Subject | Ireland |
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Publication place | Ireland |
The Annals of Inisfallen (Irish : Annála Inis Faithlinn) are a chronicle of the medieval history of Ireland. [1]
There are more than 2,500 entries spanning the years between 433 and 1450. The manuscript is thought to have been compiled in 1092, as the chronicle is written by a single scribe down to that point but updated by many different hands thereafter. [2] It was written by the monks of Innisfallen Abbey, on Innisfallen Island on Lough Leane, near Killarney in Munster, but made use of sources produced at different centres around Munster as well as a Clonmacnoise group text of the hypothetical Chronicle of Ireland. [3] It is regarded as the main source for the medieval history of Munster. [4]
As well as the chronological entries, the manuscript contains a short, fragmented narrative of the history of pre-Christian Ireland, known as the pre-Patrician section, from the time of Abraham to the arrival of Saint Patrick in Ireland. This has many elements in common with Lebor Gabála Érenn. [5] It sets the history of Ireland and the Gaels within Eusebian universal history, which is provided both by a Latin world chronicle and extracts from Réidig dam, a Dé, do nim, a Middle Irish poem attributed to Flann Mainistrech in later manuscripts.[ citation needed ]
The annals are now housed in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. In 2001, Brian O'Leary, a Fianna Fáil councillor in Killarney, called for the annals to be returned to the town. [6] Although it was loaned to Ireland on occasion it remains in Oxford.
The Annals of Ulster are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, under his patron Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa, on the island of Senadh-Mic-Maghnusa, also known as Senad or Ballymacmanus Island, near Lisbellaw, on Lough Erne in the kingdom of Fir Manach (Fermanagh). Later entries were added by others.
Fedelmid mac Crimthainn was the King of Munster between 820 and 846. He was numbered as a member of the Céli Dé, an abbot of Cork Abbey and Clonfert Abbey, and possibly a bishop. After his death, he was later considered a saint in some martyrologies.
Gormlaith ingen Murchada (960–1030), sometimes spelt Gormflaith, was an Irish queen.
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. Most of the Irish annals were written between the 14th and 17th centuries.
Cinioch, named Cínaed mac Luchtren or Ciniod I, in the Irish Annals, was king of the Picts, in modern Scotland, from circa 616 to 631, when his death is reported in the Annals of Ulster, the Annals of Tigernach and the Chronicon Scotorum.
The Annals of Tigernach are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish.
Cormac mac Cuilennáin was an Irish bishop and the king of Munster from 902 until his death at the Battle of Bellaghmoon. He was killed in Leinster.
Saint Ailbe, usually known in English as St Elvis (British/Welsh), Eilfyw or Eilfw, was regarded as the chief 'pre-Patrician' saint of Ireland. He was a bishop and later saint.
Secundinus, or Sechnall as he was known in Irish, was founder and patron saint of Domhnach Sechnaill, County Meath, who went down in medieval tradition as a disciple of St Patrick and one of the first bishops of Armagh. Historians have suggested, however, that the connection with St Patrick was a later tradition invented by Armagh historians in favour of their patron saint and that Secundinus is more likely to have been a separate missionary, possibly a companion of Palladius.
Eóganacht Locha Léin or Uí Cairpre Luachra were a branch of the ruling Eóganachta of Munster. Their territory was in Iarmuman or West Munster. Luachair (Lúachra) is the old name of a large district on the borders of Co Cork, Kerry and Limerick. Cairbre of Sliobh Luachra was on the Cork-Kerry border; Eóganacht Locha Léin is around the Lakes of Killarney.
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson B 502 is a medieval Irish manuscript which currently resides in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It ranks as one of the three major surviving Irish manuscripts to have been produced in pre-Norman Ireland, the two other works being the Lebor na hUidre and the Book of Leinster. Some scholars have also called it the Book of Glendalough, in Irish Lebar Glinne Dá Locha, after several allusions in medieval and early modern sources to a manuscript of that name. However, there is currently no agreement as to whether Rawlinson B 502, more precisely its second part, is to be identified as the manuscript referred to by that title.
Ivar of Waterford was the Norse king of Waterford from at least 969 until his death in the year 1000, and also reigned as King of Dublin, possibly from 989 to 993, and certainly again for less than a year between 994 and 995, returning after his expulsion from the city in 993 by Sigtrygg Silkbeard, who would expel him for good the next time.
Tigernach Ua Braín was abbot of Clonmacnoise and abbot of Roscommon. He was once held to be the author of the Annals of Tigernach, hence its name; this view is no longer sustainable, though the nature and extent of his involvement remain unclear.
Máel Muad mac Brain, commonly anglicised Molloy and referred to in several texts as Maelmuadh son of Bran, was King of Munster, first possibly from 959 or alternatively 963 to around 970, when he may have been deposed (usurped) by Mathgamain mac Cennétig of the Dál gCais, and then again from 976, following his putting to death of the latter, until his own death in the Battle of Belach Lechta against Mathgamain's brother Brian Bóruma in 978. From around 970 to 976, he is referred to in the sources only as King of Desmond, but remained "in opposition" to Mathgamain throughout his career. Máel Muad's chief ally in Munster was Donnubán mac Cathail, to whom he partly owed his second reign, and with whom he is also associated earlier. Along with Donnubán he was also allied, according to the not contemporary saga and political tract Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib, with Ivar of Limerick, who may himself have temporarily been overlord of the province.
The Battle of Belach Lechta or Bealach Leachta was a major battle fought in Munster in 978 between Máel Muad mac Brain, King of Munster, and Brian Bóruma. In the battle, the king was killed and Bóruma took over the role as the de facto King of Munster. Bóruma was the younger brother of Mathgamain mac Cennétig and in line to be the next High King of Ireland.
AI978.2: The battle of Belach Lechta, in which Mael Muad son of Brain, king of Caisel, and many others, fell. Brian, son of Cennétig, was victor.
Ressad or Ress refers to a now lost city and possibly also to a territory that is still unidentified but believed by scholars to have been somewhere within the borders of modern County Limerick in western Ireland, in what was once the territory of the kingdom of the Uí Fidgenti.
Cacht ingen Ragnaill was the queen of Donnchad mac Briain, from their marriage in 1032 to her death in 1054, when she is styled Queen of Ireland in the Irish annals of the Clonmacnoise group: the Annals of Tigernach and Chronicon Scotorum. Her husband himself, though King of Munster, is not widely regarded as having been High King of Ireland and so the extent of Cacht's influence is uncertain. That her style is superior to his presents an obviously strange situation in medieval Gaelic Ireland's male-dominated politics.
Declán of Ardmore, also called Déclán, was an early Irish saint of the Déisi Muman, who was remembered for having converted the Déisi in the late 5th century and for having founded the monastery of Ardmore in what is now County Waterford. The principal source for his life and cult is a Latin Life of the 12th century. Like Ailbe of Emly, Ciarán of Saigir and Abbán of Moyarney, Declán is presented as a Munster saint who preceded Saint Patrick in bringing Christianity to Ireland. He was regarded as a patron saint of the Déisi of East Munster.
Fingal mac Gofraid, and his father, Gofraid mac Sitriuc, were late eleventh-century rulers of the Kingdom of the Isles. Although one source states that Gofraid mac Sitriuc's father was named Sitriuc, there is reason to suspect that this could be an error of some sort. There is also uncertainty as to which family Gofraid mac Sitriuc belonged to. One such family, descended from Amlaíb Cúarán, King of Northumbria and Dublin, appears to have cooperated with Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó, King of Leinster. Another family, that of Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, King of Dublin and the Isles, opposed Amlaíb Cúarán's apparent descendants, and was closely connected with Diarmait's adversaries, the Uí Briain kindred.
Gofraid mac Amlaíb meic Ragnaill was a late eleventh-century King of Dublin. Although the precise identities of his father and grandfather are uncertain, Gofraid was probably a kinsman of his royal predecessor, Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, King of Dublin and the Isles. Gofraid lived in an era when control of the Kingdom of Dublin was fought over by competing Irish overlords. In 1052, for example, Echmarcach was forced from the kingdom by the Uí Chennselaig King of Leinster, Diarmait mac Maíl na mBó. When the latter died in 1072, Dublin was seized by the Uí Briain King of Munster, Toirdelbach Ua Briain, a man who either handed the Dublin kingship over to Gofraid, or at least consented to Gofraid's local rule.