THE RED BOOK of Ossory is to go on public display for the first time in its 700-year history. 

The manuscript was written in St Canice’s Cathedral in Kilkenny in the 14th Century, and it is being returned to that Cathedral to go on display. 

The book’s homecoming is happening tomorrow and it will go on public display from Monday.

The Red Book has survived wars and plagues and will be part of a new year-long exhibition that offers a glimpse into the life of ordinary citizens through the lens of Bishop Richard de Ledrede.

He was Bishop of Ossory from 1317 until his death in 1360. 

Among the things Bishop Ledrede is famed for includes banning clergy from playing football on the grounds of the cathedral and in 1324, he famously accused noblewoman Alice Kyteler of witchcraft and heresy.

File image of St Canice's Cathedral in Kilkenny. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The Representative Church Body Library, which provides a repository in which archives and manuscripts of the Church can be stored, will hand over custody of the book to St Canice’s Cathedral tomorrow.

Bishop Ledrede recorded everything he thought was important in medieval Ireland in The Red Book, including the first recorded recipe for Aqua Vitae, which was used for medicinal purposes as the Black Death ravaged Europe. 

The ‘water of life’ is known as whiskey today.

It also includes early provisions of the Magna Carta and a letter from King Edward III expressing concern that noble Englishmen in Ireland had “gone native”.
The Very Reverend Stephen Farrell, Dean of Ossory, remarked that the 79-vellum page artefact will “spark imagination and connect local people with their history”.

The entrance fee to the exhibition is included in the entrance fee to the Cathedral.