Irish annals

The Irish annals are old yearly records written by monks in Ireland. These records list important events from each year. At first, annals helped monks keep track of church dates. Over time, they added notes about the deaths of priests, abbots, kings, and other important events in Ireland.

Many annals were written between the 14th and 17th centuries. Some of the well-known ones include the Annals of Ulster, the Annals of Inisfallen, the Annals of the Four Masters, and the Annals of Loch Cé. Each one covers different years and regions of Ireland.

Monks wrote these records by hand, copying earlier notes and adding new entries. The annals tell us about battles, kings, weather, poetry, and important events in Irish history.

Today, historians use the Irish Annals to learn about early and medieval Ireland. These records help us understand how Ireland changed over time.

 Further readings 


 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. 
 The Irish Annals: Their Genesis, Evolution and History, Daniel McCarthy, Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2008 .

 Other websites 

 Corpus of Electronic Texts (CELT) at University College Cork
 Irish Texts Society 
 Jacobi Grace, Kilkenniensis, Annales Hiberniae - in Latin with English translation by Rev. Richard Butler
 Publications of the School of Celtic Studies
 'The Chronology of the Irish Annals' by Dan Mc Carthy
 DNA vs Irish Annals by Brad Larkin

Category:History of Ireland