Europe · High and late Middle Ages
Earldom of Desmond
drawn on the map 1333–1458
The Earldom of Desmond was the great FitzGerald (Geraldine) lordship of Munster in south-west Ireland. Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald was created 1st Earl of Desmond in 1329 ("Maurice the Great"); he introduced coigne and livery (billeting troops on the population) and ruled Munster with feudal near-independence until his death in 1356.
- Shown on the map
- 1333–1458
- Peak area
- 20k km²
- Region
- Europe
Foundation and Gaelicisation
The Earldom of Desmond was the great FitzGerald (Geraldine) lordship of Munster in south-west Ireland. Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald was created 1st Earl of Desmond in 1329 ("Maurice the Great"); he introduced coigne and livery (billeting troops on the population) and ruled Munster with feudal near-independence until his death in 1356. Over succeeding generations the dynasty became heavily Gaelicised, adopting Irish law, language and custom and holding aloof from Dublin and the Crown.
The Rebellions and attainder
In the Elizabethan period the Geraldines led two great revolts. The First Desmond Rebellion (1569–1573) was launched by James FitzMaurice FitzGerald (captain-general of Desmond), with a strong Catholic-crusade element. The Second Desmond Rebellion (1579–1583) was bloodier, beginning with FitzMaurice's landing with papal troops in 1579 (he was killed in August 1579); command passed to Gerald FitzGerald, the "Rebel Earl" (c. 1533–1583; styled 14th Earl on English Wikipedia's reckoning, but 15th in the Dictionary of Irish Biography and other sources). He was attainted in 1582 and hunted down and killed on 11 November 1583 in the Slieve Mish mountains of Kerry, his head sent to Queen Elizabeth and displayed on London Bridge. The killing ended the dynasty; the vast forfeited estates were confiscated and granted to English settlers in the Plantation of Munster in the 1580s.
Common questions
- What was the Earldom of Desmond?
- The Earldom of Desmond was the great FitzGerald (Geraldine) lordship of Munster in south-west Ireland. Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald was created 1st Earl of Desmond in 1329 ("Maurice the Great"); he introduced coigne and livery (billeting troops on the population) and ruled Munster with feudal near-independence until his death in 1356.
- When is the Earldom of Desmond shown on the map?
- The border data draws the Earldom of Desmond 1333–1458. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
- How large was the Earldom of Desmond?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Earldom of Desmond covered about 20,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each kingdom as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia, national heritage bodies (Historic Environment Wales and Scotland, the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust), museum sources and the Dictionary of Irish Biography, read against the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Bede and the Irish annals with their own biases. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Earl of Desmond en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Desmond
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
See the Earldom of Desmond in its world
Open the atlas at 1396 and every neighbour, rival and successor is on screen with it — then drag the slider and watch what happens next.
Open the map at 1396 →