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The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
Irish history The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 33,000 years ago, with further findings dating the presence of homo sapiens to around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Quatern ...
. The entries span from the
Deluge A deluge is a large downpour of rain, often a flood. The Deluge refers to the flood narrative in the Biblical book of Genesis. Deluge may also refer to: History *Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Com ...
, dated as 2,242 years after creation to AD 1616.


Publication delay

Due to the criticisms by 17th century Irish historian Tuileagna Ó Maol Chonaire, the text was not published in the lifetimes of any of the participants.


Text

The annals are mainly a compilation of earlier annals, although there is some original work. They were compiled between 1632 and 1636, allegedly in a cottage beside the ruins of
Donegal Abbey Donegal Abbey (Irish: ''Mainistir Dhún na nGall'') is a ruined Franciscan Priory in Donegal in Ireland. It was constructed by the O'Donnell dynasty in the fifteenth century. It is sometimes referred to as Donegal Friary. It was built in 1474 on ...
, just outside
Donegal Town Donegal ( ; , "fort of the foreigners") is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. The name was also historically spelt 'Dunnagall'. Although Donegal gave its name to the county, now Lifford is the county town. From the 15th until the early 17th ce ...
. At this time, however, the Franciscans had a house of refuge by the River Drowes in County Leitrim, just outside Ballyshannon, and it was here, according to others, that the ''Annals'' were compiled.''Franciscans: Studies in the Irish Province''.
Perhaps John O'Donovan was referring to this house of refuge, which is over 20 km from the ruined abbey, when he wrote of ''huts or cottages near the monastery''. The patron of the project was
Fearghal Ó Gadhra Fearghal Ó Gadhra (c. 1597 – after 1660), sometimes referred to as Farrell O'Gara, was lord of Coolavin, and patron of the ''Annals of the Four Masters''. Family background Ó Gadhra was the son of Tadhg mac Oilill Ó Gadhra of Coolavin, loc ...
, MP, a Gaelic lord in Coolavin, County Sligo. The chief compiler of the annals was
Brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...
Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Mícheál Ó Cléirigh (), sometimes known as Michael O'Clery, was an Irish chronicler, scribe and antiquary and chief author of the ''Annals of the Four Masters,'' assisted by Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh, Fearfeasa Ó Maol Chonaire, and Per ...
from
Ballyshannon Ballyshannon () is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is located at the southern end of the county where the N3 from Dublin ends and the N15 crosses the River Erne. Incorporated in 1613, it is one of the oldest towns in Ireland. Location B ...
, who was assisted by, among others,
Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh (fl. 1624–1664) was an Irish historian and genealogist, known in English as Peregrine O'Clery. Life and work Ó Cléirigh was a son of Diarmaid Ó Cléirigh, and thus a third-cousin once removed to Brother Míche ...
, Fearfeasa Ó Maol Chonaire and Cú Choigríche Ó Duibhgeannáin. Although only one of the authors, Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, was a
Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...
, they became known as "the Four Friars" or in the original Irish, . The Anglicized version of this was "the Four Masters", the name that has become associated with the annals themselves. The annals are written in Irish. The several manuscript copies are held at
Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...
, the Royal Irish Academy,
University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...
, and the
National Library of Ireland The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ga, Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is the Republic of Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland i ...
.


Translation

The first substantial English translation (starting at AD 1171) was published by
Owen Connellan Owen Connellan (1797 – 4 August 1871) was an Irish scholar who translated the Annals of the Four Masters into English in 1846. Life He was born in County Sligo, the son of a farmer who claimed descent from Lóegaire mac Néill, High King ...
in 1846. The Connellan translation included the annals from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries. The only version to have a four-colour frontispiece, it included a large folding map showing the location of families in Ireland. This edition, neglected for over 150 years, was republished in the early twenty-first century. The original Connellan translation was followed in the 1850s by a full translation by the historian John O'Donovan. The translation was funded by a government grant of £1,000 obtained by the notable mathematician
Sir William Rowan Hamilton Sir William Rowan Hamilton LL.D, DCL, MRIA, FRAS (3/4 August 1805 – 2 September 1865) was an Irish mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. He was the Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin, and Royal Astronomer of Irela ...
while he was president of the Royal Irish Academy. The Annals are one of the principal Irish-language sources for Irish history up to 1616. While many of the early chapters are essentially lists of names and dates, the later chapters, dealing with events of which the authors had first-hand accounts, are much more detailed.


Importance

As a historical source, the ''Annals'' are largely limited to the accounts of the births, deaths and activities of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland and the wider social trends or events are up for contemporary historians to establish. On the other hand, the ''Annals'', as one of the few prose sources in Irish from this period, also provide a valuable insight into events such as the
Desmond Rebellions The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569–1573 and 1579–1583 in the Irish province of Munster. They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond, the head of the Fitzmaurice/FitzGerald Dynasty in Munster, and his followers, the Geraldines an ...
and the
Nine Years War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...
from a Gaelic Irish perspective. The early part of this work is based upon the '' Lebor Gabála''. Today, most scholars regard the ''Lebor Gabála'' as primarily myth rather than history. It appears to be mostly based on medieval Christian pseudo-histories, but it also incorporates some of Ireland's native pagan mythology. Scholars believe the goal of its writers was to provide an epic history for Ireland that could compare to that of the Israelites or the Romans, and which reconciled native myth with the Christian view of history. It is suggested, for example, that there are six 'takings' to match the
Six Ages of the World The Six Ages of the World (Latin: ''sex aetates mundi''), also rarely Seven Ages of the World (Latin: ''septem aetates mundi''), is a Christian historical periodization first written about by Augustine of Hippo ''circa'' AD 400. It is based ...
. Medievalist academic Mark Williams writes of ''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' that it is a "highly influential Middle Irish prose-and-verse treatise ..written in order to bridge the chasm between Christian world-chronology and the prehistory of Ireland".


Editions and translations

*, 7 volumes, Royal Irish Academy: **
EnglishIrish
**
EnglishIrish
**
EnglishIrish
**
EnglishIrish
**
EnglishIrish
**
EnglishIrish
* ** * The appendix of volume 6 contains pedigrees of a small selection of the Gaelic Irish nobility, pp. 2377 ff.


See also

* Irish annals *
The Chronicle of Ireland The Chronicle of Ireland ( ga, Croinic na hÉireann) is the modern name for a hypothesized collection of ecclesiastical annals recording events in Ireland from 432 to 911 AD. Several surviving annals share events in the same sequence and wordin ...
* Template:Cite AFM for citing the Annal in articles at Wikipedia


References


Further reading

* * * * * *


External links


''Catholic Encyclopedia: Annals of the Four Masters''
University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one ...
's ''
Corpus of Electronic Texts The Corpus of Electronic Texts, or CELT, is an online database of contemporary and historical documents relating to Irish history and culture. As of 8 December 2016, CELT contained 1,601 documents, with a total of over 18 million words. In 199 ...
'' project has the full text of the annals online, both in the original Irish and in O'Donovan's translation.
Irish Script On Screen
— The ISOS project at the
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) ( ga, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a statutory independent research institute in Ireland. It was established in 1940 on the initiative of the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, in Dub ...
has high-resolution digital images of the Royal Irish Academy's copy of the ''Annals''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Annals of the Four Masters 1630s books 17th-century documents 17th-century history books Donegal (town) Irish chronicles Irish texts Irish-language literature