Irish History
And
The Fighting Irish
And
The Fighting Irish
( The Geraldines )
The
history of the Gaelicised Fitzgeralds ( the Geraldines ) is in a sense, the history of the fortunes of
Southern Ireland for an extensive period. The poet says , " They channelled deep old Ireland's heart by constancy and worth. " The brave Geraldines were Gaelicised both in manners and in blood, but it was England who had placed them in the seat of the displaced Gael. And so long as England properly respected their sovereign rights in their dominion - which should not be theirs, they were in turn willing to respect England's authority over Ireland in general, and even act as her Deputies. It is true that openly or secretly, they hated England with a holy hate - England and later the English. And they hated English tyranny to the extent of becoming chronic rebels against England, even when they were nominally serving her. It was their hatred of England and resentment of English interference, rather than the higher principle of Ireland's nationality, that kept them in rebellion.
True, the real Irish Chieftains had, at times, diplomatically pretended to resign the principle of Irish nationality; but with them it was always pretence - shameful pretence is certain. The principle, for all that was kept warm in their hearts, and as soon as occasion presented itself, blossomed vigorously forth again.
The Gerladines were the cream of the Sean-Ghall ( Old Foreigners ) They were as good as could be expected. But no better. When O'Neill was marching to Kinsale he asked who owned a castle that took his attention in passing, and when told that the owner's name was Barry, he heartily cursed him. " But " interrupted his informant reported
" he's a Catholic whose family have been here 400 years. " " No matter " retorted O'Neill, " I hate the robber as though he came yesterday. " And indeed till O'Neill's day ( and later ) there was far more than a grain of reason behind the exasperation of the Gael. It was not till newer usurpers robbed them of that which they themselves had usurped that the Sean-Ghall became flawlessly Irish.
In Desmond, South Munster, and the lands adjoining, they ruled ( the Gerladines ) as absolute monarchs over a hundred miles of territory.
True, the real Irish Chieftains had, at times, diplomatically pretended to resign the principle of Irish nationality; but with them it was always pretence - shameful pretence is certain. The principle, for all that was kept warm in their hearts, and as soon as occasion presented itself, blossomed vigorously forth again.
The Gerladines were the cream of the Sean-Ghall ( Old Foreigners ) They were as good as could be expected. But no better. When O'Neill was marching to Kinsale he asked who owned a castle that took his attention in passing, and when told that the owner's name was Barry, he heartily cursed him. " But " interrupted his informant reported
" he's a Catholic whose family have been here 400 years. " " No matter " retorted O'Neill, " I hate the robber as though he came yesterday. " And indeed till O'Neill's day ( and later ) there was far more than a grain of reason behind the exasperation of the Gael. It was not till newer usurpers robbed them of that which they themselves had usurped that the Sean-Ghall became flawlessly Irish.
In Desmond, South Munster, and the lands adjoining, they ruled ( the Gerladines ) as absolute monarchs over a hundred miles of territory.
" They made barons and knights, " records Sir John Davies, "
exercise high justice on all points within their territories, erected courts for criminal and civil cases, and for their revenues, in the same form as the King's court were established in Dublin; made their own judges, seneshals
sheriffs, coroners and escheators; so the King's writ did not run in those counties. . .These great undertakers were not tied to any form of plantation, but all was left to their discretion and pleasure, and although they builded castles and made freeholders, yet there were no tenures or services reserved to the Crown, but the lords drew all respect and dependency of the common people unto themselves. "
exercise high justice on all points within their territories, erected courts for criminal and civil cases, and for their revenues, in the same form as the King's court were established in Dublin; made their own judges, seneshals
sheriffs, coroners and escheators; so the King's writ did not run in those counties. . .These great undertakers were not tied to any form of plantation, but all was left to their discretion and pleasure, and although they builded castles and made freeholders, yet there were no tenures or services reserved to the Crown, but the lords drew all respect and dependency of the common people unto themselves. "
The Geraldines of Kildare held the entire county of Kildare, with parts of Meath, Dublin and Carlow, while their castles stretched beyond Strangford Lough on the coast of Down, to Adare, a few miles from the town of Limerick. They had their own fleet to patrol the seas. Intermarriages with the great houses in England and with Norman and Gaelic families in Ireland were, at first a settled part of Geraldine policy.
When they tasted of the pure milk of Gaelicism they never forgot its savour, so they became kindly Irish of the Irish, root and branch. Irish culture refined the Normans. there were no scholars, no poets or authors, among the first invaders. Yet when Jenico Savage, the descendant of the warrior who preferred " a castle of bones to a castle of stones " died ( 1374 ), the Annalists lamented that the learned of Ireland " were left an orphan by his death. " The higher refinement of the native Irish civilisation altered the Normans' very nature.
The Geraldines afford the most numerous instances of mere men of blood, apostles of the sword, turning under the influence of Gaeldom, into gentle sages and wise scholars. Thus Gerald the Rhymer, as his subjects named him, fourth Earl of Desmon ( 1359-98 ) was known as ' The Poet ' His learning was so deep and his acquirements so wide that he was regarded as a magician. His son, James, was fostered and reared by the O'Briens of Thomond, the statute of Kilkenny, as previously described notwithstanding. This Fitzgerald is described as a nobleman of wonderful bounty, mirth, cheerfulness in conversation, charitable in his deeds, easy of access, a witty and ingenious composer of Irish poetry, a learned and profound chronicler. He excelled all the English and many of the Irish in the knowledge of the Irish language, poetry and history, and other learning. This Earl lived long in Irish legendary lore. Once in every seven years he is said to revisit his Castle of Gur, near Limerick.
The eighth Earl of Desmond was the flower of the Southern Geraldine stock. The Irish people have taken this Thomas Fitzgearld to their hearts, and enshrined him there as a " Martyr of Christ " He was the first of a long line of Sean Ghalls to be martyred in the cause of Irish freedom. He was an affable, eloquent, hospitable man; kind and munificent to the poets and antiquaries of the Irish race. " Educate that you may be free. " Acting on this maxim Earl Thomas founded the famous college of St. Mary at Youghal ( 1464 ) The foreigners had destroyed the glorious University of Armagh ( 1133-1202 ) with its 3,000 scholars and its famed tutors, presided over by Florence O'Gorman, who spent over a generation in aquiring knowledge in the universities of France and England
Armagh had been regarded as the National University for all the " Irish and Scots, " and Rury O'Conor, the High King of Ireland, had given to it the first ( 1169 ) annual grant to maintain professors for the whole of the Irish race
in Scotland as well as Ireland.
Thomas of Desmond tried to re-establish a National University, and for that purpose had an act of Parliament passed at Drogheda ( 1466 ) By precept and by practice he had endeavoured to unify the two races in Ireland. He was a promoter and a patron of trade and commerce between Ireland and the Continent. The English hated him for such fruitful and healing activities - " Enormities " they called them. His marriage with an Irish lady, in spite of the statute of Kilkenny, was a crowning infamy. " Who dare say to Geraldine, ' Thy Irish wife discard'? " For Thomas Desmond, when he was murdered in Drogheda by the Earl of Worcester, afterwards known as " The Butcher, " all Ireland went into the deepest mourning.
Gerald, the eighth Earl of Kildare ( 1477-1513 ) was named by Ireland " Gerait Mor " - Gerald the Great. He had the fine stature, the manly beauty and goodly presence of his race; his liberality and his merciful deeds passed current as household words. He was a man of strict piety. His mild just government drew the hearts of his people to him in passionate devotedness. During the fifty years which preceded the Reformation, the office of Lord Deputy of Ireland, was filled, with a few broken intervals, by this Fitzgerald and his son. They persued a National policy and si incurred the hatred of the permanent English officials. By liens of blood-relationship he obtained great influence amongst the great Irish houses, Old and New. So powerful had he become that he retained the deputy-governorship of Ireland in despite of King Edward IV and his nominee.
He ruled it wisely and justly. A knight he was in valour - princely and religious in his word and judgments. His daughters, Eleanor and Margaret, were unquestionably two of the most remarkable women of their age and country
In vain endeavour to join in amity the rival houses of Kildare and Ormond ( Gerladine and Butler ) the Earl married Margaret to Piers Butler, the Earl of Ormond. She founded the famous school of Kilkenny. Ormond was ably seconded by her in his efforts to promote more advanced methods of agriculture.
Gerait Og, " Gerald the Younger " ninth Earl of Kildare ( 1487-1534 ) although educated in England was even more Irish than his father. He continued the policy of intermarriage with the Irish, and so consolidated the power of his house. Maynooth under him, was one of the richest earls' houses of that time. " His whole policy was union in his county, and Ireland for the Irish. " He was first appointed Lord Deputy by his cousin, Henry VIII, in 1513. After seven years rule he was removed, charged by the English with " seditious practices, conspiracies, and subtle drifts " The people were gladdened when a few years later he re-assumed the post. His cousin, the Earl of Desmond had entered into a solemn league and covenant with Francis I, King of France ( 1523 ) to drive the English out of Ireland, whilst Scotland was to render assistance to the cause by invading England. But the heart of the leader of the Scottish Army, the Duke of Albany, failed him at the last moment and the gallant Scots, dejectedly turned homewards ( 20th May 1525 ) All Ireland's hopes were again shattered. Kildare was summoned
( 1526 ) to England by Cardinal Wolsey to answer the charge of complicity in the plot. His brilliant wit, subtle brain and eloquent tongue alone saved his head from the block. Wolsey denounced Kildare as a traitor. In his six years detention in the Tower of London, Kildare's Irish friends convinced HenryVIII that Gerlad's was the most politic course for the moment. So he was re-instated ( 1532 ). Henry's plans for the pulling down of the House of Kildare and the extermination of the Desmonds were not yet ripe, so until his final imprisonment and death Gerald Og continued to rule as a God fearing, just, wise man. When he took the ordnance from the royal castles and placed them in his own it was a portent to the country that he had secretly thrown in his lot with Desmond, who had not given up the hope of obtaining French, Scottish and Spanish aid. He was of a deep piety. His confidence in the goodness and mercy of God was unbounded.
When they tasted of the pure milk of Gaelicism they never forgot its savour, so they became kindly Irish of the Irish, root and branch. Irish culture refined the Normans. there were no scholars, no poets or authors, among the first invaders. Yet when Jenico Savage, the descendant of the warrior who preferred " a castle of bones to a castle of stones " died ( 1374 ), the Annalists lamented that the learned of Ireland " were left an orphan by his death. " The higher refinement of the native Irish civilisation altered the Normans' very nature.
The Geraldines afford the most numerous instances of mere men of blood, apostles of the sword, turning under the influence of Gaeldom, into gentle sages and wise scholars. Thus Gerald the Rhymer, as his subjects named him, fourth Earl of Desmon ( 1359-98 ) was known as ' The Poet ' His learning was so deep and his acquirements so wide that he was regarded as a magician. His son, James, was fostered and reared by the O'Briens of Thomond, the statute of Kilkenny, as previously described notwithstanding. This Fitzgerald is described as a nobleman of wonderful bounty, mirth, cheerfulness in conversation, charitable in his deeds, easy of access, a witty and ingenious composer of Irish poetry, a learned and profound chronicler. He excelled all the English and many of the Irish in the knowledge of the Irish language, poetry and history, and other learning. This Earl lived long in Irish legendary lore. Once in every seven years he is said to revisit his Castle of Gur, near Limerick.
The eighth Earl of Desmond was the flower of the Southern Geraldine stock. The Irish people have taken this Thomas Fitzgearld to their hearts, and enshrined him there as a " Martyr of Christ " He was the first of a long line of Sean Ghalls to be martyred in the cause of Irish freedom. He was an affable, eloquent, hospitable man; kind and munificent to the poets and antiquaries of the Irish race. " Educate that you may be free. " Acting on this maxim Earl Thomas founded the famous college of St. Mary at Youghal ( 1464 ) The foreigners had destroyed the glorious University of Armagh ( 1133-1202 ) with its 3,000 scholars and its famed tutors, presided over by Florence O'Gorman, who spent over a generation in aquiring knowledge in the universities of France and England
Armagh had been regarded as the National University for all the " Irish and Scots, " and Rury O'Conor, the High King of Ireland, had given to it the first ( 1169 ) annual grant to maintain professors for the whole of the Irish race
in Scotland as well as Ireland.
Thomas of Desmond tried to re-establish a National University, and for that purpose had an act of Parliament passed at Drogheda ( 1466 ) By precept and by practice he had endeavoured to unify the two races in Ireland. He was a promoter and a patron of trade and commerce between Ireland and the Continent. The English hated him for such fruitful and healing activities - " Enormities " they called them. His marriage with an Irish lady, in spite of the statute of Kilkenny, was a crowning infamy. " Who dare say to Geraldine, ' Thy Irish wife discard'? " For Thomas Desmond, when he was murdered in Drogheda by the Earl of Worcester, afterwards known as " The Butcher, " all Ireland went into the deepest mourning.
Gerald, the eighth Earl of Kildare ( 1477-1513 ) was named by Ireland " Gerait Mor " - Gerald the Great. He had the fine stature, the manly beauty and goodly presence of his race; his liberality and his merciful deeds passed current as household words. He was a man of strict piety. His mild just government drew the hearts of his people to him in passionate devotedness. During the fifty years which preceded the Reformation, the office of Lord Deputy of Ireland, was filled, with a few broken intervals, by this Fitzgerald and his son. They persued a National policy and si incurred the hatred of the permanent English officials. By liens of blood-relationship he obtained great influence amongst the great Irish houses, Old and New. So powerful had he become that he retained the deputy-governorship of Ireland in despite of King Edward IV and his nominee.
He ruled it wisely and justly. A knight he was in valour - princely and religious in his word and judgments. His daughters, Eleanor and Margaret, were unquestionably two of the most remarkable women of their age and country
In vain endeavour to join in amity the rival houses of Kildare and Ormond ( Gerladine and Butler ) the Earl married Margaret to Piers Butler, the Earl of Ormond. She founded the famous school of Kilkenny. Ormond was ably seconded by her in his efforts to promote more advanced methods of agriculture.
Gerait Og, " Gerald the Younger " ninth Earl of Kildare ( 1487-1534 ) although educated in England was even more Irish than his father. He continued the policy of intermarriage with the Irish, and so consolidated the power of his house. Maynooth under him, was one of the richest earls' houses of that time. " His whole policy was union in his county, and Ireland for the Irish. " He was first appointed Lord Deputy by his cousin, Henry VIII, in 1513. After seven years rule he was removed, charged by the English with " seditious practices, conspiracies, and subtle drifts " The people were gladdened when a few years later he re-assumed the post. His cousin, the Earl of Desmond had entered into a solemn league and covenant with Francis I, King of France ( 1523 ) to drive the English out of Ireland, whilst Scotland was to render assistance to the cause by invading England. But the heart of the leader of the Scottish Army, the Duke of Albany, failed him at the last moment and the gallant Scots, dejectedly turned homewards ( 20th May 1525 ) All Ireland's hopes were again shattered. Kildare was summoned
( 1526 ) to England by Cardinal Wolsey to answer the charge of complicity in the plot. His brilliant wit, subtle brain and eloquent tongue alone saved his head from the block. Wolsey denounced Kildare as a traitor. In his six years detention in the Tower of London, Kildare's Irish friends convinced HenryVIII that Gerlad's was the most politic course for the moment. So he was re-instated ( 1532 ). Henry's plans for the pulling down of the House of Kildare and the extermination of the Desmonds were not yet ripe, so until his final imprisonment and death Gerald Og continued to rule as a God fearing, just, wise man. When he took the ordnance from the royal castles and placed them in his own it was a portent to the country that he had secretly thrown in his lot with Desmond, who had not given up the hope of obtaining French, Scottish and Spanish aid. He was of a deep piety. His confidence in the goodness and mercy of God was unbounded.
