Description

The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland (Annála Ríoghachta Éireann), commonly called the Annals of the Four Masters, is a vast historical compilation created between 1632 and 1636 under the direction of the Franciscan scholar Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, along with his collaborators known as the “Four Masters.”

The work was produced in a Franciscan environment during a period when Gaelic Ireland was in decline after the Tudor conquest. The compilers gathered material from earlier chronicles, genealogies, monastic records, and oral traditions to preserve Ireland’s historical memory.

The annals begin with a mythological chronology stretching back to the Biblical Flood (Anno Mundi 2242) and continue through successive ages of Irish kingship, saints, battles, and political events, ending in 1616, the death of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone.

Each entry is arranged chronologically and typically records:

• Deaths of kings, saints, bishops, and nobles
• Battles and political conflicts
• Genealogies of Irish dynasties
• Natural events and notable occurrences
• Ecclesiastical foundations and church history

Rather than a continuous narrative, the text is structured as year-by-year annalistic entries, reflecting medieval Irish historiographical tradition.