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in: FitzGerald (surname), Born in 1459, Died in 1487,
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James FitzGerald (1459-1487)

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Biography

James FitzThomas FitzGerald, 8th Earl Desmond, 8th Earl of Desmond, was born 1459 to Thomas FitzGerald (c1420-c1467) and Ellise de Barry (c1431-1486) and died 7 December 1487 Rathkeale, County Limerick, Ireland of assassination. He married Margaret O'Brien (c1460-) 1486 JL in Ireland.

Ireland 1450

Ireland in 1450, with the Earldom of Desmond in the southwest

James FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Desmond was the son of Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond and his wife, Ellice de Barry, daughter of William Barry, 8th Baron Barry, and Ellen de la Roche.

Father's Execution

NorthAbbeyYoughal

North Abbey, Youghal

The execution of the 7th Earl of Desmond provoked an immediate and violent reaction. The dead earl’s elder sons ‘raised their standards and drew their swords, resolved to avenge their father’s murder’. James's younger brother, Gerald, laid waste a great deal in Leith and Munster in revenge for his father.[1]

According to a later account, Edward IV admonished the new Earl of Desmond by letters, and promised them his pardon if they would lay down their arms, which they did. "Now James FitzThomas, having made terms with King Edward, and received immunity for any act which he had committed to avenge his father's death, became Earl of Desmond," in 1471.[2]

The king felt the need to make amends to the dead earl’s family, for in an attempt to conciliate Thomas’ son, James, who was then about twenty years of age, and whose title to the earldom the king clearly acknowledged immediately and unequivocally, despite Tiptoft’s act of attainder, Edward IV granted him the palatinate of Kerry, together with the town and castle of Dungarvan. This grant may be thought to imply that in Edward’s view an injustice had been done. He also extended to James and to his successors an extraordinary privilege: that of being free to choose not to appear in person before his deputy or the council in Ireland, but to send a representative instead. This privilege implies that Edward had understood and sympathised with the fact that inevitably the earl’s family now felt very wary of risking putting themselves into the hands of the Anglo-Irish authorities.

King Richard III. endeavoured to attach him to his interests, and sent him a collar of gold weighing 20 oz., with the device of a white boar, pendant from a circlet of roses and suns; also a "long gown of cloth of gold, lined with satin or damask; two doublets, one of velvet, and another of crimson satin; three shirts and kerchiefs; three stomachers; three pair of hose — one of scarlet, one of violet, and the third of black; three bonnets; two hats; and two tippets of velvet."[3]

Murder

Notwithstanding these blandishments, the Earl augmented his Irish alliances, and retained his Irish habits. He was murdered at Rathkeale, 7 December 1487 (aged 28), by John Murtagh, one of his servants, at the instigation of his younger brother John. James FitzThomas FitzGerald was buried at Youghal. His sister Catherine married the MacCarthy Reagh. A book once her property (now known as the Book of Lismore) was discovered in a wall in Lismore Castle in 1811."[2]

Marriage

James FitzGerald married Margaret, daughter of Thady O'Brien, Prince of Thomond.[4] No known children?



Siblings


Offspring of Thomas FitzGerald (c1420-c1467) and Ellise de Barry (c1431-1486)
Name Birth Death Joined with
James FitzGerald (1459-1487) 1459 7 December 1487 Rathkeale, County Limerick, Ireland Margaret O'Brien (c1460-)
Maurice FitzGerald (c1461-1520) 1461 1520 Ellen Roche (1465-1535)
Honora FitzGibbon (c1470-)
Thomas FitzGerald (c1463-1534) 1463 1534 Rathkeale
John FitzGerald (c1465-1536) 1465 1536 Móre O'Brien
Gerald FitzThomas
Joan FitzGerald
Ellen FitzGerald


References

  1. ^ Connellan, Owen. The Annals of Ireland [from A.D. 1171 to A.D. 1616, Dublin. Brian Geraghty, 1846, p. 282 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ^ a b Webb, Alfred. A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: 1878.
  3. ^ Fitzgerald, Thomas W. H., Ireland and Her People, Vol. III, Fitzgerald Book Company, Chicago, 1910
  4. ^ Burke, Bernard. A Genealogical History of the Dormant: Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire, Harrison, 1866
  • G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume IV, page 249. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
  • Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume IV, page 248.

See Also

Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
Thomas FitzGerald (c1420-c1467) 		Earl of Desmond
1467–1487 		Succeeded by
Maurice FitzGerald (c1461-1520)


Footnotes (including sources)

Rtol, MainTour

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