Dublin, 1639. Printed work.
Sir James Ware's De Scriptoribus Hiberniae was published in Dublin in 1639. This was a biographical encyclopaedia of Irish writers from earliest times to Ware's own day. Similar compilations had been attempted by Richard Stanihurst (1577) and in an English context by John Bale (1545). Ware relied partly on Bale and ranged from writings of early saints to later English writers who wrote about Ireland such as Edmund Spenser. Ware had been responsible for the first edition (1633) of Spenser's provocative View of the present state of Ireland, a work that received a swift reply in Keating's Foras feasa ar Éirinn.
Ware was a graduate of Trinity College Dublin who was taught by James Ussher with whom he shared a life-long interest in Irish history. He held office as Ireland's auditor-general and was an active politician. He was in contact with the Donegal Franciscans from whom he borrowed manuscripts for his historical works.
