Resting place Tralee Name Maurice 9th Tenure 1487–1520 Died 1520 | Titles Earl of Desmond Nationality Hiberno-Norman | |
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Predecessor Thomas FitzJames FitzGerald Spouse(s) Ellen Roche
Honora Fitzgibbon Parents Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond Successor James FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond Children James FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond Grandparents James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond Great-grandparents Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond | ||
Other names Vehiculus, Bellicosus | ||
Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Desmond (died 1520) was the brother of James FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Desmond.
Contents
Life
Upon the murder of James FitzThomas FitzGerald, the 8th Earl of Desmond, in 1487, his brother Maurice became the 9th Earl of Desmond. According to Alfred Webb: "Being lame, and usually carried in a horse-litter, he was styled 'Vehiculus,' and by some, on account of his bravery, 'Bellicosus.'
Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald sided with the pretender, Perkin Warbeck, in the siege of Waterford and other expeditions. Nevertheless, making humble submission, King Henry VII not only forgave, but took him into favour, 26 August 1497, and granted him all the 'customs, pockets, poundage, and prize-wines of Limerick, Cork, Kingsale, Baltimore, and Youghall, with other privileges and advantages.' About the year 1500, Maurice FitzGerald rebuilt Desmond Castle, a three story tower house in the town of Kinsale, to serve as the Customs House.
"The condition of the inhabitants within the Pale at this period is thus described by a contemporary writer: 'What with the extortion of coyne and lyverye dayly, and wyth the wrongful exaction of osteing money, and of carryage and cartage dayly, and what with the Kinge's great subsydye yerely, and with the said trybute, and blak-rent to the Kinge's Iryshe enymyes, and other infynyt extortions, and dayly exactions, all the Englyshe folke of the countys of Dublyn, Kyldare, Meathe, and Uryell ben more oppressyd with than any other folke of this land, Englyshe or Iryshe, and of worsse condition be they athysside than in the marcheis.' O'Daly thus writes of Earl Maurice: 'This man was subsequently far famed for his martial exploits. He augmented his power and possessions — for all his sympathies were English — and a furious scourge was he to the Irish, who never ceased to rebel against the crown of England. The bitterest enemy of the Geraldines he made his prisoner, to wit, MacCarthy Mor, Lord of Muskerry; and now having passed thirty years opulent, powerful, and dreaded, he died [1520] to the sorrow of his friends and the exultation of his enemies.' He was buried at Tralee. His first wife was daughter of Lord Fermoy; his second, daughter of the White Knight."
Marriage and issue
Maurice first married Ellen, daughter of Maurice Roche, Baron Fermoy and had issue:
- Thomas FitzMaurice, who predeceased his father, leaving behind one daughter
- James FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond
- Joan, who married Cormac Óg MacCarthy
- Ellis, who married Connor O'Brien, King of Thomond
Maurice's second wife was Honora, daughter of the White Knight.