General Notes

John FitThomas FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Kildare, so created 14 May 1316; a legend is told of him similar to that about the ancestor of the FitzGerald Baronets of Valencia, viz., that when he was a baby in the Castle of Woodstock, near Athy, Co Kildare, a fire broke out, he was overlooked in the panic and rescued by a monkey, who climbed a tower holding him in its arms; subsequently the FitzGeralds adopted a monkey as crest and occasionally the additional motto "Non immemor befeficii" ("Not Forgetful of a helping hand"); married Blanche de la Roche (living 1327), and died 12 Sep 1316.  [Burke's Peerage]

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John Fitz Thomas Fitz Gerald, 5th Baron of Offaly, 1st Earl of Kildare, died 12 Sep 1316.  [Ancestral Roots]

Note: Must have inherited the Barony from his cousin Gerald, 4th Baron, who was son of Maurice, 3rd Baron, son of Gerald (dvp 1243), son of John's grandfather Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Baron.

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EARLDOM OF KILDARE

I. 1. JOHN FITZTHOMAS FITZGERALD, 5th lord of the barony of Offaly, co. Kildare, son and heir of Thomas FITZMAURICE (died 1271), and heir male of his kinsmen the 3rd and 4th barons, comes into notice about 1288, when as John son of Thomas he was guardian of part of the Marches of the English Pale. In 1291 he had protection while in England with the Archbishop of Dublin, and that year a payment was made to him for marching against the King's enemies, and he was also engaged in suits concerning his kinsmen's lands, which he appears to have bought from the coheirs. In 1293 he built Sligo Castle, no doubt to protect his lands in Connaught, which he thought to be threatened by Richard (de Burgh), Earl of Ulster, and in the same year and later was keeper of the castles of Roscommon and Randown. In 1294 he took the Earl of Ulster, prisoner, and had also a dispute with another noble, William de Vesci, lord of Kildare and justiciar, who challenged him to a wager of battle. He was obliged to liberate the Earl of Ulster, all Ireland having been disturbed about it, and for a time lost his lands in Connaught. In 1295 he -was again keeper of the castles of Roscommon and Randown. In the same year he was summoned to Parliament [IRL] by John Wogan the justiciar, who also arranged a truce for two years between the Earl of Ulster and John and the other Geraldines, which became a peace in 1298. John gave the Earl 3,000 Marks, and the Earl gave his daughter in marriage to John's son. At this time (1295-1302) the King summoned John for military service in Scotland and Flanders, and his services in these wars procured for him pardon and rewards in land. On 9 February 1301/2 he obtained a charter of free warren in his lands in Maynooth and other places in Kildare, Carlow and Limerick. In 1307 he and Edmund Boteler dispersed the robbers of Offaly who had burnt Lea Castle. In, October 1309 he was called upon to cooperate with the Earl of Ulster and other magnates in assembling an Irish force by the following midsummer to serve in Scotland, and he went over to England. In 1311 he was summoned to assist the King's commissioners in quieting discontents in Ireland. He is styled knight at various times, and in 1313 himself knighted others at Adare. In 1314 he was called to aid the King against the Scots, and when, a little later, Edward Bruce (brother of King Robert) came over to Ireland and was crowned King of Ireland, taking various castles and causing a rising of the Irish, John FitzThomas and others, whose combined forces would have been sufficient to overcome Bruce, assembled to resist him, but fell, out among themselves and did nothing. In February 1315/6, however, he (styling himself Seigneur d'Offaly) joined with the other magnates of Ireland in an obligation to maintain the King's authority against his enemies the Scots. On 14 May 1316, for his services to the late and present King, he had grants of the castle and town of Kildare, and, being then in England, was created EARL OF KILDARE [IRL], with remainder to his lawful heirs male, to be held by the service of 7 knights' fees.

He married Blanche, daughter of John ROCHE, baron of Fermoy. He died 12 September 1316, at Laraghbryan, near Maynooth, and was buried in the Church of the Friars Minor at Kildare. His widow received dower from. her son Thomas in 1316/7. She was living in February 1329/30, when as Blanche de Roche [Rupe], Countess of Kildare, she received an acquittance of all claims from Stephen de Aqua.  [Complete Peerage VII:218-21, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]