Salamanca An Coláiste Éireannach

ANA SPEAKS IN SPANISH

ART SPEAKS IN SPANISH

CONCHA SPEAKS IN SPANISH

ANA SPEAKS IN SPANISH

REMIGIO SPEAKS IN SPANISH

There's different versions of it, but there's been stories, kind of,

bandied around that, when the college actually closed...

some Irish priests from Maynooth

went over to Spain in cars

and when they...

they came to the Irish college in Salamanca...

I don't know if it's true or not, but the priests, apparently,

put the archives into the boot of their cars,

and the library, as well,

and ferried them across, back here, to Maynooth.

So I'm just going to show you a few items from the collection itself.

These student oaths - there's around 350 to 370 individual student oaths.

And the oaths are a document that each student

coming into Salamanca would have to sign.

And it's basically saying that he is signing up to be a student,

a seminarian in the Irish college in Salamanca.

And that he's going to follow the rules

and regulations of the college

and he's going to study as a seminarian.

The first one that we have here is, actually...

it's dated...erm...1595.

And this is Nicholas Mara, from Kilkenny.

So...

-"Nicholas Mara, Cill Chainnigh."

-Yeah.

-All signed...written in Latin.

-Yes.

-And they're actually written

by the students themselves

and they would have signed them off,

because each oath would have individual, er, penmanship.

This is quite a peculiar story

of a group of students in 1751.

They were expelled from the college, essentially for...

they had befriended a tailor that lived in Salamanca.

This tailor was doing business, but he didn't have anywhere to live.

So, without the permission of the rector or the vice rector,

they took the tailor into the college and the tailor actually

lived there for about two or three weeks, without the rector knowing.

So, as soon the rector found out that this tailor was residing

in their college, he expelled...

There was a group of students.

"Sheahy from Clonmel, Curran from Dublin, White from Dublin..."

-Exactly.

-"..from County Louth."

But here we've got...look,

he accidentally called at the Irish college to beg charity...

-and saying he was a tailor by trade.

-Uh-hm.

-And he's let in.

-Yup.

This is just them being... At home, they would have welcomed tailors...

It wasn't being criminal, it was just...

-letting people stay the night.

-Yeah, but it was...

They went against the rules of the college

-and that was very much frowned upon.

-And if you look...

-"And sheltered the tailor, contrary to express orders."

-Yep.

LAUGHTER

-I'm with the lads, on this one.

-Oh!

SHE CHUCKLES

Now, it's not the original, but it's a copy of the decree

-made by the King of England. So, it was published in Dublin.

-Yes.

-SHE TRANSLATES:

-"In Ireland. 1624.

"By the King of England against the Catholics."

It's quite a lengthy document, but, throughout it, the King is

quite adamant that no Catholics are to follow the Catholic faith.

And that they are banished from the country.

So, from this banishment came a great migration.

Especially religious migration, into Europe.

And hence, the Irish colleges were born...

-around Spain, countries like Spain and France.

-Yes.

Further on, we have another account of...

an Irish priest...

-SHE TRANSLATES:

-..so Eugene Bernard.

-Yes.

-And this is an account of,

a personal account of when he's finished his studies in Salamanca

and he's actually gone back to Galway... Galway there.

And the main thrust of his account is that he found it very difficult.

He doesn't feel safe as a Catholic, to walk out of his own house, erm,

-in Galway.

-Yes.

-And he's just been ordained.

-Yeah.

And, erm, he refers to Galway -

"The hellish wolves that reside in this...

"this town."

In this, he feels very persecuted for being a Catholic priest.

At nights... So, he's afraid to go out at nights, even in Galway?

In Galway, yep, yeah.

Oh, look...

ART SPEAKS IN SPANISH

I suppose When you are feeling a bit sick,

a bar of chocolate picks you up a bit.

Yeah, although I think that the chocolate is...

-still today... It's drink, hot drinking chocolate.

-Yes, yes, yes.

So, I think it would be a perfect tonic for the sick.

Yeah, it gives you that feel-good...

Yeah, make you feel good.

Erm, and you can see that, in various different weeks...

that they would give chocolate to the sick.

Would it encourage hypochondriacs among the student body?

I don't know, maybe, maybe?

SHE CHUCKLES

ART SPEAKS IN SPANISH

Here's an Irishman, here's Spanish. Here's the V like a B,

and instead of "Verdura" puts down "Berdura".

Yeah, it's a spelling mistake, but that's the way...

Oh, but this is wonderful for a linguist.

This is how we make our living, you know?

By analysing so-called "mistakes".

Exactly, cos that could change the spelling, you know, as years go by.

But that's the way that he's...

Because in Spanish, the Vauxhall Nova meant "No ba" - "doesn't go."

So, they couldn't call it Vauxhall Nova in Spain, because it meant,

-"No ba."

-SHE LAUGHS

-You see...

-A contemporary example of what was happening back in 1770.

-People having trouble with their bowels in Spanish?

-Yes.

-Instead of their vowels.

-Yeah.

LAUGHTER

All coming through, again and again.

SHE CHUCKLES

But for the dialectologist, this is wonderful, you know.

-Absolutely.

-We're getting what they've eaten, bought, sent,

lit up. And then we're getting how they said this stuff.

-Exactly.

-How they're coping with the new language, really.

And how it sounded. It's a wonderful, wonderful resource.

-Yes, absolutely, yes.

-So much in there.

There's a lot of information there.

-Yes, yes, yes. We've got to get that out there, Susan.

-Yes!

SHE CHUCKLES

BIRDSONG