origin, and of the right noble and antique stock of the Gherardini, still one of the highest and greatest families of our states, we have ample reason to rejoice and congratulate ourselves that our people have not only acquired possessions in Apulia, Greece, and Hungary, but that our Florentines, through you and yours, bear sway even in Ibernia, the most remote island of the world. O great glory of our state! O singular benevolence of God towards our people! from whom have sprung so many nobles and dominators diffused over the entire orbit of the earth."147 By the Earl of Ormond he was appointed Seneschal of Imokelly, Inchiquin, and Youghal, and founded the monastery of Franciscans at Askeaton. He died in 1462, and was buried in the Friary of Youghal. 147 216
Desmond, Thomas, 8th Earl, son of the preceding, was in 1463 appointed Lord-Deputy under the Duke of Clarence. On assuming the government he was opposed by 5,000 of the English of Meath, whom he soon reduced to obedience. On many other occasions he had to take the field both against the "King's English rebels," and the "King's Irish enemy." The Irish Parliament, in letters to the King, referred to the great services which he "at intolerable charges," and "in jeopardy of his life, rendered to the reigning monarch, as well as to his father, 'the right noble and famous prince of blessed memory, Richard Duke of York.' They certified that he was and ever had been the King's true and faithful liegeman, governing himself always by English laws, and by those who were well-wishers to his Highness. By God's grace and the great travail and labour of the Deputy, the land, they wrote, was in a reasonable state of peace and tranquillity. The Parliament prayed that it might please the King to bear in remembrance the great services, costs, and charges, of the Earl Thomas, to have him in tenderness and special favour, and to reward him according to his wisdom and bounty."147 In 1464 he founded the collegiate church of Youghal. In 1467 he was succeeded in the government by John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, "who caused him to be attainted of treason in a parliament held at Drogheda, with the Earl of Kildare and Edward Plunket, for alliances, fosterage, and alterage with the Irish; for furnishing them with horse and arms, and supporting them against the King's subjects; for which he was beheaded, 15th February 1467, at Drogheda, and was there buried in St. Peter's Church." 216 Lodge makes the following statement in a note: "His tomb was removed, by order of Sir Henry Sidney, to the church of the Holy Trinity in Dublin, where it seems to represent the person of Earl Strongbow, whose monument was broken by the fall of the roof of the church on Whitsun-eve, 1572." He married Ellice, daughter of John, Lord Barry of Buttevant. Three of his sons, James, Maurice, and Thomas, became Earls of Desmond. One account attributes his death to the intrigues of Edward IV.'s Queen, Elizabeth Gray, who was jealous of Desmond's influence over her husband. 147 147* 216
Desmond, James, 9th Earl, was born in 1459, and succeeded on his father's execution in 1467. O'Daly says: "Now James FitzThomas, having made terms with King Edward, and received immunity for any act which he had committed to avenge his father's death, became Earl of Desmond. He was a man of singular prudence, and largely to the detriment of the Irish did he increase the territories he had acquired." 147* He married Margaret, daughter of Thady O'Brien, Prince of Thomond. King Richard III. endeavoured to attach him to his interests, and sent him a collar of gold weighing 20 oz., with the device of a white boar, pendant from a circlet of roses and suns; also a "long gown of cloth of gold, lined with satin or damask; two doublets, one of velvet, and another of crimson satin; three shirts and kerchiefs; three stomachers; three pair of hose—one of scarlet, one of violet, and the third of black; three bonnets; two hats; and two tippets of velvet." But notwithstanding these blandishments, the Earl augmented his Irish alliances, and retained his Irish habits. He was murdered at Rathkeale, 7th December 1487 (aged 28), possibly at the instigation of his brother and successor, and was buried at Youghal. His sister Catherine married the MacCarthy Reagh. A book once her property (now known as the Book of Lismore) was discovered in a wall in Lismore Castle in 1811. 52 147 147* 216
Desmond, Maurice, 10th Earl, succeeded on the death of his brother in 1487. Being lame, and usually carried in a horse-litter, he was styled " Vehiculus," and by some, on account of his bravery, " Bellicosus." He sided with the pretender, Perkin Warbeck, in the siege of Waterford and other expeditions. Nevertheless, making himble submission, the King not only forgave, but took him into favour, 26th August 1497, and granted him all the "customs, cockets, poundage, and prize-wines of Limerick, Cork, Kingsale, Baltimore, and Youghall, with other privi-
