Deep History, Deepening Collaborations

36 Journey to the Edge of the World Conserving the Medieval Register of John Swayne (d. 1442), Archbishop of Armagh By Sarah Graham, Senior Conservator (Public Record Office of Northern Ireland) The Register of Archbishop John Swayne is among the earliest and most precious records in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Within its fragile and time-worn binding are documents from Swayne’s time as Primate of All Ireland from 1418 to 1439, and his personal register capturing his role as legal expert at the Papal Curia in Rome and the Council of Constance (1414–18). It gives a rare insight into dramatic events at the core of Christendom, and equally into the dynamics of power in medieval Gaelic Ulster — a region then imagined to sit near the edge of the world. The Register spent its first 200 years as loose gatherings making up four books. These gatherings were bound together in the early seventeenth century, under the instruction of Archbishop James Ussher. Paper was a rare commodity in Ireland in the mid-1400s. It was brought from across Europe to be the writing medium for the working documents of the archdiocese. 3D scanning of the Register, and conservation documentation at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, will record material evidence, enhancing our collective understanding of the Register’s creation, historical modifications and use. Before Ussher’s binding, water damage and mould caused the paper to felt, stain and disintegrate. Seventeenth- century repair to the spine of the register is failing and there is documented loss of text over the centuries. With permission of the Archdiocese of Armagh, PRONI will conserve Archbishop Swayne’s Register, disbinding the volume to gently wash the pages and consolidate the vulnerable paper substrate with a gelatine size. Both structural and edge repairs to the fragile, friable paper will be individually adhered with lightweight tissue to the 320 pages of the Register. This project will culminate with the full digitisation of the Register for inclusion in the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, digitally interlinked with the English calendar of the text compiled by D.A. Chart in 1935.