HOW many people have heard of the 1529 Treaty of Dingle?

This Friday, April 24, 480 years after its signing, Treaty of Dingle will be marked with the official unveiling of a commemorative plaque by H.E. The Spanish Ambassador to Ireland Dona Mercedes Rico.

The event will start at 7.15pm with a parade, led by the Dingle Fife and Drum band, from O'Flaherty's pub to the Temperance Hall where the plaque will be unveiled.

Following the ceremony by the ambassador at 7.30pm, UCD historian Dr Declan Downey, an authority on Ireland's relations to the Habsburg Empire, will give a lecure on the Dingle Treaty at An Díseart, Green Street, at 8.15pm.

Pre-dating the entry of Ireland into the EEC by 440 years, the treaty was concluded between James FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Desmond and Don Gonzalo Fernandez, ambassador plenipotentiary of the Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation and King of Spain, Charles V.

his treaty gave a formal legal and constitutional foundation to the rights of citizenship and other privileges that Irish exiles and emigrés enjoyed in Habsburg Spain, Habsburg Austria and Habsburg Netherlands (present-day Belgium & Luxembourg), from the 16th to the early 20th centuries.

Don Gonzalo Fernandez, who arrived in Dingle in 1529 wrote about his meeting with the Earl of Desmond:

"The earl himself is from 30 to 40 years old and is rather above the middle height. He keeps better justice throughout his dominions than any other chief in Ireland. Robbers and homicides find no mercy and are executed out of hand. His people are in high order and discipline. They are armed with short bows and swords. The earl's guard are in mail from neck to heel and carry halberds. He has also a number of horse some of whom know how to break a lance. They all ride admirably without saddle or stirrup".

The talk in An Díseart is free and all are welcome.