The past and the present in twelfth-century Armagh

Abstract

This article draws attention to an under-appreciated historical text commonly known as Annála gearra as proibhinse Ard Macha. As well as reporting events not recorded elsewhere in any other medieval Irish sources, such as the battle of Hastings, the synchronistic chronological structure of the text distinguishes it from better-known annals. This article provides the first modern translation of the text, which was edited by Gearóid Mac Niocaill in the 1950s; examines its sources, content, and structure; discusses its relationship to other major annal collections; and reflects on its place within the historiographical tradition of medieval Ireland. It argues that the text was compiled in its current form in Armagh in the middle of the twelfth century, and that political and religious concerns of that church and period were influential in shaping both its structure and content.