Kilkenny celebrates 400 years as city

KILKENNY TODAY celebrates the 400th anniversary of being granted “city” status with civic festivities set to last throughout the holiday weekend.

Mayor Pat Crotty said “in tough times it’s great to have something to celebrate”. He hoped the occasion branded as “Freedom of the City for All” would boost tourism “as well as giving a fillip to our own people”.

In keeping with the new mood of national austerity, access to all heritage sites, including Kilkenny Castle, is free today and a family-oriented programme features street theatre, live music, country markets and children’s entertainments.

This evening, soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Battalion at James Stephens’ Barracks will provide a military escort as robed councillors carry the original royal charter through the medieval streets from the castle to the city hall. The document was signed and sealed on April 11th, 1609, by James I, the king who survived the Gunpowder Plot and was known as “the wisest fool in Christendom”.

The authorities in Kilkenny have also launched an appeal for the return of a "priceless medieval book of national and international importance" which is missing from the city's archives. The council is offering a "symbolically significant" cash reward of €2,009 for the return of Liber Secundus (the second book), a historical account of events from 1538 to the mid-1600s which once formed part of the city's unique collection of civic records. The book was borrowed more than 100 years ago, apparently for legitimate research purposes, but was never returned and was thought to have been lost forever. However, new information has come to light which suggests it may still be in existence. The chairman of Kilkenny 400, Paul Cuddihy, told The Irish Timesthat he had "been led to believe that if we offered a reward it would turn up".

The councillor, a teacher of history at Kilkenny College, has spent years leading a fruitless search to trace what he described as “a document of huge interest to historians and scholars”.

He has already pursued a number of false leads which included contacting Yale University after reports that the book might be in a library there and “visiting two sisters in Clonmel who thought they might have it”.

Mr Cuddihy, who is concerned that the book “could be lying undetected in a house and when someone dies it may go into a skip”, asked people to search older houses including attics. Earlier this week he spoke to a local family “who have lived in the same house for 450 years and who carried out a thorough search but to no avail”.

To avoid any potential embarrassment or recriminations he stressed that “if someone wants to come and hand back the book in private their name would be withheld” and the reward could be paid in cash. Brian Tyrrell, a spokesman for the council, said there was “no question of a criminal prosecution”.

Officials also believe there is a possibility that the book could have entered the national or international rare books market and have appealed to antiquarian book dealers and collectors in Ireland and overseas to be on the lookout.

In a further effort to raise awareness, Kilkenny will open its civic archive to the public for a week from next Tuesday.

The exhibition will offer a rare opportunity to view items including the royal charter and the city's first book of records, the Liber Primus, written in Latin on vellum pages made from dried calf and goat skins, which dates from 1231 and is normally kept in a secure vault.

For details of events see www.kilkenny 400.ie Anyone with information about the Liber Secundus is invited to contact Mr Cuddihy or Mr Tyrrell at Kilkenny City Hall, on 056-779 4500.