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 Engl ...

combination of chronicles from various Irish annals 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 t ...

, 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 ...

(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 The kings of Leinster ( ga, Rí Laighín), ruled from the establishment of Leinster during the Irish Iron Age, until the 17th century Early Modern Ireland. According to Gaelic traditional history, laid out in works such as the ''Book of Invasion ...

. 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 Cerball mac Dúnlainge (patronymic sometimes spelled ''Dúngaile'', ) (died 888) was king of Ossory in south-east Ireland. The kingdom of Ossory (''Osraige'') occupied roughly the area of modern County Kilkenny and western County Laois and lay b ...

, who was the paternal ancestor of the medieval Mac Giolla Phádraig family.Radner, pg. xxii The ''Fragmentary Annals'' were copied in 1643 for the Rev. John Lynch by

Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (), also known as Dubhaltach Óg mac Giolla Íosa Mór mac Dubhaltach Mór Mac Fhirbhisigh, Duald Mac Firbis, Dudly Ferbisie, and Dualdus Firbissius (fl. 1643 – January 1671) was an Irish scribe, translator, histori ...

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 Early Irish law, historically referred to as (English: Freeman-ism) or (English: Law of Freemen), also called Brehon law, comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval Ireland. They were partially eclipsed by the Norma ...

in Ormond. The sole surviving manuscript of the ''Fragmentary Annals'', which is currently held by the Royal Library of Belgium 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. 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 Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Flood myt ...

'' 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 we ...

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 (editor & translator) ''Annals of Ireland: three fragments.'' (Dublin 1860) * Joan N. Radner (editor & translator) ''Fragmentary annals of Ireland'' (Dublin 1978)

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 ...

'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

See also

References

External links