Exploring the early history of the FitzGerald Family in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, and its many royal ancestry links.
Family Early History[]
Geraldini Family of Italy[]
False story of Italian priest[]
In the 11th century, the name fitz Other meant simply son of a man named Other. Alfred Webb suggested that Walter was the son of "Lord Otho, an honorary Baron of England, said to have been descended from the Gherardini of Florence";[1][2] However, J. Horace Round considers this to be a fabrication of the fifteenth century.[3]
- Geraldini Ancestors: From Italy to America - Geraldini.com
The story of the FitzGerald link to the Gherardini dynasty of early Florence, Italy is substantially unproven. It claims that Otho, who did not stand to inherit the Dukedom in Italy, traveled with King Edward of England after he completed his pilgrimage to Rome. The English kings would frequently recruit continental mercenaries to help with the conquest of Wales and Ireland.
Unfortunately, Other's descent from the Gherardini was claimed a fantasy, debunked by a Victorian writer [specifically, by J. Horace Round, one of the earliest of the "just the facts, ma'am" genealogists]. In one version of the story, he was a son of Otho di Gherardini, grandson of Gerald Dias Lopez, and great grandson of Lopez of Florence. His supposed wife Sancha de la Cerda is also a fantasy. "The story given above is traced to an Irish priest 'called Maurice, who was of the family of the Gherardini settled in that is island,' and who, passing through Florence in1413, claimed the local Gherardini as his kinsmen.[4]
- Otho of Geraldini (c1020-1080) - from Italy to England ???
Norman Conquest of British Isles[]
- See also : FitzGerald dynasty
- Geraldini Ancestors: From Italy to America - Geraldini.com
| # | Name | Birth | Death | occupation | ancestry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Otho of Gheraldini | 1020, Italy | 1080, France | from Italy to France. | Unverified parentage See above. Most likely an invented person. |
| 02 | Walter fitz Otho | 1045, Normandy, France | 1102, Berkshire, England | Likely participant in the Norman conquest of England. Castellan of Windsor Castle Keeper of the Forests in Berkshire. | |
| 03 | Gerald of Windsor | 1070, England | 1136 Wales | Key participant in the Norman conquest of Wales. | md Nest ferch Rhys (c1085-1136), princess, daughter of the King of South Wales. Welch royal ancestry. |
| 04 | Maurice FitzGerald Lord of Maynooth, Naas, and Llanstephan |
1105, Wales | 1176, Ireland | Key participant in the 1169 Norman Invasion of Ireland. | |
| 05 | Thomas FitzGerald Lord of O'Connelloe |
1175, Ireland | 1213, Ireland | Active participant in ongoing Norman conquest of Ireland, securing more lands. | |
| 06 | John FitzGerald 1st Baron Desmond |
1200, Ireland | 1261, County, Kerry, Ireland | Died in Battle at Callan. | |
| 07 | Maurice FitzGerald | 1225, Ireland | 1261, County, Kerry, Ireland | Died in Battle at Callan, alongside father. | |
| 08 | Thomas FitzGerald 2nd Baron Desmond |
1250, Ireland | 1296, Ireland | md Margaret de Berkeley (c1272-1320) ggd of King John of England (1167-1216) and William de Warenne, - Norman Nobles and William IX of Aquitaine (1071-1126) and of Fulk I of Jerusalem (c1090-1143), Crusader Knights. | |
| 09 | Maurice FitzGerald 1st Earl Desmond |
1292, Ireland | 1356, Ireland | Captain of Desmond Castle in Kinsale, so-called ruler of Munster, and for a short time Lord Justice of Ireland. Called "Maurice the Great", he led a rebellion against the Crown, but he was ultimately restored to favour. | |
| 10 | Gerald FitzGerald 3rd Earl Desmond "Gerald the Poet" |
1335, Ireland | 1398, Ireland | Briefly Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, disappeared mysteriously in 1398. | Md Elinor Butler, Ormond/Hereford nobility) |
| xxx | |||||
| xxx | Thomas FitzGerald 7th Earl Desmond |
1420, Ireland | 1467, Ireland | ||
| xxx | Maurice FitzGerald 9th Earl Desmond |
1461, Ireland | 1520, Ireland | 1495, Siege of Waterford Ally of Henry VII of England |
|
| xxx | This line continues... |
Early Welch Royal Line[]
- Rhys ap Tewdwr (c1040-1093)
- Gerald of Windsor 1070, England / 1136 Wales / md Nest ferch Rhys (c1085-1136), princess, daughter of the King of South Wales, Rhys ap Tewdwr (c1040-1093).
Knighthood of Ireland[]
The White Knight is one of three Anglo-Norman hereditary knighthoods within Ireland dating from the medieval period.[5] The title was first conferred upon Maurice Fitzgibbon in the early 14th century. The other two knighthoods are Fitzgerald: Knight of Glin (also called the Black Knight), which has become dormant after 700 years (since the death of the 29th Knight, September 2011), and Fitzgerald: Knight of Kerry (also called the Green Knight), which is held by Adrian FitzGerald, 6th Baronet, 24th Knight of Kerry.
The Black Knight[]
The Green Knight[]
References[]
- Geraldini Ancestors: From Italy to America - Geraldini.com
- ^ Webb, Alfred. "FitzGerald,Maurice", A Compendium of Irish Biography, Dublin, M.H. Gill & Son, 1878
- ^ Fitzgibbon, A. "Appendix to the Unpublished Geraldine Documents: The Gherardini of Tuscany", The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, Fourth Series, Vol. 4, No. 29, 1877
- ^ "The Origin of the FitzGeralds," The Ancestor, 1 (April 1902), pp. 119 - 125. [1]
- ^ Other - Geni.com
- ^ Forester, Henry Rumsey, The pocket peerage of Great Britain and Ireland 1852 p.88 [2]