With My Bare Hands The journey of two Irish Franciscans to Jerusalem in 1323AD

Transcription

1 Granary Theatre, Mardyke, Cork 27 & 28 August 2010 at 8pm (Heritage Week) With My Bare Hands The journey of two Irish Franciscans to Jerusalem in 1323AD A collaborative project involving UCC, UCD, Eugene Barrett OFM, Frances Kay (playwright), Mark D Aughton (actor), Nico Brown (musician) Funded by the Heritage Council and the Arts Council

2 Who was Friar Simon? Friar Simon Fitzsimon or Simon Simeonis was a Hiberno-Norman Franciscan friar who went on a pilgrimage from Clonmel, Co Tipperary to Jerusalem in 1323AD. He was accompanied by another friar, Hugo the Illuminator. The two left Clonmel after an important meeting (chapter) of the Irish Franciscan province, which probably had debated controversial issues such as the definition of a life of poverty, the fundamental ethos of the order founded by St Francis of Assisi in the early thirteenth century as well as issues of racial divisions between the Irish and Hiberno-Norman friars. Friar Simon s original record of his journey was written in Latin. The text survives in one manuscript which is preserved in Corpus Christi College Cambridge. Friar Simon s account of his journey is impressionistic and characterful, bringing us close to the life of a medieval pilgrim wending his way to Jerusalem. He and Hugo visited some of the most important relics in western Christendom, including the shrine of St Thomas Beckett in Canterbury and the Crown of Thorns in the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. The friars travelled through England, France, Italy, the Balkans, Crete and Egypt. Friar Simon gives vivid and often partial - accounts of eastern customs and of Islamic religious practices. He also provides some of the earliest western descriptions of the Roma people who he encounters in Crete, the Koran and details of exotic fruits unknown in mediaeval Ireland, such as bananas, and crocodiles, or dragons, which he hears of on the river Nile. Friar Simon s journey is not simply that of a tourist making his way to Jerusalem. His journey and that of his companion are both personal and spiritual. Simon s text is deeply rooted in Franciscan devotion and he also seems to be keenly aware of the controversy on poverty which was convulsing the Franciscan Order at the time. Friar Simon wrote On the Sainte Chapelle Paris Here are preserved many most precious relics: the entire crown of thorns, a large and splendid cross made from the wood of the true cross, two of the nails with which Our Lord was nailed to the cross, the lance, as is said, of the soldier Longinus with which the flank of Our Lord was pierced, milk and hair of the glorious Virgin, and many other venerable relics, all of which are reverently guarded by the king with the greatest care. On Saracens. Women are not permitted to enter any place of worship, but are almost always kept at home protected from all superfluous intercourse.. All of them adopt a strange and wonderful fashion of dress. They all wear very short tunics extending only to their knees. Some of these dresses are all of silk,

3 some of linen or cotton, woven in various fashions according to the social status of the wearers. The nobility and wealth of the women are judged according to the splendour of their trousers. On the crocodile Many other excellent things might be said about it [the Nile] were it not the retreat of a highly noxious animal, resembling the dragon, which devours both horses and men if it catches them in the water or on the banks. This animal is called by the people cocatrix (crocodile). On the giraffe Near by in the same place we saw another animal which is called giraffe (geraufak), most beautiful and graceful in appearance, having a hide in all respects resembling that of a deer, and an exceedingly long neck, which as it walks it carries most erect.

4 WITH MY BARE HANDS is part of the collaborative project Bringing History to the People initiated between the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute, University College Dublin, School of History, University College Cork and the Irish Franciscans. It is funded by the Heritage Council and the Arts Council. The team Frances Kay (playwright): Frances has written many plays for young people on historical topics such as the Emergency in Ireland [BURNING DREAMS, Team Theatre, Dublin] and Tom Crean s Antarctic expeditions [LAST CALL, performed in Dublin and Kerry]. She is currently working on a new play, TELLING THE EMPEROR, about ancient Rome, for Theatre Lovett. Mark D Aughton (actor): Mark has performed in many plays here in Cork and Dublin, more recently he has appeared in Corcadorca s [Plasticine] as part of the Midsummer Festival in Cork. Nico Brown (musician): Nico moved to Ireland in He was musician-in-residence at The Ark, Dublin and has composed and performed for theatre (The Abbey, Macnas, Storytellers) film (Mike Leigh's 'High Hopes') and TV (RTE's the Art Factory) He regularly tours 'Instant Orchestra', a music experience for families, around Ireland and to Australia. Malgorzata Krasnodebska-D Aughton: Malgorzata (Gosia) lectures in Medieval History, School of History, UCC. Eugene Barrett OFM: Fr Eugene is Guardian of the Franciscan Friary, Liberty Street, Cork City. Edel Bhreathnach: Edel is Academic Project Managher of the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute, University College Dublin and coordinator of the Bringing History to the People project. Acknowledgements The Heritage Council The Arts Council The Irish Franciscans Cork The Granary Theatre: Tony McCleane Fay, Steve Neale Dr John McCafferty, UCD Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute

5 Dr Jenifer Ní Ghrádaigh, School of Art History, UCC Dr Colman Ó Clabaigh OSB, Glenstal Abbey Ms Sorcha Ní Fhloinn Ms Elzbieta Krasnodebska