FitzGerald dynasty
FitzGerald dynasty
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FitzGerald dynasty

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FitzGerald dynasty

The FitzGerald dynasty is a Hiberno-Norman noble and aristocratic dynasty, originally of Cambro-Norman and Anglo-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the Four Masters as having become "more Irish than the Irish themselves" or Gaels, due to assimilation with the native Gaelic aristocratic and popular culture. The dynasty has also been referred to as the Geraldines and Ireland's largest landowners. They achieved power through colonisation and the conquest of large swathes of Irish territory by the sons and grandsons of Gerald de Windsor (c. 1075 – 1135). Gerald de Windsor (Gerald FitzWalter) was the first Castellan of Pembroke Castle in Wales, and became the male progenitor of the FitzMaurice and FitzGerald Dynasty ("fitz", from the Anglo-Norman fils indicating "sons of" Gerald). His father, Baron Walter FitzOther, was the first Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle for William the Conqueror, and was the Lord of 38 manors in England, making the FitzGeralds one of the "service families" on whom the King relied for his survival. Some of its members became the Black Knights, Green Knights and White Knights.

The main branches of the family are:

The progenitor of the Irish FitzGerald dynasty was a Cambro-Norman Marcher Lord named Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan, son of Gerald de Windsor and Princess Nest ferch Rhys, of the Welsh royal House of Dinefwr. Maurice married a daughter of the Norman magnate Arnulf de Montgomery: the Montgomeries, lords of 150 manors and 30 castles, were the most powerful magnates in both England and Normandy, and were of the same family as William the Conqueror. His wife's maternal grandfather was the High King of Ireland, Muirchertach Ua Briain (see Arnulf de Montgomery) which may have influenced the important role Maurice played the 1169 Norman invasion of Ireland.

The FitzGeralds claim kinship with the Tudors who descended from the same Welsh royal line as Princess Nest's father, Rhys ap Tewdwr, King of Deheubarth. Consequently, the FitzMaurices and FitzGeralds are cousins to the Tudors (Tewdwrs in Welsh) through Princess Nest and her Welsh family.

In his poetry, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, a cousin of Anne Boleyn, also referred to Countess Elizabeth FitzGerald, (1527–89) as "Fair Geraldine", alluding to her family's Italian ancestry through the Gherardinis of Florence. The FitzGerald dynasty has played a major role in Irish history. Gearóid Mór, 8th Earl of Kildare and his son Gearóid Óg, 9th Earl of Kildare, were Lord Deputy of Ireland in the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries respectively. Both married to cousins of Henry Tudor, first monarch of the House of Tudor.

During the Italian War of 1521–1526, James FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond, conspired with the Venetians and King Francis I of France, of Château de Chambord, against the Habsburgs, Tudors and Medicis. After the war, he sided once again against England, and allied himself with Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor during the War of the League of Cognac. Another notable rebel was Commander James FitzMaurice FitzGerald, who led the Desmond Rebellions against the Tudors, and negotiated with Catherine de' Medici with the ambition of making her son, Henry III of France, the new King of Ireland. Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond led the Second Desmond Rebellion with the help of the King of Spain, Philip of Habsburg, and Pope Gregory XIII, in an attempt to put on the throne Duke Giacomo Boncompagni.

Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare (died 1537), known as "Silken Thomas," also led an unsuccessful insurrection in Ireland, while Lord Edward FitzGerald (1763–1798), the fifth son of the first duke of Leinster, was a leading figure in the 1798 Irish Rebellion against King George III of the House of Hanover. Thomas's half-brother, the 11th Earl, nicknamed the "Wizard Earl", went into exile in Italy, joined the Geraldine League, and became a member of the household of the Duke of Mantua, of the Gonzaga family, and Master of Horse to Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

In Irish history, an example of the FitzGerald dynasty becoming "more Irish than the Irish themselves" is Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond (1335–1398), who was also known by the Irish Gaelic Gearóid Iarla (Earl Gerald). Although made Lord Chief Justice of Ireland in 1367, Gerald wrote poetry in the Irish language, most famously the poem Mairg adeir olc ris na mnáibh ("Woe to Those who Speak Ill of Womankind"). Indeed, although an accomplished poet in Norman French, Gerald was instrumental in the move by the Fitzmaurices and Fitzgeralds of Desmond toward greater use of the Irish language.

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