FitzGerald dynasty

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This article is about the Irish noble family. For other uses, see FitzGerald (disambiguation).
FitzGerald
Duke of Leinster coa.png
The coat of arms of the Fitzgeralds of Kildare, Viscounts of Leinster, by Charles Catton (1790).
Information
Place of origin Wales
Ireland in 1450, showing the Geraldine earldoms of Kildare and Desmond

Among the most celebrated families of Ireland, the FitzGeralds are a Hiberno-Norman or Cambro-Norman dynasty, and have been Peers of Ireland since at least the 14th century. The dynasty has also been referred to as the Geraldines, from the conquest of large swathes of Irish territory by the sons and grandsons of Gerald FitzWalter of Windsor, the progenitor of the dynasty. In his poetry, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, referred to Elizabeth FitzGerald (1527–89) as "Fair Geraldine".

The main branches of the family are:

The progenitor of the Irish FitzGeralds was a Cambro-Norman Marcher Lord, Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan, a female line descendant of the Welsh royal House of Dinefwr, and a participant in the 1169 Norman invasion of Ireland.


The FitzGerald dynasty has played a major role in Irish history. Gearóid Mór, 8th Earl of Kildare and his son Gearóid Óg, 9th Earl of Kildare, were Lord Deputy of Ireland in the late Fifteenth and early Sixteenth centuries respectively. Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare (d. 1537), known as "Silken Thomas"', led an unsuccessful insurrection in Ireland, while Lord Edward FitzGerald (1763–1798), the fifth son of the first Duke of Leinster, was a leading figure in the 1798 Rebellion. The present day seat of the Irish parliament Dail Eireann is housed in Leinster House, which was first built in 1745–48 by James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster as the ducal palace for the Dukes of Leinster.

The FitzGerald dynasty became so intermingled with the native Gaelic Irish that they were later often described as More Irish than the Irish themselves. The best example of this is Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond (1335 - 1398), who was also known by the Irish Gaelic Gearóid Iarla (Earl Gerald). [1][2] Although made Lord Chief Justice of Ireland in 1367,[3] Gerald wrote poetry in the Irish language, most famously the poem Mairg adeir olc ris na mnáibh[4] ("Speak not ill of womenkind"). Indeed, although an accomplished poet in Norman French,[5] Gerald was instrumental in the move by the FitzGeralds of Desmond toward greater use of the Irish language.[6]


Contents

Etymology of name [edit]

The surname FitzGerald comes from the Norman tradition to add Filz/Fils or Fitz before the father's name to call the son, so Filz-Gerald, Fitz Gerald means in Old Norman and in Old French ″son of Gerald″ (Gerald is a Germanic compound of ger, spear, and waltan, rule). Variant spellings include Fitz-Gerald and the modern Fitzgerald. The name can also be used as two separate words Fitz Gerald.

Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan, progenitor of the Irish Geraldines, from a manuscript of the Expugnatio Hibernica, an account of the 1169 invasion of Ireland written by Maurice's nephew, Gerald of Wales, in 1189.

House of Kildare [edit]

For more on the Kildare Geraldines, see Duke of Leinster.

Lords of Offaly [edit]

Earls of Kildare [edit]

16th-century woodcut of an attack on Dublin Castle by "Silken Thomas", 10th Earl of Kildare

Marquesses of Kildare (1761) [edit]

Dukes of Leinster, second Creation (1766) [edit]

Coat of arms of County Kildare showing the red saltire of the FitzGeralds
Other titles: Marquesse of Kildare (1761), Earl of Kildare (1316), Earl of Offaly (1761), Viscount Leinster, of Taplow in the County of Buckingham (GB 1747) and Lord of Offaly (c. 1193–?)
Other titles (4th Duke onwards): Baron Kildare (UK 1870)

House of Desmond [edit]

For more on the Desmond Geraldines, see Earl of Desmond.

The line of the Earls of Desmond has been extinct since the 17th century. Their branch of the dynasty continues only in their distant collateral kinsmen, Ireland's hereditary knights (for whom see section below).

Barons Desmond (1259) [edit]

Earls of Desmond, First creation (1329) [edit]

Carrigafoyle Castle, a Desmond Geraldine stronghold during the Second Desmond Rebellion, captured by the English in 1580

16th Earl of Desmond, appointed by Hugh O'Neill (1598–1601) [edit]

Earls of Desmond, Second creation (1600) [edit]

Lords of Decies [edit]

FitzMaurice of Kerry [edit]

The closely related FitzMaurice Barons and later Earls of Kerry continue in the male line with the current Petty-FitzMaurice Marquesses of Lansdowne, but they descend from John FitzGerald, 1st Baron Desmond's nephew, Thomas FitzMaurice, 1st Baron of Kerry, son of his brother Maurice FitzThomas. Thus in fact they represent a "sister" branch to the FitzGeralds of Desmond. However this technically makes them slightly closer to the FitzGeralds of Desmond than either are to the Offaly-Kildare-Leinster Geraldines, represented by the modern Dukes of Leinster, who descend from Gerald FitzMaurice, 1st Lord of Offaly, uncle of the 1st Baron Desmond.

Hereditary Knights [edit]

These three hereditary knighthoods were created for their kinsmen by the Earls of Desmond,[8] acting as Earls Palatine.

Cambro-Norman Origins [edit]

The oldest recorded person with the surname FitzGerald is a Norman baron : Raoul FitzGerald le Chambellan, chamberlain of Normandy and educator of the young William the Conqueror and father of William de Tancarville, the Earl of Tankerville and chief chamberlain of Normandy and England.

The eponymous ancestor of the various FitzGerald branches, as well as of the De Barry family and FitzMaurices, was Gerald FitzWalter of Windsor by his wife, Princess Nest ferch Rhys of Deheubarth (South Wales). Gerald was an Cambro-Norman adventurer who took part in the 1093 invasion of South Wales upon the death in battle of Rhys ap Tewdwr, its last king and Nest's father. Gerald was a younger son of another Norman adventurer, Walter FitzOtho, William the Conqueror's Constable for Windsor Castle, then a strategic military fortress, and the King's Keeper of the Forests of Berkshire. These positions were later inherited by Gerald's oldest brother, William. Their father - Walter - is recorded in the Domesday Book as tenant-in-chief of lands in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, and Middlesex.[9]

Various claims are made for Gerald's antecedents: that his father was a Saxon baron, rather than Norman; that his mother was Gwladys ferch Ryall, or she was "princess" Gwladys ferch Gruffydd of Gwynedd, or else Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn of Powys; that Gerald's grandfather was one "Dominus Otherus", a Tuscan nobleman descended from a Gherardini Duke of Florence named Cosmo or Cosimus. All the foregoing claims are erroneous.[citation needed] Pursuant to Domesday, Walter's wife was Beatrice, not Gwladys, and particularly not Gwladys of Powys, who was Gerald's mother-in-law. It's unlikely the Conqueror would have granted Walter lands in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Surrey, and Middlesex, let alone made him keeper of a strategic military fortress, had he not been a Norman and proven trustworthy.[citation needed] "Dominus Otherus" is a misreading of Domeday, and the Gherardini ancestry is a 16th-century hoax: there was no Duchy of Florence until the 15th century, and the only Dukes Cosmo were Medicis.[citation needed]

Nest ferch Rhys ap Tewdwr was the daughter of the last king of South Wales by his wife, Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn of Powys. Their grandchildren, Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan, Raymond le Gros and Philip de Barry were leaders in the Norman invasion of Ireland. Nest's son by her second marriage, Robert Fitz-Stephen, was another participant, as did William de Hay, husband of one of Gerald's and Nest's grand-daughters. Nest's grandson (through her son by Henry I of England), Meiler FitzHenry, was appointed Lord Justice of Ireland for his cousin, Henry II. The most renowned of Gerald's and Nest's grandchildren, Gerald of Wales, gave an account of the Norman invasion, as well as lively and invaluable descriptions of Ireland and Wales in the late 12th century.

Legacy [edit]

Saint Patrick's Saltire
Badge of the USS Fitzgerald
The Flag of the United Kingdom, incorporating St. Patrick's Saltire

According to the 1890 Matheson report, Fitzgerald/FitzGerald was the 36th most common surname in Ireland.[10]

Fitzgerald/FitzGerald is the 692nd most frequent surname in the United Kingdom.[11] The surname occurs most frequently in the following ten counties, in descending order, with the number of occurrences in parentheses: "1. Greater London, (500), Greater Manchester (191), West Midlands (176), Lancashire (130), Kent (118), Essex (117), West Yorkshire (113), Merseyside (108), Hampshire (84), and Surrey (76)."[11]

"Fitzgerald" (including "FitzGerald," as the survey was not case-sensitive),[12] was the 390th most common surname in the 2000 United States Census.[12] 73,522 Fitzgeralds were counted, with 27.25 Fitzgeralds per 100,000 members of the population.[12] Respondents surnamed Fitzgerald had self-reported ethnicities of 88.03% non-Hispanic white only, 8.44% non-Hispanic black only, 0.32% non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander only, 1.28% non-Hispanic Asian only, 1.43% of two or more non-Hispanic races, and 1.43% Hispanic.[12]

The FitzGerald dynasty was the subject of a poem called "The Geraldines" by Thomas Osborne Davis, the chief organizer and poet of the nationalist Young Ireland movement. The ill-fated romance of Thomas FitzGerald, 5th Earl of Desmond with Catherine MacCormac was the subject[13] of the air "Desmond's Song"[14] by the Irish poet Thomas Moore.

Saint Patrick's Saltire, sometimes used to represent Ireland in modern flags, may have derived from the arms of the Geraldines.[15]

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Fitzgerald in the United States Navy is named for Lieutenant William Charles Fitzgerald, USN. The Fitzgerald family coat of arms (a white shield with a red saltire) provides the foundation for the coat of arms for the USS Fitzgerald.

A variety of people, places, and businesses bear the name FitzGerald or Fitzgerald, including the FitzGerald crater on the far side of the Moon, named for physicist George FitzGerald.

See also [edit]

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References [edit]

  1. ^ Gearóid Iarla FitzGerald (1335-1398)
  2. ^ Webb, Alfred. A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: 1878.
  3. ^ Webb, Alfred. A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: 1878.
  4. ^ Gearóid Iarla FitzGerald (1335-1398)
  5. ^ Webb, Alfred. A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: 1878.
  6. ^ Gearóid Iarla FitzGerald (1335-1398)
  7. ^ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1904 [1986]). The Art of Heraldry: An Encyclopaedia of Armory. London: Bloomsbury Books. p. 485. ISBN 0-906223-34-2. 
  8. ^ John O'Donovan, "The Descendants of the Last Earls of Desmond", Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Volume 6. 1858.
  9. ^ Walter fitz Otho at thePeerage.com
  10. ^ 100 Most Common Irish Surnames, 1890
  11. ^ a b Geographical distribution of the name 'Fitzgerald' in the UK
  12. ^ a b c d U.S. Census 2000
  13. ^ Webb, Alfred. A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: 1878.
  14. ^ Moore, Thomas, The poetical works of Thomas Moore, including melodies, ballads, etc. Philadelphia: 1835. p. 349
  15. ^ Hayes-McCoy, Gerard Anthony (1979). In Pádraig Ó Snodaigh. A history of Irish flags from earliest times. Dublin: Academy Press. p. 38. ISBN 0-906187-01-X. 
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