- Knight of Glin
The Knight of Glin, is a hereditary
title in theFitzgerald s of Limerick since the early 14th century. The family is a branch of the Norman FitzGerald or Geraldines,Earls of Desmond , who were granted extensive lands in County Limerick by the English Crown by way of conquest. The Knight of Glin is properly addressed as "Knight" (not, as one might expect, "Sir Desmond").The Desmond family were descended from
Maurice FitzGerald , a companion-in-arms of Strongbow, the Norman conqueror of Ireland. Maurice was the son ofGerald de Windsor and his wife the Welsh Princess Nesta.The family name "Fitzgerald" comes from the (Norman) French "Fils du Gerald", i.e "Son of Gerald". It is often rendered FitzGerald.
According to one legend, in the early 1600s under Elizabeth I,
England set about enforcing loyalty in the western parts ofIreland . When one of her ships came up to the Knight of Glin's castle on theShannon Estuary , a fierce battle ensued. The ship's captain managed to capture one of the Knight's sons and sent the Knight a message that he should surrender or else the son would be put in one of the ship's cannons and fired against the castle wall. The Knight reportedly sent the reply, "Fire away, there's plenty more where he came from!"The "Old Castle" of Glin, the scene of the above battle, is a ruin. The tower still stands with a historic plaque in place. After the destruction of the old castle, the Knights built the "New Castle", a beautiful Georgian mansion, on the banks of the
Shannon Estuary about a mile west of the old site. The current Knight still lives there (as well as inDublin andLondon ).The Knight of Glyn
Gerald FitzGerald was the Limerick County Second Member for the IrishPatriot Parliament of 1689 called by James II during theWilliamite war .The Knights converted to
Protestant ism in the 1700s to help preserve their property. None of the surrounding populace wanted to, and remained Roman Catholic - a division which remains to this day in the village of Glin, with its two churches.Following the war of independence and during the ensuing Civil War, in the early 1920s,
Irish Republican Army (IRA) soldiers, from nearby North Kerry came to the Knight to tell him that no one whose title to land came from the English Crown could keep their land. The Knight immediately produced a document inLatin , supposedly from the Duke of Normandy, indicating that his title did not originate from the English Crown at all. [ [http://www.heraldry.ws/info/article06.html heraldry.ws] ] The baffled IRA men left the Knight with his properties, which he holds to this day. Another version of the incident relates how the then Knight who was invalided and confined to a wheelchair, refused to leave the mansion when ordered to do so, as they intended to set it alight. He insisted on staying, they left, and the mansion still stands. [http://www.victoriamaryclarke.com/articles/Last%20Knight%20of%20Glin%20The%20.html Victoria Mary Clarke] ]The 29th and current Knight is Desmond FitzGerald. He has a Masters in Fine Arts from
Harvard . He was married, firstly, in 1966, to Louise Vava Henriette Lucie Le Bailly de La Falaise, the daughter of Count Alain de La Falaise and his wife, the former Maxime Birley. By his second and present wife, the former Olda Ann Willes, whom he married in 1970, he has three daughters: [http://www.victoriamaryclarke.com/articles/Last%20Knight%20of%20Glin%20The%20.html Victoria Mary Clarke] ] Catherine (Countess of Durham, married toEdward Lambton, 7th Earl of Durham ), Nesta and Honor. He has represented the art auctioneersChristies in Ireland and has been elected president of theIrish Georgian Society . Since he has no male heir, he will probably be the last Knight of Glin.External links
* [http://www.glincastle.com/ Glin Castle hotel site]
* [http://www.oldcastlehouse.com/ Old Castle House]
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