Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald (abt. 1453 - 1520)

Born about 1453 in Ireland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1520 at about age 67 in Ireland

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Biography

Maurice FitzGerald -- son of Thomas, 7th Earl of Desmond (beheaded in 1468) -- was the 2nd of 4 brothers who served as Earl of Desmond over a period of nearly 70 years, but not consecutively.

Excerpts from the Dictionary of Irish Biography^[1] and A Compendium of Irish Biography,^[2] with edits for context and clarity:

• Maurice succeeded as 9th Earl in 1487 upon the assassination of his elder brother, James, at the instigation of their younger brother, John (who became Earl much later, in the 1530s). Maurice had also been in conflict with James but was recognised by King Henry VII and given livery of his brother's lands (April 1488) and appointed Constable of Limerick Castle.^[3]

• In 1489, Maurice was one of 15 Irish Peers summoned by Henry VII to England as proof of their loyalty, but he did not obey the summons. Later, Maurice joined the rising for Perkin Warbeck (pretender to the English throne who claimed to be one of the 2 famous "Princes in the Tower") and laid siege to Waterford in July 1497. Maurice made humble submission, and the King not only forgave him but took him into favour, and granted him all the "customs, pockets, poundage, and prize-wines of Limerick, Cork, Kingsale, Baltimore, and Youghall, with other privileges and advantages."

• Nicknames: Being lame (bacagh) from a battle injury, and usually carried in a horse-litter, he was styled Vehiculus and by some, on account of his bravery, Bellicosus.

• Maurice seems to have turned much of the administration of his earldom over to his son James (10th Earl) in the decade before his death in 1520. He was buried at the Friars Preachers at Tralee, as was his son James in 1529.

Marriages & Children:

Cracroft's Peerage^[4] records that Maurice had 2 sons and 1 daughter, stating that it is uncertain which children belonged to which mother. However, since 2nd wife Honor FitzGibbon could not have been born until ca.1490 or later, the children's mother would need to be 1st wife Ellen Roche.

• Maurice married (1) Ellen Roche (born ca.1460), daughter of Maurice, 2nd Baron Roche of Fermoy. Their children included:
  • James (1480-1529), who became 10th Earl of Desmond upon his father's death in 1520
  • Thomas, who was briefly married (between ca.1505 and ca.1509) to Margaret, daughter of Piers Butler, future 8th Earl of Ormond. Thomas died without male issue and Margaret re-married twice.
  • Ellice, who married as his 2nd wife (ca.1517) Conchobar (Conor) O'Brien, King of Thomond 1528-40, and had issue
  • Burke adds a daughter Joan, who married Cormac Óg MacCarthy (ca.1447-1536)^[5]

• Maurice married (2) Honor FitzGibbon (born ca.1490), daughter of John FitzGibbon, 9th White Knight, by his wife Joan Barrymore. No known issue.

Verbatim from the Unpublished Geraldine Documents:^[6]

• "James, the elder of the two sons, succeeded his father, Maurice; he marryed the daughter of O'Bryen Arra [Bishop of Killaloe] and died in Ano Domini 1529, leaveing issue one daughter, by name Joane, mother to Thomas Duffe ["Black Tom"], Earle of Ormond and Ossory."

• "Thomas, the younger brother, died before the elder, leaveing issue likewise one daughter, who was marryed to the heyre of Paulstowne [Polestown], in county of Kilkenny, being of the Butlers of neere alliance to the Earle of Ormond."^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ David Beresford (2009), profile of Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald for the Dictionary of Irish Biography:
   • https://www.dib.ie/biography/fitzgerald-maurice-fitz-thomas-a3175
2. ↑ Alfred Webb, A Compendium of Irish Biography (1878), profile for Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald:
   • https://www.libraryireland.com/biography/MauriceDesmond10thEarl.php
3. ↑ List of Constables of Limerick Castle, compiled (2010) by Brian Hodkinson, Assistant Curator, Limerick Museum:
   • https://www.limerick.ie/sites/default/files/Constables.pdf
4. ↑ Cracroft's Peerage: The Desmond Line
5. ↑ Bernard Burke, A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire. London: Harrison. 1866. p.205:
   • https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_K3MaAAAAYAAJ/page/n223/mode/2up
6. ↑ 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.465:
   • https://www.jstor.org/stable/25497799
7. ↑ The Polestown Butlers were descended from Edmund MacRichard Butler (1420-1464), "The MacRichard of Ossory", via his grandsons Edmund and Theobald, who were the elder brothers of Piers, 8th Earl of Ormond. For more details, see profile for Piers' father, Sir James Butler of Polestown.

• Cracroft's Peerage: The Desmond Line