INTRODUCTION TO ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS

Methodology

1. Teacher introduces the Annals of the Four Masters.
2. Teacher distributes Worksheet: Researching the Annals of the Four Masters.
3. Teacher explains several factors that have to be taken into account when interpreting evidence in the Annals of the Four Masters:
   
   
   • They were compiled in the first half of the seventeenth century by Irish Franciscan monks.
   • These monks copied material from older manuscripts which, in turn, were compiled mainly by monks and scribes of earlier times.
   • Some entries are primary sources as the events recorded were contemporary, either with the earlier compilers or with the seventeenth century compilers.
   • A large portion of the material was originally collected from poets, bards, druids, brehons and other sources, many of them oral sources.
   • The Annals of the Four Masters were translated into English by John O'Donovan in the mid nineteenth century.
4. Teacher explains how to access Annals of the Four Masters.
   
   The Celt website may be accessed by several methods:
   
   
   • through its web address: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/
   • through the University College, Cork (UCC) website. Celt is a UCC project
   • through a directory of Irish websites
   • through submitting the query 'Annals of the Four Masters' to a search engine.
5. In the Celt website, follow the links through Published, Translated texts, The Annals of the Four Masters, Annal M 2242.
   
   Teacher explains:
   
   
   • Dates BC in AFM (at the left of the screen) are additive from a base year believed to be the year of Creation.
   • We begin at the year 2242 to find our first clue.
   • We proceed to the year 3370 for our second clue, follow on to the year 3500 and so on.
6. Teacher gives instructions on preferred option for downloading and displaying material.
7. Teacher has already decided that students should either:
   
   
   • print out pages directly from the Internet OR
   • print out highlighted passages directly from the Internet OR
   • copy and paste to a word processing file, save and print later.
8. Students may manipulate material in the word processing file before printing and the material collected could be displayed in a folder, on a chart or a wall display.