Earl of Desmond is a title in the

peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

() created four times. When the powerful Earl of Desmond took arms against Queen

Elizabeth Tudor Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eliz ...

, around 1578, along with the King of Spain and the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

, he was confiscated from his estates, some 574 628 acres of land. Since 1640 the title has been held by the Feilding family as a secondary title of the

Earl of Denbigh Earl of Denbigh (pronounced 'Denby') is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1622 for William Feilding, 1st Viscount Feilding, a courtier, admiral, adventurer, and brother-in-law of the powerful Duke of Buckingham. The title is ...

History of the Title

Barony of Desmond

The original Barony of Desmond in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Munster was held by descendants of Thomas FitzMaurice, Lord OConnello. Thomas was the eldest son of

Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Maynooth, Naas, and Llanstephan (born: almost certainly not at Windsor Castle, more likely Carew in Wales c.1105 – September c.1176 Wexford, Ireland. He was a medieval Anglo-Norman baron and a major figure in the N ...

and he was a key supporter of the Lord of Pembroke known as ("Strongbow") in his 1169

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...

of Ireland.

was the founder of the

FitzMaurice Fitzmaurice is a Hiberno-Norman, Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman surname. It is patronymic as the prefix '' Fitz-'' derives from the Latin'' filius'', meaning "son of". According to Irish genealogist Edward MacLysaght: Fitzmaurice is uncommon ...

FitzGerald The FitzGerald/FitzMaurice Dynasty is a noble and aristocratic dynasty of Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the ...

Dynasty in Ireland. Being descended from the eldest son of

, the House of Desmond was a cadet branch of the famous

Geraldines The FitzGerald/FitzMaurice Dynasty is a noble and aristocratic dynasty of Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the ...

; the senior branch, the House of Kildare, were ancestors of the

Dukes of Leinster Duke of Leinster (; ) is a title in the Peerage of Ireland and the premier dukedom in that peerage. The subsidiary titles of the Duke of Leinster are: Marquess of Kildare (1761), Earl of Kildare (1316), Earl of Offaly (1761), Viscount Leinster, ...

, which was founded by Thomas's brother and 2nd eldest son of

namely

Gerald FitzMaurice, 1st Lord of Offaly Gerald FitzMaurice, jure uxoris 1st Lord of Offaly ( – 15 January 1204) was a Cambro-Norman nobleman who took part with his father, Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Llanstephan, in the Norman Invasion of Ireland (1169–71). Together with his fiv ...

Thomas's son, John FitzThomas, became the first Baron Desmond upon receiving, for his homage and service, a grant in 1259 of the lands of

Decies County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. Waterford City and County Council is the local authority for t ...

and Desmond from Prince Edward of England. Before passing to Edward, these lands had been held by Thomas FitzAnthony, the father of John's wife Margery FitzAnthony.

Earl of Desmond: first and second creation

The title Earl of Desmond was first created for Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Baron Desmond in about 1329. Over time, according to English sources, the FitzGerald family became highly assimilated to the local Irish culture. The final Earl of Desmond of this creation was Gerald FitzGerald, the 14th (or, by some counts, the 15th or even the 16th) Earl. The FitzGeralds and Fitzmaurices had resisted the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

of King Henry VIII and, after the failure of the first and second

Desmond Rebellions The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569–1573 and 1579–1583 in the Irish province of Munster. They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond, the head of the Fitzmaurice/FitzGerald Dynasty in Munster, and his followers, the Geraldines an ...

, the 15th Earl was defeated and killed by forces loyal to

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

on 11 November 1583. His title, along with the enormous estates of his family, were forfeit to the English Crown. His nephew,

James FitzThomas FitzGerald James fitz Thomas FitzGerald, called the Súgán Earl (died 1608), was a pretender to the Earldom of Desmond who made his claim and led a rebellion after the last earl, Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond had been killed in 1583. The preten ...

, the Súgán Earl, attempted to regain control of both during the

Nine Years War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...

, but he was captured by the English and executed in 1603. The second creation was in 1600 for James FitzGerald, the "Tower Earl", who was also created Baron Inchiquin. He was the successor of Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond. He assumed the title of Earl of Desmond, which had been suppressed in 1582 after the Desmond Rebellions. He spent much of his life in captivity, and was temporarily, but unsuccessfully, restored to the earldom in 1600–01 by the English in an attempt to pacify Munster during the Nine Years War. He thus became the 1st Earl of Desmond, but soon returned to England, where he died in obscurity.

Earl of Desmond: third and fourth creation

The third creation was in 1619 for Richard Preston, 1st Lord Dingwall, who was also created Baron Dunmore. The fourth creation happened while Preston was still alive, in 1622 for George Feilding, 1st Viscount Callan, second son of the Earl of Denbigh and nephew of James I's favourite and lover, George Villiers. The eight-year-old Feilding was given the right to the title Earl of Desmond as and when Preston died without a male heir. Preston had also been a favourite and probably lover of James I; he had a daughter who, the plan was, George Feilding would marry, but this did not happen. In 1628 Preston died and George was made Earl of Desmond by Charles I (Preston's Scottish

Lordship A lordship is a territory held by a lord. It was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas. It originated as a unit under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. In a lordship, the functions of econ ...

of Dingwall passed to his daughter Elizabeth, the Duchess of Ormond). George Feilding's eldest son, the second Earl of Desmond, also inherited the title of third Earl of Denbigh after his uncle, the second Earl of Denbigh, died childless. The title Earl of Desmond has descended subsequently with the title Earl of Denbigh and the current holder is the twelfth Earl of Denbigh and eleventh Earl of Desmond.

Desmond Geraldine arms

Buttevant Friary South Transept South Gable FitzGerald of Desmond Coat of Arms Detail 2012 09 08

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of the Geraldine Earls of Desmond,

blazoned In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visu ...

'' ermine a

saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, like the shape of the letter X in Roman type. The word comes from the Middle French ''sautoir'', Medieval Latin ''saltatori ...

gules'', where the ermine tincture is a mark of

cadency In heraldry, cadency is any systematic way to distinguish arms displayed by descendants of the holder of a coat of arms when those family members have not been granted arms in their own right. Cadency is necessary in heraldic systems in which ...

relative to the senior

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional ce ...

branch of the Geraldines (whose arms are more simply blazoned "

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to ...

, a saltire gules"). The

crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings *The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York *Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...

shows a man in armour on horseback, facing to the right.Walter FitzGerald: ''Buttevant—The Franciscan Abbey''. In: ''Journal of the Association for the Preservation of Memorials of the Dead in Ireland''. Vol 6, 1904–1906, p. 443. Shanid Castle County Limerick

The motto appearing beneath the Desmond arms was (Shanid to victory) a reference to the Desmond stronghold of Shanid Castle.

Ancestry of the Desmond Geraldines

Thomas FitzMaurice, Lord O'Connelloe, was the progenitor of the Geraldine House of Desmond, and thus the patrilineal ancestor of the Barons Desmond, and of the earls of Desmond of the first creation. Thomas FitzMaurice was the son of

, founder of the Irish

. Through Maurice's mother, Princess

Nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...

ferch Rhys ap Tewdwr, the House of Desmond traced descent in the female line from the

House of Dinefwr The Royal House of Dinefwr was a cadet branch of the Royal House of Gwynedd, founded by King Cadell ap Rhodri (reign 872–909), son of Rhodri the Great. Their ancestor, Cunedda Wledig, born in late Roman Britain, was a Sub-Roman warlord who f ...

. Over a century after Thomas's death, Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond, married Eleanor Butler. Through her, John FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Desmond and all subsequent Geraldine earls of Desmond could trace descent through

Eleanor de Bohun Eleanor de Bohun ( – 3 October 1399) was the elder daughter and co-heiress (with her sister, Mary de Bohun), of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (1341–1373) and Joan Fitzalan, a daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel a ...

Elizabeth of Rhuddlan Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (7 August 1282 – 5 May 1316) was the eighth and youngest daughter of King Edward I of England and Queen Eleanor of Castile. Of all of her siblings, she was closest to her younger brother King Edward II, as they were only ...

, daughter of King

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

of the House of Plantagenet by his queen, Eleanor of Castile of the

House of Burgundy The House of Burgundy () was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, descending from Robert I, Duke of Burgundy, a younger son of King Robert II of France. The House ruled the Duchy of Burgundy from 1032–1361 and achieved the recognized title ...

Barons Desmond (1259)

John FitzThomas FitzGerald, 1st Baron Desmond John FitzThomas, 1st Baron Desmond (died 1261) was the son of Thomas Fitzmaurice, Lord OConnello by his wife Ellinor, daughter of Jordan de Marisco, and sister of Geoffrey de Marisco, who was appointed justiciar of Ireland in 1215.Cokayne, ...

(died 1261) (son of

Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald Thomas FitzMaurice, Lord OConnello, (c. 1145 – 1213) of Shanid, was the eldest son of Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan by his wife, Alice (daughter of Arnulf de Montgomery).Weis, Frederick Lewis. ''Ancestral Roots of Certain A ...

) * Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald, 2nd Baron Desmond (died 1298) (grandson of preceding) * Thomas FitzThomas FitzGerald, 3rd Baron Desmond (1290–1307) (son of preceding) * Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 4th Baron Desmond (died 1356) (brother of preceding; created Earl of Desmond in 1329)

Earls of Desmond, first creation (1329)

Authors have numbered the earls of the first creation from 1 to 14, 1 to 15, or 1 to 16, depending on whether Nicholas, an "idiot", is included as 3rd Earl, and whether John, the ''de facto'' 12th Earl (died 1536) and

James FitzGerald, de jure 12th Earl of Desmond James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

(died 1540), are both numbered 12 or are numbered 12 and 13. Wikipedia numbers the earls 1 to 14 omitting the "idiot" and numbering John ''de facto'' and James ''de jure'' both as 12, following

Cokayne George Edward Cokayne, (29 April 1825 – 6 August 1911), was an English genealogist and long-serving herald at the College of Arms in London, who eventually rose to the rank of Clarenceux King of Arms. He wrote such authoritative and standar ...

(1916) and the

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

(2004).

Burke Burke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (–1206) had the surname ''de Burgh'' which was gaelicised ...

(1866), Webb (1878) and the Dictionary of national Biography (1889) admit 15, and Bagwell (1885) 16 earls of the first creation. BL Royal Vincent of Beauvais2Yorkist rose

BL Royal Vincent of Beauvais2Yorkist rose

Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond (died 25 January 1356) in Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland was an Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland, Captain of Desmond Castle in Kinsale, so-called ruler of Munster, and for a short time ...

(died 1356) (new creation) *

Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Desmond Maurice FitzMaurice FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Desmond (d. 1358) (Maurice Óg) was the son of Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, Burke, Bernard, A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Emp ...

(1336–1358) (son of preceding) * Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond (died 1398) (half-brother of preceding) * John FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Desmond (died 1399) (son of preceding) *

Thomas FitzGerald, 5th Earl of Desmond Thomas FitzGerald, 5th Earl of Desmond (c. 1386– 1420), was the only son of John FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Desmond. Upon John's death in 1399, Thomas succeeded to the earldom of Desmond, which lay in Munster, in the southwest of Ireland. In ...

(–1420) (son of preceding) *

James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond (d. 1462), called 'the Usurper', was a younger son of Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond, and Lady Eleanor, daughter of James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond. Life The younger brother of John FitzGerald, 4 ...

(died 1463) (the "Usurper," paternal uncle of preceding) *

Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond Thomas FitzJames FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond (died 1467/68), called 'Thomas of Drogheda', and also known as the Great Earl, was the son of James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond and Mary de Burgh. He was Lord Deputy of Ireland under the Lieu ...

(died 1468) (son of preceding) *

James FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Desmond James FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Desmond (1459–1487) was the son of Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond and his wife, Ellice de Barry, daughter of William Barry, 8th Baron Barry, and Ellen de la Roche. Life The execution of the 7th Earl ...

(1459–1487) (son of preceding) *

Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Desmond Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Desmond (died 1520) was the brother of James FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Desmond.Cokayne, George Edward, Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or ...

(died 1520) (brother of preceding) *

James FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond James fitz Maurice FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond (died 1529), also counted as the 11th, plotted against King Henry VIII with King Francis I of France in 1523 and with Emperor Charles V in 1528 and 1529. Birth and origins James was born ...

(died 1529) (son of preceding) * Thomas FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Desmond (1454–1534) (paternal uncle of preceding) *

John FitzGerald, de facto 12th Earl of Desmond John FitzGerald, de facto 12th Earl of Desmond (died December 1536) was the brother of Thomas FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Desmond. Upon his brother's death in 1534, John disputed the title to the earldom of his brother's grandson, James FitzGe ...

(died 1536) (brother of preceding, paternal granduncle of

) *

(died 1540) (grandson of Thomas FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Desmond, grandnephew of

) *

James FitzGerald, 13th Earl of Desmond James fitz John FitzGerald, 13th Earl of Desmond (died 1558), also counted as the 14th, ruled 22 years, the first 4 years as ''de facto'' earl until the death of James FitzGerald, de jure 12th Earl of Desmond, called court page, who was murder ...

(died 1558) (son of

) *

Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond ( – 1583), also counted as 15th or 16th, owned large part of the Irish province of Munster. In 1565 he fought the private Battle of Affane against his neighbours, the Butlers. After this, he was for so ...

( – 1583) (son of preceding; forfeit 1582)

Pretender to the first creation (1598)

, the ''Súgán Earl'', died in

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

Earls of Desmond, second creation (1600)

James FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond James FitzGerald (c. 1570 – November 1601), an Irish nobleman, was the successor of Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond. He assumed the title of Earl of Desmond, which had been suppressed in 1582 after the Desmond Rebellions. He spent muc ...

(1571–1601) (known as the "Tower Earl of Desmond")

Earls of Desmond, third creation (1619)

Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond Sir Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond (died 1628) was a favourite of King James VI and I of Scotland and England. In 1609 the king made him Lord Dingwall. In 1614 he married him to Elizabeth Butler, the only child of Black Tom, the 10th E ...

(died 1628) (extinct)

Earls of Desmond, fourth creation (1622)

George Feilding, 1st Earl of Desmond George Feilding, 1st Earl of Desmond (c. 1614 – 31 January 1665) was an English aristocrat, awarded the title of Earl of Desmond in the Peerage of Ireland by Charles I of England under the terms of a letter patent issued by James I of Englan ...

For subsequent Earls of Desmond (title held with the title Earl of Denbigh), see List of Earls of Denbigh and Earls of Desmond.

Notes

References

* – Dacre to Dysart * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Desmond Earldoms in the Peerage of Ireland Desmond Extinct earldoms in the Peerage of Ireland FitzGerald dynasty Forfeited earldoms in the Peerage of Ireland Noble titles created in 1329 Noble titles created in 1600 Noble titles created in 1619 Noble titles created in 1622