Killarney has high hopes that the Annals of Inisfallen, the main record of Munster medieval history, and one of the oldest extant native annals, can return to the town for a brief period following a visit by a local delegation to the Bodleian Library, Oxford last week.
The annals were largely compiled on the monastic island of Inisfallen on Killarney's Lough Leane, (or lake of learning because of the presence of the monastic school on the island), over a 300-year period, although they were probably begun elsewhere in Munster, at Emly, Co Tipperary or at Lismore, Co Waterford.
The annals chronicle a wealth of events including Viking raids on Skellig Michael off the Kerry coast and the carrying off of the Abbot in 823; the arrival of a group believed to be Ireland's first Jews in 1079; great snow "from the feast of Brigit to the feast of Patrick" in 1047; the ascensions and deaths of abbots in Ireland's major monasteries; the reign of bishops and kings; the building of churches and the life spans of poets and poetesses.
There are several accounts of battles between chieftains, and between the Gaels and the Normans, the latter known as "the foreigners".
Written in Irish and Latin, the mostly brief entries give details from the earliest times to 1362.
However, the bulk of the annals were written in the last three centuries and the accounts from 1092 are believed to be contemporaneous.
In 1180, the annalist on Inisfallen describes his island home as "a heavenly place" and expresses outrage that a local O'Donoghue chieftain could have attempted to plunder it that year.
The annals of Inisfallen came into private ownership after the dissolution of the monasteries.
They were acquired together with the island by local landlords, the Brownes, and afterwards by manuscript collectors.
There have been many calls, beginning with Dean Swift in 1734, to have the Annals of Innisfallen remain in Ireland. Swift wanted them to be placed in Trinity College.
However, they were bequeathed to the Bodleian in Oxford in the mid 18th century. They were lent briefly to Killarney in the 1980s.
In 1951, the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies published a copy edited by Sean Mac Airt. This was reprinted in 1977.
Mayor of Killarney Mr Michael Courtney (Ind), who led the delegation to Oxford last week said he was "more than hopeful" of getting them on loan for the spring of 2005 to coincide with celebrations of 250 years of tourism in the town.
There was little or no chance of having them returned permanently for a variety of reasons, he said.
These included the problem of how the annals could be housed properly on a permanent basis, Mr Courtney said.
The 2005 exhibition, probably at a restored Killarney House, will be far more elaborate than that of 20 years ago and slide shows and replicas will accompany the original, Mr Courtney said.