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James fitz Maurice FitzGerald
James fitz Maurice FitzGerald
Earl of Desmond
Tenure	1534–1540
Predecessor	Thomas, 11th Earl of Desmond
Successor	James, 13th Earl of Desmond
Other names	Court Page
Died	19 March 1540; Leacan Sgail, County Kerry
Cause of death	murdered
Spouse(s)	Mary MacCarthy
Father	Maurice fitz Thomas FitzGerald
Mother	Joan FitzGibbon

James fitz Maurice FitzGerald, de jure 12th Earl of Desmond (died 1540), also counted 13th, was called Court Page as he grew up as a hostage for his grandfather Thomas FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Desmond, the Bald, at the court of Henry VIII. He should have succeeded this grandfather in 1534, but John FitzGerald, de facto 12th Earl of Desmond usurped the earldom and was followed in 1536 by his son James, fitz John. In 1539 the lord deputy of Ireland, Leonard Grey seized some Desmond land in southern County Cork and handed it to Court Page, who came to Ireland to claim his rights but was killed by Maurice fitz John FitzGerald, called Totane. He was succeeded by James fitz John, now rightful 13th earl.

Birth and origins

James was born the only son of Maurice fitz Thomas FitzGerald and his wife Joan FitzGibbon. His father was the only son^[1] of Thomas FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Desmond, called the Bald, but predeceased him.^[2] His father's family, the FitzGeralds of Desmond, were a noble cadet branch of the Old English Geraldines, of which the FitzGeralds of Kildare were the senior branch.

James's mother was a daughter of John fitz Gerald FitzGibbon, the white knight.^[3]

James had a sister, Ellen, who married Thomas Butler, 1st Baron Cahir as his second wife.^[4]

Family tree

James FitzGerald with wife, parents, and other selected relatives.^[a]

Thomas
7th Earl
d. 1468
of Drogheda

Thomas
11th Earl
1454–1534
the Bald

Sheila
MacCarthy

John
de facto
12th Earl
d. 1536

More
O'Brien

Maurice
fitz Thomas
d. 1529
d.v.p.*

Joan
FitzGibbon

James
13th Earl
d. 1558

Maurice
FitzJohn
Totane

James
12th Earl
d. 1540
Court Page

Mary
MacCarthy
d. 1548

Gerald
14th Earl
c. 1533 – 1583
Rebel Earl

Maurice
6th Viscount
Fermoy
d. 1600

Eleanor
FitzGerald

James
1st Earl
1570–1601
Tower Earl

Joan
Roche

Thomas
fitz James
Ruadh

Ellis
le Poer

James
fitz Thomas
d. 1608
Sugan Earl

Legend

XXX

Subject of
the article

XXX

Earls of
Desmond

XXX

Viscounts
Fermoy

*d.v.p. = predeceased his father (decessit vita patris).

Marriage and child

FitzGerald married Mary, eldest daughter of Cormac Laidir Oge MacCarthy, 10th Lord of Muskerry.^[5]

James and Mary had an only daughter:

Judith who died unmarried in 1565^[6]

His widow married Daniel O'Sullivan Mor.^[7]

Later life

Upon the death in 1634 of his grandfather Thomas FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Desmond, called the Bald, Court Page should have succeeded as the 12th earl of Desmond, but he was absent in London. His right to the title was disputed by his granduncle John FitzGerald. When John died in 1536,^[8] his son James, fitz John continued in the claim to the earldom.

Court Page came or was sent to Ireland^[9] in 1539 after Leonard Grey, Lord Deputy of Ireland helped by James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond had seized the Desmond territories of Imokilly and Kerrycurrihy in southern Cork.^[10]

Death and timeline

On 19 March 1540 Court Page was killed by his cousin, Maurice fitz John FitzGerald, called Totane, brother of James FitzGerald, 13th Earl of Desmond. Court Page is reported to have died at a place called Leacan Sgail in County Kerry that does not seem to have been identified.^[11]

Timeline
As her birth date is uncertain, so are all her ages.
Age	Date	Event
0	1500, estimate	Born
8–9	1509, 22 Apr	Accession of Henry VIII, succeeding Henry VII of England^[12]
19–20	1520, Sep	Grandfather and his ally Cormac Laidir Oge MacCarthy, 10th Lord of Muskerry defeat James FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond in the battle of Mourne.
27–28	1528	Grandfather succeeds as 11th Earl of Desmond.
28–29	1529	Father died predeceasing his grandfather
33–34	1534	Succeeds his grandfather as 12th Earl of Desmond but the earldom is usurped by John FitzGerald, de facto 12th Earl of Desmond
35–36	1536	James fitz John continues the usurpation of the earldom begun by his father John FitzGerald, de facto Earl 12th of Desmond.
38–39	1539, Nov	Took possession of Imokilly and Kerrycurihy^[10]
39–40	1540, 19 Mar	Killed by Totane and succeeded by James fitz John as the rightful 13th Earl of Desmond.

Ancestors of James FitzGerald, de jure 12th Earl of Desmond

James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond

Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond

Mary de Burgh

Thomas FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Desmond

William Barry, 8th Baron Barry

Ellice de Barry

Ellen de la Roche

Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald

Cormac Laidir MacCarthy of Muskerry

Sheila MacCarthy

James FitzGerald, de jure 12th Earl of Desmond

John FitzGibbon, the White Knight

Joan FitzGibbon

Notes and references

Notes

^ Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text. Note his problematic first marriage.

Citations

^ Cokayne 1916, p. 250. "Maurice FitzThomas (FitzGerald), only s. [son] and h. ap. [heir apparent] by 1st wife. He m. [married] his 1st cousin, Joan, da. [daughter] of John FitzMaurice FitzGibbon, the White Knight"
^ Cokayne 1916, p. 251, line 3. "12. James FitzMaurice (FitzGerald), Earl of Desmond [I. [Ireland ], called The Court Page, grandson and h. [heir], being only s. [son] and h. of Maurice FitzThomas and Joan his wife ..."]
^ Burke 1866, p. 205, left column, line 65. "Maurice FitzMaurice who d.v.p. [predeceased his father] 1529 within six months after the earldom fell to his father, and was buried at Youghal, leaving by his wife Joan, dau. [daughter] of John-FitzGarret FitzGibbon, the white knight, with a dau. Ellen, 2nd wife of Thomas, 1st Lord Cahir, an only son, James FitzMaurice, 13th Earl."
^ Cokayne 1912, p. 465. "He m. [married], 2ndly, Ellen, sister (whose issue, in 1565 became h.) of James, Earl of Desmond [I. [Ireland] ], da. [daughter] of Maurice Fitz Gerald, by Joan, da. of John FitzGibbon, the White Knight."
^ McCormack 2009b, 2nd paragraph. "He [Thomas fitz Thomas] thus sought to continue the alliance with Cormac by arranging for his heir James to marry Cormac's daughter Mary."
^ Cokayne 1916, p. 251, note (e). "His only da. [daughter], Judith, d. unm. [died unmarried] 1565."
^ McCormack 2009a, last paragraph, last sentence. "His wife, Mary, married secondly Daniel O'Sullivan Mor, and died in 1548."
^ Webb 1878, p. 140, left column. "This Sir John [the de facto 12th] died about christmas 1536."
^ Graves 1869, p. Note on Pedigree A between pages 460 and 461. "James Fitz Maurice, thirteenth Earl of Desmond. He was sent to London by his grandfather, and was educated at the court of Henry VIII, and hence called 'The Court Page'. The King sent him back to Ireland with a great retinue where he was slain at Leacan Sgail in Kerry, on March 19, 1540, shortly after his arrival by his cousin Mauric an Totane ..."
^ ^a ^b McCormack 2009a, last paragraph. "In November 1539, Lord Deputy Grey and James Butler, 9th earl of Ormond, who had a claim to the Desmond estates through his wife (who was the heir general of the 11th earl of Desmond) captured the territories of Imokilly and Kerrycurihy in Co. Cork from James fitz John and handed possession of them to James fitz Maurice. Fitz Maurice took possession in person ..."
^ Cokayne 1916, p. 251, line 7. "He was sent back to Ireland with a great retinue, but was slain at Leacansgail, co. Kerry, 'the friday before Palme Sondaie,' 1539/40, by his cousin Maurice Fitzjohn (called Maurice an Toihuhi, or 'of the burnings'), br. [brother] to the next Earl."
^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 42, line 23. "Henry VIII ... acc. 22 April 1509;"

Sources

Burke, Bernard (1866). A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (New ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 11501348.
Cokayne, George Edward (1912). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. II (2nd ed.). London: St Catherine Press. OCLC 228661424. – Bass to Canning (for Cahir)
Cokayne, George Edward (1916). Gibbs, Vicary (ed.). The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant. Vol. IV (2nd ed.). London: St Catherine Press. OCLC 228661424. – Dacre to Dysart (for Desmond)
Fryde, Edmund Boleslaw; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-86193-106-8. – (for timeline)
Graves, James (1869). "The Earls of Desmond". The Journal of the Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland. 3rd. 1 (2): 459–498. JSTOR 25497799.
McCormack, Anthony M. (October 2009a). McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). "FitzGerald (fitz Maurice), James". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 13 May 2022. – "Court Page"
McCormack, Anthony M. (October 2009b). McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). "MacCarthy (Mac Carthaigh), Cormac Óg Láidir". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
Webb, Alfred (1878). "Desmond, James, 13th Earl". Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son. p. 140. OCLC 122693688.

Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Thomas FitzThomas FitzGerald and John FitzThomas FitzGerald (de facto)	Earl of Desmond 1534–1540	Succeeded by James FitzGerald, 13th Earl