DESMOND 233 (4) Margery, wife of John fitz Thomas. (5) Desiree (living 2 i Nov. I237),C) wife of Stephen I'Arcedekne (living 14 Feb. 1242/3). (') John fitz Thomas, s. and h. of Thomas fitz Morice (who d. in 12 1 3 or I2i4),() by Sabina or Sadhbh, his wife.('^) Having ;«. Margery, da. and coh. of Thomas fitz Anthony abovenamed, he obtained, 23 May 125 1, a provisional grant of ^^25 a year, in compensation for his purparty of Decies.C) On 7 Nov. 1259 Edward, the King's eldest son, at that time under age, gave him, for his homage and service, all the lands of Decies and Desmond, then in the hand of the said Edward, and which had been held by Thomas fitz Anthony, father of Margery wife of the said John, and the custody of the castle of Dungarvan, in fee, of which the said Thomas had been invested by the gift of King John, and of which he had died seized, to hold, to John and his heirs, at a rent of 500 marks a year, by the service of ^^^ of a knight's fee.(^) The Justiciar refused to give him seizin, saying that the Lord Edward had been deceived, and assigned him to appear before Edward's Council: whereupon he took seizin himself of these lands in the first week of Lent 1259/60,0 (') See note " e " on preceding page. C*) Thomas was a yr. son of Morice fitz Gerald, one of the conquerors of Ireland, his elder brothers being William, of Naas, and Gerald, of Offaly. See Naas and Offaly. On 6 Sep. 11 99 the King gave him 5 knights' fees in the tuath of Eleurl in the cantred of Fontemel and 5 knights' fees in the tuath of Huamerith in Thomond, on the Shannon, to hold by the service of 3J knights, in fee, and a burgage within the walls of Limerick, to hold by the service of I2d. a year. [Charter Roll, I Joh.,/>. I, m. 13). His widow made a fine with the King in Poitou [/'.c, between Feb. and Oct. 1214] for the custody and marriage of his s. and h. [Cloie Roll, 16 Joh., p. 2, m. 9), and she afterwards paid ^40 for liberty to remarry {Fine Roll, 17-18 Joh., m. 9). (') In 1 214-5 Nicholas fitz Leon and Sabina late the wife of Thomas fitz Morice made a fine of 600 marks for the custody of the land and the heir of the said Thomas, with the marriage of the heir. {Fine Roll, 16 Joh., rti. i). According to modern genealogists, the wife of Thomas was " Ellinor, da. of Jordan, and sister of Geoflfrey de Marisco [de Marais], Justiciar of Ireland." In the old pedigrees Eleanor (or Joan), da. of Geoffrey (or William) Morish or Moryson, Lord Justice, is given as wife to various members of the family, sometimes to a Thomas, sometimes to a Morice, and the foregoing seems to be no more than a plausible version of these conflicting statements. (d) Patent Roll, 35 Hen. Ill, m. 8. if) With the proviso that if there was common war in Ireland, or if the King had certain suspicion of John or of his heirs, quod absit, the castle of Dungarvan should be rendered up to the King, to be held by him as long as the war should last, or till the suspicion was allayed. And if the premises descended to an heir female, then the King might hold the said castle till an heir male succeeded or the same heir female should marry. {Gascon Roll, 44 Hen. Ill, m. 5 : Patent Roll [I.], antiquissime, d, no. 32: Justiciary Rolls [I.], vol. i, p. 153). " Et predictas terras et tenementa una cum balliviis predictis per eandem seisinam habuit a predicta prima septimana quadragesime anno regni Regis Henrici 30
