with the O'Nolans and O'Murroughs in 1330 he first introduced the practice of coigne and livery, or quartering soldiers on the inhabitants of the district they were sent to protect. About this time the Anglo-Normans began to adopt Irish customs and names, and throw off English authority. Their estrangement was hastened by an Act of the English Parliament under Edward III,, confining offices in Ireland to those who had estates in England, which irritated the Anglo-Norman party, and Desmond and others called a counter parliament at Kilkenny, Ufford, the Lord-Justice, marched against them, seized Desmond's estates, and threw him into prison. After Ufford's death, Desmond made his peace, attended Edward III, to the French war with twenty men-at-arms and fifty hobellars, and had his estates restored to him. "In consequence of his having been insultingly termed 'rhymer' by Baron Arnold le Poer, at a public assembly, this Maurice embarked in a fierce intestine strife, the nobles of Ireland banding themselves on the opposite sides. Such ravages were committed that the towns were obliged to provide garrisons for their own protection, and royal writs were issued from England, ordering the Le Poers and Geraldines to desist from levying forces for the purpose of attacking each other; but to little purpose." 147 The 1st Earl died in Dublin, 25th January 1355, and was buried at Tralee. 147
Desmond, Maurice, 2ud Earl, son of preceding. By his wife Beatrix, daughter of the Earl of Stafford, he had but a daughter, who married Donald Oge Mac-Carty Mor. He was drowned or died a natural death in 1358, and was buried in Tralee Abbey. 147
Desmond, Nicholas, 3rd Earl, brother of preceding. Being an idiot, Edward III, granted custody of the Desmond estates to his younger brother Gerald, Nicholas died childless in 1367. 147
Desmond, Gerald, 4th Earl, half-brother of preceding, surnamed "Gerald the Poet," succeeded to the estates and honours of the family, He married, by the King's command, Eleanor, daughter of James, 2nd Earl of Ormond, who gave her for portion the barony of Inchiquin in Imokelly, Gerald was Lord-Justice of Ireland, 1367. In 1398 he disappeared, and is fabled to live beneath the waters of Lough Gur, near Kilmallock, on whose banks he appears once every seven years. O'Donovan quotes the following concerning his character: "A nobleman of wonderful bountie, mirth, cheerfulness in conversation, charitable in his deeds, easy of access, a witty and ingenious composer of Irish poetry, and a learned and profound chronicler; and, in fine, one of the English nobility that had Irish learning and professors thereof in greatest reverence of all the English in Ireland, died penitently after receipt of the sacraments of the holy church in proper form." 134 Fragments of Anglo-Norman verse attributed to him, known as "Proverbs of the Earl of Desmond," survive. 134 147 147* 216
Desmond, John, 5th Earl, son of preceding, was drowned near Ardfinnan, on the Suir, when returning with his followers from an incursion into the Earl of Ormond's territory, 4th March 1399, and was buried at Youghal. He married according to one account, Mary Bourke; or, according to Lodge, Joan, daughter of the Lord of Fermoy. 147 147*
Desmond, Thomas, 6th Earl, son of preceding, was deprived of his earldom in 1418, on account of his marriage with Catherine, daughter of William MacCormac of Abbeyfeale, one of his dependants. The romantic incident of his meeting Catherine as he was out hunting, is told in Moore's lines, commencing:
"By the Feal's wave benighted,
Not a star in the skies,
To thy door by love lighted,
I first saw those eyes."
The alliance was so unfavourably regarded by his clan, that he abandoned his estates, and retired to France. He died at Rouen, l0th August 1420, and was buried at Paris "with great and mighty show, where the two kings of England and France were present." It is said that by his wife he left two sons—Maurice, ancestor of the FitzGeralds of Adare and Broghill, and John Claragh, who died in 1452. 52
Desmond, James, 7th Earl, uncle of preceding, son of the 4th Earl, surnamed "James the Usurper." One of the chief instruments in compelling his nephew's exile, he seized his estates, but was not generally acknowledged as Earl until 1422. In the same year he was made Constable of Limerick, and two years afterwards obtained the custody of Limerick, Waterford, Cork, and Kerry, He married Mary, eldest daughter of Ulick de Burgh, He was relieved from the duty of attending Parliament in 1445. He and the Earl of Ormond were godfathers to George, afterwards Duke of Clarence. The following is a portion of a letter addressed to him as a descendant of the Geraldines in 1440, in the name of the Florentine republic: "Magnificent lord and dearest friend: If it be true, as is publickly stated, that your progenitors were of Florentine
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