A seventeenth century compilation but it draws on lost medieval annals, so its 1200 entries add names and incidents missing elsewhere: the Connacht war and the English of Meath and Munster, the deaths of Irish kings and churchmen across the island, and raids in Thomond and Desmond. The compilers smoothed and sometimes misdated their sources and favoured the northern families, so use it after Ulster and Loch Ce, not instead of them. O'Donovan's notes identify the places.
About this source
- Title
- Annala Rioghachta Eireann
- Author
- Various; compiled by Micheal O Cleirigh and others
- Author's dates
- compiled 1632 to 1636
- Written
- 1632 to 1636, from medieval annals now partly lost
- Language
- Irish
- Covers
- earliest times to 1616
- Kind
- Annals
O'Donovan's volumes are public domain and on the Internet Archive but were not located in this pass; CELT carries both his Irish text and translation.
Where to read it
Editions
- J. O'Donovan (ed. and trans.), Annala Rioghachta Eireann: Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, 7 vols (1848 to 1851), Irish with English (not freely online)