FitzGerald
also Fitzgerald, Mac Gearailt, Geraldine
Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores — the Geraldines of Kildare and Desmond.
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The seat of FitzGerald
Seat vacantChief
No chief yet. The seat awaits its first claimant — be the first to stake your name to FitzGerald.
Current mission
No mission proclaimed. The chief, once seated, sets the clan’s public focus — a campaign, a contest, a piece of restoration, a year of remembrance.
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Stake your name →Motto
Crom Abú
— Crom for ever (the Geraldine war-cry, after Croom Castle)
What does the FitzGerald name mean?
Norman patronymic — son of Gerald. Old French fils (later fils, contracted to Fitz in Norman record-keeping) attached to the Christian name. The eponymous Gerald was Gerald FitzWalter of Windsor (c.1075–1135), constable of Pembroke Castle and the man who married Nest, daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr of Deheubarth — the union from which the Geraldines and Tudors and most of the great Welsh-Marcher houses descend. The Gaelic form Mac Gearailt translated the Norman patronymic when the family Gaelicised; the common collective name 'the Geraldines' is the English form of the same.
The history of FitzGerald
The FitzGeralds came to Ireland with Strongbow's invasion in 1169 — Maurice FitzGerald, son of Gerald of Windsor and Nest of Deheubarth, was one of the principal Norman commanders at the Wexford and Waterford landings. Within two generations the family had branched into the two great Geraldine houses: the FitzGeralds of Kildare in Leinster, and the FitzGeralds of Desmond in south-western Munster. Both rose to earldoms — Kildare in 1316, Desmond in 1329 — and both became, by the 14th century, more powerful in fact than the English royal authority they nominally served.
The Earls of Kildare ruled Ireland in all but name through the 15th century. Garret Mór FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare (c.1456–1513), the 'Great Earl', was Lord Deputy of Ireland for almost the whole of his adult life — a Yorkist who survived Bosworth, governed Ireland for the Tudors, and could put the largest private army in the kingdom in the field. The line ended in disaster: his grandson Silken Thomas FitzGerald (1513–1537) renounced his allegiance in 1534, was suppressed by force, and was hanged at Tyburn in 1537 with five of his uncles. The Kildare estates were forfeited.
The Munster Geraldines, the Desmond line, ran a longer arc. The 15th and 16th Earls of Desmond — James Fitzmaurice FitzGerald and his cousin Gerald — led the great Desmond rebellions of 1569–1573 and 1579–1583 against Elizabeth's policies in Munster. Gerald, the 16th Earl, was hunted down in the Slieve Mish mountains in November 1583 and beheaded; his head was sent to Elizabeth, his body buried in an unmarked grave at Kilnamannagh. The Munster Plantation followed within five years. Edward FitzGerald (1763–1798), Lord Edward, was the United Irish leader killed in Dublin Castle in 1798. Garret FitzGerald (1926–2011) was Taoiseach of Ireland 1981–1987.
Notable bearers of the FitzGerald name
- Garret Mór FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare (c.1456–1513) — the 'Great Earl', Lord Deputy
- Silken Thomas FitzGerald (1513–1537) — leader of the 1534 Kildare rebellion
- Lord Edward FitzGerald (1763–1798) — United Irish leader
- Garret FitzGerald (1926–2011) — Taoiseach of Ireland
- Penelope Fitzgerald (1916–2000) — English novelist of Geraldine descent