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DESMOND, GERALD FITZGERALD, 15TH EARL...

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 99 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DESMOND, GERALD See also:FITZGERALD, 15TH See also:EARL OF (d. 1583)7 Irish See also:leader, was son of See also:James, 14th earl, by his second wife More O'See also:Carroll. His See also:father had agreed in See also:January 1541, as one of the terms of his submission to See also:Henry VIII., to send See also:young Gerald to be educated in See also:England. At the See also:accession of See also:Edward VI. proposals to this effect were renewed; Gerald was to be the See also:companion of the young See also:king. Unfortunately for the subsequent See also:peace of See also:Munster these projects were not carried out. The Desmond estates were held by a doubtful See also:title, and claims on them were made by the Butlers, the hereditary enemies of the Geraldines, the 9th earl of See also:Ormonde having married See also:Lady See also:Joan Fitzgerald, daughter and heiress-See also:general of the I1th earl of Desmond. On Ormonde's See also:death she proposed to marry Gerald Fitzgerald, and eventually did so, after the death of her second See also:husband, See also:Sir See also:Francis See also:Bryan. The effect of this See also:marriage was a temporary cessation of open hostility between the Desmonds and her son, See also:Thomas See also:Butler, loth earl of Ormonde. Gerald succeeded to the earldom in 1558; he was knighted by the See also:lord See also:deputy See also:Sussex, and did See also:homage at See also:Waterford. He soon established See also:close relations with his namesake Gerald Fitzgerald, Ilth earl of See also:Kildare (1525-1585), and with See also:Shane O'See also:Neill. In spite of. an See also:award made by Sussex in See also:August 156o regulating the matters in dispute between Ormonde and the Fitzgeralds, the Geraldine outlaws were still plundering their neighbours. Desmond neglected a See also:summons to appear at See also:Elizabeth's See also:court for some See also:time on the plea that he was at See also:war with his See also:uncle See also:Maurice.

When . he did appear in See also:

London in May 1562 his insolent conduct before the privy See also:council resulted in a See also:short imprisonment in the. See also:Tower. He was detained. in England until 1564, and soon after his return his wife's death set him See also:free from such See also:restraint as was provided by her Butler connexion. He now raided See also:Thomond, and in Waterford he sought to enforce his feudal rights on Sir Maurice Fitzgerald of Decks, who invoked the help of Ormonde. The two nobles thereupon resorted to open war, fighting a See also:battle at Affane on the See also:Blackwater, where Desmond was defeated and taken prisoner. Ormonde and Desmond were See also:bound over in London to keep the peace, being allowed to. return See also:early in 1566 to See also:Ireland, where a royal See also:commission was appointed to See also:settle the matters in dispute between them. Desmond and his See also:brother Sir See also:John of Desmond were sent over to England, where they surrendered their lands to the See also:queen after a short experience of the Tower: In the meanwhile Desmond's See also:cousin, James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, caused himself to be acclaimed See also:captain of Desmond in See also:defiance of See also:Sidney, and in the evident expectation of usurping the earldom. He sought to give the See also:movement an ultra-See also:Catholic See also:character, with the See also:idea of gaining See also:foreign assistance, and allied himself with John See also:Burke, son of the earl of See also:Clanricarde, with See also:Connor O'Brien, earl of Thomond, and even secured Ormonde's brother, Sir See also:Edmund Butler, whom' Sidney had offended. Piers and Edward Butler also joined the See also:rebellion, but the See also:appearance of Sidney and' Ormonde in the See also:south-See also:west was rapidly followed by the submission of the Butlers. Most of the Geraldines were subjugated by See also:Humphrey See also:Gilbert, but Fitzmaurice remained in arms, and in 1571 Sir John See also:Perrot undertook to reduce him. Perrot hunted him down, and at last on the 23rd of See also:February 1573 he made formal submission at See also:Kilmallock, lying prostrate on the See also:floor of the See also:church by way of proving his sincerity, Against the See also:advice of the queen's Irish counsellors Desmond was allowed to return to Ireland in 1573, the earl promising not to exercise See also:palatinate See also:jurisdiction ' in See also:Kerry until his rights to it were proved. He was detained for six months in See also:Dublin, but in See also:November slipped through the hands of the See also:government, and within a very short time had reduced to a See also:state of anarchy the See also:province which Perrot thought to have pacified by his severities.

Edward Fitzgerald, brother of the earl of Kildare, and See also:

lieutenant of the queen's pensioners in London, was sent to remonstrate with Desmond, but accomplished nothing. Desmond asserted that none but Brehon See also:law should be observed between Geraldines; and Fitzmaurice seized Captain See also:George See also:Bourchier, one of Elizabeth's See also:officers in the west. See also:Essex met the earl near See also:Water-See also:ford in See also:July, and Bourchier was surrendered, but Desmond refused the other demands made in the queen's. name. A document offering £50o for his See also:head, and s000 to any one who would take him alive, was See also:drawn up but was vetoed by two members of the council. On the 18th of July 1574 the Geraldine chiefs signed the " See also:Combination " promising to support the. earl unconditionally; shortly afterwards Ormonde and the lord deputy, Sir See also:William See also:Fitzwilliam, marched on Munster, and put Desmond's See also:garrison at Derrinlaur See also:Castle to the See also:sword. Desmond submitted at See also:Cork on the 2nd of See also:September, handing over his estates to trustees. Sir Henry Sidney visited Munster in 1575, and affairs seemed to promise an early restoration of See also:order. But Fitzmaurice had fled to See also:Brittany in See also:company with other leading Geraldines, John Fitzgerald, See also:seneschal of Imokilly, who had held Ballymartyr against Sidney in 1567, and Edmund Fitzgibbon, the son of the See also:White See also:Knight who had been attainted in 1571. He intrigued at the See also:French and See also:Spanish courts for a foreign invasion of Ireland, and at See also:Rome met the adventurer See also:Stucley, with whom he projected an expedition which was to make a See also:nephew of See also:Gregory XIII. king of Ireland. In 1579 he landed in Smerwick See also:Bay, where he was joined later by some Spanish soldiers at the Fort del Ore. His See also:ships were captured on the 29th of July and he himself was slain in a skirmish while on his way to See also:Tipperary. See also:Nicholas See also:Sanders, the papal See also:legate who had accompanied Fitzmaurice, worked on Desmond's weakness, and sought to draw him into open rebellion.

Desmond had perhaps been restrained before by See also:

jealousy of Fitzmaurice; his indecisions ceased when on the 1st of November Sir William. See also:Pelham proclaimed him a traitor. The See also:sack of See also:Youghal and See also:Kinsale by the Geraldines was speedily followed by the successes of Ormonde and Pelham acting in See also:concert with See also:Admiral Winter_ In See also:June 1581 Desmond had to take to the See also:woods, but he maintained a considerable following for some time, which, however, in June 1583, when Ormonde set a See also:price on his head; was reduced to four persons. Five months later, on the 11th of November, he was seized and murdered by a small party of soldiers. His brother Sir John of Desmond had been caught and killed in See also:December 1581, and the seneschal of Imokilly had surrendered on the 14th of June 1583. After his submission the seneschal acted loyally, but his lands excited envy; he was arrested in 1587, and died in Dublin Castle two days later. By his second marriage with Eleanor Butler, the 15th earl See also:left two sons, the See also:elder of whom, James, 16th earl (1570-1601), spent most of his See also:life in See also:prison. After an unsuccessful See also:attempt in 1600-1601 to recover his See also:inheritance he returned to England, where he died, the title becoming See also:extinct. See G. E. C(okayne,) See also:Complete See also:Peerage; R. Bagwell, Ireland under the Tudors (1885—189o); See also:Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters (ed.

J. O'See also:

Donovan, 1851); and the See also:article FITZGERALD.

End of Article: DESMOND, GERALD FITZGERALD, 15TH EARL OF (d. 1583)7

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