Maurice FitzGerald (1105 - 1177)

Born 1105 in Pembroke Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1 Sep 1177 at about age 72 in Waterford, County Waterford, Ireland

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Biography

This profile is part of the Fitzgerald Name Study.

Maurice FitzGerald was Lord of Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland; and sometimes referred to as "Carew".

He was born around 1105^{[citation needed]} probably at Pembroke Castle,^[1] S. Wales. He was the second son of Gerald FitzWalter, then Constable of Pembroke and later Carew Castle.^{[citation needed][2]} His mother was Nesta ferch Rhys, the only legitimate daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwwr, King of Deheubarth. She was a former mistress of King Henry 1 of England for whom she bore at least one son.^[3][4][5]

An Anglo Norman, Maurice Fitzgerald held land at Llansteffan^[6] in Carmarthenshire,^[7]

His brother, Bishop David granted him the hereditary stewardship of St. David's.^[7]

In 1169 Maurice Fitzgerald, then in his sixties landed at Bannow Bay,^[8] co Wexford with 10 Knights, 30 squires and 100 footmen.^[9][10]

This was part of an invading force together with his brother Robert Fitz-Stephen and nephew Raymond FitzGerald, led by Richard de Clare ("Strongbow") in support of Dermot MacMurrough, the deposed and exiled King of Leinster who was hoping to recover his Kingship of Leinster from Rory O'Connor, High King of Ireland. Wexford fell to the Normans within a few days of their landing, they succeeded in capturing Waterford, and went on to capture Dublin in 1171.

Henry II departed Ireland Easter 1172 leaving Maurice as on of the three keepers of Dublin.^[7]

Maurice was granted the lordship of the middle cantrlan of Offelan in north Co. Kildare in 1175 by Strongbow. In 1185 King John confirmed this grant as regards the cantred of Offelan to William his eldest son.^[11]

Maurice married Alicia de Montgomery daughter of Arnulph de Mongomery, (brother to Robert de Bellême., Earl of Shrewsbury) and his Irish wife Lafracoth O'Brian, daughter of Muircheartach O'Brian , King of Munster & High King of Ireland.^[12][13][14]

Shortly before his death he was seised in his demesne as of fee of the castles at Lea & Geashill.^[11]

Maurice Fitzgerald died on 1 September 1177 at Waterford and was buried at the Grey Friars Abbey, without the walls of Wexford, Ireland which then belonged to the Knights Templars.^{[7][13][15][16]}

Issue

1. William Fitzmaurice (1138 - 1185), Lord of Naas; m1). Mahaut de Pontearth & m2). Alina de Clare; daughter of Gilbert de Clare, (Strongbow) 1st Earl of Pembroke - Issue
2. Gerald Fitzmaurice 1st Baron Offaly m. Eve Bermingham - Issue
3. Thomas FitzMaurice, (c. 1175 - 1215) Lord O'Connello from whom descend the Earls of Desmond. m. Elinor Marisco - Issue
4. Alexander FitzMaurice 4th son held lands of Compton, England dsp
5. Walter FitzMaurice de Whyte, 5th son m. Alice
6. Redmund FitzMaurice, 6th son
7. Hugh FitzMaurice 7th son
8. Nesta FitzMaurice who married Hervey de Montmorenci, Constable of Leinster pre 1174

Legacy

Maurice is widely considered to be the progenitor of the FitzGerald dynasty (the Geraldines) in Ireland.^[17] From him descend the FitzMaurices, Barons of Kerry and Lixnaw. His descendants include the families of FitzGerald, MacKenzie and FitzGibbon.^[18][19]

Maurice FitzGerald is described from Cambrensis and Holingshed:^[20]

"A man he was, both honest and wise, and for truth and valour very noble and famous, a man of his word, of constant mind, and of a certain bashfulness, well coloured, and of good countenance, of middle stature, and compact at all points, courteous, gentle, and moderate, a pattern of sobriety and good behaviour; a man of few words; his speeches more full of wit and reason than of words; more wisdom he had than eloquence; in martial affairs bold, stout, and valiant, and yet not hasty to run headlong into any adventure, but when an attempt was once taken in hand, he would strictly pursue and follow the same."

Other relatives enlisted to campaign in Ireland in support of Diarmaid Mac Murchadha -

• Robert fitz Stephen was a half brother
• Miles, the son of David fitzGerald, was a nephew of Robert fitz Stephen and Maurice fitzGerald
• Raymond le Gros was a nephew, the son of his brother William Lord of Carew
• Meiler fitzHenry

Sources

1. ↑ Map: Pembroke Castle.
2. ↑ Map: Carew Castle.
3. ↑ Owen, Henry; Old Pembroke families in the ancient county palatine of Pembroke. Pub 1902 pg 12
4. ↑ Annals of the kingdom of Ireland ed O'Donovan, John Pub: 1856; See Note pg 1174
5. ↑ O'Hart, John; Irish pedigrees; or, The origin and stem of the Irish nation Fitzgerald, of Kildare, Dukes of Leinster; Pub 1923 pg 208
6. ↑ Map: Llansteffan
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3} Cokayne, GEC; Complete Peerage, Vol X; O to R rev. pub 1945; downloadable PDF via Family Search pg 11 Offaly
8. ↑ Map: Bannow Bay
9. ↑ Annals of Ireland Connelan, Owen; Pub: Geraghty 1846 pg 1
10. ↑ Giraldus, Cambrensis,(d. 1223?) ed. Furnivall, Frederick James; The English conquest of Ireland, A.D. 1166-1185 : mainly from the Expugnatio hibernica of Giraldus Cambrensis : a parallel text from 1. Ms. Trinity College, Dublin, E.2.31, about 425 A.D. 2. Ms. Rawlinson, B. 490, Bodleian Library, about 1440 A.D. Pub.1896 pg 24
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} Orpen, Gerald H; The Fitz Geralds, Barons of Offaly in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Sixth Series, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Jun. 30, 1914) pg 99 / 100 via Jstor
12. ↑ Mackenzie, Alexander; History of the Mackenzies. With genealogies of the principal families of the name. Pub: 1894 pg 2 - 4
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} Graves, John; No. 2. The Earls of Desmond in The Journal of the Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, Third Series, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1869), between pg 460/461 Pedigree of the Earls of Desmond From Mss of Sir William Betham; Ulster King at Arms 1834 via JStor
14. ↑ Curtis; Murchertach O'Brien, High King of Ireland, and His Norman Son-in-Law, Arnulf de Mont-Gomery, circa 1100 in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Sixth Series, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Dec. 31, 1921) via JStor pg 9
15. ↑ Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society; FitzGerald-Uniacke, R. G. ‘Some old County Cork families: I. The Uniackes of Youghal. Part IV, Uniacke FitzGerald of Corkbeg’, Ser. 1, Vol. 3, No. 34 (1894), pp) 212 PDF
16. ↑ Burke's Commoners, Vol. IV, p. 179; Burke's Commoners, Vol. I, p. 566.
17. ↑ Wikipedia: FitzGerald dynasty.
18. ↑ Orphen, Gerald H; The Origin of the FitzMaurices, Barons of Kerry and Lixnaw in The English Historical Review vol. 29, no. 114 (Apr.1914) pp. 302-315 pub: Oxford University Press via JStor
19. ↑ Croker, Thomas Crofton in Celt : Researches in the South of Ireland p.121 section 7
20. ↑ The Annals of Ireland, Translanted from the Original Irish of the Four Masters. (Bryan Geraghty, Dublin, 1846) pp. 42-3.

See Also

• Dictionary of National Biography Maurice Fitzgerald
• In-depth profile of Maurice FitzGerald (d.1176) in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Vol.19, p.135
• Wikipedia Deheubarth
• Early Waterford History, Waterford County Museum
• - The Peerage
• Wikipedia : Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan
• Gerald FitzMaurice, 1st Lord of Offaly
• A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. I, by John Burke, Esq.
• Città di Amelia : Famiglia Gherardina
• Find A Grave: Memorial #77183243 for Maurice FitzGerald (1100–1 Sep 1177)]
• Cork Past and Present. PDF
• Powell, Phillip I. A Historyof County Kildare

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Harry Boswell for starting this profile.