from the Meuse to the Rhine; Neustria extended from the Meuse to the
ocean. Gouthran ruled over the division of Gaul which now acquired the
name of Burgundy" ("History of France," p. 42).

Neustria, extending from the Meuse to the ocean, necessarily embraced
the whole province of Britannia, or Armorica. That province still
retained the name of Neustria when Probus, in the tenth century, wrote
the "History of St. Patrick."

The change of the name Armorica to Britannia, and from Britannia to
Neustria, together with the fact that the name Britannia, or Brittany,
as applied to that particular province in Gaul was forgotten for
centuries before any of the old Latin "Lives" of St. Patrick, except
the first, were written, must have induced some old biographers of the
Saint to interpret the name Britain, mentioned in the "Lives" and in
the "Confession," as referring only to the Island of Britain,

With the exception of Probus, who had travelled abroad, the old
biographers of St. Patrick, on account of their very limited sources of
information, had very little knowledge of the histories of foreign
countries, and it is not surprising to find them erroneously supposing
that St. Patrick was born in Great Britain, because he mentioned in his
"Confession" that he was born in Britain, and had relatives among the
Britons.

St. Patrick, according to Probus, was one of the Gaulish Britons, being
born at Bonaven, or Boulogne-sur-Mer. Although the Saint, according to
Canon O'Hanlon, was a little man, he was descended from a race of
giants--the bold Cymri, or Celts. That fact established a relationship
of race between the Saint and the nation which he converted.