Four Masters were four Irish scholars who compiled manuscripts on Irish history, in the early 1600's. These scholars were Michael O'Clery, Peregrine O'Clery, Fearfeasa O'Mulconry, and Peregrine O'Duigenan. Their main work was a chronological history of Ireland called the Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland or the Annals of the Four Masters. The work is a chronicle of Irish history from antiquity to 1616. The Annals begins as a list of names, dates, battles, and occasional quotations from ancient writers. The work gradually becomes a kind of literary history as it comes closer to the time of the scholars.