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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 time, the obituaries of priests, abbots and bishops were added, along with those of notable political events. Non-Irish models include Bede's Chronica maiora, Marcellinus Comes's Chronicle of Marcellinus and the Liber pontificalis.^[1] Most of the Irish annals were written between the 14th and 17th centuries.^[2]

Chronology

The origins of annalistic compilation can be traced to the occasional recording of notes and events in blank spaces between the latercus, i.e. the 84-year Easter table adopted from Gaulish writer Sulpicius Severus (d. c. 423).^[1]

Extant

Manuscript copies of extant annals include the following:

MAP of Irish locales linked to Irish Annals writing assembled by De Reir Book of Moytura team

Annals of Boyle
Annals of Clonmacnoise
Annals of Connacht
Annals of Duiske
Annals of the Four Masters
Annals of Inisfallen
Annals of Lough Cé
Annales de Monte Fernandi, a.k.a. Annals of Multyfarnham
Annals of Roscrea
Chronicon Scotorum
Annals of Tigernach
Annals of Ulster
The Annals of Ireland by Friar John Clyn
Annals of Dudley Loftus
The Short Annals of Donegal
Leabhar Oiris
Annals of Nenagh
Mac Carthaigh's Book
Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib (large parts)
Fragmentary Annals of Ireland (parts)
Dublin Annals of Inisfallen
The Annals of Ireland by Thady Dowling
Short Annals of Tirconaill
Short Annals of Leinster
Annales Hibernie ab anno Christi 1162 usque ad annum 1370, a.k.a. Pembridge's Annals
Annales Hiberniae, a.k.a. Grace's Annals
Memoranda Gadelica
Annla Gearra as Proibhinse Ard Macha, a.k.a. Short Annals of Armagh
A Fragment of Irish Annals
Annals from the Book of Leinster^[3]
De Reir Book of Moytura a recommencement of the vulgate tradition of Irish Annals writing taking place at a scriptorium, an easy distance between where the Annals of Boyle, of Lough Key, of the Four Masters, of Ulster of Kilronan were assembled. ( 2020 -

Other sources

Others which contain annalistic material include:

Leabhar Bhaile an Mhóta
Lebor Glinne Dá Loch
Lebor Leacáin
Leabhar Uí Dhubhagáin
Caithréim Chellacháin Chaisil
Leabhar na nGenealach

Many of these annals have been translated and published by the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, or the Irish Texts Society. In addition, the text of many are available on the internet at the Corpus of Electronic Texts (CELT Project) hosted by the History Department of University College Cork, National University of Ireland. (See External Links below)

The famous epic political tract Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib also contains a great deal of annalistic material from the Viking Age in Ireland which is to be found in no other surviving sources. Much of this was taken from the same sources ancestral to the Annals of Inisfallen, which have come down to us both abbreviated and lacunose.

Lost annals

Annals known to have existed but which have been lost include:

Annals of the Island of Saints
Annals of Maolconary
Book of Cuanu
Book of Dub-da-leithe
Book of the Monks
Leabhar Airis Cloinne Fir Bhisigh
Leabhar Airisen
Leabhar Airisen Ghiolla Iosa Mhec Fhirbhisigh
Synchronisms of Flann Mainstreach
The Chronicle of Ireland

Modern annals

Chronology of Irish History to 1976
The Chronicle of Ireland 1992–1996

Notes

^ ^a ^b Ó Corráin, "annals, Irish", p. 69.
^ Welch. p. 10.
^ "The Tripartite life of Patrick : With other documents relating to that saint". 1887.

References

Ó Corráin, Donnchadh (2006). "Annals, Irish". In Koch, John T. (ed.). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Denver, and Oxford: ABC-CLIO. pp. 69–75.
Welch, Robert (2000). The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192800800.
The Medieval Irish Annals, Gearoid Mac Niocaill, Medieval Irish History Series, 3, Dublin, 1975
The earliest Irish annals, Alfred P. Smyth, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, # 70, 1972, pp. 1–48.
Astronomical observations in the Irish annals and their motivation, Aidan Breen and Daniel McCarthy, Peritia 1997, pp. 1–43
"The Chronicle of Ireland: Then and Now", Roy Flechner, Early medieval Europe 21, 2013, pp. 422–54
The chronology of the Irish annals, Daniel P. McCarthy, PRIA 98, 1998, pp. 203–55
The status of the pre-Patrician Irish annals, Daniel P. McCarthy, Peritia 12, 1998, pp. 98–152.
The Historicity of the Early Irish Annals:Heritage and Content, Patrick C. Griffin, 2001.
The chronological apparatus of the Annals of Ulster A.D. 82-1019, Daniel McCarthy, in Peritia 16, 2002, pp. 256–83
The original compilation of the Annals of Ulster, Daniel McCarthy, in Studia Celtica 2004, pp. 69–96.
The Annals of the Four Masters:Irish history, kingship and society in the early seventeenth century, Bernadette Cunningham, Four Courts Press, Dublin, May 2010. ISBN 978-1-84682-203-2
The Irish Annals: Their Genesis, Evolution and History, Daniel McCarthy, Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2008 .