The Desmond Geraldine Rebellions were revolts that took place in the 16th century in the province of Munster, and more specifically in Desmond, a region south of Munster. These revolts pitted the Fitzgerald family (also known as the Geraldines”), who ruled Desmond, against the English government that ruled the Kingdom of Ireland in the time of Elizabeth I.
By the 16th century, Munster had been under the influence of British settlers for several centuries. Two great rival families share the region: the Butlers of Ormonde and the FitzGeralds of Desmond. For years, these 2 families have been establishing their own feudal laws, mixing Irish and English traditions… This did not displease the British government, which had been trying since 1530 to re-establish the authority of the English Crown over independent seigneurial families.
Elizabeth I ordered Henry Sidney to implement a solution to regain full authority over these families. To solve the problem, Sidney created the status of Lord President, an honorary title designed to appoint official governors to oversee the affairs of each Irish province. This status denies the authority of the Butlers of Ormonde and the FitzGeralds of Desmond, who are quick to express their anger.
These presidencies soon became a nuisance for the 2 great rival families, who were gradually losing their respective authority over their territory, and could no longer manage their own conflicts as they saw fit. The 2 families even came to blows, clashing at the Battle of Affane in 1565!
Faced with this confrontation, Elizabeth I immediately summoned the representatives of each family, and sentenced Gerald FitzGerald and his brother John de Desmond to imprisonment in the Tower of London. The Butler family was spared, however, Thomas Butler being the Queen’s cousin.
The Desmond FitzGeralds appointed a new leader: James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald. A devout Catholic, Fitzmaurice didn’t take kindly to the rise of Protestantism in Ireland, and resented the British government’s confiscation of his lands in County Cork. He soon decided to foment a rebellion to oust the British government from his lands. He managed to find powerful allies, including the MacCarthy Mor, O’Sullivan Beare and O’Keefe families, and tried to make contact with Philip II of Spain. Their goal was simple: to drive out the English and re-establish their ascendancy over the Butler family.
The first revolt broke out in 1569, when FitzMaurice attacked the English colony of Kerrycurihy, which had confiscated his lands in County Cork a few months earlier. It was a first victory for the Fitzgerald family, but FitzMaurice didn’t stop there, and laid siege to Kilkenny, a town then owned by the Butlers of Ormondes.
In response, Henri Sidney mobilized his troops towards those of FitzMaurice, while the head of the Butler family quickly gathered around him clan chiefs hostile to the FitzGeralds’ actions. Sidney, aided by the Butlers and their allies, set about devastating the Geraldines lands, murdering peasants, women and children indiscriminately, starving the countryside and shamelessly burning down dwellings. The disaster was so great that FitzMaurice was forced to hide in the Kerry mountains. The hunt lasted over 3 years, and Sidney gradually saw FitzMaurice’s allies hastily surrender. FitzMaurice was also forced to capitulate on February 23, 1573, after bitter negotiations. He was then freed, deprived of his land, and decided to go to France to ask for help, and thus organize a new uprising.
In the meantime, William Drury, the new Lord President of Munster, wanted to make numerous examples to prevent any further rebellion. He then executed the 700 mercenaries who had taken part in the revolt, alongside FitzMaurice, and banned all Gaelic costume and tradition among the population, causing a great outcry among the Irish community, who felt oppressed and discriminated against in every way.
The Second Revolt took place in 1579, on the occasion of FitzMaurice’s return. He landed with troops and brutally invaded Munster. This time, he justified the revolt on religious grounds, arguing that Queen Elizabeth I’s recent excommunication nullified any Irish Catholic allegiance to British Protestantism. Pope Pius V gave him troops and money to carry out his rebellion as he saw fit.
As soon as he arrived in Ireland, Fitzmaurice saw countless clan chiefs and supporters rally to his cause. The first battles were terribly bloody, and saw Fitzmaurice fall on the battlefield as early as August 18. John FitzGerald was then appointed as his successor, and continued the fight, sacking Kinsale and Youghal. The English troops managed to resist, however, ravaging the Geraldine countryside once again, slaughtering peasants and farmers by the hundreds, and completely isolating the enemy troops from the coast.
The revolt spread to the province of Leinster as early as 1580, and Irish chieftain Fiach MacHugh O’Byrne took control of the region. The latter won several major battles, ferociously crushing the English troops who had come to quell the revolt. Unfortunately, the English strategy of starving the Leinster and Munster countryside paid off in 1581, and considerably slowed down the revolts. More than 30,000 Irish died of starvation and the plague, as a result of deplorable hygiene.
These events prompted many rebels to ask the Crown for a pardon, and the Geraldines had to flee to the Kerry mountains to escape the English troops. However, it was on November 2, 1583 that the rebellion came to an end, following the assassination of John Fitzgerald by the O’Moriarty clan. The Count’s head was then sent to Elizabeth I. The rest of his body was displayed on the walls of Cork.
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