Texts

Annals of Ulster

  • Irish annals
Manuscripts
E =
ff. 431–514
Copy of H up to AD 665, with a translation into Latin as far as AD 491. Written by Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh? Mac Carthy and Hennessy, vol. IV, pp. xi-xii.
C(2)
pp. 318a–321b
An English translation.
D:
ff. 21a–32b
A Latin translation.
Textual relationships
For the pre-Palladian set of annals in TCD MS 1282, of which Daniel Mc Carthy has argued that they belong to the Annals of Ulster, see Dublin fragment of pre-Palladian annals.
Related: Dublin fragment of pre-Palladian annalsDublin fragment of pre-Palladian annalsSet of pre-Palladian Irish annals found in a single manuscript, TCD MS 1282 (H. 1. 8). The first leaves are wanting and the extant fragment runs from AD 81 (death of Iriel Glúnmar) to AD 378. Current scholarship is divided whether to regard the annals as a part of the Annals of Ulster, as argued by Daniel Mc Carthy, or a separate compilation altogether. It was previously held to be part of the Annals of Tigernach and on that account, Whitley Stokes published an edition with the title ‘Dublin fragment of Tigernach's annals’.
Associated items
Bronaig Conailli indiuBronaig Conailli indiu

Early Irish poem, 4 qq of which are quoted in the Annals of Ulster, in an entry sub anno 688 concerning the battle of Imlech Pich. The poem, here attributed to one Gabaircenn or Gaborchenn, laments the deaths of two leaders on the side of the Conailli, Dub Da Inber and Uarchride. On the grounds that quatrains 2-3 are metrically distinct from 1 and 4, Kuno Meyer expressed doubt if all four quatrains originally belonged together.

Classification

Irish annalsannals and chronicles, Irish histories
Irish annals
id. 35113

Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] [tr.] Mac Airt, Seán, and Gearóid Mac Niocaill [eds. and trs.], The Annals of Ulster, to AD 1131, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1983.
CELT – edition, s. a. 431-1131 (pp. 38-578): <link> CELT – translation, s. a. 431-1131 (pp. 39-579): <link>
[ed.] [tr.] Hennessy, William M., and B. Mac Carthy [eds. and trs.], Annala Uladh: Annals of Ulster, otherwise Annala Senait, Annals of Senat: a chronicle of Irish affairs from A.D. 431 to A.D. 1540, Partial, revised ed., Online: CELT, 2008–. URL: <http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100001A http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100001B http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100001C http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100001A http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100001B http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100001C>. 
comments: The edition available from CELT is accompanied by the following statements (accessed 13:10, 1 February 2011 (CET)):
“[...] For the remainder of the text (AD 1155 to the end) we have had to use Mac Carthy's very unsatisfactory edition. His codicological information is obscure, his citation of variants is patchy, and he makes many unnecessary or wrong-headed attempts at emendation. These latter are simply ignored, but emendations and corrections by Whitley Stokes (1896, 1897) are integrated into the text. It is not, however, possible to produce a satisfactory digital edition from Mac Carthy's ragged apparatus.]”

and:

“Editorial corrigenda (where relevant and well-founded) are integrated into the electronic edition. Unnecessary or mistaken corrections by Mac Carthy (these appear in brackets in his edition) are simply ignored in the electronic text. Missing text supplied by the editors in the body of the work is tagged sup. Editorial and scribal corrections entered in the body of the work are tagged corr and the original reading is kept in the sic attribute. In the case of some unusual forms not commented by the editors of the hard copy the manuscript reading is tagged sic, without further comment by the makers of the electronic edition. Changes of scribe, marked by the hard copy editors, are retained and marked in the hand attribute of the tag add using the scribal sigla (for which see profiledesc below). Thus, scribal glosses and annotations are tagged add with appropriate attributes. Because of the unsatisfactory nature of Mac Carthy's edition, additions by hands other than the main hand are simply marked with add or addspan and the attribute late. Strictly codicological annotations in the apparatus criticus that do not appear to affect the meaning have been ignored.”
[ed.] [tr.] Hennessy, William M., and B. Mac Carthy [eds. and trs.], Annala Uladh: Annals of Ulster, otherwise Annala Senait, Annals of Senat: a chronicle of Irish affairs from A.D. 431 to A.D. 1540, 4 vols, 1st ed., Dublin, 1887–1901.
Internet Archive – vol. 1: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 1: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 1: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 1: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 1: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 2: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 2: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 2: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 2: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 3: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 3: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 3: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 3: <link> Internet Archive – vol. 4: <link>

Secondary sources (select)

Mc Carthy, Daniel P., The Irish annals: their genesis, evolution and history, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2008.  
comments: Contents: Chronicles and annals: origins, compilation, taxonomy and nomenclature (p. 1); Witnesses to the annals: the primary manuscripts (18); Annalistic literature (61); World history in Insular chronicles (118); The Iona chronicle (153); The Moville and Clonmacnoise chronicles (168); Liber Cuanach and its descendants (198); The Armagh and Derry chronicles (223); The Connacht and Fermanagh chronicles (245); The Regnal-canon chronicles (271); Final compilation stages (304); Reliable annalistic chronology (342); Epilogue (355); Twelve centuries of Irish chronicling: from Bethlehem to Bundrowes (355); Necessity for a comprehensive analysis of chronicle features (357); Outstanding chronicle compilations (358); Manuscript witnesses to the annals (361); Survey of annalistic verse up to A.D. 1000 (364); The regnal-canon (368); Bibliography (375) and index (393).
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
December 2010, last updated: January 2024