DESMOND. XV. 1558, 15. Gerald Fitz James (Fitz-Gerald) Earl of Pes- to MOND called " The Rebel Earl" who, if the issue of his Father's first 1582. wife were considered bastards, would be heir of his Father, being 1st s. by the second wife. He was recognised as Earl of Desmond, in the Pari, that sat at Dublin 12 Jan. 1559. Tho' one of the greatest subjects in Europe his restless spirit was not contented and for nearly 10 years (the confederacy into which he entered being dated 18 July 1571) he carried on a formidable rebellion and was attainted 15 Nov. 1582, whereby all his honours (as alao his estates of some 600,000 acres) became forfeited. He m. firstly some date after 1540, Joan, Dow. Countess ok OssoRI and Ormonde [I.] widow of Sir Francis Bryan, da. and sole h. of James, 11th Earl ok Desmond [1.] and Amy, his wife, abovenamed. By her who d. in 1564 and was bur. at Askeaton, he had no surv. issue. He m. secondly, Eleauor, da. of Edmoud (Butler) Baron Dunboyne [I]. She joined him in England (where he was detained 1567-73) in 1570. He was slain while under attainder, ll t Nov. 15S3, at Glanagiuty, by one Daniel Kelly his head being fixed over London Bridge (" in'jens rebellibus exemplar "( and his body bur. in Killnna- mannagh Chapel, near Kerry. His widow m. Denogh O'Connor, of co. Sligo, and (/. 1636, being 6hi-. near the Abbey of St. Domiuick, co. Sligo. Will dat. 5 Sept. 1636, proved in Dublin. XVI. 1G00 1. James Fitz-Gerald, 1st and possibly only (*) s. and k. 4 0 by the 2d wife is said to have been b. in England and to have been a godson of the Queen. He wits certainly a hostage there ami a 1601. prisoner in the Tower in 1584. In order, however, to neutralise the pretensions of those who iu Ireland assumed tho Earldom and who were hostile to the English government he was by patent, dat. at Oatlands, 1 Oct., 1600, cr. and restored as Earl ok Desmond [I.J " to hold the same as fully as Gerard, his father, with the title of Baho.v ok Ilft'HKiUiN [I.] to be borne by his eldest son and heir apparent," () with rem. to the heirs male of his body. He who is called " The Queen's Earl " was sent into Ireland to draw to himself the ancient followers of his race, but having professed the protcstant religion, was Blue to effect nothing and returned to London where he d. uuiu. Nov. 1601, when all the honours conferred by the patent of 1600 became extinct. Notwithstanding the attainder of 15S2 and the doubtful legitimacy of the children of the first wife of the 11th Earl; the title was assumed after his death in 1558, as under ;— XV. 1558. 15. Sir Thomas Fitz James (Fitz-Gerald), culled (Ruah) " the Red," s. and h. of the 11th Earl, by his first wife, but bastardized and disinherited by his father from whom, however, he inherited the lands of Killnataloon and Castlemore. He apparently never assumed the Earldom tho. sum. as an Earl to the Pari, of 3 Ph. and Mary. He was knighted 2 Sep. 1569, at Limerick, by tho Lord Deputy Sidney [I.] as " Thomas Fitz-Gerald, alias O'Desmond." He in. Ellice who is called, by some, the da. of Kichard (Power), Baron Le Power fl.], by others, da. of Theobald (Butler), Baron Caher [I.] and by others da. of David (Uochk), Viscount Fermoy [I.] He d- 18 Jany. 1595, at his Castle of Connagh and was bur. at Youghal. (") There is a tradition that a yr. s. Thomas (who d. a p.) existed. (>') See " Lynch," p. 258, who calls attention to the fact that the attainder by act of pari, remained unrepealed and quotes the case of the Earldom of Kildare [I.] attainted by act of purl. 28 Hen. VIII and restored by letters patent (only) 13 May 1551 "from which it might be inferred that the prerogative of the Crown was greater iu Ireland than it appears to have been in England." It should bo remarked that the Barony ok Incuuiuin [I.] was iu 1600 (as it now also is) a, Peerage [I.] a: 1543, in actual existence, held by the family of O'Brien.
