Editing Annals of the Four Masters (section)

==Text==
[[File:Plaque, Drones River - geograph.org.uk - 1422094.jpg|thumb|Monument to the Four Masters, located at the bridge over the Drowes River near [[Kinlough]], near the homeland of [[Cú Choigríche Ó Duibhgeannáin]]]] 
The annals are mainly a compilation of earlier annals, although there is some original work. They were compiled between 1632 and 1636,<ref>{{cite book |last=Welch |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Anthony Welch |year=2000 |title=[[The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature|The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=11 |isbn=9780192800800}}</ref> allegedly in a cottage beside the ruins of [[Donegal Abbey]], just outside [[Donegal (town)|Donegal Town]].<ref>John O'Donovan, [https://archive.org/details/annalsofkingdomo01ocle/page/n31 ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland''], Second Edition, Volume 1, pp. xxviii-xxix, Hodges, Smith, and Co, Dublin (1856).</ref> At this time, however, the Franciscans had a house of refuge by the River Drowes in County Leitrim, just outside Ballyshannon, and it was here, according to others, that the ''Annals'' were compiled.<ref>[https://www.franciscans.ie/friaries/killiney/ ''Franciscans: Studies in the Irish Province''.] Perhaps John O'Donovan was referring to this house of refuge, which is over 20 km from the ruined abbey, when he wrote of ''huts or cottages near the monastery''.</ref> The patron of the project was [[Fearghal Ó Gadhra]], [[Member of Parliament|MP]], a [[Gaelic nobility of Ireland|Gaelic]] [[Tighearna|lord]] of [[Coolavin]], County Sligo.

The chief compiler of the annals was [[Brother (Catholic)|Brother]] [[Mícheál Ó Cléirigh]] from [[Ballyshannon]], who was assisted by, among others, [[Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh]], [[Fearfeasa Ó Maol Chonaire]] and [[Cú Choigríche Ó Duibhgeannáin]]. Although only one of the authors, Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, was a [[Franciscan]] [[friar]], they became known as "the Four Friars" or in the original Irish, {{lang|mga|na Ceithre Máistrí}}. The Anglicized version of this was "the Four Masters", the name that has become associated with the annals themselves.

The annals are written in Irish. The several manuscript copies are held at [[Trinity College Dublin]], the [[Royal Irish Academy]], [[University College Dublin]], and the [[National Library of Ireland]].