Cú Choigríche Ó Duibhgeannáin

Cú Choigríche Ó Duibhgeannáin, anglicised Peregrine O'Duignan, was an Irish historian and chronicler.
He is best known for being one of the "Four Masters" - the authors of the historical chronicle Annals of the Four Masters.

Name

Cú Coigriche means "hound of the neighbouring land." Upon taking holy orders in the Franciscan Order of Leuven, his name was latinised to Pereginus.

Early life

Ó Duibhgeannáin was born about or after 1590. His father was Tuathal Buidhe Ó Duibhgeannáin, of Castlefore, County Leitrim.
His family, the clan Uí Dhuibhgeannáin, were professional historians from Annaly, many of whom had crossed the Shannon and practised their art in Connacht. Here the Ó Duibhgeannains set up a bardic college at Kilronan, near Lough Key in northern County Roscommon.

The "Four Masters"

Around 1627, he began working with Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh and Fearfeasa Ó Maol Chonaire under the direction of Brother Mícheál Ó Cléirigh. In that year Ó Cléirigh was sent from his mother house at Leuven to Ireland to collect Irish literary, historical and chronological material in danger of being lost. These materials were assembled into a number of compilations, the most famous being the Annals of the Four Masters.
In 1636, the year Annals was completed, it is likely Ó Duibhgeannáin returned to Leuven with Mícheál Ó Cléirigh. It is possible that he remained in Ireland, as a copy of the annals was being used in the town of Galway by Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh in the late 1640s. It may not be coincidental that a kinsman of Ó Duibhgeannáin, Daibhidh Ó Duibhgheannáin was living and working in Connemara at least as early as 1651.