FITZGERALD
estates in Kildare and Limerick, and his younger son
Maurice fitzMaurice (d. 1286) who inherited the
estates and claims in Connacht and Ulster.
In 1264−1265, the Fitzgeralds’ rivalry with the de
Burghs as to which lineage would dominate the north-
west led to the outbreak of a bitter civil war that caused
widespread devastation throughout Ireland and during
which the two Geraldine magnates imprisoned the chief
governor. However, a truce was established between
the two lineages without settling the dispute and both
Fitzgerald lords escaped punishment by fighting in the
royalist cause in England in 1265−1266. In 1266, the
third baron cemented his family’s high status by mar-
rying the king’s niece Agnes de Valence (d. 1310).
However, fitzGerald drowned in 1268, sending the
family’s fortunes into near terminal decline. The
Fitzgeralds were forced to endure a lengthy minority
until 1285, while de Valence kept control of the family’s
Limerick properties for the rest of her life. More omi-
nously, from 1272 onward, the Irish dynasties of the
midlands in general, and the Ua Conchobair Failge
dynasty in particular, became hostile to the settlers,
and by 1284, Lea Castle had been burned. Maurice
fitzMaurice died without male heirs in 1286 and in
1287, the fourth baron, Gerald fitzMaurice, died child-
less at the age of twenty-two. However, just before he
died, contrary to customary law, he transferred the
property and lordship to his cousin John fitzThomas
fitzMaurice (d. 1316).
Although fitzThomas appears to have been the sole
surviving male representative of the family, he effected
a decisive reversal in the family’s fortunes. His primary
goal appears to have been the reunification of the sec-
ond baron’s legacy. First, the government helped him
to temporarily pacify the midlands Irish dynasties.
Second, he persuaded Maurice fitzMaurice’s heiresses
to bequeath him their properties and claims in Connacht
and Ulster. On his return home from visiting King
Edward in 1292, however, the unresolved question of
supremacy in the northwest brought fitzThomas into
conflict with both the chief governor William de Vescy
and Richard de Burgh, earl of Ulster, after quarreling
over the appointment of a king of Connacht in 1293.
FitzThomas subsequently accused de Vescy of treason
and succeeded in having him removed from office. In
1294, fitzThomas captured the earl of Ulster and
attacked his supporters in Meath, Kildare, and Connacht
in an explosion of lawlessness known as the “time of
disturbance.” King Edward intervened and summoned
fitzThomas to Westminster in disgrace and ultimately
stripped him of his family’s Connacht and Ulster prop-
erties as a punishment.
FitzThomas redeemed himself with the king by
repeated military service, twice in Scotland and once
in Flanders. Although he was never entrusted with the
office of chief governor, he played a leading role in
the increasingly strenuous efforts to pacify the Irish
midland dynasties. When Edward Bruce invaded Ireland
in 1315, the aged fitzThomas remained loyal to
Edward II and was one of the leaders of an army that
was defeated by the Scots in January 1316. Immediately
afterward, he traveled to England to confer with the
king, who created him earl of Kildare in May 1316,
four months before his death.Earls of Kildare to 1534
For the remainder of the fourteenth century, fitzThomas’s
heirs played prominent roles in the lordship’s affairs
while consolidating their power in Kildare. The sec-
ond earl Thomas fitzJohn (d. 1328) was granted the
liberty of Kildare in 1318 and twice served as chief
governor. Initially, the position of his younger son,
the fourth earl Maurice fitzThomas (d. 1390), was
threatened by the suspicions harbored by Edward III
toward the Anglo-Irish magnates. However, after
campaigning in France in 1347, the earl gained the
king’s trust and subsequently often served as chief
governor in short spells. He also devoted much
energy to the defense of the Kildare marches, both
through military action and forging alliances with
midlands Irish dynasts such as An Sinnach (Ua
Catharnaig) and Mág Eochagáin.
The first half of the fifteenth century saw a sharp
decline in the Fitzgeralds’ influence. The fifth earl,
Gerald fitzMaurice (d. 1432), was principally known
as an adherent of his son-in-law, the earl of Ormond,
and was arrested in 1418 on charges of plotting against
John Talbot, Lord Furnival, on Ormond’s behalf. Over-
all, however, his tenure was marked by a major
increase in the power of the Ua Conchobair Failge
dynasty, which captured Rathangan within a year of
his death.
The recognition of Thomas “fitzMaurice” fitzGerald
(d. 1478) as seventh earl in 1456 represents a major
turning point in the family’s fortunes. The Yorkist sev-
enth earl’s success was closely connected to his
lengthy period in office as chief governor during which
he dovetailed the successful defense of the Pale with
the advancement of his personal interests by subduing
his Ua Conchobhair Failge neighbors and recovering
large tracts of territory in the Kildare marches. Essen-
tially, he pioneered the methods and tactics later used
by his son Gerald, the eighth earl (d. 1513), to establish
the “Kildare ascendancy.”
Upon the death of the eighth earl, his son, Gerald
fitzGerald (d. 1534), inherited both the earldom and
the chief governorship. At first, the ninth earl continued
to govern the lordship using the methods so successfully