FITZHENRY, MEILERIrish, but nonetheless being generous to the Gaelic
literati. His servant, Philip Flattisbury of Johnstown,
wrote that Kildare surpassed all previous governors in
defeating Irish enemies and reducing them to the
king’s peace, recolonizing and rebuilding towns long
destroyed, and constructing castles and bridges “to the
great profit and defense of the English.” He was suc-
ceeded as governor and earl by Lord Gerald.
STEVEN G. ELLIS
References and Further Reading
Brewer, J. S., and Bullen, W. (ed) Calendar of Carew Manu-
scripts preserved in the Library at Lambeth, 6 vols, London:
H. M. Stationary Office, 1867–73, vol. 5 (1871), p. 180.
Bryan, D. The Great Earl of Kildare: Gerald FitzGerald 1456−
1513. Dublin: The Talbot Press, 1933.
Ellis, S. G. Tudor Frontiers and Noble Power: The Making of
the British State. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.
Ellis, S. G. Ireland in the Age of the Tudors 1447−1603: English
Expansion and the End of Gaelic Rule. London: Longman,
1998.
Harris, W. ed. “The Voyage of Sir Richard Edgecombe into
Ireland in the Year 1488.” Hibernica 2 vols. Dublin: privately
published, 1747–1750.
Kildare, Marquis of. The Earls of Kildare and their Ancestors from
1057 to 1773. (3rd ed.) Dublin: privately published, 1858.
Mac Niocaill, G. The Red Book of the Earls of Kildare. Dublin:
Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1964.
Mac Niocaill, G., ed. Crown Surveys of lands 1540−41, with
the Kildare Rental Begun in 1518. Dublin: Irish Manuscripts
Commission, 1992.
Miller, Liam and Power, Eileen (ed) Holinshed’s Irish Chronicle,
1577. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1979, pp. 82–83.
Quinn, D. B. In A New History of Ireland. II Medieval Ireland
1169 − 1534. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987.
Sayles, G. O. “The Vindication of the Earl of Kildare from
Treason in 1496.” Irish Historical Studies, vii (1951).
See also Chief Governors; Kildare
FITZHENRY, MEILER
Meiler Fitzhenry was the son of Henry, the natural son
of King Henry 1 by Nesta ap Rhys, daughter of Rhys
ap Tewdwr, prince of South Wales. In 1157, Meiler
succeeded to his father’s possessions in the central and
northeastern parts of modern Pembrokeshire. In 1169,
he accompanied his uncle Robert fitzStephen to Ireland
where he established his reputation as one of the pre-
mier knights. FitzHenry was appointed chief governor
of Ireland by Richard I, and his position was later
reaffirmed by King John who in 1204 ordered him to
build a castle in Dublin to serve as a court and trea-
sury. During his justiciarship Meiler clashed with both
the clergy and his fellow barons. William de Braose
was the first of the magnates to clash with Meiler, a
dispute that John solved in 1200 by recalling Meiler
to court to accompany him on circuit in England and
in Normandy. In 1201 and 1202, vacancies arose in the
bishoprics of Armagh and Tuam and, at Meiler’s
prompting, an illegal election was held that recom-
mended colonists for the positions. Early in 1203,
William de Burgh, constable of Limerick City, set out
for Connacht to unseat Cathal Crobderg Ua Conchobair,
who, unwilling to challenge de Burgh on the field, was
saved by the intervention of the justiciar. As a result
of de Burgh’s expulsion, de Braose was appointed in
July of that year to succeed him as constable of Limerick.
William almost at once transferred the lucrative post
to his son-in-law Walter de Lacy. Shortly afterward
John ordered de Lacy to surrender Limerick to the
justiciar, but this action did not meet with the approval
of the de Lacy-de Braose axis and subsequently dis-
turbances broke out in Meath.
Concurrently a conflict was in progress with John
de Courcy, lord of Ulster. De Courcy was eventually
overthrown and in 1205 Hugh de Lacy was installed
as earl of Ulster. Meiler’s most serious adversary was
William Marshal, with whom he was in dispute over
land. Meiler was a tenant-in-chief of two fiefs in Kerry
and Cork, granted to him by John around the time he
was confirmed as justiciar. The bulk of his lands were
held by the Marshal in his capacity as lord of Leinster.
A long-running dispute followed; eventually, in 1208,
John summoned both opponents and several other bar-
ons of Leinster to discuss the friction in his lordship.
However, while both were in London, Meiler’s forces
were defeated by an opposition reinforced by his pre-
vious ally, Hugh de Lacy; no longer a tenable power,
he was replaced as justiciar. FitzHenry remained a
powerful baron even after he ceased to be justiciar.
Married to a niece of Hugh de Lacy, he had one son
whom he outlived. When Meiler died in 1220 he was
interred in the Augustinian monastery of Great Connell
that he had founded in 1202. His grave is marked by
perhaps the earliest example of an Anglo-Norman head-
stone in Ireland, bearing this inscription: “Conduntur
tumulo Meyleri Nobilis ossa, Indomitus domitor totius
gentis Hiberniae.”
MARGARET MCKEARNEYReferences and Further Reading
Curtis, E. A History of Medieval Ireland. (2nd. ed.) London:
Metheun, 1938.
Flanagan, Marie-Therese. Irish Society, Anglo-Norman Settlers,
Angevin Kingship. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989.
Gilbert, J. T. History of the Viceroys of Ireland. Dublin: James
Duffy, 1865.
Lodge, John, enlarged by Mervyn Archdall. The Peerage of
Ireland, or a Genealogical History of the Present Nobility
of that Kingdom. Dublin: James Moore, 1789.