Maurice FitzThomas, 1st Earl of Desmond

Maurice FitzThomas, 1st Earl of Desmond, (d.25 January 1356) 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 Lord Justice of Ireland.

The second son of Thomas FitzMaurice by his spouse Catherine (or Margaret), daughter of John, Lord Barry of Olethan, he was created Earl of Desmond by Letters Patent dated at Gloucester, England, 27 August 1329, by which patent also the county palatine of Kerry was confirmed to him and his heirs male, to hold of the Crown by the service of one knight's fee.

In January 1330 he was summoned by Sir John Darcy, Lord Justice of Ireland, to fight armed Irish rebels, with a promise of the King's pay. John Lodge states, of his conduct, that this was the first introduction by this Earl of the extortion of Coigne and Livery with a suspension of English law and government in order to deal with the defection of all Munster and a great part of Leinster which had occurred in the reigns of Kings Edward II and Edward III within the space of thirty years.

Accepting the King's proposal, in addition to dealing with Munster and Leinster, he routed the O'Nolans and O'Murroughs and burned their lands in county Wicklow and forced them to give hostages. He recovered the castle of Ley from the O'Dempsies, and had a liberate of £100 sterling dated at Drogheda 24 August 1335, in return for the expense he had incurred in bringing his men-at-arms, hobellars, and foot-soldiers, from various parts of Munster to Drogheda, and there, with Lord Justice Darcy, dispersed the King's enemies.

In 1339 he was engaged against Irish rebels in county Kerry where it is said he slew 1400 men, and took Nicholas, Lord of Kerry, prisoner, keeping him confined until he died as punishment for siding with the rebels against the Crown.

The same year he was present in the parliament held in Dublin. He was summoned by Writ dated at Westminster 10 July 1344, with Maurice, Earl of Kildare, and others, to attend the King at Portsmouth "on the octaves of the nativity of the Virgin Mary", with twenty men-at-arms and fifty hobellars, at his own expense, to assist in the war against Philip, King of France.

In July 1355 he was appointed Lord Justice of Ireland for life, dying, however, the following January in Dublin Castle.

He was interred in the Church of the Friars-preachers ot Tralee.

The first earl of Desmond married thrice: (1) 16 August 1312, Catherine, fifth daughter of Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, who died in Dublin in 1331. (2) Margaret, daughter of Connor O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, by whom he had no male issue. (3) Eleanor, daughter of Nicholas, Lord of Kerry.

By his first wife he had Maurice, 2nd Earl of Desmond and John, 3rd Earl of Desmond.

By his third wife he had:

Nicholas (described by Lodge as "an idiot"), ancestor to MacRobert of Bellamullin and, say some, to the McKenzies, Earls of Seaforth in Scotland.

Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond, 'The Poet'.

[edit] References

Lodge, John, and Archdall, Mervyn, A.M., The Peerage of Ireland, Dublin, 1789, vol.1, pps:62-64

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Skerries

Maurice FITZTHOMAS FITZGERALD (1° E. Desmond)

Acceded: 1329

Died: 25 Jan 1356

Notes: B. Decies. The sources dispute who is Maurice's mother.

Father: Thomas FITZMAURICE FITZGERALD (B. Decies)

Mother: Margaret De BERKELEY

Married 1: Catherine De BOROUGH 5 Aug 1312, Greencastle, Ireland

Children:

1. Maurice FITZMAURICE FITZGERALD (2° E. Desmond)

Associated with: Margaret O'BRIEN

Associated with: Aneline FITZMAURICE

Children:

2. Nicholas FITZMAURICE FITZGERALD (an Idiot)

3. Gerald FITZMAURICE FITZGERALD (3° E. Desmond)

4. John FITZMAURICE FITZGERALD (d. 1369)

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http://gen.cookancestry.com/getperson.php?personID=I12428&tree=1

Name: Maurice Fitz Thomas , 1st Earl of Desmond Sex: M Birth: 1293 in Desmond, Kerry, Ireland Death: 25 JAN 1355/56 in Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland Burial: Dominican Friary, Tralee, Kerry, Ireland Note:

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

   Page: 1635, 801

   The Earldom of Desmond has a longer (and more distinguished) history as a separate entity. It was in 1329 conferred on Maurice Fitz Thomas, descended from a certain Thomas Fitz Anthony, Seneschal of Leinster temp. King John and presumably a Norman or hanger-on of the Normans who pushed into Ireland from South Wales in the 12th century. These Earls of Desmond later took the surname FitzGerald, intermarried with the old Irish nobility and like so many of the Normans "went native". The last Earl of Desmond of the 1329 creation was a constant thorn in the side of Elizabeth I in her attempts to control Ireland and was eventually in 1583 attainted and killed while on the run in Co Kerry from the Elizabethan forces. [Burke's Peerage]

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

   Page: IV:237-40, Text: date implied by death of 1st wife

   He married 1stly, 5 August 1312, at Green Castle, co. Down, Katherine, 6th daughter of Richard (DE BURGH), EARL OF ULSTER, by Margaret, his wife. She died about 1 November 1331, at Dublin. He is said to have married, 2ndly, Margaret, daughter of Conor O'BRIEN of Thomond (b).

   He married, 3rdly, before 20 April 1344, Aveline, said to have been daughter of Nicholas [FITZ MORICE], 2nd Baron of Kerry and Lixnor (d).

   He died 25 January 1355/6, in Dublin Castle, and was buried in the Dominican Friary at Tralee. His widow had livery of her dower, 10 February 1357/8. She was living 14 March 1358/9.

   [Complete Peerage IV:237-40, XIV:255, transcribed by Dave Utzinger)

   (b) Conchobhar O'Briain (a younger son of Turlough or Toirdhelbhach, King of Thomond), who was slain in battle at Thurles, 19 Jul 1329.

   (d) If this was the case, Aveline was sister of Morice fitz Nicholas of Kerry, who, joining in an insurrection of the Irish in 1339, was captured by the Earl, and died in prison.

   Name: Maurice FitzThomas , 1st Earl of Desmond

   Sex: M

   ALIA: 1st Earl of /Desmond/, Maurice FitzThomas

   Birth: 1293 in Desmond, Kerry, Ireland

   Death: 25 JAN 1355/56 in Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland

   Burial: Dominican Friary, Tralee, Kerry, Ireland

   Father: Thomas FitzMaurice , Lord of Decies b: ABT APR 1261 in Decies, Waterford, Ireland

   Mother: Margaret de Berkeley b: ABT 1269 in Berkeley Castle, Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England

   Marriage 1 Katherine de Burgh b: ABT 1293 in Ulster, Ireland

   Married: 5 AUG 1312 in Green Castle, Down, Ireland (1st wife)

   Marriage 2 Margaret O'Brien b: ABT 1293 in Thomond, North Munster, Clare, Ireland

   Married: AFT 1331 in 2nd wife

   Children

   Maurice FitzMaurice , 2nd Earl of Desmond b: 31 JUL 1336 in Newcastle in Connello, Limerick, Ireland

   Nicholas "The Idiot" FitzMaurice , of Ossory b: ABT 1338 in Desmond, Kerry, Ireland

   Marriage 3 Aveline FitzMaurice b: ABT 1310 in Kerry, Ireland

   Married: BEF 20 APR 1344 in 3rd wife

   Children

   Gerald FitzMaurice , 3rd Earl Desmond b: BEF 3 JUL 1340 in Lough Gur Castle, Limerick, Ireland

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   References;

   1Boyer, Carl, Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell (Santa Clarita, California: C. Boyer, 2001.), p. 42, Los Angeles Public Library, 929.2 A141-2.

   2Cokayne, George Edward, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant (London: St. Catherine Press, 1910.), 4:237-240, 14:255, Los Angeles Public Library, 929.721 C682.

   3Richardson, Douglas, Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004.), p. 97, Family History Library, 942 D5rd.

   4Wynne, William Watkins Edward, Pedigree of the Family of Wynne

   (London: Taylor and Co., 1872.), p. 4.

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   Maurice FITZ THOMAS Earl of Desmond, 1, 2, 3, 4 was born 1293 in Dungarvan, Waterford, Ireland. He died 25 Jan 1356 in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. Maurice married Katherine de BURGH on 5 Aug 1312 in Greencastle, Down, Ireland.

   Other marriages:

   O'BRIEN, Margaret

   , Aveline 

Father: Thomas Fitz Maurice b: APR 1261 in Decies, Waterford, Ireland Mother: Margaret de Berkeley b: 1275 in Berkeley Castle, Thornbury, Gloucestershire, England

Marriage 1 Katherine de Burgh b: ABT 1293 in Ulster, Ireland

   Married: 5 AUG 1312 in Green Castle, Down, Ireland

Marriage 2 Margaret O'Brien b: 1311 in Thomond, North Munster, Clare, Ireland

   Married: 1332 in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Children

   Has No Children Maurice Fitz Maurice , 2nd Earl of Desmond b: 31 JUL 1336 in Newcastle in Connello, Limerick, Ireland

   Has No Children Nicholas Fitz Maurice , of Ossory b: 1338 in Newcastle in Connello, Limerick, Ireland

Marriage 3 Aveline b: 1320 in Tralee, Kerry, Ireland

   Married: APR 1344 in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Children

   Has Children Gerald Fitz Maurice , Earl of Desmond b: 1346 in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Source: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=birch2015...

http://andreapayne.com/getperson.php?personID=I42934&tree=tree1