Margaret Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond
Encyclopedia
Margaret FitzGerald, Countess of Ormond, Countess of Ossory
(died 9 August 1542) was an Irish noblewoman and a member of the powerful and celebrated FitzGerald dynasty also known as "The Geraldines". She married Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, by whom she had four sons and five daughters.
She was a patron of schools and craftsmen and also played an active role in legal affairs pertaining to the Ormond estates. She is sometimes styled the Great Countess of Ormond or by her Irish
name of Mairgread Gerroid. The Reverend James Graves
in his History of the Cathedral Church of St. Canice, Kilkenny described her as having been "unquestionably one of the most remarkable women of her age and country".
and his first wife Alison FitzEustace, daughter of Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester
. She had a brother Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare
, three sisters, Lady Eleanor Fitzgerald (ca. 1482-after 1541), Lady Alice, and Lady Eustacia; and five half-brothers from her father's later marriage to Elizabeth St. John following the death of her mother on 22 November 1495.
Her father was the premier nobleman in Ireland
and he also served as Lord Deputy of Ireland
during the reigns of English kings Edward IV
, Edward V
, Richard III
, Henry VII
, and Henry VIII
. One of her nephews was Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare
, known in Irish history as "Silken Thomas"; and one of her nieces was Elizabeth Clinton, Countess of Lincoln, the celebrated "Fair Geraldine", by her brother Gerald's second wife, Lady Elizabeth Grey
.
Margaret was also known by her Irish name of Mairgread Gerroid, or else playfully as Magheen or Little Margaret, due to her tall stature.
of Polestown and Sabh Kavanagh. The marriage was political; arranged with the purpose of ending the long-standing rivalry between the two families. In the early years of their marriage, Margaret and her husband were reduced to penury by James Dubh Butler, an illegitimate nephew and agent of the absentee Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond, who resided in England and was rumoured to have been the wealthiest subject in the realm. Piers retaliated by killing James Dubh in a skirmish in 1497; however, he received a pardon for his crime on 22 February 1498. Piers had a claim to the Earldom of Ormond, and on 3 August 1515, upon the death of the 7th Earl of Ormond (who had only two daughters as heirs), he succeeded as the 8th Earl of Ormond. Years earlier, in 1498, he and Margaret had seized Kilkenny Castle
and made it their chief residence. Through her considerable efforts, the standard of living inside the castle had been greatly improved.
In 1528, Margaret's husband was persuaded to renounce his Ormond title in favour of one of his rival claimants, the 7th Earl's grandson, Sir Thomas Boleyn, whose daughter, Anne Boleyn
was being courted by King Henry VIII with the purpose of making her queen consort. In 1522, there had been a proposal that Anne should marry James, the eldest son of Margaret and Piers, in an attempt to resolve the dispute over the earldom which had broken out following the death of the 7th Earl and subsequent accession of Piers. She would have brought her Ormond inheritance as dowry
, and thus ended the dispute. For reasons unknown, the marriage negotiations ended in failure, and the King shortly afterwards became enamoured of Anne. To please her as well as elevate her in rank, Henry decided to bestow the earldoms of Ormond and Wiltshire
upon her father. Aided by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey Piers was compensated for his loss of title by being made 1st Earl of Ossory that same year (1528). In 1535, James was created Viscount Thurles.
Together Margaret and Piers had a total of nine children:
in 1536, died. Prior to that date, Piers and Margaret had continued to style themselves as Earl and Countess of Ormond.
Margaret was sometimes styled the "Great Countess of Ormond". She signed herself "Margaret Fitzgerald of the Geraldines", and occupied herself in legal matters regarding her family and the Ormond estates, having worked with Piers in developing the estate, expanding and rebuilding manor houses. She also established Kilkenny Grammar School
. She urged Piers to bring over skilled weavers and artificers from Flanders
and she helped establish industries for the production of carpets, tapestries and diapers (a type of cloth). Margaret and her husband were responsible for having commissioned significant additions to the castles of Granagh and Ormond
. They also rebuilt Gowran
Castle, which had been originally constructed in 1385 by James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond.
Richard Stanihurst described Margaret as having been "manlike and tall of staure, liberal and bountiful, a sure friend and a bitter enemy". He also credits her with having improved the standard of living in Kilkenny
. Reverend James Graves said of her: "The fairest daughter of the Earl of Kildare was unquestionably one of the most remarkable women of her age and country". He also claims that she was the "traditional builder of nearly every castle in the district". Another chronicler considered her "a lady so politic, that nothing was thought substantially debated without her advice, while another described her as "able for wisdom to rule a realm had not her stomach overruled itself".
Margaret also developed a personal estate on her jointure
lands which eventually descended to her younger son, Richard, 1st Viscount Mountgarret.
Her husband Piers died in 1539; Margaret was the sole executor of his will. She herself died on 9 August 1542 and was buried in St Canice's Cathedral
, Kilkenny alongside Piers. Their effigies
are on their tomb.
Earl of Ossory
Earl of Ossory is a subsidiary title held by the Earl of Ormond that was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1528.In 1525, King Henry VIII of England became enamoured of Anne Boleyn and began pursuing her. As Henry's infatuation for Anne intensified, so did her father's titles...
(died 9 August 1542) was an Irish noblewoman and a member of the powerful and celebrated FitzGerald dynasty also known as "The Geraldines". She married Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, by whom she had four sons and five daughters.
She was a patron of schools and craftsmen and also played an active role in legal affairs pertaining to the Ormond estates. She is sometimes styled the Great Countess of Ormond or by her Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
name of Mairgread Gerroid. The Reverend James Graves
James Graves (antiquarian)
Rev. James Graves , was an Irish clergyman, antiquary and archaeologist of the Victorian era.- Life :A native of Kilkenny, James's father the Revd. Richard Graves kept a school in the city, and James himself was born on St Canice's day, 11 October. He later regretted that he had not been named...
in his History of the Cathedral Church of St. Canice, Kilkenny described her as having been "unquestionably one of the most remarkable women of her age and country".
Family
Lady Margaret was born in Ireland, the daughter of Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of KildareGerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare
Gerald Mór FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, KG , known variously as "Garret the Great" or "The Great Earl" , was Ireland's premier peer...
and his first wife Alison FitzEustace, daughter of Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester
Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester
Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester was an Irish peer and judge.FitzEustace was the son of Sir Edward FitzEustace of Castlemartin, Lord Deputy of Ireland. He was appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Lord Treasurer of Ireland by Henry VI of England in 1474 and was elevated to the Irish...
. She had a brother Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare
Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare
Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare , also known in Irish as Gearóid Óg , was a figure in Irish History. In 1513 he inherited the title of Earl of Kildare and position of Lord Deputy of Ireland from his father.-Family:...
, three sisters, Lady Eleanor Fitzgerald (ca. 1482-after 1541), Lady Alice, and Lady Eustacia; and five half-brothers from her father's later marriage to Elizabeth St. John following the death of her mother on 22 November 1495.
Her father was the premier nobleman in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and he also served as Lord Deputy of Ireland
Lord Deputy of Ireland
The Lord Deputy was the King's representative and head of the Irish executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and later the Kingdom of Ireland...
during the reigns of English kings Edward IV
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
, Edward V
Edward V of England
Edward V was King of England from 9 April 1483 until his deposition two months later. His reign was dominated by the influence of his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who succeeded him as Richard III...
, Richard III
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
, Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
, and Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. One of her nephews was Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare
Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare
Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare , also known as Silken Thomas , was a figure in Irish history.He spent a considerable part of his early life in England: his mother Elizabeth Zouche, was a cousin of Henry VII...
, known in Irish history as "Silken Thomas"; and one of her nieces was Elizabeth Clinton, Countess of Lincoln, the celebrated "Fair Geraldine", by her brother Gerald's second wife, Lady Elizabeth Grey
Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kildare
Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kildare , was an English noblewoman, and the second wife of Irish peer Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare...
.
Margaret was also known by her Irish name of Mairgread Gerroid, or else playfully as Magheen or Little Margaret, due to her tall stature.
Marriage and issue
In 1485, she married Piers Ruadh Butler, son of Sir James ButlerSir James Butler
Sir James Butler of Polestown was the eldest son of Sir Edmund MacRichard Butler and was a warlord in Yorkist Ireland.-Career:James succeeded his father in 1464 as Lord Deputy to his absentee cousins John and Thomas, the 6th and 7th earls respectively of Ormond...
of Polestown and Sabh Kavanagh. The marriage was political; arranged with the purpose of ending the long-standing rivalry between the two families. In the early years of their marriage, Margaret and her husband were reduced to penury by James Dubh Butler, an illegitimate nephew and agent of the absentee Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond, who resided in England and was rumoured to have been the wealthiest subject in the realm. Piers retaliated by killing James Dubh in a skirmish in 1497; however, he received a pardon for his crime on 22 February 1498. Piers had a claim to the Earldom of Ormond, and on 3 August 1515, upon the death of the 7th Earl of Ormond (who had only two daughters as heirs), he succeeded as the 8th Earl of Ormond. Years earlier, in 1498, he and Margaret had seized Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny Castle is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways...
and made it their chief residence. Through her considerable efforts, the standard of living inside the castle had been greatly improved.
In 1528, Margaret's husband was persuaded to renounce his Ormond title in favour of one of his rival claimants, the 7th Earl's grandson, Sir Thomas Boleyn, whose daughter, Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
was being courted by King Henry VIII with the purpose of making her queen consort. In 1522, there had been a proposal that Anne should marry James, the eldest son of Margaret and Piers, in an attempt to resolve the dispute over the earldom which had broken out following the death of the 7th Earl and subsequent accession of Piers. She would have brought her Ormond inheritance as dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
, and thus ended the dispute. For reasons unknown, the marriage negotiations ended in failure, and the King shortly afterwards became enamoured of Anne. To please her as well as elevate her in rank, Henry decided to bestow the earldoms of Ormond and Wiltshire
Earl of Wiltshire
The title Earl of Wiltshire is one of the oldest in the Peerage of England, going back to the 12th century. It is currently held by the Marquess of Winchester, and is used as a courtesy title for the eldest son of the marquess....
upon her father. Aided by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey Piers was compensated for his loss of title by being made 1st Earl of Ossory that same year (1528). In 1535, James was created Viscount Thurles.
Together Margaret and Piers had a total of nine children:
- James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond, Viscount Thurles (1496- 28 October 1546), married Lady Joan FitzgeraldJoan Fitzgerald, Countess of OrmondJoan Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond, Countess of Desmond was a Norman-Irish noblewoman and heiress, a member of the Fitzgerald family, who were also known as the "Geraldines". She married three times...
, by whom he had issue. - Richard Butler, 1st Viscount MountgarretRichard Butler, 1st Viscount MountgarretRichard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret was the son of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond and Lady Margaret Fitzgerald. He married his first cousin Eleanor Butler, daughter of Theobald Butler of Polestown, the illegitimate brother of the 8th Earl of Ormond...
(1500- 20 May 1571), married Eleanor Butler, by whom he had issue. - Thomas Butler, married Joan, by whom he had issue.
- Edmund Butler, Archbishop of CashelCashel, County TipperaryCashel is a town in South Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 2936 at the 2006 census. The town gives its name to the ecclesiastical province of Cashel. Additionally, the cathedra of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly was originally in the town prior to the English Reformation....
(died 1551) - Catherine Butler (died 17 March 1553), married firstly Richard Power, 1st Baron Le Power and Coroghmore, by whom she had issue; her second husband was James Fitzgerald, 14th Earl of DesmondEarl of DesmondThe title of Earl of Desmond has been held historically by lords in Ireland, first as a title outside of the peerage system and later as part of the Peerage of Ireland....
. - Margaret Butler, married firstly Richard de Burgh "MacWilliam", by whom she had issue; secondly Barnaby FitzPatrick, 1st Baron of Upper Ossory, by whom she had issue; and thirdly Thomas Fitzgerald, by whom she had two daughters.
- Joan Butler, married James Butler of Dunboyne, by whom she had issue.
- Eleanor Butler (died after 1550), married Thomas Butler, 1st Baron CahirThomas Butler, 1st Baron CahirThomas Butler, 1st Baron Cahir was the son of Thomas Butler of Cahir and Catherine Power. He was elevated to the peerage of Ireland, 10 November 1543, by the title of Baron of Caher. He married Eleanor Butler, fifth daughter of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond...
, by whom she had issue. - Helen Butler (died 2 July 1597), married Donough O'Brien, 2nd Earl of ThomondDonough O'Brien, 2nd Earl of ThomondDonough O'Brien, 2nd Earl of Thomond , also known as "the fat", was the son of Connor O'Brien, King of Thomond and Annabell Burke.O'Brien married Helen Butler, daughter of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormonde and Lady Margaret Fitzgerald. Donough O'Brien died on 1 April 1553, after being attacked by...
, by whom she had issue.
Countess of Ormond
The earldom of Ormond was restored to Piers on 22 February 1538 after Thomas Boleyn, whose daughter Queen Anne Boleyn had been executed for High TreasonHigh treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
in 1536, died. Prior to that date, Piers and Margaret had continued to style themselves as Earl and Countess of Ormond.
Margaret was sometimes styled the "Great Countess of Ormond". She signed herself "Margaret Fitzgerald of the Geraldines", and occupied herself in legal matters regarding her family and the Ormond estates, having worked with Piers in developing the estate, expanding and rebuilding manor houses. She also established Kilkenny Grammar School
Kilkenny College
Kilkenny College or KCK is a co-educational secondary school located in Kilkenny, in the South-East of Ireland. It is a private school which caters for both boarders and day students. It is the largest co-educational boarding school in Ireland...
. She urged Piers to bring over skilled weavers and artificers from Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
and she helped establish industries for the production of carpets, tapestries and diapers (a type of cloth). Margaret and her husband were responsible for having commissioned significant additions to the castles of Granagh and Ormond
Ormond Castle
Ormond Castle, also known as Avoch Castle, was a powerful stronghold, overlooking the village of Avoch, on the Black Isle, in the former county of Ross and Cromarty, now part of Highland, Scotland....
. They also rebuilt Gowran
Gowran
Gowran is a village and former town in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Gowran Park race course is located nearby. Gowran is located on the N9 national primary road where it is crossed by the R702 regional road.-History:...
Castle, which had been originally constructed in 1385 by James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond.
Richard Stanihurst described Margaret as having been "manlike and tall of staure, liberal and bountiful, a sure friend and a bitter enemy". He also credits her with having improved the standard of living in Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...
. Reverend James Graves said of her: "The fairest daughter of the Earl of Kildare was unquestionably one of the most remarkable women of her age and country". He also claims that she was the "traditional builder of nearly every castle in the district". Another chronicler considered her "a lady so politic, that nothing was thought substantially debated without her advice, while another described her as "able for wisdom to rule a realm had not her stomach overruled itself".
Margaret also developed a personal estate on her jointure
Jointure
Jointure is, in law, a provision for a wife after the death of her husband. As defined by Sir Edward Coke, it is "a competent livelihood of freehold for the wife, of lands or tenements, to take effect presently in possession or profit after the death of her husband for the life of the wife at...
lands which eventually descended to her younger son, Richard, 1st Viscount Mountgarret.
Her husband Piers died in 1539; Margaret was the sole executor of his will. She herself died on 9 August 1542 and was buried in St Canice's Cathedral
St Canice's Cathedral
St Canice's Cathedral , is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Kilkenny city, Ireland. It is in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin....
, Kilkenny alongside Piers. Their effigies
Effigy
An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional form.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments. These most often lie supine with hands together in prayer,...
are on their tomb.