Gerald Mor FitzJames FitzGerald (abt. 1428 - 1488)

Ancestors

Descendants

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Biography

Birth year estimate, given that his older brother Thomas (b.1426) became 7th Earl of Desmond.

The Decies property was originally a part of the Desmond estate until James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond, bequeathed Decies and Dromana Castle to his younger son, Sir Gerald "Mor" Fitzjames Fitzgerald.

Excerpt from the Dictionary of Irish Biography profile for James FitzThomas FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Desmond, edited for clarity:

• James FitzThomas FitzGerald succeeded to the earldom [as 8th Earl] after the execution of his father Thomas [7th Earl] in February 1468. James' title was challenged on the grounds of legitimacy by his uncle Gerald, Lord of Decies. However, James' claims were upheld by King Edward IV in the aftermath of the execution, and James was granted livery of his lands even though he was still under age.

Sir Gerald, of Dromana, County Waterford, Lord of Decies, married Margaret Burke, "daughter of MacRichard Burke". ^[1][2]

This pedigree gives 4 sons for Gerald:^[3]

• John (2nd Lord Decies)
• Gerald
• Maurice (married Anne, daughter of James, 3rd son of Thomas Fitzgerald, 7th Earl of Kildare)
• Thomas

Excerpts from "Edmund MacRichard Butler: Books and Warfare in 15th-Century Ireland", edited for context and clarity:^[4]

• 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 [of Ormond] 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 of Ormond 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 Butlers until nearly 70 years later, when the Butlers and FitzGerald 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).]

History of the Dromana Fitzgeralds

This overview of the Lords of Decies (Dromana Fitzgeralds) is condensed from "History of Kinsalebeg: Landlords and Land Ownership", Cracroft's Peerage, and various issues of the Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society:

• The FitzGerald Dromana ancestry begins with the Earls of Desmond who owned large parts of Munster until their defeat in the Desmond rebellions ca.1583. After the rebellion, most of the Desmond land was confiscated but the Dromana estate was left largely untouched.

• The Dromana branch started in the 15th century when James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond, (d.1463) left extensive lands in West Waterford to his youngest son Gerald FitzGerald (d.1488), considered to be 1st Lord Decies. Gerald made his base in Dromana, and Dromana Castle became a cliff-top home for generations of FitzGeralds and subsequently Villiers and Villiers-Stuarts.

• The title then passed in the typical fashion, to Gerald's son John, 2nd Lord (d.1524) and then to John's son Gerald, 3rd Lord (d.1554).

• In turn Gerald's 2 sons Maurice (d.1572) and James (d.1580) served respectively as 1st Viscount Decies and 5th Lord Decies.

• After James died, the title went to his son Gerald, 6th Lord, who died with no heir in 1598. The title thus reverted to a first cousin John, 7th Lord (d.1608), who was the son of another Gerald (1530-1599) who had never held the title himself.

• From John, 7th Lord, the title passed to his son John Oge (d.1626) and in turn to John Oge's son Gerald (d.1643), who married Mabel Digby, daughter of Sir Robert Digby MP.

• According to the Civil Survey of 1654-1656, this same "Gerrott fzt Gerrald of Dromanny Esq" [Gerald FitzGerald of Dromana], who was described as an “Irish Protestant deceased” [since 1643], held about 21,500 acres of land in West Waterford at that time. The land was spread over 17 parishes including Lisgenan (4060 acres), Kinsalebeg (203), Dungarvan (1050), Abbeyside (34), Colligan (660), Affane (800), Rynegonagh (950), Whitechurch (629), Seskinane (1600), Kilmolash (330), Ardmore (1650), Modeligo (820), Aglish (2557), Kilgobinet (700), Clashmore (3070), Stradbally (140) and Fewes (2000). There were other land owners in these parishes so they were not exclusively in the ownership of the FitzGeralds. The FitzGeralds however owned the greater part of the land in the parishes of Aglish, Clashmore, Lisgenan (Grange), Rynegonagh (Ring), Seskinane and Fewes. Land belonging to the FitzGeralds of Dromana in the proximity of Kinsalebeg included some in Ballyheeny, Knocknageragh (Summerhill), Grange, Ardsallagh, Tinnabinna, Ticknock, Shanacoole, Ballycrompane and Coolbagh. Gerald FitzGerald of Dromana is recorded as having 1030 acres in the townlands of Ardsallagh, Tinnabinna, Ticknock, Shanacoole and Ballycrompane. He also had 203 acres in the townland of Ballyheeny and 4060 acres in the parish of Lisgenan [Grange] which included 230 acres in Knocknageragh [Summerhill] bordering Pilltown.

Sources

1. ↑ Burke, A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (1866), p.561:
   • https://books.google.nl/books?id=1ysWkXKSrpIC&vq
2. ↑ "MacRichard Burke" (as differentiated from the 3 well-known "MacWilliam" lines) refers to the Clanricard branch, also known as the "Galway Burkes". Their most prominent early leader was Richard Burke, 2nd Lord Clanricarde, the likely great-grandfather of both Sir Gerald and his wife Margaret. For more family context, including pedigree charts of the various branches, see the Wikipedia page on the Burke Civil War of the 1330s.
3. ↑ Journal of the Waterford & South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society, Vol.1, 1894-5, pedigree appearing between pp.122 and 123:
   • http://snap.waterfordcoco.ie/collections/ejournals/100575/100575.pdf
4. ↑ Timothy O’Neill, "Edmund MacRichard Butler: Books and Warfare in 15th-Century Ireland". Published in Medieval History, Issue 4 (July/August 2015), Vol. 23:
   • https://www.historyireland.com/medieval-history-pre-1500/edmund-macrichard-butler-books-and-warfare-in-fifteenth-century-ireland/

• Cracroft's Peerage : Sir Gerald Mor FitzJames FitzGerald of Dromnana

• Our Royal, Titled, Noble, and Commoner Ancestors & Cousins : Sir Gerald More FitzGerald, 1st Lord of Decies

• Notes on the family, from the Journal of the Waterford & South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society, Vol.1, 1894-5, pp.263-264:
  • Sir Gerald (Mor) Fitzgerald, of Dromany (2nd son of James, 6th Earl of Desmond) died seized of the lands in question on August 16th, 1488; after whose death the possessions descended to his son and heir, John Fitzgerald, who died at Dromany on December 18th, 1524.
    • http://snap.waterfordcoco.ie/collections/ejournals/100575/100575.pdf

• Lundy, Darryl Roger (compiler). The Peerage: Sir Gerald FitzGerald, M, #206273. Edited 3 Aug 2009. Accessed 8 Sep 2019. Citing Mosley, Charles, ed. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th ed. Vol 3. 2003, p 4085. Wilmington, Delaware, USA: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd.