PEADAR'S BOOK

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THE LAUNCH
[This section deals with the launch.
I deal more directly with the book itself below].

In his opening words, I think Professor Colm Lennon said it all:

It’s a great honour to have been invited to speak on the occasion of the launch of Peadar Slattery’s Social Life in pre-Reformation Dublin, 1450-1540.

Many years ago I published a book on Dublin in the Reformation period. As I read Peadar’s work, how I wished that it had been available back then, as an invaluable guide to the political, socio-economic and cultural life of late medieval Dublin (that I and others have tried so painfully and inadequately to recreate).

Well, to be fair, there was much more to say, and I won't repeat it all, but it was very positive and coming from Colm was indeed a tribute to Peadar's work. Colm outlined some of the contents, including new material, in the book, but I'll leave you to discover these in the book itself.

I'll just take a few comments which particularly resonated with me.

On the use of sources:

Peadar’s book is based on a range of records that he has mined with great perspicacity – wills, customs and franchise rolls, and official documents of various kinds, for example, – showing what can be done with carefully selected, if limited resources for medieval Ireland.

On standards to which we still aspire in many respects today:

In the sphere of economic life, Peader Slattery has shown that the principle underpinning the regulation of the market and the supply of food and other commodities was based on the maintenance of fair prices and the prevention of profiteering from the sale of produce to which value had not been added in the form of domestic labour.

On identity:

Overall, then, this book not only tells us a huge amount about the formation of a confident, outward-looking urban community of Dublin in the late middle ages, but also raises for modern city-dwellers issues to do with civic responsibility and identity.

It is a tribute to Peadar Slattery’s work that the relevance of the historic to the present is asserted through a myriad of examples and cases.

I urge all here to buy this book and to read it with a view to understanding not just the pre-Reformation city of Dublin but also the timeless urban community values that can and should animate our city in the present day.

You heard the man.

In the course of his reply, Peadar recounted the saga of the book. And particularly the shock at being advised, very late in the day, to extend the period covered up to the Reformation. Medication proved more a hindrance than a help and he just put the head down and got on with it.

By the night, he was able to report this development in a more detached manner:

From the start I had worked with a closing year of 1500, but that year did not make much sense. I wondered should I conclude in 1509, the close of Henry VII's reign. But it was not going to be that easy. In early 2018, both Dr Lennon and Dr Clarke independently suggested that I should continue working out to the 1530s and the early years of the Reformation. A concluding year of 1540 was settled on.

He thanked a number of people for varying degrees of help in the writing of the book and in bringing it to fruition. Some of these were present and it must have given them great satisfaction to see the quality of the final product with which they were involved.

Peadar had to pause briefly to collect himself when acknowledging the help of Jane Laughton. Unexpected, but no surprise when you read what he says in the acknowledgements section of the book.

Dr Jane Laughton helped open up a new vista on Dublin-Chester trade in the 1470s, sharing with me her detailed notes on trading between the two cities. Sadly, Jane died in 2017; she thoroughly enjoyed a renewed interest in Chester-Dublin studies. She was scholarly and yet immensely generous with her time and knowledge. I am especially grateful to Jane and her family.

This is a very engaging entry on many fronts. It is a terribly sad personal reference at one level, but at another it is testimony to all that is best in the academic tradition - a huge tribute to Jane, and also implicitly to Peadar in whom she placed her trust and who has given us a memorial to her nobility in her last days.

I don't want to overplay this as Peadar has nearly three pages of acknowledgements to people for solid help received in the gestation of this work. But I was touched and encouraged by this reference to Jane. The alligators in the academic swamp are many and voracious.

I get a mention myself in the acknowledgements (thanks Peadar) but was, understandably not alluded to on the night.

So Peadar is now officially a celebrity with an enthusiastic fan following.

You can read Colm's full remarks here and Peadar's full reply here. I'd like to thank both Colm and Peadar for these texts and permission to publish them. They were a great contribution to the night and are well worthy of wider circulation.

Peadar has a short summary piece in the Irish Times.

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Signing

The usual signing orgy begins

Terry Clarke - neighbour

Alan Fletcher

In his acknowledgements, Peadar thanks Professor Fletcher for advice on late medieval drama.

Peter Costello

Peter is currently books editor at the Irish Catholic, a title that gives no indication of his vast literary career to date. He was described by the American critic Robert Hogan as “a contemporary embodiment” of the “tradition in Irish literature of the independent scholar, who has an erudition embarrassing to the professional academic”

Alan O'Neill & Noel Rock

Alan is a teacher in St. Aidan's. Noel is a TD and former pupil of Peadars.

David Fegan & Tommy Ellis

David was Professor of Astrophysics in UCD and you'll just have to ask Peadar how he fits into the late medieval period. Tommy is related to Peadar.

Leo "George" Devitt

Leo is Raheny's colourful photographer. He had presented Peadar with an illustrated album of the proceedings almost before the ink was dry.

Unlike myself he is nimble on his feet, or whatever.

Eoin Bairéad

Eoin is an IT consultant and latterly also a local history guide. I keep running into him at these types of function.

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Attendance

Peter Walsh, Howard Clarke

Peter is an urban historian and former curator of the Guinness Museum. Had I known on the night who he was I'd have thanked him personally for a photo of the "Medlar Bridge" he gave me way back through Mary Clarke.

In the acknowledgements, Peadar records his immeasurable debt of gratitude to Professor Clarke and in his remarks on the evening:

Professor Howard Clarke has been very generous with his time, advice and guidance over a number of years and made a most significant contribution to the final shape of this volume.

Ray Gillespie, Brenday Twomey, Peter Walsh

Ray is Professor of History in Maynooth University and was a colleague in the Department of Finance in the last century.

Brendan Twomey is a retired banker and was awarded a PhD by TCD for a thesis on personal financial management in early 18th century Dublin. The centrepiece of his research was the complex financial affairs of Jonathan Swift. I keep running into Brendan on occasions like these.

Brendan Twomey, Colm Lennon

Aisling Brennan

Aisling is a history teacher in St. Aidan's.

Alan O'Neill, Howard Clarke

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Sales

Anthony Tierney - Four Courts Press

For the record, I should state that, despite Peadar's generosity on the night, nobody was observed on this occasion in a "state of inarticulate inebriation", to quote a former boss of mine about a prominent academic at the close of such an occasion.

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THE BOOK
There can be no doubting that this is a magnificent work. It fills a gap in research and publication that has deterred many a worthy scholar. Its value lies in giving us a whole picture of the period and bringing it vividly to life for the reader, whether academic or lay.

Peadar has assiduously assembled existing research on the period, directly analysed contemporary records, done his own field work with new discoveries, relentlessly pursued every opportunity to illustrate his material, and finally written it into this wonderful volume. Particular thanks should go to Four Courts Press who have long been champions in publishing such ventures and whose quality standards have been maintained down the years.

A quick reading of the acknowledgements, a ten page bibliography and thirty pages of footnotes will give a a good idea of the breadth and depth of Peadar's journey.

Colm has been very positive in this comments on the book's content and style. I have already linked to his full comments above. In reading these, you can take it that I agree with him entirely.

I will therefore just make a few remarks on things that particularly struck me in reading the book, which I had just finished on the morning of the launch.

When I started into this book, I expected to find a somewhat chaotic Dublin. You know, earlier is primitive, later is more civilised. The idea that the world in general and humanity in particular is on an eternal trajectory of self-improvement/progress. It's the way I was brought up.

So it was a big suprise to discover how regulated the city was in both the areas of commerce and justice. Of course this only applied to those who were entitled to be there. Instant justice dispensed on the spot in the Pie Powder Courts was a discovery. Pie Powder coming from the French pieds poudrés, dusty feet, just in off the street.

It was a very English city and not only had the dispossessed Irish outside to be kept at bay, but, in varying degrees, those Irish within the city were expelled (at various times).

Colm has already commented on the use of sources. I love to see information squeezed out of sources which think they are telling you something else. I'd cite here the examination of wills to identify customers of a business and to show the geographical spread of the business, and its scale. Peadar has specially commissioned maps of the results to illustrate the points more clearly. I've come across nice twists like this before with Cormac Ó Gráda and Anne Dolan, and I love it.

Peadar has gone out of his way to take photos himself to illustrate things more clearly. A good example is the photos of the three Howth Bells (don't mention the metal typo) followed by those of local churches illustrating one, two and two varieties of three bell, belfries.

He got access to, and photographed, a unique Liffey slip-way and he also commissioned the beautiful drawing of the Church St. barn.

I'm mentioning these features to make the point that this book is not just an academic desk job, brilliant and all as that is. Peadar has gone out and done his own field work (literally).

I love this one. Following the fiasco of the crowning of the boy king in Dublin, Henry VII, in 1488, sent Sir Richard Edgecombe to bring the rebel earls into line. He eventually got the earl of Kildare to swear the oath of loyalty to the King not on the bible, but on the consecrated host.

Edgecombe did not trust the Great Earl and when it came to swearing on the Eucharistic host in public at the monastery of St. Thomas the Martyr, Edgecombe ensured that his own chaplain should consecrate the same host on which the earl and lords should be sworn.

I think even Dev would have had a job getting round that one.

At a certain point the clergy were seen to be falling behind in their teaching and preaching the core values of the faith. These values were to be found in the aptly named work Ignorantia sacerdotum first promulgated by the Lambeth Council in 1281.

Peadar also alludes to the church peddling (my word, not his) indulgences. These were used to reinforce clerical power and as a source of income. One Papal Nuncio in Ireland even had an income related price list.

Shades of the original version of Planned Giving introduced into the Dublin diocese by John Charles in the 1960s. This version was quickly abandoned following strong protests from the faithful.

Lest anyone doubt my locus standi in these matters I must declare that I was a Latin intoning pre-Vatican II altarboy and my mother sold masses.

Peadar, as befits a teacher, takes the Reformation censors to task for their sloppy work. They were supposed to erase the word Pope from holy manuscripts, as Henry VIII was now head of the English church, and also all references to Thomas à Beckett, whom Henry hated, from anywhere such a reference occurred. While he illustrates their adherence to their instructions in a full colour plate, Peadar draws attention to their actual omissions in the text. Today these fudgings and erasures would be called redactions, and I've seen a fair few botched jobs on this front myself in recent times. But that's another story.

The symbiosis of church and state comes across very strongly. Colm has drawn attention to the citizens' participation in many cross cutting communities. Excommunication could have life consequences as well as those in the afterlife.

Colm mentioned a sense of civic solidarity which made me think of the ambiguity of the Dublin City motto Obedientia Civium Urbis Felicitas, essentially: obedient citizens are a city's joy. However it is not clear how this obedience is to be achieved. You could beat them into submission or look to their needs. Peadar deals with both aspects in the book.

Just on a piece of housekeeping, I have avoided using the term emeritus for retired academics. I'm sure it has its use on formal academic occasions but these guys don't descend into a well of ignorance and irrelevance just because they retire.

I could go on about this provocative book but I'd better stop.

CARNEGIE LIBRARIES CENTENARY

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I am a great fan of the library service. It was a great innovation in its day giving ordinary people access to a vast wealth of literature, scientific knowledge and sheer entertainment.

It has kept up with the times, evolving from a simple book-lending operation to a sophisticated social and community service. It deals in all sorts of media including talking books and a broad range of DVDs. And the big revolution is now internet access including free access to many archives normally residing behind, sometimes fairly high, paywalls.

And it is all for free. This did not happen by accident and we owe a great debt of thanks to all those civilised people who have fought the fight down the ages. I know of what I speak. As a former member of the Department of Finance I remember that charging for libraries (& museums) was always high on the emergency list in times of financial stringency.

Brendan Teeling

So it is fitting that An Post should commemorate the death of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie with a stamp issue of a cross section of the libraries he endowed in Ireland.

And where better to launch the issue than in one of Carnegie's libraries in the centre of Dublin. The Pearse Street library is not only a "normal" library. It houses the Dublin City Archive and Library HQ. Besides a vast modernisation/construction programme in recent times, mainly to provide modern housing for this vital city archive, it has retained a significant study space for historians and researchers, a conference/lecture room, a much in demand exhibition space, and preserved its external facade.

Brendan is the Deputy City Librarian and he reminded us that there are still four extant Carnegie libraries in the city area. Pearse street is one, but there is also Charlemont Mall along the Royal Canal, Pembroke in leafy D4 and Rathmines, opposite where I used to get the 47A bus home from St. Louis national school and my aunt's father's posh cake shop.

Felix Larkin

Felix is the Chair of An Post's Philatelic Advisory Committee. They are effectively the people who choose the themes for the stamp issues, though being "advisory", An Post no doubt has the final say (Brexiteers please note).

Felix gave a very fine speech, which is well worth reading in full if you have the slightest interest in stamps, libraries, or philanthropy.

Felix, fortuitously in this case, spans the realms of the philatelic and the bibliothetic, and I particularly like this paragraph of his.

T W Lyster, the first director of the National Library of Ireland, wrote in 1903 that (and I quote) “in that wide world of the record of mankind which we call a Great Library all things, good and evil, fall into their true place, are seen in their true proportion. Thus keepers of libraries may with truth inscribe above their doors the words of the Governor of the city in the New Atlantis: ‘We maintain a trade, not for gold, silver, or jewels, nor for silks, nor for spices, nor for any other commodity of matter, but only for God’s first creature, which was Light’". I love that thought: that the trade of a library is in Light, in the light that comes from scholarship and the pursuit of truth in scholarship – or, in other words, in ENLIGHTENMENT.

Felix goes on to delve into Carnegie's philosophy of philanthropy.

His philosophy in this regard was that “surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community” – those were his own words, not mine.

This sort of thinking is still the exception despite the few serious philanthropists of recent times - Bill Gates, Chuck Feeny, et al.

There is, of course, the other side of the coin, adverted to by Mark Holan in his blog post on the launch.

As a native of Pittsburgh, where Carnegie made his fortune, I have mixed views of the man. On one hand, he was a captain of the era’s brutal, labor-crushing industrialism, including the bloody Homestead strike of 1892. On the other hand, Carnegie funded libraries, museums, and other cultural institutions in the region that directly contributed to my ability “to learn more about history, literature and a host of other things.”

But that is not our focus today and should not be allowed to spoil the party.

Felix made a point of thanking the team which produced the stamps.

I would like to pay tribute to my colleagues on An Post’s Stamp Design Committee, under the chairmanship of Mick O’Dea RHA, for the wonderful work they have done on this issue – and on the work they do generally in translating our ideas for stamps into the beautiful objects that we see on our envelopes every day and which stamp-collectors all over the world greatly admire and covet. And, of course, the people on the ground in An Post who do all the hard work on the stamp programme also deserve our thanks, and our praise – Aileen Mooney and her team.

In relation to this particular issue, the illustrator of the library buildings – the artist who did the drawings – was Dorothy Smith, and I would like to congratulate her on her work. And a word of thanks also to Gillian Buckley who photographed the drawings for us and to Anne Brady, of Vermillion Design, for her work on the final design of the stamps.

In concluding, he made the point that suggestions for designs/themes for issues are always welcome but this remark came with a health warning. It takes about eighteen months for the final production of a design, so think ahead.

Brendan Grimes

Brendan is a retired architect and lecturer and he has written a book on Ireland's Carnegie libraries. Another right man in the right place.

Brendan elaborated on Carnegie's philosophy, which included a 100% inheritance tax and the view that those who die rich should be ashamed of themselves.

He went on to comment on the architectural features of the many fine Carnegie library buildings in the country, and in particular the four chosen for the stamps.

If you are interested in this aspect in particular, you will enjoy the talk he gave in the Rathmines library a few years ago on the centenary of that library's opening in 1913. He has some hilarious stories from around the country.

Both Brendan and Felix have commented on the distinguished buildings that are the Carnegie libraries. The plans were local but had to pass muster with Carnegie's private secretary, James Bertram, who, from Brendan's stories was no daw.

This is not "the one that got away" but an illustration of an architectural point. I'm sure, though, that there are not many stamps launched to such dramatic effect.

And, penultimately, the unveiling. Brendan, of course knew what was behind the curtain and it was amusing to watch him gesturing in that direction when making a point about one of the chosen libraries.

WHOOOOOSH

And thar she blows.

Aileen Mooney & Dorothy Smith

Aileen came prepared bearing gifts. The first recipient was Dorothy Smith who did the initial drawings. These were done by hand, none of yer oul CADology, and were on display in the adjacent exhibition hall.

Aileen & Anne Brady

Next was Anne Brady, from Vermiillion Design, who translated the images photographed by Gillian Buckley into the final design.

I specifically complimented Vermillion in my post on the DCU Mary Raftery exhibition in April last.

Good design should be invisible but there's so much bad stuff around that you just can't help noticing it when it's there. These stamps are another feather in their cap.

This Brendan gets one as our host but it is accepted as a tribute to all the Irish Carnegie libraries but particularly those in Dublin.

This Brendan gets one for his work on the Carnegie libraries and his interesting talk today.

Felix gets one for his services to An Post and his most interesting speech.

Turning it over and checking it out.

This could lead to a demarcation dispute over quality control. On the other hand he could get blamed for things that were none of his doing. You can't be too careful these days.

Brian Warren & Felix

Brian is President of the Federation of Philatelic Societies of Ireland and he's credited with coming up with the idea for this issue, which Felix and his committee ran with.

Bespoke City Crest

While the Archive were thrilled to host the launch, I'm sure they were at least a wee bit disappointed not to have figured on the stamps.

They are a unique example of a Carnegie library in Ireland, housing not only the public library, but also the archive and library HQ as well as the conference room, in which the launch was held, and an exhibition hall which is a wonderful asset to the city and enables extensive displays, including of the various collections as they are restored and catalogued.

I'll be coming back to this.

Perhaps, on reflection, inclusion of this building might have added to An Post's problems following their recent landing on the wrong moon. Nuff said.

Selina Lurz

The launch also gave me the opportunity to meet this young lady who is coming to the end of an internship at the archive. She has been working on the Helen Hooker O'Malley theatre sets, as I understnd it. Time was short on the day and I hope to have a further chat with her about her work before she returns to her native Köln later in the week.

Finally, there was one of these for everyone in the (invited) audience.


An Post press release on the launch

A transcript of Brendan Grimes's talk on the
Carnegie libraries & architecture given in
Rathmines library on 16/10/2013.

RHA ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2019

Academy House (RHA HQ) in Abbey St.
on fire during the 1916 Rising
Painting by Mick O'Dea

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I don't really have any huge interest in art, but the RHA floated into my consciousness when I learned that Gordon Brewster, an artist in whom I have an interest, exhibited there in 1916 and 1917. In 1916 the RHA was in Abbey St. next to Wynn's Hotel.

Unfortunately it went on fire and was gutted during the 1916 Rising. All the works in the annual exhibition which was on at the time were lost, including two of Brewster's paintings, as were all the works in the RHA's own collection.

I was very interested to see Mick O'Dea's painting of the old RHA on fire (above) in his wonderful Foggy Dew exhibition, and I have been keeping an eye on the annual exhibition ever since.

Todays Academy House in Ely Place

The exhibition in modern times is in the RHA's spanking new premises in Ely Place.

My reaction to first seeing the exhibition was "how did so much obvious crap ever get near an exhibition wall of any sort let alone the RHA's wall?". Maybe, at the end of the day I lack the sophistication to appreciate the finer points but but it does seem to me that the Emperor really does not have any clothes.

Perhaps "any" is a bit of an exaggeration as I have seen some stuff I liked and other stuff I thought worthy but I'd have no truck with most of the exhibits and so I'll settle for a very skimpily dressed Emperor indeed.

Eileen Gray
by Vera Klute

But over to this year's exhibition which finished up yesterday.

I could appreciate Vera Klute's bust of Eileen Gray. It is striking, eye catching and realistic and speaks to me.

Whether it is at all like Eileen Gray or not, I have no idea. But it does look like art.

I'd never heard of Vera Klute so I looked her up. Her portraits seem like reasonable likenesses but the rest of her stuff is positively weird, in my book at any rate.

Angelique Remembered
by James Hanley

James is a wonderful portrait artist. The night I first met him I sought him out to compliment him on a portrait I had just seen, had thought highly of, and had been told it was his work.

It was of his father in law Gerry Dukes. Now I've known Gerry for a long time and I was immediately taken with his portrait when I saw it. It had great depth and got Gerry to a T.

Anyway I've chosen Angelique from this year's exhibition, rather than anything more colourful because I like it. I wondered who Angelique might have been and am still wondering. Might she have been the young artist, Angélique Cheronnet, who died last year?

Sink
by Colin Murphy

On to more mundane matters. There were some 500 works in this year's exhibition from giants to miniatures. This miniature caught my eye on the way up the stairs, a traditional "throw" (trough) introduced under its modern label "sink". Never mind, it's a family thing with me.

Commercial Dustbin
by Dave West

A strange one celebrating the wheelie bin.

Then I remembered I had, myself, taken a photo of some wheelie bins - but that was because they were on the southside and had LOCKS on them. I wonder what's in those bins.

Luke Kelly
by Vera Klute

This I recognised as Luke from the far end of the gallery. It turned out to be Vera's. Nice piece of work.

Protest
by Katherine Sankey

I was amazed some time back to find there was a gallery dedicated to Pádraig Ó hUiginn in the RHA.

Now I knew that Denis O'Brien had dedicated a whole building to Pádraig and this was expressed in the most grossly effusive terms on a marble plaque on the exterior. That plaque vanished when Denis sold the building and the dedication is now expressed in more restrained terms in a new discreet plaque at the entrance to that building.

Pádraig's RHA gallery remains in its original form and I have no idea of how or why it came into being.

My interest stems from having once worked with Pádraig and subsequently finding my self entangled in the web he spun across the Irish administration and beyond. I followed his career with interest ever since.

All that being said, there was something that felt so right with this centrepiece floor exhibit in the heart of his gallery at this year's show. To elaborate would spoil the poetry of it.

I should say, for the avoidance of doubt, that, leaving aside the significance of its location for me in this context, I do like Katherine's piece.

I mentioned that there were some 500 exhibits this year and they were stuffed into every nook and cranny. I don't know why they accept so many unless there is a funding angle, but it seems a bit unfair in the circumstances to have so much space taken up by what appears to be one triple item above. I didn't note whose it was and it's a bit late now.

Before I go I should get a plug in for my own episodic career as an artist's model in case there are any others out there looking for one. I will not be emulating Nell McCafferty, however, so if that's what's on your mind forget it.