0:01:25 > 0:01:26BELL DINGS
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Here we have the original foundation stone
0:03:48 > 0:03:51laid by Albert and Isabella.
0:03:51 > 0:03:52In its original location,
0:03:52 > 0:03:56this was the most powerful couple in the Spanish lowlands coming
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and giving up their time to lay the foundation stone.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32This particular college went on to perform another type of role,
0:05:32 > 0:05:36to be, erm, powerhouse of research
0:05:36 > 0:05:40and a powerhouse that would influence thinking back in Ireland.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29The Franciscans set out on a project that they called the Grand Project
0:06:29 > 0:06:34and it was... I suppose you could say it was nothing less than to...
0:06:34 > 0:06:37I'll not say, "create an Irish identity"
0:06:37 > 0:06:39but consolidate an Irish identity.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39So this is the Teagasg Criosdaidhe and our edition is... This one here
0:09:39 > 0:09:44is second edition which was printed in 1707.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Oh, yes, and this is Giolla Brighde O hEodhusa.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50- You'll see it was also printed in Leuven.- Yes.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58It was the first book printed by the Franciscans in Leuven using
0:12:58 > 0:13:00the Gaelic type.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02So this was the Gaelic type that they had created themselves
0:13:02 > 0:13:06and the 1618 copy... Edition, I should say.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10..is the first book that was printed on the printing press.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Scathan shacramuinte na haitridhe ar na cuma don bratair
0:13:14 > 0:13:18bor dord San Froinsias. Aodh Mac Aingil.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35This particular book has been rebound.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37- You'll see this, the nice detail here...- Yes.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42..on the endpaper. So it was rebound in Dublin and, unfortunately,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44as you can see, during the rebinding process
0:13:44 > 0:13:49- some of the running titles have been... have been lost.- Goodness.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Which is unfortunate but overall
0:13:52 > 0:13:55it's in actually very good condition.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58So the book would have been slightly bigger but you could see how,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00- if I may touch it slightly...- Yup.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03..that you could actually have this book...
0:14:03 > 0:14:05Go around, do your sermons, really
0:14:05 > 0:14:07and carry this here very portably.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10A little livre de poche, as they say in French.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13But certainly a lot packed in here to these wonderful...
0:14:13 > 0:14:16And as you say, and you'll see from a lot of these books,
0:14:16 > 0:14:18they are quite small in nature and that was
0:14:18 > 0:14:21because they would have been easy to conceal.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25OK, so if you had, for example, this particular volume here, if you
0:14:25 > 0:14:27had that in your hand you could conceal that under your sleeve...
0:14:27 > 0:14:29- Yes.- ..if you were found with it.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39This is the first volume of the Annals Of The Four Masters.
0:17:39 > 0:17:45Here you have a little insert before the Annals begin,
0:17:45 > 0:17:52proper begin, which is highlighting the names of the copyists,
0:17:52 > 0:17:58the Four Masters and the others who copied out all the data
0:17:58 > 0:18:03in the Annals and it's replicating...
0:18:03 > 0:18:06another copy's signatures.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29So we see here these copies of the Annals in the 17th century
0:19:29 > 0:19:31but the fact that they had this printing press at Leuven,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34you almost would have wished that in Ireland
0:19:34 > 0:19:36they could have had this stuff printed in the 17th century.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39I think it would've made a massive difference to the language
0:19:39 > 0:19:40had that've been the case.
0:19:40 > 0:19:45Yes, and I think for a number of reasons, obviously, it didn't happen
0:19:45 > 0:19:51and eventually was only published in print in the mid-19th century
0:19:51 > 0:19:55in Ireland by the great John O'Donovan, the Irish scholar.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58So, really, for more than two centuries,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02it's in this manuscript form and just with two copies made,
0:20:02 > 0:20:06so it's very sad, really, that it was in abeyance for so long.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09And Leuven - it's almost like this history factory
0:20:09 > 0:20:12is taking place and I don't think, generally in Ireland,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15they don't really realise how much really went on from Leuven
0:20:15 > 0:20:18and how indebted Ireland is in particular to
0:20:18 > 0:20:21the setup in Leuven where these Ulster scribes were there.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24And they're getting... The place is falling apart.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27There's a political upheaval, there's religious upheaval
0:20:27 > 0:20:29and these people sit down and say,
0:20:29 > 0:20:31"Right, we're going to plan out
0:20:31 > 0:20:35"and are going to get a structured history of the secular history
0:20:35 > 0:20:38- "and the ecclesiastical history," and they set about it.- That's right.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41And they saved so much, really, by making, er...
0:20:41 > 0:20:44By working from other copies and other books,
0:20:44 > 0:20:48they saved so much in the Annals that they compiled which would be
0:20:48 > 0:20:50completely lost to us but for them.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20We get the sense of a close of an era almost with his passing.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Yeah, and I think the Four Masters, in a way,
0:21:23 > 0:21:28are acknowledging that because they close out the Annals with
0:21:28 > 0:21:35the death of Hugh O'Neill in Rome and it is like, you know,
0:21:35 > 0:21:43closing the book and the end of an epoch, really, in Irish history.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45It's, er, I think it's really poignant, really.
0:23:54 > 0:24:00The Irish Franciscans have left us quite an important legacy.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04First of all, they've left us the relationship with this city
0:24:04 > 0:24:08and the university, traced back 400 years.
0:24:08 > 0:24:09And then, of course, they've given us
0:24:09 > 0:24:16the inspiration that lies behind the work we do today serving Ireland.
0:24:16 > 0:24:23But also, in building these networks that we are currently doing
0:24:23 > 0:24:26to promote Irish studies at centres across Europe,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30this is following on exactly the same type of network
0:24:30 > 0:24:36Ward and his colleagues were developing in their work
0:24:36 > 0:24:38on the Grand Project
0:24:38 > 0:24:39in the early part of the 17th century.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42There's an enormous parallel and we can't
0:24:42 > 0:24:46but recognise that we're influenced by the work that's going on here,
0:24:46 > 0:24:48that has gone on here in the past.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42"One of the things in the college which entrances me
0:26:42 > 0:26:46"is the carved letter L, a character from the font developed
0:26:46 > 0:26:50"here by the Irish Franciscans in the early 17th century.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55"It was a print I encountered in my first years learning Irish
0:26:55 > 0:26:58"when I found that the letters of the alphabet have an ancient
0:26:58 > 0:27:01"and Achaean association with trees.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05"The letter L, for example, is linked to luis, the rowan tree.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07"And in the corpus of treelore,
0:27:07 > 0:27:11"the rowan tree is associated with the art of divination.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16"In this carved character, therefore, it would be possible
0:27:16 > 0:27:18"to divine the history of Ireland
0:27:18 > 0:27:22"and the continuous forging of Irish identity.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24"It is like a seal of that identity,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27"a reminder of the importance of the leabhar - book
0:27:27 > 0:27:30"and learning and, indeed,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33"Lowen and Leuven and Louvain
0:27:33 > 0:27:38"and our national story and ever forming and reforming identity."