Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald (abt. 1293 - 1356)

Born about 1293 in England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 25 Jan 1356 at about age 63 in Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland

Note: Historical records seem to differ over the identity of Maurice's mother: Margaret de Burgh, Margaret de Barry, or Margaret de Berkeley. The O'Brien excerpt below seems to indicate Margaret de Berkeley, as does Richardson.^[1] Maurice's first wife Margaret de Burgh was mother of Maurice the 2nd Earl, which could explain the confusion.

Biography

Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 4th Baron of Decies and Desmond, was created 1st Earl of Desmond in 1329.^[2]

Maurice was the second son of Thomas FitzMaurice Fitzgerald 2nd Baron Desmond, who died in 1298. Maurice's elder brother Thomas became 3rd Baron Desmond until his death in 1309, at which time Maurice became 4th Baron Desmond, inheriting great wealth and large estates.

On 27 August 1329, by Letters Patent, Maurice FitzGerald was created 1st Earl of Desmond with a Royal Jurisdiction, the feudal seniority of the entire county palatine of Kerry, to him and his heirs male, to hold of the Crown by the service of one knight's fee. ^{[3] [4][5]}

He was Captain of Desmond Castle in Kinsale, county Cork; and took part with King Edward lll in the siege of Calais 1346-1347.

In 1355, he was commissioned Lord Justice of Ireland.^[6]

He led a rebellion against the Crown, was suspected of an ambition to become King of Ireland, but ultimately restored to favour.

Maurice died 1355-1356 and was buried in Tralee.

From historian Niall C.E.J. O Brien, "Thomas an Apa Fitz Maurice of Desmond: Survival, restoration and missed opportunities":^[7]

• In February 1301, King Edward I granted to Thomas de Berkeley senior the marriage of Thomas, the son of Thomas FitzMaurice, who was under age and in the king's custody at the time. If young Thomas should die before marriage then Thomas de Berkeley was to have the marriage of each and subsequent heir until a successful marriage was made.

• This arrangement may have sounded good but Thomas de Berkeley had grown tired of the Fitzgeralds. The remarriage of his daughter Margaret may have gained an appreciation in his mind that things could turn out bad. Sometime before November 1302, Thomas de Berkeley sold the right of marriage for the Fitzgerald heirs to Edmund de Mortimer. The right of marriage soon after returned to the crown as Edmund de Mortimer died in July 1304.

• Thomas Fitz Thomas died sometime before 2 April 1309 and was succeeded by his 16-year-old brother, Maurice FitzThomas. Five years later, on 28 April 1314, Maurice FitzThomas gave fealty to Edward I and received his inheritance. In 1329 after a stormy first career Maurice became first Earl of Desmond and then began his second stormy career.

Marriage and Children

Note: There are some historical discrepancies regarding 1) the number of wives, 2) the order of the 2nd and 3rd wives, and 3) which children belonged to which mother. It is generally accepted that Aveline FitzMaurice was mother to most of the children.

Maurice fitz Thomas Fitzgerald married 3 times:^[8][9]

• (1) 13 August 1312 at Greencastle, Lady Margaret, 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 had no male issue.
• (3) Aveline (or Eleanor), daughter of Nicholas FitzMaurice, 3rd Baron Kerry. She had a dower in 1356.

By Margaret de Burgh [sometimes called Katherine] he had one son:

• Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Desmond.

By Aveline FitzMaurice he had two sons:

• Nicholas (described by Lodge as "an idiot"), ancestor to MacRobert of Bellamullin and, say some, to the McKenzies, Earl of Seaforth in Scotland.
• Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond, nicknamed Gerald the Poet.

He was also the father of Emily FitzGerald who married Gerald Dillon of Drumrany.

From the Dictionary of Irish Biography profile for Maurice, 1st Earl of Desmond, which does not mention Margaret O'Brien as a wife:

• Desmond's first wife was Katherine, daughter of Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster.

• With his second wife, Aveline, the daughter of Nicholas fitz Maurice FitzGerald of Kerry, he had 4 children.

• Maurice was succeeded as Earl of Desmond by his eldest son, Maurice (d.1357) and then by his youngest son Gerald (Gearóid Iarla), who by the king's grace was permitted to inherit in place of the middle son, Nicholas, who was mentally disabled.

• Desmond and Aveline also had one daughter, Joan.

Sources

1. ↑ specific link needed
2. ↑ James Graves, "The Earls of Desmond," including detailed pedigree charts. From the series "Unpublished Geraldine Documents" in The Journal of the Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, Third Series, Vol.1, No.2 (1869), pp. 459-498:
   • https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25497799.pdf
3. ↑ Examples : County Palatine
4. ↑ Memoirs of the political and private life of James Caulfield, earl of Charlemont by Francis Hardy pub:1812 no:2 vol:1 p:165
5. ↑ The very extensive possession granted by Edward lll described in notes: p:529 of The Annals of Ireland - Translated from the Original Irish of the Four Masters by O'Connellan, with Annotations by P. MacDermott and the Translator Michael O'Clery pub: 1846
6. ↑ Wikipedia Maurice FitzGerald 1st Earl of Desmond
7. ↑ https://www.academia.edu/13013704
8. ↑ James Graves, "The Earls of Desmond," including detailed pedigree charts. From the series "Unpublished Geraldine Documents" in The Journal of the Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, Third Series, Vol.1, No.2 (1869), pp. 459-498:
   • https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25497799.pdf
9. ↑ A Genealogical History of the Dormant: Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire Sir Bernard Burke pub: Harrison 1866

• Dictionary of Irish Biography profile for Maurice, 1st Earl of Desmond (author Ronan Mackay):
  • https://www.dib.ie/biography/fitzgerald-maurice-fitz-thomas-a3256

• A detailed biography (6 pages) is included in James Wills' Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen, from the earliest times to the present period (Dublin: Macgregor, Polson 1840-47), pp.362-8:
  • https://archive.org/details/livesofillustrio01willuoft/page/362/mode/2up

• Wikipedia : Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond

• The Peerage