Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Maps, figures and tables
- Preface and acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Notes on annals and names
- Introduction
- 1 The ‘Annals of Ulster’, 912–1100
- 2 The characteristics of the ‘Annals of Tigernach’ and Chronicum Scotorum
- 3 The Clonmacnoise group 912–1100 and its relationship with the ‘Chronicle of Ireland’
- 4 Shared items in the ‘Annals of Ulster’ and the Clonmacnoise group, A.D. 912–1100
- 5 The restructuring of the past in the ‘Chronicle of Ireland’
- 6 The chronology of the ‘Chronicle of Ireland’, 431–730
- 7 The original chronology of the Irish chronicles, ca 550–730
- 8 The Clonmacnoise-group redaction of medieval history A.D. 431–730 in the tenth and eleventh centuries
- Conclusion: chronicling medieval Ireland
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- General Index
- Index of Vocabulary and Phrases in the Irish Chronicles
5 - The restructuring of the past in the ‘Chronicle of Ireland’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Maps, figures and tables
- Preface and acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Notes on annals and names
- Introduction
- 1 The ‘Annals of Ulster’, 912–1100
- 2 The characteristics of the ‘Annals of Tigernach’ and Chronicum Scotorum
- 3 The Clonmacnoise group 912–1100 and its relationship with the ‘Chronicle of Ireland’
- 4 Shared items in the ‘Annals of Ulster’ and the Clonmacnoise group, A.D. 912–1100
- 5 The restructuring of the past in the ‘Chronicle of Ireland’
- 6 The chronology of the ‘Chronicle of Ireland’, 431–730
- 7 The original chronology of the Irish chronicles, ca 550–730
- 8 The Clonmacnoise-group redaction of medieval history A.D. 431–730 in the tenth and eleventh centuries
- Conclusion: chronicling medieval Ireland
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- General Index
- Index of Vocabulary and Phrases in the Irish Chronicles
Summary
The previous four chapters have largely been concerned with the process of recording contemporary events in Irish chronicles, but it is clear that earlier sections of the annals, describing the distant past, were also a focus of Irish chroniclers' activities. This chapter will concentrate on one major phase of change which took place in the common source of AU and the Clonmacnoise group which ended in A.D. 911. In this phase a number of texts from outside Ireland were used to provide items in the section from A.D. 431, when Palladius was sent to Ireland, to A.D. 720. These items provided the Irish chronicles with a sequence of popes from 431 to about 610, a series of Byzantine emperors from 431 to 720, and records of a few other selected events from the Mediterranean world. In a section of the chronicles which, before the late seventh century, probably did not describe many events per annal, these new items would have significantly altered the content of the chronicle. The intention of this chapter is to identify the sources of these items, explain how they were included, and discuss the picture of the past that resulted. Not only should this produce evidence for the context of the chronicles at the time of inclusion, but it will also provide the basis for the study of the annals' chronology in chapter 6.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Present and the Past in Medieval Irish Chronicles , pp. 115 - 144Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010