Frontier, Faith and Succession
The evidence needs careful handling. The Annals of Ulster, compiled from contemporary and near-contemporary northern materials, enters several events under 1220. The later Annals of the Four Masters places others in 1220 that the Annals of Loch Cé assigns to 1221, while the Annals of Inisfallen dates the arrival of a papal legate to 1221. Such differences reflect the difficulties of medieval annalistic chronology, copying and the choice of when a year began; they do not automatically mean that one account is false. Accordingly, some developments can be placed firmly in 1220, while others belong more safely to the opening years of the decade and illuminate the situation during this calendar year.
