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Internecine warfare and the decline of the house of Desmond c. 1510 – c. 1541

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Anthony M. McCormack
Anthony M. McCormack*
Affiliation:
Dictionary of Irish Biography, Royal Irish Academy
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Extract

At the beginning of the sixteenth century the Fitzgerald earls of Desmond were among the élite of Hiberno-Norman society in Ireland. Equalled in status among the nobility of Ireland only by the earls of Kildare and of Ormond, the Desmonds possessed great power, wealth and influence. Their huge earldom, which covered much of Munster, rendered them the virtual masters of the province and of all the Gaelic Irish and Hiberno-Norman lords therein.

Yet by 1584 they were gone, the earl of Desmond killed while in rebellion, the earldom broken up as an entity, the estates and castles in ruins. Apart from a short-lived return at the end of the century, the house of Desmond was defunct.

The dramatic fall of the house of Desmond has intrigued many historians, who seek its cause in the period leading up to the 1580s and in the political context of the time. They cite the breakdown of the earl’s control, the indebtedness of the earldom, the alleged madness and incapacity for rule of Gerald, the fifteenth earl. They refer to the extension of crown control in Elizabethan Ireland, the English fear of foreign intervention in Ireland, and the campaign for conformity to the new Protestant religion.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 120 , November 1997 , pp. 497 - 512
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1997

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References

1 For a discussion of the various treatments and interpretations of the fall of the Desmonds see Brady, Ciaran, ‘Faction and the origins of the Desmond rebellion of 1579’ in I.H.S., xxii, no. 88 (Sept. 1981), pp 289–312 Google Scholar.

2 G.E.C, Peerage, iv, 251.

3 Genealogical table of the earls of Desmond in Hayman, Samuel et al. (eds), ‘Unpublished Geraldine documents’ in R.S.A.I. Jn., 3rd ser., i (1868), facing p. 460 Google Scholar; Walter Cowley to Cromwell, 21 Dec. 1529 (S.P. Hen. VIII, ii, 161–2).

4 Genealogical table in Hayman et al. (eds), ‘Unpublished Geraldine documents’, facing p. 460.

5 Grant to John, lord of Decies, 19 Oct. 1529 (Cal. Carew MSS, 1515–74, p. 41). “Earl of Desmond to Henry VIII, 5 May 1532 (S.P. Hen. VIII, ii, 160–61).

7 Henry VIII to Sir John of Desmond, 27 Jan. 1535 (L. & P. Hen. VIII, 1535, no. 114); Henry VIII to James fitz John, 27 Jan. 1535 (ibid., no. 115).

8 Fokes to Cromwell, 22 Mar. 1536 (S.P. Hen. VIII, ii, 308).

9 Lord deputy and council to Cromwell, 1 June 1536 (ibid., pp 318–21).

10 Irish council to Cromwell, 22 Aug. 1536 (ibid., pp 361–5).

11 Robert Cowley to Cromwell, 1536 (L. & P. Hen. VIII, 1536, no. 199).

12 Ormond to Cromwell, 20 Dec. 1539 (S. P. Hen. VIII, iii, 164–7).

13 Henry VIII to Sir John of Desmond, 26 Apr. 1535 (L. & P. Hen. VIII, 1535, no. 594).

14 Ap Parry to Cromwell, 6 Oct. 1535 (S.P. Hen. VIII, ii, 281–6).

15 Lord deputy and council to Cromwell, 23 Nov. 1536 (ibid., pp 391–6).

16 St Leger et al. to Cromwell, 8 Mar. 1538 (ibid., pp 549–50).

17 James fitz John to Henry VIII, 3 Mar. 1539 (ibid., iii, 125–6).

18 Grant to James fitz John, Maurice fitz John and John fitz John, July 1540 (L. & P. Hen. VIII, Jan.-Aug. 1540, no. 942 (grant 79)).

19 St Leger to Henry VIII, 21 Feb. 1541 (S.P. Hen. VIII, iii, 285–90).

20 John Alen to Cromwell, 16 Feb. 1535 (ibid., ii, 226–31).

21 Irish council to Cromwell, 22 Aug. 1536 (ibid., pp 361–5).

22 Lord deputy and council to Cromwell, 23 Nov. 1536 (ibid., pp 391–6).

23 Grey to Cromwell, 4 Feb. 1537 (ibid., pp 404–7).

24 Ibid., p.405.

2 Ormond to Cromwell, 20 Dec. 1539 (S.P. Hen. VIII, iii, 164–7).

26 St Leger to Henry VIII, 21 Feb. 1541 (ibid., pp 285–90).

27 Agreement between Thomas, earl of Desmond, and John, lord of Decies, 1529, in Blackwater Fishery Case (N.A.I., M 7068, pp 7–10).

28 Indenture between James, earl of Desmond, and Edmund Lord Fitzmaurice, 1 July 1541 (Ormond deeds, 1509–47, no. 261); treaty between James, , earl of Desmond, and LordFitzmaurice, Patrick, 1 Apr. 1420, in Nicholls, K.W., ‘The Fitzmaurices of Kerry’ in Kerry Arch. Soc. Jn., iii (1970), pp 38–42 Google Scholar.

29 Kerry Survey, 1584 (N.A.I., M 5037, p. 19).

30 Submission of James fitz John to Henry VIII, 16 Jan. 1541 (S.P. Hen. VIII, ii, 286).

31 The buying of, or contracting for, cattle or foodstuffs before they came to market, or disssuading persons from marketing their goods or provisions, in order to enhance the price.

32 Treasure (gold, silver, money, plate or bullion) found hidden in the ground or other place, the owner of which is unknown. Such treasure was claimed by the crown.

33 Indenture between James, earl of Desmond, and Edmund Lord Fitzmaurice, 1 July 1541 (Ormond deeds, 1509–47, no. 261).

34 Ordinances and provisions for the reformation of Munster, 12 July 1541 (Cal. Carew MSS, 1515–74, pp 180–82).

35 Submission of James fitz John to Henry VIII, 16 Jan. 1541 (S.P Hen. VIII, ii, 286).

36 Richard, John, Robert, Jasper and Mellsher Allen to Thomas Allen, warden of the college of Youghal, 17 May 1534 (L. & P. Hen. VIII, 1534, no. 681).

37 Ellis, S.G., Tudor Ireland: crown, community and the conflict of cultures, 1470–1603 (London, 1985), p. 125 Google Scholar.

38 Henry VIII to Sir John of Desmond, 27 Jan. 1535 (L. &. P. Hen. VIII, 1535, no. 114).

39 Ibid.; Henry VIII to James fitz John, 27 Jan. 1535 (ibid., no. 115).

40 Guy, John, Tudor England (Oxford, 1988), pp 132–4 Google Scholar.

41 Ellis, Tudor Ire., pp 104, 118.

42 Sir Thomas of Desmond to Henry VIII, 12 Feb. 1528 (L. & P. Hen. VIII, 1526–28, no. 3922).

43 Lord deputy and council to Henry VIII, 28 July 1541 (S.P. Hen. VIII, iii, 315).

44 Lord deputy and council to Henry VIII, 2 June 1542 (ibid., pp 389–90).

45 Alen to Henry VIII, 4 June 1542 (ibid., p. 393); Ellis, Tudor Ire., p. 331.

46 St Leger to Henry VIII, 27 Aug. 1542 (S.P. Hen. VIII, iii, 410).

47 Kerry Survey, 1584 (N.A.I., M 5037, p. 4).

48 Ellis, Tudor Ire., p. 308.

49 G.E.C, Peerage, iv, 249.

50 State of Ireland, 1515 (S.P. Hen. VIII, ii, 1).

51 Submission of James, earl of Desmond, to Henry VII, 1541 (ibid., iii, 286).

52 Grant to James, earl of Desmond, Nov. 1546 (L. & P. Hen. VIII, Sept. 1546 - Jan. 1547, no. 476 (grant 43)).

53 Ellis, Tudor Ire., p. 250.

54 Earl of Desmond’s answer to the interrogatories ministered to him at Waterford, 18 Feb. 1565 (P.R.O., SP 63/12/31).

55 Deposition of Sir Maurice Fitzgerald, 28 Feb. 1565 (ibid., SP 63/12/52).

56 Answer of the earl of Ormond to the allegations of the earl of Desmond, 6 Jun. 1565 (ibid., SP 63/13/56).

57 Sir Maurice, lord of Decies, to Queen Elizabeth, 17 May 1562 (ibid., SP 63/6/9).