James FitzMaurice FitzGerald

James fitz Maurice FitzGerald
Died18 August 1579
Ireland
Battles / warsDesmond Rebellions
Spouse(s)Katherine Burke
ChildrenMaurice, Gerald, and Alice

James fitz Maurice FitzGerald (died 1579), called "fitz Maurice", was a Gaelicised Hiberno-Norman nobleman and the captain-general of Desmond while Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, was detained in England by Queen Elizabeth after the Battle of Affane in 1565.

Outraged by the religious persecution of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Fitzmaurice led the first Desmond Rebellion, intending to replace Queen Elizabeth with Don John of Austria of the House of Habsburg as the new High King of Ireland, in 1569 and was accordingly called the "Archtraitor" by the English. He surrendered in 1573, prostrating himself in Kilmallock church before John Perrot, president of Munster.

In 1575, when the Earl returned to Ireland, FitzMaurice went into exile on the continent. In July 1579, Fitzmaurice returned to Ireland with a small force, landing at Dingle and then sailing around the tip of the Dingle Peninsula into Ard na Caithne and occupying Dún an Óir (Fort of Gold). Fitzmaurice died while on a secret pilgrimage to Holy Cross Abbey in Thurles, after being wounded in a skirmish against his cousin Theobald Burke on 18 August.

Family tree
James fitz Maurice FitzGerald with wife, parents, and other selected relatives.[a]
John
de facto
12th Earl

d. 1536
More
O'Brien
James
13th Earl

d. 1558
More
O'Carroll

d. 1548
Maurice
fitz John

d. 1564
Totane
Julia
O'Mulryan
Gerald
14th Earl

c. 1533 – 1583
Rebel Earl
James
fitz Maurice
FitzGerald
Katherine
Burke
Maurice
6th Viscount
Fermoy

d. 1600
Eleanor
FitzGerald
Joan
Roche
Thomas
fitz James

Ruadh
Legend
XXXSubject of
the article
XXXEarls of
Desmond
XXXViscounts
Fermoy
*d.v.p. = predeceased his father (decessit vita patris).
  1. ^ Moody, Martin & Byrne 1984, p. 168. "Fitzgeralds Earls od Desmond ..."
  2. ^ Burke 1866, pp. 205–206Genealogy of the earls of Desmond
  3. ^ Burke 1866, pp. 454–456.


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