slaughter. The seven sons of Fachmad went afterwards to sea,
having with them Patrick and his two sisters in captivity. The way they
went was around Erin, northwards, until they landed in the north, and
they sold Patrick to Miluic, son of Baun, that is, the King of
Dal-Araidhe.

"They sold his two sisters in Conaille Muirthemne. And they did not
know this. Four persons, truly, that purchased him. One of them was
Miluic. It was from this that he received the name Cothriage, for the
reasons that he served four masters. He had, indeed, four names" (W. M.
Hennessey's Translation of the "Trepartite Life").