James FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond

By his second marriage with Eleanor Butler, the 14th Earl left two sons, the elder of whom, James Fitzgerald, (1570–1601), spent most of his life in prison. After an unsuccessful attempt in 1600–1601 to recover his inheritance he returned to England, where he died, the title becoming extinct.

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Fitzgerald, James, 15th earl of Desmond [I] (c.1570–1601). Fitzgerald was about 13 when his father, the 14th earl, was killed in open rebellion. The boy was put into the Tower of London, where he seems to have been in indifferent health. Left there until 1600, he was brought out during the Tyrone rebellion, created earl, and sent to Ireland in the hope that he could bring his compatriots back to submission. But the Irish repudiated him as a protestant and a puppet, and he returned to England, dying shortly afterwards. His period of semi-freedom in adult life lasted just over a year.

Source:

• http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/british-and-irish-histor...
• http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00112146&tree=LEO

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Spent 16 years in the Tower of London

Event: Relationships aft. title restored James 'forbidden by Cecil to marry widow Norreys as better match in England desired'

Medical Information: sickly 'having a miserable life of imprisonment'

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

   The Tower Earl or The Queen's Earl of Desmond; imprisoned in the Tower of London for 16 years; DNB. Deloivered by his mother to the Irish government when his father rebelled 1579; taken to Muster 1600 to try to bring the Geraldines back to allegiance, but failed.

Sources: DNB (1992) p 1012; Burke's DEP (1883) 205