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Thomas FitzGerald (abt. 1420 - 1468)

Thomas "7th Earl of Desmond" FitzGerald
Born about in Irelandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married [date unknown] (to 1468) in Irelandmap
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 48 in Drogheda, County Meath, Irelandmap
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James FitzGerald FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond, "The Usurper"
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1463-1468
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Biography

European Aristocracy
Thomas FitzGerald was a member of the aristocracy in Ireland.

Thomas FitzGerald was born in 1420 in Ireland. His parents were James FitzGerald and Mary Burgh. He married Ellice Barry Together they had at least 6 children:[1]

  1. Maurice FitzGerald
  2. Catherine FitzGerald
  3. James FitzGerald
  4. Ellen FitzGerald
  5. Thomas FitzGerald
  6. John FitzGerald

Thomas was beheaded by Sir John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester and Lord Deputy of Ireland, on 15 February 1468 in Tredagh (Drogheda), County Meath, Ireland.[2]

After his beheading, his 4 sons served as Earl of Desmond over a period of nearly 70 years, but not consecutively.

Excerpts from "Edmund MacRichard Butler: Books and Warfare in 15th-Century Ireland", edited for context and clarity:[3]

  • From 1452, Edmund MacRichard Butler continued as deputy for his cousin James, 5th Earl of Ormond, who spent much of his time in England, where the Wars of the Roses had begun in 1455. Though the Butlers firmly supported the Lancastrian side, Ireland was not drawn into the conflict until after the Battle of Towton in March 1461, where the 5th Earl, was captured, and beheaded a few weeks later. He was succeeded by his brother John, who arrived in Ireland in the winter of 1461 to gather supporters for the Lancastrians, chief of whom was Edmund MacRichard. The Earl appears to have gone back to England in 1462, returning that summer with what the Annals of the Four Masters called "a great number of Saxons".
  • The Earl and MacRichard captured Gerald, son of the Yorkist 6th Earl of Desmond (d.1463), and took Waterford city. It was then decided to fight a pitched battle, and the site agreed was Piltown, about 10 miles upriver from Waterford. John, Earl of Ormond, however, would not fight on the chosen day, as it was a Monday, generally regarded as unlucky, but MacRichard had no such qualms and gathered his forces. Apparently, about 5,000 men fought that day and, by evening, MacRichard’s army had been defeated and he himself taken prisoner. [Presumably Gerald was set free as a result.]
  • The victor was Gerald's elder brother Thomas FitzJames FitzGerald, who succeeded his 80-year-old father as 7th Earl of Desmond shortly afterwards. According to the Annals, Thomas was learned in Latin, English and Irish, and it was he who, as a scribe noted, demanded two books as ransom. Deeply interested in Gaelic literature, his captive Edmund MacRichard had commissioned scribes to copy out Irish literary and historical texts -- treasures he had to surrender as part of his ransom to Thomas.
  • Desmond’s centre of administration was the castle of Askeaton, Co. Limerick, which had only recently been enlarged and improved with the construction of a very fine banqueting hall.
  • [Note: The manuscripts were not returned to the Butler family until nearly 70 years , when the Butlers and FitzGeralds were united in marriage. This occurred in 1530, when James (the future 9th Earl of Ormond) married Joan (daughter of the 10th Earl of Desmond).]

Research Notes

From The Crowning of a King, pp.6-7:[reference needed]

  • In 1467, Thomas, 7th Earl of Desmond, and his brother-in-law Thomas, 7th Earl of Kildare, were unexpectedly declared outlaws and their lands forfeited. The Earl of Desmond, a cultured aristocrat whose vast estate in Munster formed almost a kingdom in its own right, had been the English king's reliable deputy for the years 1463-7 and was succeeded in 1467 by an Englishman, John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester. Tiptoft decided that he would not only rule the Anglo-Irish but that he would strike terror into them by eliminated at one fell swoop the two most powerful of their leaders, the Earl of Desmond as well as his cousin and brother-in-law, the Earl of Kildare. Desmond, who all unsuspecting had gone to attend the parliament at Drogheda, was seized, declared guilty without trial and beheaded there on 15 Feb 1468. Undoubtedly it had a startling effect on those attending the parliament but it was little else than judicial murder. His brother-in-law fled to the English king, Edward, and was fully restored to favour and to his lands.

From the Desmond Castle visitors brochure:

  • The turbulent reign of the Desmond dynasty is reflected in the fate of Thomas, the 7th Earl, who was appointed Lord Deputy, but having fallen foul of his successor, was attainted and executed at Drogheda in 1468.

Sources

  1. Cracroft's Peerage adds a son "Gerald Oge" (killed 1477) who had 2 sons, both with issue: James FitzGerald of Macollop and Thomas FitzGerald of Kilmacow: The same Gerald "of Mocolpe" is recorded as marrying Grainne (daughter of Owen, son of Teige MacCarthy of Muskerry) and having 4 sons: Thomas of Mocolpe (had 4 sons); Thomas of Kilmacow (had 1 son); Maurice of the Shean (had 2 sons + a daughter); and John of Shrancally (had 1 son):
  2. Rev. James Graves, "The Earls of Desmond", Journal of the Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, Third Series, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1869), see p.463:
  3. Timothy O’Neill, "Edmund MacRichard Butler: Books and Warfare in 15th-Century Ireland". Published in Medieval History, Issue 4 (July/August 2015), Vol. 23:




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Comments: 2

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The Ireland Project has been added as a co-manager of this historically significant profile, which needs updating but does not have a PM who is pre-1500 certified.
posted by Jen (Stevens) Hutton
FitzGerald-3213 and FitzGerald-2305 appear to represent the same person because: same name, same spouse, same time frame, same location, he was beheaded February 15, 1467/68.