Elizabeth O'Donnell
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Elizabeth FitzGerald (before 1597–1611) was the first wife of Lucas Plunket, who succeeded as
Baron Killeen Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...
in 1613, and who in due course became the 1st Earl of Fingall in 1628. They lived at Killeen Castle, County Meath in Ireland. She was a daughter of Henry FitzGerald, 12th Earl of Kildare, and therefore sister to Bridget, the Countess of Tyrconnell and wife of Prince Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell.


Errors in her genealogy

Much confusion about her identity prevailed in erroneous genealogies during the 19th and early 20th centuries. She was believed to be the daughter of Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and Lady Bridget FitzGerald. Understood in the same way to have been Elizabeth O'Donnell, she was reported to have married
Luke Plunket, 1st Earl of Fingall Lucas More Plunket of Killeen, County Meath (before 1602 – 29 March 1637), styled Lucas Môr, tenth lord Killeen, created Earl of Fingall on 26 September 1628, was an Irish peer. Biography Plunket was the elder son of Christopher Plunket, 9th Ba ...
. Her lineage as a daughter (possibly pre-marital) of Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, and his wife Lady Bridget FitzGerald, was repeatedly cited in various peerage directories, such as Lodge's (1827, and re-issued in 1907), Foster's (1881), Cokayne's (1926), and Burke's (1980).


Corrected lineage

However, Elizabeth is clearly and more authoritatively identified as the second daughter of Henry FitzGerald, 12th Earl of Kildare and Lady Frances Howard, and was, therefore, the sister of Rory's wife, Lady Bridget née FitzGerald, properly recorded in the histories of the FitzGeralds of Kildare, based on their own family archives in Carton House and Kilkea Castle, and on no better authority than
Charles FitzGerald, 4th Duke of Leinster Charles William FitzGerald, 4th Duke of Leinster, (30 March 1819 – 10 February 1887), styled Marquess of Kildare until 1874, was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician. Background Leinster was born in Dublin, Ireland. He was the son of Augustus ...
himself, writing at the time as Marquis of Kildare (and before the later erroneous authors), and who confirmed that Elizabeth married
Luke Plunket, 1st Earl of Fingall Lucas More Plunket of Killeen, County Meath (before 1602 – 29 March 1637), styled Lucas Môr, tenth lord Killeen, created Earl of Fingall on 26 September 1628, was an Irish peer. Biography Plunket was the elder son of Christopher Plunket, 9th Ba ...
in 1608. Later sources confirmed this, i.e. that this Elizabeth was a FitzGerald, the Countess Lady Bridget's sister, and not her daughter. Elizabeth is said to have died in London in 1611 during an outbreak of the plague only three years after her marriage.Cockayne, George Edward. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct or dormant, Volume V, published by The St. Catherine Press, London, 1926 (page 385). To have been married in 1608, she cannot have been the marriageable daughter of Bridget who was herself only about 19 years old at that time, but rather her sister Lord Killeen, later Earl of Fingall, was also married on three other occasions. He had married in 1628 Eleanor Bagenal, who died leaving no children. His son by a later marriage to Susanna Brabazon,
Christopher Plunket, 2nd Earl of Fingall Christopher Plunket, 2nd Earl of Fingall and 11th Baron Killeen (died 1649) was an Irish politician and soldier. In 1641 he negotiated with the rebels on behalf of the Old English of the Pale and pushed them to join the rebellion. He fought for ...
, married Mabel Barnewall, niece of Elizabeth through her sister, Bridget, whose second husband was
Nicholas Barnewall, 1st Viscount Kingsland Nicholas Barnewall, 1st Viscount Barnewall (1592 – 20 August 1663) of Turvey, County Dublin, was an Irish landowner and politician. Family history After the subjection of Ireland in the time of Henry II, Michael de Berneval, who served under R ...
, from whom she had more children. Another niece, Mary Barnewall married Nicholas Preston, 6th Viscount Gormanston. Lucas Plunket's last wife was Margaret St. Lawrence, daughter of
Nicholas St Lawrence, 9th Baron Howth Nicholas St. Lawrence, 9th Baron Howth (c.1550–1607) was a leading member of the Anglo-Irish nobility in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Despite openly professing his Roman Catholic faith, he enjoyed the trust of Elizabeth I ...
. Plunket died on 29 March 1637; Margaret died the following November.


References


Further reading

* "Lady Tyrone Bridget)had a daughter, Mary Stuart. Another daughter, Elizabeth, is often given to her; but on a comparison of dates it seems doubtful whether the lady in question was not her sister, who married Luke, first earl of Fingal (pedigree in Earls of Kildare, Addenda)." * "Hugh Albert O'Donnell, born o Rory and Brigidabout October 1606, was the only son of this marriage, Mary Stuart O'Donnell being born about a year later. Some authorities give an eldest child, Elizabeth, probably illegitimate, who became first wife of Luke Plunkett, first earl of Fingall." {{DEFAULTSORT:Plunket, Elizabeth Year of birth uncertain 1611 deaths 17th-century Irish people People from County Kildare People of Elizabethan Ireland Irish nobility Elizabeth Daughters of Irish earls