low for that of Ferns. In 1205 he sat in the Irish Parliament as Baron Offaly, and died the same year. His wife was Catharine, a daughter of Hamo de Valois, Lord-Justice of Ireland in 1197. 41
FitzGerald, Maurice, 2nd Baron Offaly, son of preceding, must have been very young at his father's death, as it was not until 1216 that he was put in possession of Maynooth and the other paternal estates, by a mandatory letter of Henry III. In 1215 he introduced into Ireland the order of the Franciscans, and in 1216 the Dominicans. He was appointed Lord-Justice both in 1229 and 1245. In 1233 he built the Franciscan Abbey of Youghal. In 1234, at a conference on the Curragh between Richard, Earl Marshal, the Baron of Offaly, and others, the former was murdered; whereupon FitzGerald proceeded to London, and took an oath before Henry III. that he was innocent of all participation in the deed. In 1234 the King issued a writ directing FitzGerald to proclaim free trade between Ireland and England. In 1236 he founded the Dominican Abbey at Sligo as the abode of a community of monks to say prayers for the Earl Marshal's soul, and the same year built the Castle of Armagh, and in 1242 that of Sligo. In 1235 he marched at the head of a large force into Connaught, and reduced the province to submission. In 1245 he and Felim O'Conor of Connaught were admonished for tardiness in joining the King in an expedition into Wales. After this, among other rights, the Irish Barons claimed exemption from attending the sovereign beyond the realm. In 1246 FitzGerald subdued Tyrconnel, and in 1248 marched into Tyrone, and forced O'Neill to give hostages; but in 1257 he was defeated by Godfrey O'Donnell at the Rosses, near Sligo. Soon after this he retired to the Franciscan monastery at Youghal, assumed the habit of the order, and died the same year. He had married a daughter of John de Cogan. 202
FitzGerald, Maurice, 3rd Baron Offaly, succeeded his father in 1257. Terrible feuds raged in his time between the Geraldines and De Burghs. In 1272 he was made Lord-Justice. He more than once invaded Thomond, in 1277 taking prisoner and executing O'Brien Roe, prince of that district; on his return, with part of his forces, he was surrounded in a pass of the Slieve Bloom mountains, and his men were reduced to eat horse flesh, and ultimately compelled to give hostages, and grant to the Irish the Castle of Roscommon. A poem celebrating the efforts made to defend Ross against rival factions, by walling it in 1265, is given by Mr. Croker in his Popular Songs of Ireland. The Baron of Offaly died at Ross in 1277.
FitzGerald, Sir Gerald, 4th Baron Offaly, succeeded his father in 1277. He completed the Grey Abbey at Kildare, and founded the Franciscan Abbey at Clane. He carried on wars with the O'Conors. In a battle with the O'Briens in 1287 many Anglo-Norman knights were slain, and he received a wound from which he shortly afterwards died at Rathmore. He was buried at Kildare. 202
FitzGerald, Maurice, 5th Baron Offaly, succeeded. He married Agnes de Valence, great grand-daughter of Eva and Earl Strongbow. 202
FitzGerald, John, 1st Earl of Kildare. On the death of the 5th Baron Offaly, who left no children, John, descended from the third son of the 2nd Baron, was the only surviving male descendant of the 1st Baron. The story of an ape saving a member of the family from a burning castle, is told of the 1st Earl of Kildare, as well as of one of the Desmonds. When Swift was writing Gulliver's Travels, he had quarrelled with the then Earl of Kildare, and hence introduced the incident of Gulliver being carried off and fed by the Brobdingnagian ape. Whatever may be the truth of the story, the ape was adopted as the FitzGerald crest. [See Desmonds.] In 1293, in consequence of a dispute between him and William de Vesci, Lord of Kildare, they were both summoned to appear before Edward I. After mutual recrimination, FitzGerald challenged De Vesci to single combat. When the day came, De Vesci fled to France, and the King declared FitzGerald innocent, and added: "Albeit Albert de Vesci conveyed his person into France, yet he left his lands behind him in Ireland," and he granted them to FitzGerald. Having consistently opposed the "Irish enemy," assisted on three occasions against the Scotch, and in 1315 opposed Edward Bruce at Ardscull, in Kildare, he was, 14th May 1316, created Earl of Kildare, and granted the castle and town of that name. He died at Maynooth or at Laraghbryan, 10th September 1316, and was buried in the Grey Abbey at Kildare. 202
FitzGerald, Thomas, 2nd Earl of Kildare, succeeded his father in 1316. In 1317 he took the field at the head of an army of 30,000 men against Edward Bruce, who was slain the following year near Dundalk. FitzGerald held the office of Lord-Justice more than once. During his lifetime Ireland continued to be torn by
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