Everything about Maurice Fitzgerald 1st Earl Of Desmond totally explained
Maurice FitzThomas Fitzgerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, (d.
January 25,
1356) was an Irish nobleman in the
Peerage of Ireland, Captain of
Desmond Castle in
Kinsale, ruler of
Munster, and for a short time
Lord Justice of Ireland.
The second son of Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald by his spouse Catherine (or Margaret), daughter of John, Lord Barry of Olethan, he was created
Earl of Desmond by
Letters Patent dated at
Gloucester, England,
August 27,
1329, by which patent also the county palatine of
Kerry was confirmed to him and his heirs male, to hold of the Crown by the service of one knight's fee.
In January 1330 he was summoned by Sir John Darcy,
Lord Justice of Ireland, to fight armed Irish rebels, with a promise of the King's pay. Lodge states, of his conduct, that this was the first introduction by this Earl of the extortion of
Coigne and Livery with a suspension of English law and government in order to deal with the defection of all
Munster and a great part of
Leinster which had occurred in the reigns of Kings
Edward II and
Edward III within the space of thirty years.
Accepting the King's proposal, in addition to dealing with Munster and Leinster, he routed the O'Nolans and O'Murroughs and burned their lands in
county Wicklow and forced them to give hostages. He recovered the castle of Ley from the O'Dempsies, and had a liberate of £100 sterling dated at
Drogheda August 24,
1335, in return for the expense he'd incurred in bringing his men-at-arms, hobellars, and foot-soldiers, from various parts of
Munster to Drogheda, and there, with
Lord Justice Darcy, dispersed the King's enemies.
In
1339 he was engaged against Irish rebels in
county Kerry where it's said he slew 1400 men, and took Nicholas, Lord of Kerry, prisoner, keeping him confined until he died as punishment for siding with the rebels against the Crown.
The same year he was present in the parliament held in
Dublin. He was summoned by Writ dated at
Westminster July 10,
1344, with Maurice,
Earl of Kildare, and others, to attend the King at
Portsmouth "on the octaves of the nativity of the
Virgin Mary", with twenty men-at-arms and fifty hobellars, at his own expense, to assist in the war against Philip,
King of France.
In July 1355 he was appointed Lord Justice of Ireland for life, dying, however, the following January in
Dublin Castle.
He was interred in the Church of the Friars-preachers ot
Tralee.
The first earl of Desmond married thrice: (1)
August 16,
1312, Catherine, fifth daughter of
Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, who died in Dublin in 1331. (2) Margaret, daughter of Connor O'Brien,
Prince of Thomond, by whom he'd no male issue. (3) Eleanor, daughter of Nicholas, Lord of Kerry.
By his first wife he'd
Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Desmond and
John FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond.
By his third wife he had:
- Nicholas (described by Lodge as "an idiot"), ancestor to MacRobert of Bellamullin and, say some, to the McKenzies, Earls of Seaforth in Scotland.
- Gerald FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Desmond, 'The Poet'.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Maurice Fitzgerald 1st Earl Of Desmond'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://maurice_fitzgerald__1st_earl_of_desmond.totallyexplained.com">Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
