Virtual Treasury Roadshow to visit Kilkenny to show digital records to tell the story of Kilkenny and its people

Kilkenny County Council Library Service will host the Virtual Treasury Roadshow at Mayfair Library on Tuesday, November 25.

It will be a chance for people to learn about their local history in this exciting new online resource, alongside a launch for the Irish Manuscript Commission’s newest publication: The Statute of Kilkenny, edited by Dr Keith Busby.

Event Details
On November 25, the Virtual Treasury Roadshow will visit Mayfair Library, Parliament Street to show digital records that help tell the story of Kilkenny and its people from the 19th Century back to medieval times. Speakers include Alicia Dunphy from Kilkenny County Council Library Service Local Studies Department, Ciarán Wallace, Lynn Kilgallon, and Brian Gurrin from the Virtual Treasury, each of whom will present on various facets of the project.
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The roadshow visit will take place in Mayfair Library at 6.45pm, followed by the Book Launch at 8pm.

The launch of The Statue of Kilkenny, edited by Dr Keith Busby and published by the Irish Manuscripts Commission, will take place after the Roadshow, and will feature short remarks by Professor John McCafferty (Chair of IMC), and an introduction by Dr Peter Crooks (Co-Director of VRTI, IMC Commissioner).
Attendance is free and all are welcome.

BACKGROUND
Seven centuries of Irish history went up in smoke when the Public Record Office of Ireland was destroyed during the Battle of the Four Courts in June 1922. In recent years historians, archivists and computer scientists have been searching in archives and libraries, at home and abroad, hunting for any copies that can help replace these lost records.

The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland was launched in June 2022, providing the public free online access to tens of thousands of replacement records, with over 50 million words of searchable text, collected from seventy partner archives and libraries around the globe.

Now, the Virtual Treasury team is coming to Kilkenny to share the results of their research. “We are thrilled to welcome this roadshow to Kilkenny – this rich treasury of records provides vital access to all interested in Irish history and brings ordinary lives buried in official documents back into the light" comments County Librarian, Josephine Coyne.

The Statute of Kilkenny, edited by Dr. Keith Busby.

The Irish Manuscripts Commission will publish a new edition and translation of the Statute of Kilkenny (1366) — one of the most controversial texts from medieval Ireland. Passed at a parliament in Kilkenny on 18 February 1366 under Lionel of Antwerp, duke of Clarence and son of King Edward III of England, the Statute sought to regulate relations between the English colonial community in Ireland and the Gaelic Irish population.

Best known for its attempt to forbid intermarriage and prohibit the use of the Irish language and customs among the English in Ireland, the Statute remains a striking document of colonial control and cultural division. It also offers a vivid window into the political and economic instability of the fourteenth century, as colonial authorities struggled to maintain order and peace.

This new edition, the first since 1907, presents the original French text alongside a modern English translation, complete with an introduction, textual notes, a description of Law French, and a comprehensive glossary. It is accompanied by an edition and translation of earlier ordinances from the 1351 Kilkenny parliament, which foreshadowed several of the Statute’s key provisions.

Dr Keith Busby is Douglas Kelly Professor Emeritus of Medieval French at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America. He has published widely on French in medieval Ireland, and his recent publications include French in Medieval Ireland, Ireland in Medieval French: The Paradox of Two Worlds (Brepols, 2017), a ground-breaking study of the cultural and linguistic consequences of the English invasion of Ireland in 1169.