James FitzMaurice FitzGerald
Encyclopedia
James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald (died 1579) was a member of the 16th century ruling Geraldine
dynasty in the province of Munster
in Ireland
. He rebelled against the crown authority of Queen Elizabeth I of England
in response to the onset of the Tudor conquest of Ireland and was deemed an archtraitor. He led the first of the Desmond Rebellions
in 1569, spent a period in exile in continental Europe
, but returned with an invasion force in 1579. He died shortly after landing. His rebellions were strongly associated with counter-reformation
Catholic
ideology.
, and Julia O'Mulryan of County Tipperary
, making him nephew of the 13th Earl and cousin of Gerald Fitzgerald, 14th Earl of Desmond. Upon the death of the 12th Earl his father had been granted the barony of Kerricurrihy by the earl's successor, but the 14th Earl fell out with Totane and wars were fought between the families.
Following his defeat by Sir Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde, at the Battle of Affane
in 1565, the 15th Earl and his brother, John of Desmond, were detained in England. During their absence, Fitzmaurice became captain general of County Desmond
with the warrant of the Earl. This meant he had authority over the soldiers retained in the service of the Desmond Fitzgeralds. In July 1568, he entered Clanmaurice, the territory of the lord of Lixnaw
, to distrain for rent and assert the Desmond authority: having seized 200 head of cattle and wasted the country, he was confronted by Lixnaw on the way home and utterly defeated.
, was informed by Fitzmaurice that he had assembled the people of Desmond to tell them that the lord deputy was unable to procure the release of the captive earl, who would be executed or perpetually imprisoned, and that the people should proclaim a new earl or captain: with one voice, the people were said to have cried out for Fitzmaurice to be captain. The earl's wife, Eleanor Butler, wrote to her husband in November that Fitzmaurice was seeking to bring the earl into further disrepute and to usurp his inheritance, "by the example of his father".
To re-assert Geraldine authority, Fitzmaurice then launched what would become known as the first of the Desmond Rebellions
. The southern part of Ireland erupted into a general rebellion, owing in part to attempts at establishing plantations
. In June 1569, Fitzmaurice and the Earl of Clancarty (MacCathy Mor) invaded Kerrycurrihy, spoiled the inhabitants, took the castle-abbey of Tracton, hanged the garrison and refused to depart without the surrender to them of the custody of Lady St Leger and Lady Grenville, the wives of the principal English colonists. Fitzmaurice then joined in league with the turbulent brothers of the earl of Ormond, and entered a bond with the Earl of Thomond and John Burke, son of the Earl of Clanricard. He wrote to the mayor and corporation of Cork in July ordering the abolition of the new heresy of Protestantism, at a time when he appears to have been taking instruction from Irish jesuits.
By September 1569, Sidney had broken the back of the rebellion and left Sir Humphrey Gilbert
behind to suppress Fitzmaurice, which he did so effectively that the rebel sought refuge in the woods of Aherlow. After Gilbert's departure Fitzmaurice raised a new force in February 1570 and spoiled Kilmallock. In March, Ormond was given charge of the prosecution of all the rebels, but nothing resulted. Then, in February 1571, Sir John Perrot
landed at Waterford as President of Munster and challenged Fitzmaurice to a duel, which the rebel declined with the remark, "For if I should kill Sir John Perrot the Queen of England can send another president into this province; but if he do kill me there is none other to succeed me or to command as I do." The president was then ambushed by the rebels, who outnumbered his force ten to one, but was saved when the attackers retired on mistaking a small cavalry company for the advance party of a larger crown force. After a second and successful siege by Perrot of the Geraldine stronghold of Castlemaine, Fitzmaurice sued for his pardon, which was in February 1572, after the rebel had prostrated himself in Kilmallock church with the president's sword point next to his heart. Fitzmaurice submitted to the queen and swore fealty to the crown, at the same time giving up a son as hostage. Perrot was convinced he would become, "a second St Paul".
of Imokilly, James Fitzedmund Fitzgerald
and the White Knight, Edmund Fitzgibbon
, sailed on the La Arganys for St Malo, Brittany
where they were received by the governor. He had several interviews with Catherine de' Medici
in Paris, even offering to help make Henry III of France
king of Ireland, and was granted a pension of 5000 crowns in 1576. Early in the following year he left for the Spanish court, where he offered the crown to the brother of King Philip II
, Don John
; the king was not enthusiastic, and Fitzmaurice left his boys, Maurice and Gerald, with Cardinal Granvelle, and travelled to Italy to meet Pope Gregory XIII.
, and a plan for the invasion of Ireland was hatched, with the intention of offering the crown to the nephew of Pope Gregory XIII. Following the diversion of Stukley to Morocco
, Fitzmaurice set out with the nuncio, Nicholas Sanders
, and Matthew de Oviedo from Ferro in Galicia, Spain on the 17 June 1579 with a few troops on his vessel and three Spanish shallops; they captured two English vessels in the channel and arrived at Dingle on the 16 July 1579, thus launching the Second Desmond Rebellion
. On the 18th they cast anchor in Smerwick
, where they garrisoned at Dún an Óir (Fort of Gold), and were joined on the 25th by two galleys with 100 troops; four days later their ships were captured by the English fleet under the command of Sir William Winter
. Having exhorted the Earl of Desmond and the Earl of Kildare, as Geraldine leaders, to fight the heretics, Fitzmaurice left the fort to await the arrival of Stukely (who, unknown to him, had been killed at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir
in the previous year, during a misguided campaign by King Sebastian of Portugal
).
Fitzmaurice went to pay a vow at the monastery of the Holy Cross
in Tipperary but became caught in a skirmish with the forces of his cousin, Theobald Burke. During the fight he was shot with a ball in the hollow of the chest, but cut his way through to Burke and his brother William, both of whom he killed with single strokes of his sword. The battle was won, but close to the scene his injuries overcame him; he made his will and ordered his friends to cut off his head after death in order that his enemies might not mutilate his body; he begged his attendants to make sure that he had not turned tail on the enemy. They assured him, and wished him to be quiet because hostile soldiers were closing in, but he insisted, "my wounds are clear, my wounds are clear". Upon his death, a kinsman ordered the decapitation and then wrapped the head in cloth; an attempt was made to conceal his trunk under an old tree, but it was discovered by a hunter and brought to the town of Kilmallock. For weeks, the trunk was nailed to the gallows, until it was shattered by musket fire and collapsed.
The invasion force at Smerwick, was besieged and masscared in 1580 by the English. The tide turned in favour of the English, and the Second Desmond Rebellion was ended in 1583, when the Earl of Desmond and his followers had been hunted down and killed by the English and their Irish allies.
The destruction of the Desmond dynasty left much of the province of Munster open to English colonisation and was a great step in the Tudor conquest of Ireland.
Fitzmaurice was one the first Irish leaders to use the Catholic cause as an explicit justification for rebellion against the crown. Hugh O'Neill may have been influenced by the FitzMauruce revolts, setting an example for his own major revolt in the 1590s. He is regarded as the man the Geraldines ought to have chosen to lead them if they were to resist the Protestant reformation.
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...
dynasty in the province of Munster
Munster
Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...
in 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...
. He rebelled against the crown authority of Queen Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
in response to the onset of the Tudor conquest of Ireland and was deemed an archtraitor. He led the first of the Desmond Rebellions
Desmond Rebellions
The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569-1573 and 1579-1583 in the Irish province of Munster.They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond – head of the FitzGerald dynasty in Munster – and his followers, the Geraldines and their allies against the threat of the extension of Elizabethan English...
in 1569, spent a period in exile in continental Europe
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
, but returned with an invasion force in 1579. He died shortly after landing. His rebellions were strongly associated with counter-reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
ideology.
Early life
Fitzmaurice was son of Maurice Fitzjohn a Totane, brother of the 12th Earl of DesmondEarl 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....
, and Julia O'Mulryan of County Tipperary
Tipperary
Tipperary is a town and a civil parish in South Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 4,415 at the 2006 census. It is also an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, and is in the historical barony of Clanwilliam....
, making him nephew of the 13th Earl and cousin of Gerald Fitzgerald, 14th Earl of Desmond. Upon the death of the 12th Earl his father had been granted the barony of Kerricurrihy by the earl's successor, but the 14th Earl fell out with Totane and wars were fought between the families.
Following his defeat by Sir Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde, at the Battle of Affane
Battle of Affane
The Battle of Affane was fought in county Waterford, in south-eastern Ireland, in 1565, between the forces of the Fitzgerald Earl of Desmond and the Butler Earl of Ormond. The battle ended in the rout of the Desmond forces...
in 1565, the 15th Earl and his brother, John of Desmond, were detained in England. During their absence, Fitzmaurice became captain general of County Desmond
County Desmond
The Kingdom of Desmond was an historic kingdom located on the southwestern coast of Ireland. The name is Gaelic in origin - Deas-Mhumhain - which means South Munster...
with the warrant of the Earl. This meant he had authority over the soldiers retained in the service of the Desmond Fitzgeralds. In July 1568, he entered Clanmaurice, the territory of the lord of Lixnaw
Lixnaw
Lixnaw is a village in North County Kerry, Ireland. It is located near the River Brick SW of Listowel and NE of Tralee.- History :Lixnaw was once the seat of the Earls of Kerry. In 1320 Nicolas, the third baron of Lixnaw, erected the Castle of Lixnaw, built the old bridge, and improved the...
, to distrain for rent and assert the Desmond authority: having seized 200 head of cattle and wasted the country, he was confronted by Lixnaw on the way home and utterly defeated.
Alienation from Desmond
At the end of 1568, the absent Earl of Desmond granted Sir Warham St Leger a lease of the barony of Kerricurrihy, which cast Fitzmaurice's inheritance into confusion. In 1569 the lord deputy of Ireland, Sir Henry SidneyHenry Sidney
Sir Henry Sidney , Lord Deputy of Ireland was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst, a prominent politician and courtier during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, from both of whom he received extensive grants of land, including the manor of Penshurst in Kent, which became the...
, was informed by Fitzmaurice that he had assembled the people of Desmond to tell them that the lord deputy was unable to procure the release of the captive earl, who would be executed or perpetually imprisoned, and that the people should proclaim a new earl or captain: with one voice, the people were said to have cried out for Fitzmaurice to be captain. The earl's wife, Eleanor Butler, wrote to her husband in November that Fitzmaurice was seeking to bring the earl into further disrepute and to usurp his inheritance, "by the example of his father".
To re-assert Geraldine authority, Fitzmaurice then launched what would become known as the first of the Desmond Rebellions
Desmond Rebellions
The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569-1573 and 1579-1583 in the Irish province of Munster.They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond – head of the FitzGerald dynasty in Munster – and his followers, the Geraldines and their allies against the threat of the extension of Elizabethan English...
. The southern part of Ireland erupted into a general rebellion, owing in part to attempts at establishing plantations
Plantations of Ireland
Plantations in 16th and 17th century Ireland were the confiscation of land by the English crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from England and the Scottish Lowlands....
. In June 1569, Fitzmaurice and the Earl of Clancarty (MacCathy Mor) invaded Kerrycurrihy, spoiled the inhabitants, took the castle-abbey of Tracton, hanged the garrison and refused to depart without the surrender to them of the custody of Lady St Leger and Lady Grenville, the wives of the principal English colonists. Fitzmaurice then joined in league with the turbulent brothers of the earl of Ormond, and entered a bond with the Earl of Thomond and John Burke, son of the Earl of Clanricard. He wrote to the mayor and corporation of Cork in July ordering the abolition of the new heresy of Protestantism, at a time when he appears to have been taking instruction from Irish jesuits.
By September 1569, Sidney had broken the back of the rebellion and left Sir Humphrey Gilbert
Humphrey Gilbert
Sir Humphrey Gilbert of Devon in England was a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. Adventurer, explorer, member of parliament, and soldier, he served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was a pioneer of English colonization in North America and the Plantations of Ireland.-Early life:Gilbert...
behind to suppress Fitzmaurice, which he did so effectively that the rebel sought refuge in the woods of Aherlow. After Gilbert's departure Fitzmaurice raised a new force in February 1570 and spoiled Kilmallock. In March, Ormond was given charge of the prosecution of all the rebels, but nothing resulted. Then, in February 1571, Sir John Perrot
John Perrot
Sir John Perrot served as Lord Deputy of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth I of England during the Tudor conquest of Ireland...
landed at Waterford as President of Munster and challenged Fitzmaurice to a duel, which the rebel declined with the remark, "For if I should kill Sir John Perrot the Queen of England can send another president into this province; but if he do kill me there is none other to succeed me or to command as I do." The president was then ambushed by the rebels, who outnumbered his force ten to one, but was saved when the attackers retired on mistaking a small cavalry company for the advance party of a larger crown force. After a second and successful siege by Perrot of the Geraldine stronghold of Castlemaine, Fitzmaurice sued for his pardon, which was in February 1572, after the rebel had prostrated himself in Kilmallock church with the president's sword point next to his heart. Fitzmaurice submitted to the queen and swore fealty to the crown, at the same time giving up a son as hostage. Perrot was convinced he would become, "a second St Paul".
Continental intrigue
On the return to Ireland of the Earl of Desmond in 1573, Fitzmaurice found his leadership too amenable to the crown and quit for the continent, offering his reasons variously as a desire to gain pardon from the queen through the French court and the unkindness of the earl. In March 1575 he and his family, along with the Geraldine SeneschalSeneschal
A seneschal was an officer in the houses of important nobles in the Middle Ages. In the French administrative system of the Middle Ages, the sénéchal was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration in southern provinces, equivalent to the northern French bailli...
of Imokilly, James Fitzedmund Fitzgerald
James Fitzedmund Fitzgerald
John Fitzedmund Fitzgerald was the hereditary Seneschal of Imokilly, an Irish nobleman of the Welsh-Norman FitzGerald dynasty in the province of Munster, who rebelled against the crown during the reign of Queen Elizabeth of England....
and the White Knight, Edmund Fitzgibbon
Edmund FitzGibbon
Edmund Fitzgibbon was an Irish nobleman of the FitzGerald dynasty, who inherited the Anglo-Norman title of the White Knight and struggled to maintain his loyalty to the crown during the reign of Queen Elizabeth of England....
, sailed on the La Arganys for St Malo, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
where they were received by the governor. He had several interviews with Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici
Catherine de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was Queen consort of France from 1547 until 1559, as the wife of King Henry II of France....
in Paris, even offering to help make Henry III of France
Henry III of France
Henry III was King of France from 1574 to 1589. As Henry of Valois, he was the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with the dual titles of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575.-Childhood:Henry was born at the Royal Château de Fontainebleau,...
king of Ireland, and was granted a pension of 5000 crowns in 1576. Early in the following year he left for the Spanish court, where he offered the crown to the brother of King Philip II
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, Don John
Don John
"Don John" may refer to:*Don John of Austria , Habsburg admiral*John of Austria the Younger , Habsburg general*The name of the fictional villain in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing...
; the king was not enthusiastic, and Fitzmaurice left his boys, Maurice and Gerald, with Cardinal Granvelle, and travelled to Italy to meet Pope Gregory XIII.
Invasion of Ireland
At the papal court Fitzmaurice fell in with Captain Thomas StukleyThomas Stukley
Thomas Stukley was an English mercenary who served in combat in France, Ireland, and at the Battle of Lepanto, before his death at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir. It was alleged that he was an illegitimate son of Henry VIII of England...
, and a plan for the invasion of Ireland was hatched, with the intention of offering the crown to the nephew of Pope Gregory XIII. Following the diversion of Stukley to Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, Fitzmaurice set out with the nuncio, Nicholas Sanders
Nicholas Sanders
Nicholas Sanders was an English Roman Catholic priest and polemicist.-Early life:Sanders was born at Chariwood , Surrey, the son of William Sanders, once sheriff of Surrey, who was descended from the Sanders of Sanderstead...
, and Matthew de Oviedo from Ferro in Galicia, Spain on the 17 June 1579 with a few troops on his vessel and three Spanish shallops; they captured two English vessels in the channel and arrived at Dingle on the 16 July 1579, thus launching the Second Desmond Rebellion
Second Desmond Rebellion
The Second Desmond rebellion was the more widespread and bloody of the two Desmond Rebellions launched by the FitzGerald dynasty of Desmond in Munster, Ireland, against English rule in Ireland...
. On the 18th they cast anchor in Smerwick
Ard na Caithne
Ard na Caithne , meaning height of the arbutus or strawberry tree, known as Smerwick in English, in the heart of the Kerry Gaeltacht is one of the principal bays of Corca Dhuibhne. It is nestled at the foot of An Triúr Deirfiúr and Cnoc Bhréanainn, which at is the highest mountain in the Brandon...
, where they garrisoned at Dún an Óir (Fort of Gold), and were joined on the 25th by two galleys with 100 troops; four days later their ships were captured by the English fleet under the command of Sir William Winter
William Winter (admiral)
Sir William Wynter was an admiral under Queen Elizabeth I of England and served the crown during the Anglo-Spanish War ....
. Having exhorted the Earl of Desmond and the Earl of Kildare, as Geraldine leaders, to fight the heretics, Fitzmaurice left the fort to await the arrival of Stukely (who, unknown to him, had been killed at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir
Battle of Alcácer Quibir
The Battle of Ksar El Kebir, also known as Battle of Three Kings, or "Battle of Oued El Makhazeen" in Morocco, and Battle of Alcácer Quibir in Portugal , was fought in northern Morocco, near the town of Ksar-el-Kebir and Larache, on 4 August 1578...
in the previous year, during a misguided campaign by King Sebastian of Portugal
Sebastian of Portugal
Sebastian "the Desired" was the 16th king of Portugal and the Algarves. He was the son of Prince John of Portugal and his wife, Joan of Spain...
).
Fitzmaurice went to pay a vow at the monastery of the Holy Cross
Holy Cross Monastery
Holy Cross Monastery can refer to:* Santa Cruz Monastery, Coimbra, Portugal* Św. Krzyż Monastery, Łysa Góra, Poland* Holy Cross Monastery , USA* Holy Cross Monastery and Chapel, USA...
in Tipperary but became caught in a skirmish with the forces of his cousin, Theobald Burke. During the fight he was shot with a ball in the hollow of the chest, but cut his way through to Burke and his brother William, both of whom he killed with single strokes of his sword. The battle was won, but close to the scene his injuries overcame him; he made his will and ordered his friends to cut off his head after death in order that his enemies might not mutilate his body; he begged his attendants to make sure that he had not turned tail on the enemy. They assured him, and wished him to be quiet because hostile soldiers were closing in, but he insisted, "my wounds are clear, my wounds are clear". Upon his death, a kinsman ordered the decapitation and then wrapped the head in cloth; an attempt was made to conceal his trunk under an old tree, but it was discovered by a hunter and brought to the town of Kilmallock. For weeks, the trunk was nailed to the gallows, until it was shattered by musket fire and collapsed.
Legacy
Fitzmaurice married Katherine Burke of Muskerry, who had three children by him: two sons, Maurice and Gerald, and one daughter.The invasion force at Smerwick, was besieged and masscared in 1580 by the English. The tide turned in favour of the English, and the Second Desmond Rebellion was ended in 1583, when the Earl of Desmond and his followers had been hunted down and killed by the English and their Irish allies.
The destruction of the Desmond dynasty left much of the province of Munster open to English colonisation and was a great step in the Tudor conquest of Ireland.
Fitzmaurice was one the first Irish leaders to use the Catholic cause as an explicit justification for rebellion against the crown. Hugh O'Neill may have been influenced by the FitzMauruce revolts, setting an example for his own major revolt in the 1590s. He is regarded as the man the Geraldines ought to have chosen to lead them if they were to resist the Protestant reformation.