Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare

Last updated March 18, 2023

Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare (1318 - 25 August 1390) was a prominent Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland who held the office of Lord Justice of Ireland.

The second son of Thomas FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Kildare by his spouse Joan (d.1359), daughter of Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, he succeeded his brother Richard, 3rd Earl, who died aged 12 in 1329.

Maurice, Earl of Kildare, suppressed the insurrection in 1339 of the O'Dempsies in Leinster; and in November 1346, with Lord Justice Bermingham, forced the O'Mores to submit and give hostages for their future good behaviour. In 1346 he was himself imprisoned due to suspicion about his loyalty to the Crown, but was soon released and restored to favour. On 26 January 1347 he was summoned by Writ signed at Eltham Palace to serve King Edward III at the siege of Calais where he proceeded in May with thirty men-at-arms and was subsequently made leader of the army, and knighted.^[1]

With various irregulars and foot-soldiers assigned to defend County Kildare against rebel Irish, the earl was appointed, on 14 September 1358, supervisor of the four commissioners for raising and collecting their pay from that county.

On 30 March 1360 he was constituted Lord Justice of Ireland with an annual salary of £500 sterling. He was made Custos of the realm again on 22 March 1371, and a third time on 16 February 1375, until the return of Sir William Windsor.

In 1364 he headed a delegation of Irish nobles and officials to complain directly to King Edward III about the misgovernment of Ireland, and the corruption of certain officials, notably Thomas de Burley, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland.

In 1378 he petitioned King Richard II that he had, at his request, accompanied the Lord Justice, James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond "in a certain amount of great hosting" of the O'Morchoes of Slewmargy (Sliabh Mairge), with numerous horsemen in his retinue, whereof six of his men were lost as well as four coats of mail and other armour. He asked for recompense, of which the King granted £10 sterling from the Exchequer of Ireland on 21 May 1378.

On 22 January 1377 he was summoned to the Parliament held at Castledermot; and on 11 September 1381 to that held at Trim; and on 29 April 1382 to that held at Dublin. In 1379 he was sent to England a second time to report on the state of Irish affairs, accompanied by the soldier and statesman Sir John Cruys of Thorncastle.

He was, with Sir Philip Courtenay, the Lord Justice, active in imposing law and order in Leinster and Merthyr and elsewhere, and in resisting rebels all at his own expense. His reward came partly in the form of a grant, dated 20 April 1386, of the estate of Sir William de London in the counties of Kildare and Meath during the minority of his son and heir, John de London. On 5 August 1389 he was enfeoffed in the manors of Lucan, County Dublin, Kildrought (now Celbridge), and Kilmacredock, County Kildare, held from the Crown in capite for him and his heirs forever.

On 29 May 1390, a Writ was issued to him to remove O'Connor, son of Dough O'Dempsie, the King's Irish enemy currently detained in Kildare Castle, to Dublin Castle for safer custody.

He died at an advanced age in 1390, and was interred in the Church of the Holy Trinity, now Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.^[1]

The Annales Hiberniae record that in 1347, after having been with the King at the siege of Calais, which was surrendered on 4 June, Maurice Fitz Thomas, Earl of Kildare was knighted by the King, and married to the daughter of Sir Bartholomew Burghersh the elder and his wife Elizabeth de Verdun, one of the heiresses of Theobald de Verdun, 2nd Baron Verdon.^[2] His wife is widely noted as being called Elizabeth. It is very clear that her father was Bartholomew Burghersh the elder. The reason we can be so certain is that her brother Henry's Inquisition Post Mortem was recorded in 1349. It records that he was the son of Bartholomew de Burghersh and that his heir was his brother Bartholomew, son of Bartholomew de Burghersh, aged 26 years and more. If this younger Bartholomew was aged 26 or more in 1349, he cannot have had a daughter who married Maurice Fitzgerald in 1347.^[3]^[4]^[5]

He had issue as follows:

Gerald FitzGerald, 5th Earl of Kildare
John FitzGerald, de jure 6th Earl of Kildare; on his brother's death he failed to take possession of the Earldom, but was the father of
- Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Kildare
Thomas FitzGerald, High Sheriff of County Limerick
Joanne, who married Donal MacCarthy Reagh, 5th Prince of Carbery.

Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Richard FitzGerald	Earl of Kildare 1329–1390	Succeeded by Gerald FitzGerald

Notes

1 2 "Fitzgerald, Maurice, 4th Earl of Kildare", Dictionary of National Biography, (Leslie Stephen ed.), Macmillan & Co., London, 1889
↑ 'A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire'. Sir Bernard Burke LL.D., Ulster King of Arms. London, Harrison, 59 Pall Mall, 1866. Page 548.
↑ 'Jacobi Grace, Kilkenniensis, Annales Hiberniae', ed. by Rev. Richard Butler MRIA, published in Dublin for The Irish Archaeological Society, 1842. Page 143: 1347. The Earl of Kildare, with barons and knights, goes to the king to the siege of Calais, which was surrendered to him on the 4th of June. ...Maurice Fitz Thomas, Earl of Kildare, is knighted by the king, and marries the daughter of Sir Bartholomew Burghersh. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
↑ 'Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. IX. Edward III'. Public Record Office, London 1916. Page 243-244: Henry de Burgherssh. Writ, 29 January, 23 Edward III (i.e. 29 Jan 1349). He died on Monday before St. Martin, 22 Edward III. [Bartholomew], son of Bartholomew de Burgherssh, aged 26 years and more is his heir. Below this: Writ, 29 January, 23 Edward III, and overleaf page 244: Bartholomew de Burgherssh his brother, aged 26 years and more is his heir. C. Edw. III. File 99. (7.), E. Enrolments &c. of Inq. No. 68.
↑ 'Dictionary of National Biography', Volume VII. ed. by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. New York, The Macmillan Company, London: Smith, Elder, & Co. 1908. Page 141: In 1347 he was present with Edward III at the siege and capture of Calais (CLYN, Annals, p.34). He was then knighted by the king, and married to a daughter of Sir Bartholomew Burghersh (GRACE, Annals, p.143). ...By his wife, Elizabeth Burghersh, he left four sons.... This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

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References

Lodge, John, & Archdall, Mervyn, A.M., The Peerage of Ireland, Dublin, 1789, vol.1, p. 80-81.

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[dnb-1] 1 2 "Fitzgerald, Maurice, 4th Earl of Kildare", Dictionary of National Biography, (Leslie Stephen ed.), Macmillan & Co., London, 1889

[2] 'A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire'. Sir Bernard Burke LL.D., Ulster King of Arms. London, Harrison, 59 Pall Mall, 1866. Page 548.

[3] 'Jacobi Grace, Kilkenniensis, Annales Hiberniae', ed. by Rev. Richard Butler MRIA, published in Dublin for The Irish Archaeological Society, 1842. Page 143: 1347. The Earl of Kildare, with barons and knights, goes to the king to the siege of Calais, which was surrendered to him on the 4th of June. ...Maurice Fitz Thomas, Earl of Kildare, is knighted by the king, and marries the daughter of Sir Bartholomew Burghersh. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

[4] 'Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Vol. IX. Edward III'. Public Record Office, London 1916. Page 243-244: Henry de Burgherssh. Writ, 29 January, 23 Edward III (i.e. 29 Jan 1349). He died on Monday before St. Martin, 22 Edward III. [Bartholomew], son of Bartholomew de Burgherssh, aged 26 years and more is his heir. Below this: Writ, 29 January, 23 Edward III, and overleaf page 244: Bartholomew de Burgherssh his brother, aged 26 years and more is his heir. C. Edw. III. File 99. (7.), E. Enrolments &c. of Inq. No. 68.

[5] 'Dictionary of National Biography', Volume VII. ed. by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. New York, The Macmillan Company, London: Smith, Elder, & Co. 1908. Page 141: In 1347 he was present with Edward III at the siege and capture of Calais (CLYN, Annals, p.34). He was then knighted by the king, and married to a daughter of Sir Bartholomew Burghersh (GRACE, Annals, p.143). ...By his wife, Elizabeth Burghersh, he left four sons.... This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

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