School of English and American Studies

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''17:00''
> László Borhi (Indiana University, Bloomington/MTA), The United States and the Cold War in East Central Europe

The American Studies Guest Speaker Series of the
School of English and American Studies, Eötvös Loránd University
cordially invites you to a

PUBLIC LECTURE

by LÁSZLÓ BORHI \\
Associate Professor, Peter A. Kadas Chair \\
Department of Central Eurasian Studies, \\
Institute for European Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington \\
Scientific Advisor, Institute of History, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

The United States and the Cold War in East Central Europe

Date and time: Thursday, October 3, 2019, 17.00 p.m.

Venue: ELTE BTK, School of English and American Studies,
Rákóczi út 5., Room 356

All welcome!
----
''18:00''
> Seamus Heaney memorial lecture

The Széchenyi Academy of Letters and Arts and the Department of English Studies, Eötvös Loránd University cordially invites you to this year’s

SEAMUS HEANEY \\
MEMORIAL LECTURE

DECLAN DOWNEY \\
Professor \\
University College Dublin \\
Member of the Spanish Royal Academy of History

From Galway to Győr: the Irish presence
in the Hungarian Crownlands, c.1630 – c.1919. \\
Opening speech
by

H.E. Ronan Gargan \\
Ambassador of Ireland to Hungary

Date and time: Thursday 3rd October 2019, 6 p.m.

Venue: 2nd floor Lecture Hall, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1051 Budapest,
Széchenyi tér 9.)

Professor Declan Downey

The event has been supported by the Embassy of Ireland, Hungary

This is an English language programme
A belépés ingyenes, de regisztrációhoz kötött

szima@titkarsag.mta.hu

+36 1 331 4117 www.szechenyiakademia.hu


From Galway to Győr: the Irish presence
in the Hungarian Crownlands, c.1630 – c.1919. \\
Declan M. Downey \\
Abstract \\
‘Their embassies, he said, were everywhere
but operated independently
and no ambassador would ever be relieved.’
These lines from Seamus Heaney’s poem, From the Republic of Conscience,
encapsulate so much of the experience and mentality of thousands of Irish émigrés. In
particular, they had a profound sense of their identity and of the obligation on them,
indeed the necessity for them to represent the best of their national spirit and culture
abroad. Characteristically, they strove for greater opportunities and achievements for
themselves, and proved themselves as good and reliable citizens in their host
societies. While this was observed of the Irish diaspora in the USA, in Australia and
in Britain since the mid-nineteenth century, such qualities equally characterized
earlier generations of Irish émigrés to Continental Europe, and especially so in the
Habsburg realms of Spain, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia and Flanders from 1529
onwards. This illustrated presentation will explore the centuries-old links between
Ireland and Hungary as represented by the experiences of Irish émigrés in the DonauMonarchie from the mid-seventeenth to the early-twentieth centuries. The factors that facilitated their success in integration and assimilation with their host society while
maintaining a sense of their own ancestral identity will be analysed, and hopefully
lessons for our own times may be learned.

Brief Biographical Detail


Declan M. Downey, was awarded the Ph.D. degree in Legal & Diplomatic History
from the University of Cambridge in 1994. For the past twenty-four years he has been
lecturing as Assistant Professor in Modern European and Japanese Diplomatic
History at University College Dublin. He is co-director of the BCL Law with History
degree programme. His research interests include the history of diplomacy and
international law; Japanese-European relations and Irish émigrés in Habsburg Europe
(1600-1800). His extensive publications and leading roles in major international
research projects have been recognized with national and international honours,
distinctions and awards including Austria’s Verdienstkreuz (2003), and Spain’s Order
of Isabel la Católica (2008), and Japan’s Ambassadorial Commendation (2010). On 4
December 2009, he became the first Irish citizen to be elected to membership of the
Spanish Royal Academy of History. Also, he has served as a Trustee of the Chester
Beatty Library from 2012 to 2017.