Two men have received awards from King Felipe VI of Spain for their promotion of historical ties between Spain and Ireland.
Author and historian Michael Barry was awarded the Order of Civil Merit for his books on Spanish history.
He recently authored 1588, the Spanish Armada and the 24 ships lost on Ireland’s Shores. The book contains much new material about the tragedy that befell the Armada off the Irish coast. He also wrote a book about Muslim Spain called Homage to al-Andalus, as well as Hispania, the Romans in Spain and Portugal.
Carlos Burgos, the president of the Hispano-Irish Association, has been one of the prime movers behind the attempts to find the remains of Red Hugh O’Donnell, who was buried in Mr Burgos’s hometown of Valladolid in 1602.
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He received the Order of Isabella the Catholic, which is named after Isabella of Castille , whose marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon marked the beginning of the modern Spanish state.
Though the search for Red Hugh’s remains were not successful, a mock funeral for him which has been held for the last two years attracted thousands of people to the streets of Valladolid. The next one is due to take place there on the weekend on September 26th and 27th.
The awards were presented by the Spanish ambassador to Ireland, Ion de la Riva, at the ceremony in the ambassadorial residence on Tuesday.
Mr de la Riva said Spain was the first country to sign a treaty with the Irish. In 1529, the Treaty of Dingle signed between King Charles V of Spain and the Earl of Desmond gave Irish people citizenship throughout the Habsburg Empire which ruled Spain and much of Europe at the time.
