⁵Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), and John J. O'Meara. The History and Topography of Ireland. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985. 110.
Giraldus was no friend of Ireland, being from a prominent settler family, and his Topographia Hibernica was filled with many fanciful and derogatory references to the native Irish. In the seventeenth century, scholar Geoffrey Keating called it "'a malicious unwarranted lie." However some modern scholars have a more receptive view of the Cambrensis account of the inauguration rite, as they've found "the horse sacrifice associated with kingship rituals among many of the Indo-European peoples [and] ... there is evidence to suggest that even at this late date [1188] a symbolic bath may have formed part of the ceremonies..." (Ó Canann, Tomás G. "Carraig an Dúnáin: Probable Ua Canannáin Inauguration Site." The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 133 (2003): 43-44.)
FitzPatrick claims that reported folklore of the described ritual "is probably a grambled version of Gerald of Wales' written account, but the association of that rite with Carraig an Duin is solely the outcome of local tradition." (FitzPatrick, Elizabeth. Royal Inauguration in Gaelic Ireland C. 1100-1600: A Cultural Landscape Study. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell, 2004. 184.)