Gerald fitzMaurice FitzGerald, also known by the Irish Gaelic "Gearóid Iarla" (Earl Gerald), was the 3rd Earl of Desmond

Earl of Desmond

The title of Earl of Desmond has been held historically by lords in Ireland, first as a title outside of the peerage system and later as part of the Peerage of Ireland....

, in southwestern Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, under the first creation of that title, and a member of the Hiberno-Norman

Hiberno-Norman

The Hiberno-Normans are those Norman lords who settled in Ireland who admitted little if any real fealty to the Anglo-Norman settlers in England, and who soon began to interact and intermarry with the Gaelic nobility of Ireland. The term embraces both their origins as a distinct community with...

 dynasty of the FitzGerald

FitzGerald

The surname FitzGerald is a translation of the French-Norman fils de Gérald, or son of Gerald . Variant spellings include Fitz-Gerald and the modern Fitzgerald. The name can also be used as two separate words Fitz Gerald...

s, or Geraldine

Geraldine

The feminine form of the first name Gerald. Famous women named Geraldine include:*Geraldine Ferraro, United States congresswoman and 1984 Vice Presidential candidate*Geraldine Chaplin, actress*Geraldine Fitzgerald, actress*Geraldine Page, actress...

s. He was the son of Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond

Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond

Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond 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....

, by his third wife Aveline, daughter of Nicholas FitzMaurice, 3rd Lord of Kerry. He was half-brother to Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Desmond

Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Desmond

Maurice FitzMaurice FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Desmond was the son of Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond. He married Beatrice de Stafford, daughter of Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford and Margaret Audley, and died without any male issuse, and was therefore succeeded in the Earldom by his...

.

Career and poetry

Gerald was made Lord Chief Justice of Ireland

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland

thumb|200px|The Four CourtsThe headquarters of the Irish judicial system since 1804. The Court of King's Bench was one of the original four courts that sat there....

 in 1367, but in 1370 was imprisoned by Brian O'Brien of Thomond

Thomond

Thomond The region of Ireland associated with the name Thomond is County Clare, County Limerick and north County Tipperary; effectively most of north Munster. The name is used by a variety of establishments and organisations located in , or associated with the region...

. While in prison, Gerald wrote poetry in the Irish language

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

, most famously the poem Mairg adeir olc ris na mnáibh ("Speak not ill of womenkind"). Indeed, Gerald was instrumental in replacing French with Irish as the preferred language of the Hiberno-Norman aristocracy, and typified the cliché among later Irish historians that the Geraldines were "more Irish than the Irish themselves."

Marriage and issue

In 1359 Gerald married Eleanor(or Ellen) Butler, daughter of James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond. She died in 1404. They had issue three sons:

1. John FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Desmond
   John FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Desmond
   John FitzGerald FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Desmond was the son of Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond. He married and had one son who succeeded him as earl of Desmond; Thomas FitzGerald, 5th Earl of Desmond....
   
   
2. Maurice FitzGerald
3. James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond
   James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond
   James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond , called 'the Usurper', was the youngest son of Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond, and Lady Eleanor, daughter of James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond...
   
   , 'the Usurper'

and two daughters:

1. Joan, married Maurice FitzJohn, Lord of Kerry
2. Catherine, married John FitzThomas

In legend

In local legend, Gerald was romantically linked with the goddess Áine

Áine

Áine is an Irish goddess of love, summer, wealth and sovereignty. She is associated with the sun and midsummer, and is sometimes represented by a red mare. She is the daughter of Egobail, the sister of Aillen and/or Fennen, and is claimed as an ancestor by multiple Irish clans...

, a legend which drew upon a pre-existing local Celt

Celt

The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....

ic legend about liaisons between Áine and the King of Munster, Ailill Aulom

Ailill Aulom

In Irish traditional history Ailill Ollamh , son of Mug Nuadat, was a king of the southern half of Ireland. Sabia, daughter of Conn of the Hundred Battles, was his wife. He divided the kingdom between his sons Éogan, Cormac Cas, and Cian. Éogan founded the dynasty of the Eóganachta...

, but updated it with themes drawn from the Francophone courtly love poetry of Continental Europe, in particular the motif of the man who falls in love with a swan maiden. The story may have its various inspirations but it is the essence of the Geraldine claim to an association with Áine that matters. This represents the most extreme degree of Gaelicization

Gaelicization

Gaelicization or Gaelicisation is the act or process of making something Gaelic, or gaining characteristics of the Gaels. The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group who are traditionally viewed as having spread from Ireland to Scotland and the Isle of Man."Gaelic" as a linguistic term, refers to the...

.

After his disappearance in 1398, another legend grew up that Gerald sleeps in a cave beside (or under) Lough Gur

Lough Gur

Lough Gur is a lake in County Limerick, Ireland between the towns of Herbertstown and Bruff. The lake forms a horseshoe shape at the base of Knockadoon Hill and some rugged elevated countryside. It is one of Ireland's most important archaeological sites...

, and will someday awaken and ride forth on a silver-shod steed to rule again in Desmond (or, alternatively, "save Ireland").