The Desmond Fitzgeralds: 1400-1467

*The Desmond Fitzgeralds: 1400-1467
**Taken from A History of Ireland by Eleanor Hull

*The Desmonds were unfortunate in their family succession. On more than
one occasion the deaths of the direct heirs by accident, or the disputes
between different members of the family, led to such confusion that the
succession is reckoned differently by various genealogists. Gerald, or
Garrett, the third (or fourth) Earl (d. 1398) received the estates from
his elder brother Maurice, who died young, on condition of marrying
Eleanor, daughter of James Butler, the second Earl of Ormonde (d. 1382),
who, in the reigns of Edward III and Richard II, had received many gifts
of lands and who was then, in 1359, Viceroy of Ireland. The object of
this marriage was to bring to an end the wars between the two houses,
which had been carried on from year to year and were destructive to the
country. But no plans, however well laid by English kings, availed to
stay this family feud, which was to be further increased in the reign of
Henry V by the close friendship between James the "White" Earl of
Ormonde and Thomas of Lancaster. This made adherence to the Lancastrian
cause traditional in the house of Ormonde, while the Desmonds were
strongly Yorkist. Though the Desmonds remained loyalist up to the time
of the Reformation (which threw them definitely on the side of the
anti-English Catholic confederation, and produced the rebellion of
Elizabeth's reign) they were increasingly Irish in their habits and
sympathies. Gerald even gave his son James to be fostered by the O'Briens.

Gerald is styled "the Rhymer" or "Poet," and some very charming poems in
Anglo-Norman French, founded on French models, delicate and ingenious
lyrics like the Court poetry of the Elizabethan period in England,
remain to prove the European strain of culture that mingled with the
Irish tradition in his mind, and the union of which produced an
aristocratic love-poetry of the type of that of Wyatt and Surrey. Some
poems written by members of his house are to be found in a manuscript in
the British Museum, and have for heading the title Proverbia Comitis
Desmonie. His Gaelic poems and those of his family, some of which may be
earlier than this date, remain in the Scottish Book of the Dean of
Lismore. This Gerald is a romantic figure, "a nobleman of wonderful
bounty, mirth, and cheerfulness of conversation, charitable in his
deeds, easy of access, a witty and ingenious composer of Irish poetry,
and a learned and profound chronicler," say the historians of his
country. In 1367 he succeeded Lionel, Duke of Clarence, as Justiciar,
acting at other times as his Deputy to uphold the King's policy in
Munster. But to his own people he was famous chiefly for his erudition;
they looked on him as a mathematician and the possessor of magic arts.
Such a man could not die, and tradition says that in 1398, after being
thirty years earl, he disappeared under the waters of Loch Gur, where he
sleeps, save once in every seven years, when he awakens and passes over
the waters of the lake, riding upon its ripples.

Again, on his departure, the succession was disputed, two of his sons
and his brother having died young, leaving no children. Finally his
third son, James, O'Brien's foster-son, succeeded in displacing his
nephew Thomas, who had more direct claims to the earldom. Of this Thomas
it is said that in him "the pernicious disease that infested his
posterity first took rooting," for he went twice into rebellion,
forfeiting his estates, and "after many turnings and windings up and
down the realm" he died in 1446 in banishment in France. James was
father of the eighth or "Great" earl, Thomas FitzGerald, by his wife
Mary, daughter of Ulick Burke, who succeeded to the family estates in
1462, and in the following year was appointed Deputy to the Duke of
Clarence, the Lord-Lieutenant. Being a strong Yorkist, Thomas attached
himself warmly to the fortunes of Edward IV, fighting on his side in
nine battles against the Lancastrians and rising high in the King's
favour and personal friendship. As a hostage for the loyalty of his
house he had been educated at Court, and he was thoroughly at home in
England. He was a man of great activity and occupied himself in building
border-castles to defend the Pale and in garrisoning the passes of
Offaly; he was "a lord wise, learned in Latin, in English, and in the
old Gaelic writings," combining in his person the best knowledge of both
countries. He relaxed the orders against trafficking with the Irish, in
spite of prohibitions passed in the Irish Parliament; and he set himself
to do justice and show humanity to all. For some years he ruled nobly
and discreetly and then retired to his estates in Munster. But "the old
malice that had been between the bloods of the Desmonds and Butlers," as
Lord Grey said at a later date, broke out afresh in 1463, and the Earl
entered and devastated the Butlers' lands. Complaints were transmitted
to London by those who were jealous of his power and influence, accusing
him of taking "coyne and livery" contrary to the law, of relaxing the
orders against "trafficking with the Irish enemy," and of entering into
treasonable correspondence with the Irish. But he laid his case in
person before the King in 1464, and Edward, with whom "he was in
singular favour" and "who took pleasure and delight in his talk,"
refused to listen to the accusations of his enemies. On the Irish
Parliament certifying that "he had always governed by English law and
had brought Ireland to a reasonable state of peace, having, moreover,
rendered great services at intolerable charges and risks," he was
restored to office by the King, and six manors in Meath were granted to
him. In his own district he devoted himself to improvements.

At Youghal, where he lived, he founded a college with a Warden, eight
Fellows, and eight choristers, who lived together in a collegiate
manner, having a common table and all other necessaries allowed them. In
his time representatives went from Cork to the Irish Parliament. This
great man was cut off in a sudden and mysterious manner. Sir John
Tiptoft (or Tibotot), Lord Worcester, who was his determined enemy, was
sent over as Viceroy in 1467, apparently at the wish of Edward's Queen,
Elizabeth Woodville, who had long been jealous of Desmond's influence
with the King and was watching her chance to bring down the Earl's
pride. Desmond had been opposed to the King's marriage with Elizabeth,
whom he considered as a woman unsuited to Edward's rank and position,
and he is said to have counselled the King to divorce her. Some
whisperings of this had reached the Queen's ears, and hardly was Tiptoft
well in office than she sent over an order, as though in the King's name
and sealed with his privy seal, ordering him to take and execute
Desmond. On receiving her injunction he hastily called a Parliament at
Drogheda, to which Desmond and Kildare were both summoned; they were
arraigned, and Desmond was speedily executed, "to the great astonishment
of the whole nobility of Ireland." With him was executed Edward Plunket.
This event, which happened on February 14, 1468, when Thomas was only
forty-two years of age, sent a thrill of horror through the land.
English and Irish alike condemned a crime committed "without cause,
without guilt, without right at law, but only through jealousy and
envy." The vague charges brought against the victims might equally have
been brought against any great lord who lived in amity with his Irish
neighbours, and other nobles must have felt their heads in danger. "The
King was wondrously offended," and the Queen, the author of the whole
mischief, had to fly to sanctuary. Even Richard, the King's
brother...described Desmond as "atrociously slain and murdered by colour
of law against all reason and sound conscience." Long afterward, when
Sir Henry Sidney came over as Deputy, he had Desmond's body removed to a
tomb in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
http://www.libraryireland.com/HullHistory/Geraldines1.php