REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG WEDNESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2008
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG WEDNESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 2008
Mayor Beckmann
Martin und ich freuen uns, hier zu sein.
Martin and I are delighted to be here. I have heard so much about Würzburg’s historical links with Ireland and its unofficial status as “the Irish city in continental Europe” that this visit is definitely a highlight of my trip. Here I have already been introduced to aspects of Irish history that have broadened and deepened my knowledge of that part of my own heritage which is shared with this lovely city. In such a short visit I have had my appetite whetted so much that there is no doubt that we have to come back again, this time with the gift of time to take in more fully the splendours of Würzburg.
I have heard since my childhood of the medieval Irish monks and scholars who travelled across Europe bringing the Christian faith and legendary erudition - names like Totnan and Kolonat and of course Killian, well known here in Wurzburg. But there is something moving and very special about seeing, as I have done here, the remarkable manuscripts that date back almost to their day. These three “Franconian Apostles” were followed by other Irish saints and scholars including Clemens Scottus who probably owned some of the manuscripts we have just had the privilege of viewing. In the most simple and profound way we could see laid out in front of us the words of minds and hearts that have left their imprint on generations of Europeans, among them we Irish and Germans.
Almost a thousand years after Scottus wrote his glosses, which are among the earliest texts in the Irish language, they helped to inspire the work of a great German scholar of Celtic linguistics, Johann Caspar Zeuss. Zeuss’ research and his “Grammatica Celtica” played a major role in the revival and renewal of the Irish language. The pioneering work carried out by Zeuss, and by other scholars such as Kuno Meyer and Rudolf Thurneysen, contributed to the definition and revelation of a national Irish consciousness which was an indispensable part of the process of gaining Irish political independence and statehood. Our lives are laced together in so many fascinating and intriguing ways, some deep in the mists of history and some much more contemporary.
The city of Würzburg has a formal partnership with the town of Bray and the County of Wicklow in Ireland, which involves intensive contacts and visits in both directions. I know I speak for the Minister for European Affairs, Dick Roche, who is here today and whose hometown is Bray, when I thank you, Mayor Beckmann, and the people of Würzburg for this active and successful partnership. Such partnerships work best when they are underpinned by close and regular personal contacts and the Bray-County Wicklow-Würzburg partnership is an excellent example of this.
It is important that our links are remembered and renewed and just as every family needs someone who knows the family narrative well and who is passionate about transmitting it, so one couple have invested great effort in doing just that for Ireland and for Würzburg. Over many years, Herr Jürgen Gottschalk and his wife have worked tirelessly to research, document and promote the links between us - not just those relating to St Killian but also more recent connections such as those involving JM Synge and Samuel Beckett. Your work, Herr Gottschalk, will be valued not just today but also by future generations and I thank you warmly for being such a strong and practical friend to Würzburg and Ireland.
In and through this visit we have also created a new chapter in the relationship between Germany and Ireland, between Würzburg and Ireland. Martin and I are very grateful to you, Mayor Beckmann, and to the President of the University, Dr Hase and his colleagues, for the warmth of the welcome you have shown us. We came as strangers but you made us feel like friends and family and you brought us deep into our shared patrimony through those wonderful manuscripts and this cathedral. I thank you for all you have done to make us feel so welcome, so at home and I wish you, the University and the city continued success in all you hope for and plan for.