The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland
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The ''Fragmentary Annals of Ireland'' or ''Three Fragments'' are a
Middle Irish Middle Irish, sometimes called Middle Gaelic ( ga, An Mheán-Ghaeilge, gd, Meadhan-Ghàidhlig), is the Goidelic language which was spoken in Ireland, most of Scotland and the Isle of Man from AD; it is therefore a contemporary of late Old Engli ...
combination of chronicles from various
Irish annals A number of Irish annals, of which the earliest was the Chronicle of Ireland, were compiled up to and shortly after the end of the 17th century. Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days. Over t ...
and narrative history. They were compiled in the
kingdom of Osraige Osraige (Old Irish) or Osraighe (Classical Irish), Osraí (Modern Irish), anglicized as Ossory, was a medieval Irish kingdom comprising what is now County Kilkenny and western County Laois, corresponding to the Diocese of Ossory. The home of ...
, probably in the lifetime of
Donnchad mac Gilla Pátraic Donnchad mac Gilla Pátraic (Donagh MacGillapatrick) (died 1039), was King of Osraige and King of Leinster. Life & Reign His father was Gilla Pátraic mac Donnchada. He took the throne of Osraige prior to 1027 and was active militarily. He bl ...
(died 1039),
king of Osraige The kings of Osraige (alternately spelled ''Osraighe'' and Anglicised as ''Ossory'') reigned over the medieval Irish kingdom of Osraige from the first or second century AD until the late twelfth century. Osraige was a semi-provincial kingdom in s ...
and of king of Leinster. A major narrative within the text is the so-called " Osraige Chronicle" (as proposed by Radner) which greatly focuses on the exploits of the ninth century king of Osraige, Cerball mac Dúnlainge, who was the paternal ancestor of the medieval
Mac Giolla Phádraig Mac or MAC most commonly refers to: * Mac (computer), a family of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * A variant of the word macaroni, mostly used in the name of the dish mac and cheese * Mac, ...
family.Radner, pg. xxii The ''Fragmentary Annals'' were copied in 1643 for the Rev. John Lynch by Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh from a lost 15th-century vellum manuscript, which belonged to Giolla na Naomh Mac Aodhagáin (Nehemias MacEgan). Mac Aodhagáin, who died around 1443, was a professor of Irish Brehon Law in Ormond. The sole surviving manuscript of the ''Fragmentary Annals'', which is currently held by the
Royal Library of Belgium The Royal Library of Belgium (french: Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, abbreviated ''KBR'' and sometimes nicknamed in French or in Dutch) is the national library of Belgium. The library has a history t ...
in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, is not in Mac Fhirbhisigh's hand, but in that of an anonymous scribe, who made a fair copy of Mac Fhirbhisigh's text, adding some marginal comments of his own and an index. The manuscript (MS. 7, c. n. 17) is incomplete and includes five fragments of annals beginning in 573 and ending in 914. What has survived joins the synopsis of the hypothetical
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 ...
. Little is known of the lost exemplar from which Mac Fhirbhisigh worked. He appears to have modernized the orthography of the original text as he copied it. There are lacunae in places where the exemplar could no longer be read due to its poor condition. Mac Fhirbhisigh's copyist added dates, which he took from the ''
Annals of the Four Masters 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 Irish history. The entries span from the Deluge, dated as 2,24 ...
'' without troubling to confirm their accuracy or correct them where they were clearly in error. The first fragment relates mainly to the
Northern Uí Néill The Northern Uí Néill is any of several dynasties in north-western medieval Ireland that claimed descent from a common ancestor, Niall of the Nine Hostages. Other dynasties in central and eastern Ireland who also claimed descent from Niall wer ...
and may have been compiled in Ulster, but the remaining fragments were evidently compiled in Osraige (Ossory), a kingdom which corresponded approximately to the later County Kilkenny and western County Laois. The original compiler evidently drew upon a variety of sources, some of which (e.g. annals) were probably more accurate and trustworthy than others (e.g. long bardic works). The fragments combine cold annalistic records with romantic tales and extravagant flights of fancy in a manner that is unique among the Irish annals. Two modern editions of the ''Fragmentary Annals'' have been published: *
John O'Donovan John O'Donovan may refer to: *John O'Donovan (scholar) (1806–1861), Irish language scholar and place-name expert *John O'Donovan (politician) (1908–1982), Irish TD and Senator *John O'Donovan (police commissioner) (1858–1927), New Zealand pol ...
(editor & translator) ''Annals of Ireland: three fragments.'' (Dublin 1860) * Joan N. Radner (editor & translator) ''Fragmentary annals of Ireland'' (Dublin 1978)


See also

*
Irish annals A number of Irish annals, of which the earliest was the Chronicle of Ireland, were compiled up to and shortly after the end of the 17th century. Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days. Over t ...
*
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 ...


References

* Radner, Joan N., "Writing history: Early Irish historiography and the significance of form", ''Celtica'', volume 23, pp. 312–325.
etext (pdf))
* Downham, Clare, "The good, the bad, and the ugly: portrayals of Vikings in The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland", ''The Medieval Chronicle'', 3 (2004): 27–39.


External links



(Radner's edition)

at
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 of ...
's CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts.
The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland
(O'Donovan's edition) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fragmentary Annals of Ireland Irish chronicles 11th-century history books Texts of medieval Ireland Irish manuscripts Irish books FitzPatrick dynasty