Annals of the Four Masters
LC Class DA905 .A6 | | |
| Website | https://www.ria.ie/library/catalogues/special-collections/medieval-and-early-modern-manuscripts/annals-four-masters | |
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The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland (
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
The chief compiler of the annals was
The annals are written in Irish. The several manuscript copies are held at Trinity College Dublin, the Royal Irish Academy, University College Dublin, and the National Library of Ireland.
Translation
The first substantial English translation (starting at AD 1171) was published by
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
The early part of this work is based upon the Lebor Gabála. Today, most scholars regard the Lebor 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 the Six Ages of the World.[5] 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".[5]: 130
Editions and translations
- Annala Rioghachta Eireann: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four Masters, from the earliest period to the year 1616, translated by O'Donovan, John (2nd ed.), 1856, 7 volumes, Royal Irish Academy:
- Volume 1 (2952 BC – AD 902), Dublin, Hodges, Smith, and co., 1856 – via CELT: English, Irish
- Volume 2 (AD 903–1171), Dublin, Hodges, Smith, and co., 1856 – via CELT: English, Irish
- Volume 3 (AD 1172–1372), Dublin, Hodges, Smith, and co., 1856 – via CELT: English, Irish
- Volume 4 (AD 1373–1500), Dublin, Hodges, Smith, and co., 1856 – via CELT: English, Irish
- Volume 5 (AD 1501–1588), Dublin, Hodges, Smith, and co., 1856 – via CELT: English, Irish
- Volume 6 (AD 1589–1616), Dublin, Hodges, Smith, and co., 1856 – via CELT: English, Irish *
- Volume 7 (Indices), Dublin, Hodges, Smith, and co., 1856 – via CELT
* The appendix of volume 6 contains pedigrees of a small selection of the Gaelic Irish nobility, pp. 2377 ff.
See also
- Cronan Balnae
- Irish annals
- The Chronicle of Ireland
- Template:Cite AFM for citing the Annal in articles at Wikipedia
References
- ^ The Age of the World, to this Year of the Deluge, 2242, in Corpus of Electronic Texts translation.
- ^ The Age of Christ, one thousand six hundred sixteen, in Corpus of Electronic Texts translation.
- ^ John O'Donovan, Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, Second Edition, Volume 1, pp. xxviii-xxix, Hodges, Smith, and Co, Dublin (1856).
- ^ 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.
- ^ ISBN 9780691157313.
Further reading
- Cunningham, Bernadette (2010). The Annals of the Four Masters: Irish History, Kingship and Society in the Early Seventeenth Century. Dublin: Four Courts. ISBN 978-1-84682-203-2.
- Cunningham, Bernadette, ed. (2007). O'Donnell Histories: Donegal and the Annals of the Four Masters. Rathmullan: Rathmullan & District Local Historical Society.
- Mc Carthy, Daniel P. (2008). The Irish Annals: Their Genesis, Evolution and History. Dublin: Four Courts.
- Mc Carthy, Daniel P. (2005). "Irish Chronicles and Their Chronology". Retrieved 5 April 2010.
- Ó Muraíle, Nollaig (1987). "The autograph manuscripts of the Annals of the Four Masters". Celtica. 19: 75–95.
- O'Sullivan, William (1999). "The Slane manuscript of the Annals of the Four Masters". Ríocht na Mídhe: Journal of the County Meath Historical Society. 10: 78–85.
External links
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Annals of the Four Masters
- List of Published Texts at CELT — University College Cork's Corpus of Electronic Texts 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 has high-resolution digital images of the Royal Irish Academy's copy of the Annals.