FITZGERALDBristol, Chester, and the west coast of England. The
herring fisheries off Ardglass and Carlingford were
also attracting hundreds of ships from Wales, south-
west England, and Spain. During the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, the rich fishing grounds off the
south and west coasts, warmed by climatic change,
were being harvested by foreign fishing fleets, partic-
ularly those of England, Wales, Scotland, Brittany,
Gascony, and Iberia. Among these saltwater fish, her-
ring was the most important export, along with cod,
hake, pollock, whiting, and ling.
Although the Gaelic Irish population may not have
fished these grounds themselves, they used them as
an important source of income. Foreign fishing fleets
operated out of sheltering havens under the control
of Gaelic Irish lords (e.g., the O’Driscolls and
O’Sullivan Beares of west Cork), who profited by
victualing the fleets, by issuing licenses for fishing,
and by charging for the use of their harbors and
foreshores (Breen 2001). By the mid-fifteenth cen-
tury, the English government, concerned at loss of
customs revenue through illegal exports, attempted
to restrict foreign fisheries off Baltimore, to little
initial effect. In the early sixteenth century, foreign
fishing fleets operating off Ireland were required to
land a portion of their catch in Ireland. Nevertheless,
by the late sixteenth century, reputedly 600 Spanish
ships were fishing off Ireland.
AIDAN O’SULLIVAN
References and Further Reading
Breen, C. “The Maritime Cultural Landscape in Medieval
Gaelic Ireland.” In Gaelic Ireland c.1250−c.1650, edited by
P. J. Duffy, D. Edwards, and E. Fitzpatrick. Dublin: Four
Courts Press, 2001.
Childs, W., and M. Kowaleski. “Fishing and Fisheries in the
Middle Ages.” In England’s Sea Fisheries: The Commercial
Sea Fisheries of England and Wales since 1300, edited by
D. J. Starkey, C. Reid, and N. Ashcroft. London: Chatham
Publishing, 2000.
Hutchinson, G. Medieval Ships and Shipping. London: Leicester
University Press, 1994.
Kelly, F. Early Irish Farming. Dublin: Dublin Institute for
Advanced Studies, 1997.
McErlean, T., and A. O’Sullivan. “Foreshore Tidal Fishtraps”
In Strangford Lough: An Archaeological Survey of its
Maritime Cultural Landscape, edited by T. McErlean,
R. McConkey, and W. Forsythe.Belfast: Blackstaff Press,
2002.
O’Neill, T. Merchants and Mariners in Medieval Ireland. Black-
rock, County Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1987.
O’Sullivan, A. “An Early Historic Period Fishweir on the Upper
Fergus Estuary, Co. Clare.” North Munster Antiquarian
Journal 35 (1993–4): 52–61.
O’Sullivan, A. For agers, Farmers and Fishers in a Coastal
Landscape: An Intertidal Archaeological Survey of the
Shannon Estuary. Discovery Programme Monographs 4.
Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 2001.
O’Sullivan, A. “A Day in the Life of a Medieval Fisherman...
and of Intertidal Archaeologists.” In Lost and Found:
Discovering Ireland’s Past, edited by J. Fenwick. Dublin:
Wordwell, 2003.See also Diet and Food; Manorialism;
Religious Orders; Ships and ShippingFITZGERALDBarons of Offaly to 1316
The Anglo-Norman family known as the Fitzgeralds
or Geraldines of Kildare emerged from relatively mod-
est beginnings, being descended from Henry I’s cas-
tellan Gerald of Windsor and Nest, daughter of the
Welsh prince Rhys ap Tewdwr. The family came to
Ireland with Richard “Strongbow” de Clare, lord of
Strigoil in 1169, when the pioneering exploits of Maurice
fitzGerald (d. 1176) earned him the reward of a grant
of land in the form of the middle cantred of Offelan
in County Kildare.
Maurice’s middle son Gerald fitzMaurice (d. 1204)
became the first Geraldine baron of Offaly through
marriage to Eva de Bermingham, thereby gaining the
important centers of Lea and Rathangan. He also
acquired the manors of Maynooth and Rathmore in
County Kildare from his elder brother William, baron
of Naas. Finally, he took possession of Croom in
County Limerick through his participation in the
Anglo-Norman invasion of Thomond during the 1180s
and 1190s. By his death, he had gained possession of
the manors and estates that subsequently formed the
core of the family’s landed interests.
The Fitzgeralds became prominent in the colony’s
affairs under the leadership of Maurice fitzGerald, sec-
ond baron of Offaly (d. 1257). First, fitzGerald
expanded the family’s holdings in Limerick by acquir-
ing the manors of Adare and Grene. More importantly,
he held office as chief governor from 1232 to 1245.
Notwithstanding his involvement in the death of his
feudal lord Richard Marshal, lord of Leinster, in April
1234, he quickly earned the trust of Henry III. He used
his authority as chief governor to summon the feudal
host of the lordship to participate in the invasion of
Connacht in 1234−1237 led by Richard de Burgh and
Hugh de Lacy, earl of Ulster. In return, de Burgh
granted him the manors of Ardrahan and Kilcolgan in
County Galway, while de Lacy granted him estates in
Mayo and Sligo as well as claims to lands in Fermanagh
and Donegal.
On his death, the family’s holdings were divided
between his grandson and heir Maurice fitzGerald,
third baron of Offaly (d. 1268), who inherited the core