The Knight of Glin (Irish: Ridire an Ghleanna;[1] dormant 14 September 2011), also known as the Black Knight or Knight of the Valley,[2][3][4] was an hereditarytitle held by the FitzGerald and FitzMaurice families of County Limerick, Ireland, since the early 14th century. The family was a branch of the FitzMaurice/FitzGerald Dynasty commonly known as the Geraldines and related to the now extinct Earls of Desmond who were granted extensive lands in County Limerick by the Crown. The title was named after the village of Glin, near the Knight's lands. The Knight of Glin was properly addressed as "Knight" (not, as one might expect, "Sir ______ FitzGerald").[4]
The family name "FitzGerald" comes from the (Norman) French "Fils de Gerald," i.e. "Son of Gerald."
The coat-of-arms of the Glin family is: Ermine: a saltiregules. Crest: a boar passant gules, bristled and armed. Motto: Sahnit a Boo. The arms of the various families in Ireland are similar. The Knights of Glin bear as supporters two griffins collared and chained, and have a second crest: a castle with two towers, issuant from the sinister tower a knight in armor holding in the dexter hand a key proper. The Glin family seat is at Glin, Glin Castle, County Limerick, Ireland.[5]
John FitzGerald, 1st Baron Desmond, of Shanid, County Limerick, Lord of Connelloe and Decies, married (first) Margery, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Fitz-Anthony, Lord of Decies and Desmond. These domains were confirmed to him by Prince Edward, the Black Prince in 1260. He married (second) Honora, daughter of Hugh O'Connor, of Kerry. By his first wife he had a son: 1. Maurice Fitz-John FitzGerald, who was Lord of Decies and Desmond, and ancestor of the FitzGeralds, Earls of Desmond, who ranked among the most powerful nobles of Ireland for more than two centuries. By his second wife he had issue: 2. Gilbert Fitz-John, ancestor of the White Knight. 3. Sir John Fitz-John, mentioned below. 4. Maurice Fitz-John, ancestor of the Knights of Kerry. 5. Thomas Fitz-John, ancestor of the Fitzgerald of the Island of Kerry.
John Fitz-Thomas FitzGerald, by virtue of his royal seigniory as a Count Palatine, created three of his sons by the second marriage, knights; and their descendants have been so styled in acts of parliament, patents under the great seal, and all legal proceedings, up to the present (1910) time. He founded the monastery of Tralee, and was buried there in 1260.[citation needed]
(VII) Sir John Fitz-John, Knight, was the first Knight of Glin, and had from his father the castles of Glincarbery and Beagh, county Limerick, Ireland. Children: John Fitz-John, mentioned below. Gerald Fitz-John, ancestor of the family of Clenlish and Castle Ishen, County Cork, Baronets.
VIII) Sir John Fitz-John del Glin was succeeded by his son.[5]
"The earliest tradition I could find about Glin went back to 1569, when the [15th] knight, Thomas FitzGerald, was barbarously executed[why?] in Limerick. His mother, who was present at the execution, seized his head when he was beheaded and drank his blood. She then collected the parts of his dismembered body and put them in a linen sheet. When she set out for home with her precious burden she was followed by an immense concourse, including one hundred keening women.
Somewhere east of Foynes some soldiers tried to seize the corpse and in the fight that followed many people were slain. The body was interred in Lislaughtin Abbey in the tomb of his relative, the O'Connor Kerry."[10]
According to another legend, in the early 16th century under Elizabeth I, England set about enforcing loyalty in the western parts of Ireland. When one of her ships came up to the Knight of Glin's castle on the Shannon Estuary, a fierce battle ensued. The ship's captain managed to capture one of the Knight's sons and sent the Knight a message that he should surrender or else the son would be put in one of the ship's cannons and fired against the castle wall. He replied that as he was virile and his wife was strong, it would be easy to produce another son.[11]
The tradition about the siege of Glin castle differs in many respects from the facts as given by Carew in Pacata Hibernia. We do know that tradition can be a completely distorting mirror, but the popular memory of a local event such as a battle, siege or massacre would be more vivid and more lasting and in essence more trustworthy than Carew's narrative, who was prejudiced and gives a complete travesty of the facts.
The garrison of the castle, according to tradition, was divided into two sections, one of which was commanded by Donall na Searrach Culhane and the other by Tadhg Dore. Before the siege began, Carew, who had the knight's child as hostage, sent an order to the knight to surrender the castle at once or else he would blow the child out of the mouth of the cannon. The knight's answer was remembered but can only be rendered here by algebraic symbols[why?]: Gread leat. Ta X go meidhreach fos agus Y go briomhar. Is fuiriste leanbh eile do gheiniuint.
The assault on the castle then began under the command of Capt. Flower but was beaten back with slaughter by the defenders. Three brothers named Giltenan played a heroic part in repulsing the attack and slew some of the best of Flower's men. Carew called up fresh reinforcements, which he placed under the leadership of Turlough Roe MacMahon, who lived at Colmanstown castle, County Clare, almost opposite Glin. Turlough was a man of evil reputation who had already committed many dreadful crimes against his own kith and kin and against the Irish people at large. He was the father of the celebrated Maire Ruadh MacMahon. He is referred to in a poem of the time as
Traolach Ruadh an fhill agus an eithigh
do mhairbh a bhean agus a leanbh in eineacht.
("Turlough Roe, the turncoat and vulture,/Killed his wife and child together.")
The second assault also failed, but Turlough was determined to carry it through, for he hated with a hatred which evil men are known to feel towards those they have mortally injured. In the meantime the cannonading had played havoc with the defences of the castle. In the third attempt MacMahon was able to move in a large body of men who, after a gallant defence by the garrison, succeeded in capturing the castle. The Giltenans, Tadhg Dore and his brother, and Donall Culhane and two of his sons were slain in the final defence. Some of the garrison tried to escape by jumping into the water surrounding the castle, but only three men succeeded in getting away. These were Mahon Dillane, Lewy O'Connor and Donall Beag Culhane (whose father was slain in the last defence of the castle).[12]
The "Old Castle" of Glin, the scene of the above battle, is a ruin. The tower still stands with a historic plaque in place. After the destruction of the old castle, the Knights built the "New Castle", a beautiful Georgian mansion, on the banks of the Shannon Estuary about a mile west of the old site. The last Knight lived there until his death (as well as in Dublin and London).[citation needed]
Under the Penal Laws of the 18th century, the Knights converted to the Church of Ireland to preserve their property. The surrounding villagers remained Roman Catholics, a division indicated today by the two churches in the village of Glin.[citation needed]
Following the war of independence and during the ensuing Civil War, in the early 1920s, Irish Republican Army (IRA) soldiers, from nearby North Kerry came to the 27th Knight Desmond FitzJohn Lloyd FitzGerald to tell him that no one whose title to land came from the English Crown could keep their land. The Knight immediately produced a document in Latin, supposedly from Duke of Normandy, indicating that his title did not originate from the English Crown at all.[13] The baffled IRA men left the Knight with his properties, which he holds to this day. Another version of the incident relates how the then Knight, who was an invalid and used a wheelchair, refused to leave the mansion when ordered to do so, as the IRA intended to set it alight. He insisted on staying, they left, and the mansion still stands.[14]
The FitzGerald dynasty is a Hiberno-Norman noble and aristocratic dynasty, originally of Cambro-Norman and Anglo-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the Four Masters as having become "more Irish than the Irish themselves" or Gaels, due to assimilation with the native Gaelic aristocratic and popular culture. The dynasty has also been referred to as the Geraldines and Ireland's largest landowners. They achieved power through colonisation and the conquest of large swathes of Irish territory by the sons and grandsons of Gerald de Windsor. Gerald de Windsor was the first Castellan of Pembroke Castle in Wales, and became the male progenitor of the FitzMaurice and FitzGerald Dynasty. His father, Baron Walter FitzOther, was the first Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle for William the Conqueror, and was the Lord of 38 manors in England, making the FitzGeralds one of the "service families" on whom the King relied for his survival. Some of its members became the Black Knights, Green Knights and White Knights.
Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, also counted as 15th or 16th, owned large part of the Irish province of Munster. In 1565 he fought the private Battle of Affane against his neighbours, the Butlers. After this, he was for some time detained in the Tower of London. Though the First Desmond Rebellion took place in his absence, he led the Second Desmond Rebellion from 1579 to his death and was therefore called the Rebel Earl. He was attainted in 1582 and went into hiding but was hunted down and killed.
Knight of Kerry, also called The Green Knight, is one of three Hiberno-Norman hereditary knighthoods, all of which existed in Ireland since feudal times. The other two were The White Knight, being dormant since the 19th century, and the Knight of Glin, dormant since 2011. All three belong to the FitzMaurice/FitzGerald Dynasty commonly known as the Geraldines being created by the Earls of Desmond for their kinsmen.
Gerald FitzMaurice FitzGerald (1335–1398), also known by the Irish Gaelic Gearóid Iarla, was the 3rd Earl of Desmond, in southwestern Ireland, under the first creation of that title, and a member of the Anglo-Norman dynasty of the FitzGerald, or Geraldines. He was the son of Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, by his third wife Aveline (Eleanor), daughter of Nicholas FitzMaurice, 3rd Lord of Kerry. He was half-brother to Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Desmond.
Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond in Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland was an Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland, Captain of Desmond Castle in Kinsale, so-called ruler of Munster, and for a short time Lord Justice of Ireland. Called "Maurice the Great", he led a rebellion against the Crown, but he was ultimately restored to favour.
Maurice FitzGerald, was Lord of Maynooth, Naas, and Llanstephan. He was a medieval Anglo-Norman baron and a major figure in the Norman Invasion of Ireland.
The White Knight is one of three Anglo-Norman hereditary knighthoods within Ireland dating from the medieval period. The title was first conferred upon Maurice Fitzgibbon in the early 14th century. The other two knighthoods, both in the Fitzgerald family, are the Knight of Glin, which has become dormant after 700 years, and the Knight of Kerry, which is held by Adrian FitzGerald, 6th Baronet, 24th Knight of Kerry.
Desmond John Villiers FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin was an Anglo-Irish hereditary knight, and author. He was the president of the Irish Georgian Society between 1991 and until his death in 2011.
Desmond Wyndham Otho FitzGerald, 28th Knight of Glin was an Anglo-Irish hereditary knight and socialite.
Robert FitzGerald, 17th Knight of Kerry was an Irish politician, barrister and hereditary knight.
Connor O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Thomond also spelt Conor and called Groibleach, or the "long-nailed", contended with his uncle Donnell for the Chieftainship of Clan O'Brien from 1535 to 1565. He was confirmed as 3rd Earl of Thomond in 1558 by the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex. O'Brien intrigued with fitz Maurice in 1569 during the 1st Desmond Rebellion and fled to France. He returned and was pardoned in 1571, being restored to his lands at the end of the rebellion in 1573.
Connor O'Brien, 2nd Viscount Clare was the son of Daniel O'Brien, 1st Viscount Clare and Catherine FitzGerald, a daughter of Gerald, 14th Earl of Desmond.
James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond, called 'the Usurper', was a younger son of Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond, and Lady Eleanor, daughter of James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond.
John FitzThomas, 1st Baron Desmond was the son of Thomas Fitzmaurice, Lord OConnello by his wife Ellinor, daughter of Jordan de Marisco, and sister of Geoffrey de Marisco, who was appointed justiciar of Ireland in 1215. He was the grandson of Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan.
James fitz John FitzGerald, 13th Earl of Desmond, also counted as the 14th, ruled 22 years, the first 4 years as de facto earl until the death of James FitzGerald, de jure 12th Earl of Desmond, called Court Page, who was murdered by James fitz John's brother Maurice fitz John FitzGerald, called Totane. James fitz John FitzGerald maintained himself in power by skilful diplomacy, avoiding armed conflict and destruction. He was appointed Lord Treasurer of Ireland in 1547.
Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Desmond was the brother of James FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Desmond.
James fitz Maurice FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond, also counted as the 11th, plotted against King Henry VIII with King Francis I of France in 1523 and with Emperor Charles V in 1528 and 1529.
Glin Castle is a Georgian country house and national heritage site located along the River Shannon in Glin, County Limerick, Ireland. The castle has belonged to the FitzMaurice/FitzGerald family for over 700 years and was the seat of the Knights of Glin.
Gerald FitzGerald, 17th Knight of Glin was an Irish Jacobite soldier and politician, the son of John FitzGerald, 16th Knight of Glin and Honora O'Connor.
The Siege of Glin Castle was undertaken between the 5th and 9th of July 1600 by the newly appointed Lord President of Munster, George Carew, in his summer campaign against the followers of James FitzThomas FitzGerald, who had risen up against the English settlers during Tyrone's rebellion and laid claim to the title of Earl of Desmond. Among his allies was Edmund Fitzthomas Fitzgerald, Knight of Glin.
↑ Graves, James, and Samuel Heyman, editors. "Unpublished Geraldine Documents, The Whyte Knight." The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, vol. IV, pg 37. Dublin University Press, Ireland. 1885, p. 3-27-37
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