Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan

Please see Darrell Wolcott: Osbwrn Wyddel of Cors Gedol; http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id203.html. (Steven Ferry, August 30, 2020.)

enWikipedia (28 Ap 2021) Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Llanstephan

Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Maynooth, Naas, and Llanstephan[1] (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 Norman Invasion of Ireland.[2]

Wars in Wales and Ireland

A Welsh Marcher Lord, Lord Llanstephan had fought alongside his older brother William FitzGerald, and half-brother Robert FitzStephen, constable of Cardigan, under Robert FitzMartin at the Battle of Crug Mawr in Wales in 1136.

Llansteffan Castle overlooks the River Tywi estuary where it enters Carmarthen Bay. It was captured by Maredudd ap Gruffydd in 1146 against the forces of Maurice FitzGerald and his brother William, Lord of Emlyn who were the leading Norman settlers of the region. The castle was retaken by the Normans in 1158.[3]

Diarmait Mac Murchada (Dermot MacMurrough), the deposed King of Leinster who had been exiled by the High King of Ireland, sought Cambro-Norman assistance to regain his throne. Lord Llanstephan participated in the resulting 1169 Norman invasion of Ireland. He assisted his younger half-brother Robert Fitz-Stephen in the Siege of Wexford (1169). His nephew Raymond was Strongbow's second-in-command and had the chief share both in the capture of Waterford and in the successful assault on Dublin in 1171. Lord Lanstephan and his son's the FitzMaurices also fought in this battle.[2]

Marriage and issue

Maurice FitzGerald, Lord Llanstephan is known to have married Alice de Montgomery, a daughter of Arnulf de Montgomery.[4] It has been asserted by eminent authorities that Arnulf left, by his wife, Lafracoth, a daughter, Alice, and that she was later the wife of Maurice FitzGerald, son of Gerald FitzWalter (Gerald of Windsor). By Maurice, one of the first conquerors of Ireland, who died in 1176, she was the mother of Gerald (died 1205), who laid the fortunes of the FitzGeralds of Kildare. (Even Curtis - referenced below - says he can't find a source for Alice and, on the whole, she seems a)unlikely to have existed and b)impossible for Maurice to have met.) Alice herself was living in 1171, and was then in Ireland with her husband and sons.[5]

Maurice FitzGerald, by his wife Alice, had the following children:
a) Thomas FitzMaurice, Lord OConnello (d.1213)
b) Gerald FitzMaurice, 1st Lord of Offaly (b.1150, d.1204)
c) William FitzMaurice, 1st Lord of Naas (d.1199)
d) Maurice FitzMaurice, 1st Lord of Kiltrany
e) Alexander FitzMaurice
f) Robert FitzMaurice
g) Nesta FitzMaurice (m.Hervey de Montmorenci, Constable of England)

Lord Llanstephan's second eldest son Gerald FitzMaurice, the 1st Lord of Offaly was the progenitor of the FitzGerald and FitzMaurice Earls of Kildare and Dukes of Leinster.

The original Earldom of Desmond in the province of Munster was based on landholdings belonging to the descendants of Maurice's eldest son Thomas FitzMaurice, Lord OConnello. Thomas's son John FitzMaurice FitzThomas, who was killed in the Battle of Callann, became the 1st Baron Desmond. Others from this line include the Knights of Glin and Knights of Kerry.

Ancestry

Maurice FitzGerald, Lord Llanstephan was the second eldest son of Gerald FitzWalter known as Gerald de Windsor, Constable of Pembroke by his wife, Nest ferch Rhys, Princess of Deheubarth and a member of the Welsh royal House of Dinefwr.

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https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I03382

Name: Maurice FITZGERALD , Keeper of Dublin 1 2 3 Sex: M Birth: ABT 1100 in Castle Carew, Pembrokeshire, Wales 1 2 Death: 1 SEP 1176 in Wexford, Kildare, Ireland 1 4 3 Note:

   Maurice Fitz Gerald; feudal Lord of Llanstephan, Wales, by inheritance; in 1167 Dermot MacMurrogh, King of Leinster, who had been deprived of his kingdom by Roderick O'Connor, King of Connaught and High King of Ireland, pledged Wexford to Maurice and his half brother Robert Fitz Stephen if they would help restore him; Maurice accordingly went to Ireland in 1169 and not only secured Wexford but, in concert with Dermot, took Dublin, from which Roderick failed to dislodge him in 1171, by which time Dermot had died; Henry II subsequently went to Ireland and made Maurice Jt Keeper of Dublin, granting him also the middle cantred (akin to a hundred, or subdivision of a county) of Ophelan in Co Kildare (approximately that part of the county centered on Naas) and that of Co Wicklow between Bray and Arklow. [Burke's Peerage]

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   Lord of Lanstephen, Wales; His brother, Bishop David, granted him the Stewardship of St. Davids hereditarily. Under Stephen [between 1136 and 1146] the sons of Gerald were hard pressed by the Welsh in their effort to dislodge the Norman interlopers from the lands they had seized. The occasion of Maurice's going to Ireland, where he and his descendants were to flourish so exceedingly, was the promise, in 1167, of Dermot MacMurrough, the dispossessed King of Leinster, to give Wexford to him and to his half-brother, Robert FitzStephen, if they would help him to regain the kingdom--a promise which he duly honoured. Preceded by FitzStephen, and accompanied by his nephew Raymond, Maurice landed at Wexford in 1169 with two ships of armed followers, and with the aid of his Norman allies Dermot recovered Dublin. The coming over of Henry II, and the political dispositions which he made, fettered the progress of the Geraldines; although at his departure [Easter 1172] the King left Maurice one of the three keepers of Dublin. After spending some time in Wales, Maurice returned to Ireland, where the Keeper, Earl Richard, Strongbow, was consolidating the Normans in the face of the Irish by making them grants of land in fee, and by arranging marriages between members of the factious families. There is no record (e) of his marriage. He d. 1 Sep 1176, at Wexford. [Complete Peerage X:11-12, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

   (e) In the 1st edition of this work he is said to have m. a daughter of Arnulf de Montgomery abovenamed; but he can only have been a baby (if born) when Arnulf was exiled in 1102.

Father: Gerald of WINDSOR , Constable of Pembroke Castle b: 1070 in Windsor, Berkshire, England

Mother: Nest verch RHYS , Heiress of Carew b: ABT 1080 in Deheubarth, Wales

Marriage 1 Alice de MONTGOMERY b: 1115 in Munster, Ireland

Children

   Has Children Gerald FITZMAURICE , 1st Baron of Offaly b: ABT 1150 in Windsor, Berkshire, England

   Has Children Thomas FITZMAURICE , Lord of Connello b: ABT 1153 in Wexford, Kildare, Ireland

Sources:

   Title: Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999

   Page: 1679

   Title: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Edition, by Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr., 1999

   Page: 178-3

   Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000

   Page: X:11-12

   Title: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Edition, by Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr., 1999

   Page: 178-3

   Text: Landed at Wexford 1 Sep 1176, where he apparently died. 

---------------------------

Name: Maurice "The Invader" Fitzgerald Of Windsor 1

Birth: ABT 1100 in Castle Carew, Pembrokeshire, Wales 1 Death: 1 SEP 1176 in Wexford, Kildare, Ireland 1

Lord of Landstephen, Wales. Steward of St. Davids

Maurice Fitz Gerald; feudal Lord of Llanstephan, Wales, by inheritance; in 1167 Dermot MacMurrogh, King of Leinster, who had been deprived of his kingdom by Roderick O'Connor, King of Connaught and High King of Ireland, pledged Wexford to Maurice and his half brother Robert Fitz Stephen if they would help restore him; Maurice accordingly went to Ireland in 1169 and not only secured Wexford but, in concert with Dermot, took Dublin, from which Roderick failed to dislodge him in 1171, by which time Dermot had died; Henry II subsequently went to Ireland and made Maurice Jt Keeper of Dublin, granting him also the middle cantred (akin to a hundred, or subdivision of a county) of Ophelan in Co Kildare (approximately that part of the county centered on Naas) and that of Co Wicklow between Bray and Arklow. [Burke's Peerage]

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Lord of Lanstephen, Wales; His brother, Bishop David, granted him the Stewardship of St. Davids hereditarily. Under Stephen [between 1136 and 1146] the sons of Gerald were hard pressed by the Welsh in their effort to dislodge the Norman interlopers from the lands they had seized. The occasion of Maurice's going to Ireland, where he and his descendants were to flourish so exceedingly, was the promise, in 1167, of Dermot MacMurrough, the dispossessed King of Leinster, to give Wexford to him and to his half-brother, Robert FitzStephen, if they would help him to regain the kingdom--a promise which he duly honoured. Preceded by FitzStephen, and accompanied by his nephew Raymond, Maurice landed at Wexford in 1169 with two ships of armed followers, and with the aid of his Norman allies Dermot recovered Dublin. The coming over of Henry II, and the political dispositions which he made, fettered the progress of the Geraldines; although at his departure [Easter 1172] the King left Maurice one of the three keepers of Dublin. After spending some time in Wales, Maurice returned to Ireland, where the Keeper, Earl Richard, Strongbow, was consolidating the Normans in the face of the Irish by making them grants of land in fee, and by arranging marriages between members of the factious families. There is no record (e) of his marriage. He d. 1 Sep 1176, at Wexford. [Complete Peerage X:11-12, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

(e) In the 1st edition of this work he is said to have m. a daughter of Arnulf de Montgomery abovenamed; but he can only have been a baby (if born) when Arnulf was exiled in 1102.[JohnFaye (8 Jun 05).FTW]

Lord of Landstephen, Wales. Steward of St. Davids

Maurice Fitz Gerald; feudal Lord of Llanstephan, Wales, by inheritance; in 1167 Dermot MacMurrogh, King of Leinster, who had been deprived of his kingdom by Roderick O'Connor, King of Connaught and High King of Ireland, pledged Wexford to Maurice and his half brother Robert Fitz Stephen if they would help restore him; Maurice accordingly went to Ireland in 1169 and not only secured Wexford but, in concert with Dermot, took Dublin, from which Roderick failed to dislodge him in 1171, by which time Dermot had died; Henry II subsequently went to Ireland and made Maurice Jt Keeper of Dublin, granting him also the middle cantred (akin to a hundred, or subdivision of a county) of Ophelan in Co Kildare (approximately that part of the county centered on Naas) and that of Co Wicklow between Bray and Arklow. [Burke's Peerage]

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Lord of Lanstephen, Wales; His brother, Bishop David, granted him the Stewardship of St. Davids hereditarily. Under Stephen [between 1136 and 1146] the sons of Gerald were hard pressed by the Welsh in their effort to dislodge the Norman interlopers from the lands they had seized. The occasion of Maurice's going to Ireland, where he and his descendants were to flourish so exceedingly, was the promise, in 1167, of Dermot MacMurrough, the dispossessed King of Leinster, to give Wexford to him and to his half-brother, Robert FitzStephen, if they would help him to regain the kingdom--a promise which he duly honoured. Preceded by FitzStephen, and accompanied by his nephew Raymond, Maurice landed at Wexford in 1169 with two ships of armed followers, and with the aid of his Norman allies Dermot recovered Dublin. The coming over of Henry II, and the political dispositions which he made, fettered the progress of the Geraldines; although at his departure [Easter 1172] the King left Maurice one of the three keepers of Dublin. After spending some time in Wales, Maurice returned to Ireland, where the Keeper, Earl Richard, Strongbow, was consolidating the Normans in the face of the Irish by making them grants of land in fee, and by arranging marriages between members of the factious families. There is no record (e) of his marriage. He d. 1 Sep 1176, at Wexford. [Complete Peerage X:11-12, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

(e) In the 1st edition of this work he is said to have m. a daughter of Arnulf de Montgomery abovenamed; but he can only have been a baby (if born) when Arnulf was exiled in 1102.

Father: Gerald Fitzwalter Of Winsor b: ABT 1070 in Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Mother: Nesta Verch Rhys b: ABT 1080 in Dynevor Castle, Carmarthenshire, Wales

Marriage 1 Amice De Montgomery

Marriage 2 Alice De Montgomery b: ABT 1115 in Munster, Ireland

Children

Gerald FitzMaurice Fitzgerald b: ABT 1150 in Windsor, Berkshire, England

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jcrow&id=...

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Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan[1] (c1100 - 1 September 1176) was a major figure in the Norman conquest of Ireland.

He was the son of Gerald de Windsor, Constable of Pembroke Castle. His mother was Nest, a Welsh princess and former mistress of Henry I. He fought under Robert FitzMartin at the Battle of Crug Mawr in 1136. The exiled High King of Ireland, Dermot MacMurrough (Irish Diarmait Mac Murchada) sought his assistance to regain his position.

[edit]Family

The original Earldom of Desmond was based on land holdings in Munster belonging to his descendents. His son Sir Gerald FitzMaurice (c1152 -c1203) married the daughter of Robert de Birmingham. Their son was Sir Maurice FitzGerald, Justiciar of Ireland, Lord of Offaly, (1190 - 1257, died at Youghal. His son was Sir Maurice FitzMaurice Fitz Gerald, Justiciar of Ireland, Lord of Offaly, (c1239, Wexford - 1286, Ross,Ireland)

[edit]References

^ Fitz Gerald

Maurice fitz Gerald, Baron of Naas1

M, #104684, b. circa 1100, d. 1 September 1176

Last Edited=9 Feb 2009

    Maurice fitz Gerald, Baron of Naas was born circa 1100.3 He was the son of Gerald fitz Walter and Nesta, Princess of Deheubarth.2 He married Alice de Montgomery, daughter of Arnolph de Montgomery and Lafracoth O'Brien.4 He died on 1 September 1176.3 He was buried at Grey Friars, Wexford, County Wexford, Ireland.4

    Maurice fitz Gerald, Baron of Naas gained the title of Baron of Naas.5 He gained the title of Lord of Maynooth.5 He was also known as Maurice de Windsor.1 He emigrated to Ireland arriving on 1168.6

Children of Maurice fitz Gerald, Baron of Naas

Robert fitz Maurice+ 3

Maurice Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, Baron of Kiltrany+ d. 12185

Children of Maurice fitz Gerald, Baron of Naas and Alice de Montgomery

Gerald fitz Maurice, 1st Baron of Offaly+ d. 12032

William fitz Maurice, 1st Baron of Ness+ d. c 11992

Thomas fitz Maurice+ d. 12132

Alexander fitz Maurice 4

Walter fitz Maurice 4

Redmond fitz Maurice 4

Hugh fitz Maurice 4

Nesta fitz Maurice 4

Citations

[S37] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 682. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.

[S6] G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume VII, page 200. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.

[S37] Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition, volume 2, page 2297.

[S22] Sir Bernard Burke, C.B. LL.D., A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire, new edition (1883; reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1978), page 204. Hereinafter cited as Burkes Extinct Peerage.

[S47] Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, editor, Burke's Irish Family Records (London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976), Barron, page 62. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Irish Family Records.

[S133] Unknown, Pedigree Showing the Descent of the Family of King-Tenison from The White Knight (not published).

• Maurice "Invader of Ireland" Fitzgerald

born 1100 Windsor, Berkshire, England

died 1 September 1177 Abbey Grey Friar, Welford, Berkshire, England

buried Abbey Grey Friar, Welford, Berkshire, England

father:

• Geraldus FitzWalter de Windsor Constable

born about 1070 Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales

died before 1136

mother:

• Nest verch Rhys

born about 1073 Dynevor, Llandyfeisant, Carmarthenshire, Wales

died about 1163

siblings:

Andaret FitzGerald de Windsor born about 1096 Carew Castle, Pembroke, Wales

David FitzGerald de Windsor born about 1098 Carew Castle, Pembroke, Wales died about 1176

William FitzGerald de Windsor 1100 Carew Castle, Pembroke, Wales died about 1173

Mauger FitzGerald de Windsor born about 1104 Carew Castle, Wales

Robert FitzWalter de Windsor born after 1104 Gloucestershire, England died 1 November 1147

• daughter of Geraldus FitzWalter de Windsor born before 1110?

spouse:

• Alice de Montgomery

born after 1100 Pembrokeshire, Wales

children:

• Gerald Fitzmaurice

born 1150? Windsor, Berkshire, England

died before 15 January 1203

biographical and/or anecdotal:

notes or source:

LDS

ancestry.com

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NOTE: Maurice FITZ GERALD de Windsor, Lord of Llanstephen (child of Gerald Fitz Walter de Windsor, born 1100 at Windsor; married Alice de Montgomery daughter of Arnulf de Montgomery and Lafracoth Ua Briain; died 1 Sep 1176 at Co. Wexford, Ireland Children ofMaurice FitzGerald de WINDSOR Invader of Ireland'; Maurice "the Invader" FitzGerald; Lord of Lanstephen, Wales (1100 in Windsor, Berkshire County, England. died 1 Sep 1176 in Wexford, Ireland or he possibly died at the Abbey Grey Friar, Welford, Berkshire County.buried Friary of the Grey Friars Cem,Wexford, Wales) Steward of St. Davids., Baron of the Nass & MAYNOOTH Wexford,Wales md Alice de Montgomerie (b. 1105 Pembrokeshire, Wales ) dau of Arnulph (Arnulf) de MONTGOMERY and Lafracoth (Lafracota) O'BRIEN of MUNSTER ** --- dapifer of St. Edmund's. Under Henry I he held lands in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Dorset, Essex, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk in 1130. Confirmed in his land and offices by Stephen. Succeeded by his nephew Ralph De Hastings as his heir in land and office. --- He started building the The Black Castle. The castle was begun by Maurice Fitzgerald when he was granted the district in 1176, but his death a year later delayed its completion. ** **In April 1172, Henry II., on his departure for England, appointed FitzGerald and FitzStephen Wardens of Dublin, under Hugh de Lacy. It was FitzGerald who saved De Lacy's life in the encounter with O'Rourke at the Hill of Ward. On the recall of De Lacy in 1173, FitzGerald retired to Wales, in consequence of misunderstandings with Strongbow. In 1176 matters were arranged between them, and he was made a grant of the barony of Offaly, and the territory of Offelan, comprising the present towns of Maynooth and Naas. He was given the castle of Wicklow in return for his share of Wexford, appropriated with other towns by the King. Llanstephen was in the County of Radnor, Wales. Maurice was the Steward of St. Davids. Maurice participated in organizing the invasion of Leinster, Ireland. He was granted lands in Wexford by King Dermot MacMurrogh, and Maurice landed there in in the third wave of invaders in late 1169 with a force of two ships. ** In September 1177, he died at Wexford, and was buried in the Abbey of Grey Friars, without the walls of the own. According to Lodge, his death was "not without much sorrow of all his friends, and much harm and loss to the English interest in Ireland. He was a man witty and manful; a truer man, nor steadfaster for constancy, fidelity and love, left he none in Ireland." Cambrensis thus describes him: "Maurice was indeed an honourable and modest man, with a face sun-burnt and well-looking, of middle height; a man well modelled in mind and bodyl and of innate goodness; desiring rather to be than to seem good. A man of few words, but full of weight, having more of the heart than of the mouth, more of reason than of volubility, more wisdom than eloquence; and yet, when it was required, earnest to the purpose. In military affairs valiant, and second to few in activity; neither impetuous nor rash, but circumspect in attack, and resolute in defence; a sober, modest, and chaste man; constant, trusty, and faithful; a man not altogether without fault, yet not spotted with any notorious or great crime."

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Maurice Fitzgerald helped STRONGBOW secure Dublin for the English and in 1172 was appointed by Henry II, warden of the city under Hugh de Lacy.

In 1176 he was made a grant of the barony of Offaly and the territory of Offelan, comprising the present towns of Maynooth and Naas. He died 1177, the following Year. (From "The Noble Dwellings of Ireland" by John FitzMaurice Mills. p.131 - GLIN CASTLE, GLIN, co. LIMERICK

http://www.fitzmaurice.info/ances.html

Maurice fitzGerald de Windsor

(Born A.D. 1100; died 1 Sep 1176 at Wexford, Ireland)

Lord of Maynooth and Baron of Naas.

The photo at the right is a drawing of Maurice that his nephew, Giraldus Cambrensis, inserted in the Latin MS of his Expugnatio Hibernica (Conquest of Ireland). [Note the red hair on top of his head and the dark mini-beard on his lower lip.]

In A.D. 1168, Dermot MacMorrogh, King of Leinster, driven from his territory by Roderick O'Conor, High King if Ireland, sought assistance from the Norman-Welsh and succeeded in enlisting in his cause Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke (called Strongbow). Having reached St. David's, on his way back to Ireland, Dermot was hospitably received by David fitzGerald (son of Gerald of Windsor), Bishop of the diocese. According to Burke's Peerage, the Bishop persuaded his brother, Maurice fitzGerald, and his half-brother, Robert fitzStephen to assist MacMorrough with their forces.

Sometime after achieving success in the invasion of Ireland, Strongbow granted to Maurice fitzGerald the middle cantred of Offelan, in which Naas was situated. Offelan was a district quite distinct from Offaly.

Maurice married Alice de Montgomery and had six sons:

William fitzMaurice, Baron of Naas. Confirmed in his lands in Offelan in A.D. 1185.

Gerald fitzMaurice, 1st Baron of Offaly, ancestor of the Dukes of Leinster. d. A.D. 1203

Thomas fitzMaurice, Lord of Connello, Co. Limerick. d. A.D. 1213. Ancestor of the FitzGeralds, the Earls of Desmond, the White Knight, the Knight of Glin, the Knight of Kerry, the FitzMaurice Lords of Kerry, etc.

Maurice fitzMaurice of Kiltrany (now Burntchurch), Co. Kilkenny. Ancestor of the Barons of Burntchurch.

Alexander fitzMaurice, d.s.p.

Robert fitzMaurice.

The information above was all obtained from the 1970 edition of Burke's Peerage. I am inclined to accept that source for the present.

From at least the end of the 16th century to at least the mid19th century, English and Irish genealogists wrote that William fitzMaurice (the eldest son of Maurice fitzGerald of Windsor) was the ancestor of the FitzMaurices of Kerry via his son Raymond le Gros.16 There is now general agreement that Raymond le Gros had no children.

One modern Irish genealogist102 argues that Thomas fitzMaurice (the 1st Lord of Kerry) was the son of Maurice fitzThomas of Molahiffe (d. 1306), son of Thomas fitzRobert (d. after 1261), son of Robert fitzMaurice, the youngest son of Maurice fitzGerald (Lord of Maynooth and Baron of Naas, d. 1176).

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Maurice Fitz Gerald: Ancestors of the Earls of Kildare, now Dukes of Leinster. One of the soldiers of fortune who accompanied Strongbow into Ireland, in 1168. He died in the year 1177 and was burried in the Abbey of Grey Friers, at Wexford. Maurice Fitz-Gerald, the eldest son, one of the first invaders of Ireland.

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Maurice FitzGerald

Lord of Maynooth, Naas, and Llanstephan) was a major figure in the Norman invasion of Ireland.

Maurice was the second son of Gerald de Windsor, Constable of Pembroke Castle by his wife, Nest ferch Rhys, a Welsh princess. He fought under Robert FitzMartin at the Battle of Crug Mawr in 1136. Diarmait Mac Murchada (Dermot MacMurrough), the deposed King of Leinster, who had been exiled by the High King of Ireland, sought FitzGerald's assistance to regain his throne. He assisted his younger half-brother Robert Fitz-Stephen in the Siege of Wexford (1169). His nephew, Raymond FitzGerald, was Strongbow's second in command and had the chief share both in the capture of Waterford and in the successful assault on Dublin.

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He gained the title of Lord of Llanstephan, Wales [feudal barony]. In 1167 he was pledged Wexford by Dermot MacMurrogh, King of Leinster, if he would help restore him to his kingdom. In 1169 at Ireland he went to Ireland and helped secure Wexford and Dublin. He held the office of Joint Keeper of Dublin after 1171, by King Henry II. He gained the title of Baron of Naas [feudal barony]. He gained the title of Lord of Maynooth [feudal barony].

Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Maynooth, Naas, and Llanstephan (c. 1105 – September 1176) was a medieval Cambro-Norman baron and a major figure in the Norman invasion of Ireland.

Wars in Wales and Ireland

A Welsh Marcher Lord, Lanstephan fought under Robert FitzMartin at the Battle of Crug Mawr in Wales 1136.

Diarmait Mac Murchada (Dermot MacMurrough), the deposed King of Leinster who had been exiled by the High King of Ireland, sought Cambro-Norman assistance to regain his throne. Lanstephan participated in the resulting 1169 Norman invasion of Ireland. He assisted his younger half-brother Robert Fitz-Stephen in the Siege of Wexford (1169). His nephew Raymond was Strongbow's second-in-command and had the chief share both in the capture of Waterford and in the successful assault on Dublin in 1171. Lanstephan and his son also fought in this battle.

Marriage and issue

FitzGerald is sometimes said to have married Alice, a supposed daughter of Arnulf de Montgomery. There is no evidence that Arnulf left any descendants, however, and the claim that a daughter of his married FitzGerald dates no earlier than the 19th century.[3] FitzGerald's children were:

Gerald FitzMaurice, 1st Lord of Offaly (b. c. 1150, d. before 15 Jan 1204)

Alexander

William, Lord of Naas (d. c.1199)

Maurice, Lord of Kiltrany

Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald (d. c.1213)

Robert

Nest (m. Hervey de Montmorenci, Constable of England)

Through his oldest son, Sir Gerald, FitzGerald was the ancestor of the FitzGerald Earls of Kildare and Dukes of Leinster.

The original Earldom of Desmond in the province of Munster was based on landholdings belonging to the descendants of Maurice's son Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald, Lord of O'Connelloe. Thomas's son John FitzGerald, who was killed in the Battle of Callann, became the first Baron Desmond. Others from this line include the Knights of Glin and Knights of Kerry.

http://www.mathematical.com/fitzgeraldmaurice1100.html