 Entry for AD 432 | |
| Author | Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh Fearfeasa Ó Maol Chonaire Cú Choigríche Ó Duibhgeannáin |
|---|---|
| Original title | Annála Ríoghachta Éireann |
| Translator | Owen Connellan John O'Donovan |
| Language | Early Modern Irish andLatin |
| Subject | MedievalIrish history |
| Genre | annals |
Publication date | 1636 |
| Publication place | Ireland |
Published in English | 1846 |
| Media type | Manuscript |
| 941.5 | |
| LC Class | DA905 .A6 |
| Website | https://www.ria.ie/library/catalogues/special-collections/medieval-and-early-modern-manuscripts/annals-four-masters |
TheAnnals of the Kingdom of Ireland (Middle Irish:Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or theAnnals of the Four Masters (Annála na gCeithre Máistrí) arechronicles ofmedievalIrish history. The entries span from theDeluge, dated as 2,242years after creation[1] to AD 1616.[2]
Due to the criticisms by 17th-century Irish historianTuileagna Ó Maol Chonaire, the text was not published in the lifetimes of any of the participants.
The annals are mainly a compilation of earlier annals, although there is some original work. They were compiled between 1632 and 1636,[3] allegedly in a cottage beside the ruins ofDonegal Abbey, just outsideDonegal Town.[4] 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 theAnnals were compiled.[5] The patron of the project wasFearghal Ó Gadhra,MP, aGaeliclord ofCoolavin, County Sligo.
The chief compiler of the annals wasBrotherMícheál Ó Cléirigh fromBallyshannon, who was assisted by, among others,Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh,Fearfeasa Ó Maol Chonaire andCú Choigríche Ó Duibhgeannáin. Although only one of the authors, Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, was aFranciscanfriar, they became known as "the Four Friars" or in the original Irish,na Ceithre Máistrí. 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 atTrinity College Dublin, theRoyal Irish Academy,University College Dublin, and theNational Library of Ireland.
The first substantial English translation (starting at AD 1171) was published byOwen Connellan 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 historianJohn O'Donovan. The translation was funded by a government grant of £1,000 obtained by the notable mathematicianSir William Rowan Hamilton while he was president of theRoyal 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.
As a historical source, theAnnals are largely limited to the accounts of the births, deaths and activities of theGaelic nobility of Ireland, and therefore the wider social trends or events are up for contemporary historians to establish.
On the other hand, theAnnals, as one of the few prose sources in Irish from this period, also provide a valuable insight into events such as theDesmond Rebellions and theNine Years War from a Gaelic Irish perspective.
The early part of this work is based upon theLebor Gabála. Today, most scholars regard theLebor Gabála as primarily a 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 theSix Ages of the World.[6] Medievalist academic Mark Williams writes ofLebor 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".[6]: 130
* The appendix of volume 6 contains pedigrees of a small selection of the Gaelic Irish nobility, pp. 2377 ff.