Thomas Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald (1261 - 1298)

Born Apr 1261 in Decies, Waterford, Ireland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 4 Jun 1298 at age 37 in Knockainy, Limerick, Ireland

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Biography

Thomas fitz Maurice was the son of Maurice FitzGerald and Joan de Cogan; although there are genealogies which record his mother as Maurice's 2nd wife, Maud de Barry.^[1]

In 1282 Thomas succeeded to the barony of Desmond, in Munster, southwest Ireland. His succession followed a long minority, as he could not inherit his lands until the age of 21. His father, Maurice fitz John Fitzgerald and grandfather, John fitz Thomas FitzGerald were both killed in the Battle of Callann in 1261.^[2][3]

He was nick-named Thomas-an-appagh (the monkey-nurtured) because of the story that, during his infancy, he was cared for by an ape during a time of trouble;^[4] he is also occasionally referred to as "The Crooked Heir."^[5][6]

In 1294, Thomas was appointed deputy justiciar, acting as Lord Justice after the death of William d'Oddingseles.^[7]

Thomas died in 1298,^[8], and was buried in the Dominican Priory of North Abbey, Youghal, which he had founded. Several of the Barons and Earls of Desmond were later buried in the same abbey.^[9][10]

Family

Thomas was the son of Maurice (son of John) and Maurice's wife, Matilda, a daughter of David de Barry of Olethan.^[11] Thomas's wife was Margaret Berkeley.^[12]

Their children were:

• 1. Thomas FitzThomas FitzGerald, 3rd Baron Desmond
• 2. Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 4th Baron Desmond, later created 1st Earl of Desmond
• 3. John son of Thomas, called Sir John of Athassell
• 4. Joan daughter of Thomas

Research Notes

Fitzgerald family historian Walter Fitzgerald, founder of the Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society in 1891, calls Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald "Lord of Connello, Decies, and Desmond" (as was his son) and shows his wife as Margaret de Burgh, whom King Edward I called his "cousin". Historian Fitzgerald says that (after Thomas' death in 1298) Margaret re-married in 1299 to Sir Reginald de Russell:^[13]

Sources

• An in-depth look at Thomas' life from historian Niall C.E.J. O Brien in "Thomas an Apa Fitz Maurice of Desmond: Survival, restoration and missed opportunities":
  • https://www.academia.edu/13013704

• See Rev. James Graves' "Pedigree A" in The Journal of the Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland: No.2 "The Earls of Desmond":
  • https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25497799.pdf

• The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant : Desmond p:235 vol: iv; by Cokayne, George E. (George Edward) 1825-1911 pub: London 1910

• Wikipedia: Thomas FitzGerald, 2nd Baron Desmond

• The Peerage #i130440 Thomas fitz Maurice

• The Foundation for Medieval Genealogy records 2 sons.

1. ↑ Cockayne The Complete Peerage : Desmond p:235
2. ↑ Tenants in-chief could not acquire their lands and title without special permission, and most likely a large fine, before the age of 21.
   • Webb, Alfred. A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: 1878.
3. ↑ The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant : Desmond p:233 vol: iv; by Cokayne, George E. (George Edward) 1825-1911 pub: London 1910
4. ↑ Alfred Webb. A Compendium of Irish Biography:
   • "[He] was called 'Thomas an-Apa,' or 'Thomas Simiacus,' from an incident which is thus related in the Desmond Pedigree: 'This Thomas, being in his swadling cloaths accidentally left alone in his cradle, was by an ape carryed up to the battlements of the monastery of Traly, where the little beast, to the admiration of many spectators, dandled him to and froe, whilst everyone ran with theire beds and caddows, thinking to catch the child when it should fall from the ape. But Divine Providence prevented that danger; for the ape miraculously bore away the infant, and left him in the cradle as he found him, by which accident this Thomas was ever after nicknamed from the ape."
5. ↑ Library Ireland: Irish Pedigrees by John O'Hart : Earls of Desmond no:8 - Thomas called "Tomhas an Appa"
6. ↑ The Earlier Tudors, 1485-1558 - note p:132 - by John Duncan Mackie pub: Clarendon Press 1952
7. ↑ Cal. Doc. relating to Ireland, 1293-1301, no. 202, 273, 346.
8. ↑ Thomas Fitzmaurice, a Baron of the Geraldines, usually called the Crooked Heir, died. Celt : Annals of the Four Masters: M1298.4
9. ↑ Webb, Alfred. A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: 1878.
10. ↑ Cokayne, George Edward, Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Volume III. London: George Bell & Sons. 1890. p. 83
11. ↑ Orpen, Normans, iii, 156.
12. ↑ Robin Frame, 'Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
13. ↑ "Pedigree V: The Lords of Connello, and Decies, and Desmond", Journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society, Vol. 6 (1909), p.10:
    • https://archive.org/details/journalofcountyk06coun/page/n9/mode/2up

Acknowledgements

This page has been edited according to Style Standards adopted January 2014.