Origine dei FITZGERALDS
Medieval Bendings - The Origins of the FitzGeralds -
Part 1
In the land of Hetruria there flourished once
a mighty vine thither translated from the desolate
plains of Troy. Florence claimed this beauteous
plant her own; and well might she glory in it, for
"its branches stretched forth unto the sea,
and its boughs unto the river." From the
banks of the Arno and the shores of the blue
Tyrrhene Sea the branches of that great tree
extended themselves to the far land of Erin. That
great tree was the noble race of the
Geraldines, who, under the shadow of Tuscan
banners, penetrated regions whither Roman legions
never dared to venture.....
The history of this Florentine family has been my
special tudy; for it is intimately associated with
that of my religion and country; and fondly does
she cherish the memory of the Geraldines. So wrote
Faher Dominic o'Daly to their eminences Antony and
Frances Barberini, cardinals of theHoly Roman
Church. To them he dedicated his history of the
Geraldines, Earls of Desmond, written about the
year 1655.(1)
With rapid hand the learned Dominican sketched in
a few sentences the early history of the house;-
Ten years' seige had destroyed the glorious city
of Ilium, and cut off all its leaders, with single
exception of Aenas, who, being compelled to fly,
assembled about him a trusty band of youths, who
had outlived their country's overthrow, foremost
of whom in dignity and bravery was the founder of
our Geraldines(2)....Aenas soon afterwards divided
the land of Italy amongst his followers, assigning
to each his portion; and in the distribution he
bestowed on the great ancestor of our Geraldines
that Region of Hetruria where Florence ow stands.
When did the Geraldines come to England? When did
they settle in Ireland? Father o'Daly was
perfectly clear in his answers to both questions;
they came to England with William the Conqueror;
and they went to Ireland under Henry II. He had
moreover a dim conception of the true facts of the
case.
He said that William gave them 'the castle and
lordship of Windsor, of which they held possession
till the days of Walter son of Ether (sic). This
William had three children; from the first of
these, William, sprung the Earls of Windsor; from
the second, Robert, the Earls of Essex; but the
third, Gerald of Windsor,' was the ancestor of the
Geraldines. Walter FitzOther (not Ether) was, as
we shall see, a real man, but the connection of
the family with Windsor began instead of ending
with this Walter.
Let us now turn to what may be termed the
authorized version of the origin, that which was
given in The Earls of Kildare(3); and steadily
repeated in Burke's Peerage. Lord Kildare gave it
thus:-
'The FitzGeralds or Geraldines, are descended from
'Dominus Otho', or Other, who in 1057 (16 Edward
the Confessor), was an honorary baron of England.(4)
He is said to have been one of the family of
Gherardini of Florence, and to have passed into
Normandy, and thence into England.(5) He was so
powerful at this period that it is probable that
he was one of the foreigners who came to England
with King Edward, and whom he favoured so much as
to excite the jealousy of the native nobles. It is
also remarkable that Otho's son Walter was treated
as a fellow-countryman by the Normans after the
Conquest. The Latin form of the name of his
descendants, 'Geraldini', being the same as that
of the Gherardini, also indicates that he was of
that family'
I cannot undertake to say at what period or how
the story of Other coming to England under Edward
the Confessor arose; nor can I explain how 'Otho'
replaced the well authenticated 'Other', probably
to give the name a more Italian appearance. But as
to the Latin form 'Geraldini', I can state that
the name given by Geraldus Cambrensis to his own
family was, on the contrary 'Giraldidae'
Lord Kildare referred, we have seen, to the
Gherardini MS.' without giving their contents; but
to Mr Meehan we are indebted for the printing in
an appendix to Father o'Daly's work the content of
these papers, 'to which,' as he observes, 'the
general reader would find it difficult to get
access.' It must be remembered that, according to
the versions given above, the 'Geraldines' came to
England at, if not before, the Conquest. In the 'Gherardini
MS.'
we have a very different story.
Three brothers of that family, Thomas, Gerald and
Maurice Gherardini, 'having left Florence on
account of the civil dissensions there,
accompanied the King of England to the Conquest of
Ireland.' This, it will seen, is discrepant from
the version now adopted by the family itself.
Moreover the 'Gherardini' story originated in
Ireland, not in Florence. The story given above is
traced to an Irish priest 'called Maurice, who was
of the family of the Gherardini settled in that is
island,' and who, passing through Florence in1413,
claimed the local Gherardini as his kinsmen.(6)
Those Florentine magnates appear to have been
aware of the connection; indeed even so late as
1440 the Republic's secretary, writing to James
Earl of Desmond, used the expression 'if it be
true' (si vera assertio). But the fame of the
great Hibernian house reached and flattered the
Gherardini, and in answer to a letter of 'fraternal
love,' Gerald, chief in Ireland of the family of
the Gherardini; Earl of Kildare; Viceroy of the
most serene King of England,' wrote in 1506 'to
all the family of the Gherardini, noble in fame
and virtue, dwelling in Florence, our beloved
brethren in Florence.' The earl informed them that
his 'ancestore, after
passing from France to England, and having
remained there some time, arrived in this island
of Ireland in 1140'(7) He was anxious to know the
deeds of their common ancestors, 'the origin of
our house, and the names of your forefathers,' and
he offered them 'hawks, falcons, horses, or dogs
for the chase.'(8)
And now from Irish earls panting for Trojan
ancestry we will turn to the sober history of a
house both ancient and illustrious, a house which
not only traces its descent from a Domesday
tenant-in-chief, but can make the probably unique
boast that, from that day to this, descendants of
his have been always numbered among the barons of
the realm.
In The Earls of Kildare we read that 'In 1078
Walter FitzOtho is mentioned in Domesday Book as
being in possession of his father's estates.'
To this statement, which is obstinately repeated
in the pages of Burke's Peerage, I reply, as in
Peerage Studies (p. 69), that the date of Domesday
Book was 1086, not 1078; that Walter was the son
of Other, not of Otho; and that Domesday does not
state that his lands have been held by his father,
but, on the contrary, proves them to have belonged
to forfeited Englishmen.
...
In Domesday Walter FitzOther appears as a
tenant-in-chief in a compact block of counties,
Berks., Bucks., Middlesex, Surrey and Hants. He
also held Winchfield in Hampshire under Chertsey
Abbey. At first sight there is not much to connect
him with Windsor or its forest, but investigation
reveals the facts that at Windsor itself he held
on the royal manor 1 3/4 hides and some woodland;
that at Kintbury, another Berkshire manor, he held
half a hide 'which King Edward had given to his
predecessor' out of the royal demesne for the
custody of the forest; that of the great royal
manor of Woking in Surrey Walter held
three-quarters of a hide, which King Edward had
similarly given 'out of the manor to a certain
forester,' and that in or near Kingston-on-Thames
he had given land to a man whom he had 'entrusted
the keeping of the king's brood mares'.
These hints prepare us for the evidence to which
we are about to come to that he held ' a wood
called Bagshot' at the time of the Survey (though
Domesday does not say so), and that he and his
heirs had the keeping of the great forest of
Windsor. He was also, we shall find, castellan of
Windsor, while in his private capacity as a
tenant-in-chief he held a barony reckoned at
fifteen or twenty knights' fees and owing fifteen
knights as castle guard to Windsor.
Our next glimpse of him, after Domesday, is
afforded by the Abingdon Cartulary, which records
in a most interesting entry that Walter FitzOther,
castellan of Windsor, restored to Abbot Faricius
the woods of 'Virdele' and Bagshot, which he had
held by consent of the abbot's predecessors,
Aethelem and Rainald. It adds that he made this
restoration in the first place at Windsor Castle,
and that he afterwards sent his wife Beatrice with
his son William to Abingdon that they might
confirm what he himself had done 'at home'.
From this entry we learn that Walter was living
after 1100, for Abbot Faritius ruled the house
1100-16. We also learn that his wife's name was
Beatrice,(9) and that his home was at Windsor
Castle. Lastly we may see, I think, an allusion to
the loss, for the time, of these woods in the
Domesday entry of the abbey's manor of Winkfield
('Wenesfelle'), which mentions that '4 hides are
in the king's forest' (fo. 59). In other words,
Walter, I suspect,
had added them to Windsor Forest as its custodian;
and if he did this, as alleged, in the time of
Abbot Aethelem (who died in 1084), they would be
included in the king's forest at the time of the
Domesday Survey (1086). Walter was succeeded by
his son William, of whom we have already heard as
accompanying his mother to Abingdon.
A very interesting writ shows him in charge of
Windsor Forest at a date not later than 1116.(10)
This writ notifies to William FitzWalter, Croc the
huntsman, Richard the serjeant, and all the
officers of the forest of Windsor, that the king
has granted to Abingdon Abbey the tithe of all
venison(11)...The invaluable Pipe Roll of 1130
shows us William FitzWalter in charge of Windsor
Forest in that and the preceding year....We again
meet with William FitzWalter in that charter of
the Empress Maud to Geoffrey de Mandeville which I
assign to 1142,(12) She grants therein to Geoffrey
that William may have his hereditary constableship
of Windsor Castle and lands.
William was succeeded by a son of the same name,
to whom King Henry II., by a charter granted at
Windsor 1154-64 confirmed the lands of his father.
This charter, which proves the pedigree, is known
to me only from Harleian Roll, P. 8, a pedigree of
the Windsor family and of their Irish kinsmen, the
FitzGeralds, which although compiled at a bad time
(1582) is of quite exceptional value. The charter
of which I speak confirms to William of Windsor
all the land of his father, William Fitz Walter,
and of his grandfather, Walter FitzOther. This
William is constantly mentioned in the Pipe Rolls
of Henry II. as among those who supervised
building operations at Windsor Castle.
I believe that I have discovered his wife, of whom
the name has not been known, in that Christina de
Wiham who was tenant-in-chief by knight service on
the Montfichet fief in 1166.(13) The argument is
this. The domesday lord of the fief, Robert Gernon,
had and under-tenant, Ilger, who held of him two
manors in Essex, Wormingford and Maplestead.
Walter de Windsor is subsequently found giving, in
conjunction with his mother Christiana, the
church of Wormingford to Wix Priory(14) and
bestowing on St. Paul's three of his feifs at (evidently)
Maplestead (15). Foreover, in 1187 he is found
holding a fee and a half of Richard de Montfichet
(16) The descent of these manors would thus be
accounted for, Walter being the eldest son of
William de Windsor by, as I suggest, Christina de
Wiham.
Walter and his youngest brother William divided
the Windsor barony into two moieties in 1198 (17).
Walter was the ancestor, through a daughter, of
the Hodengs; from William, in whose share Stanwell
was included, descended Andrew Windsor, created
Lord Windsor of Stanwell by Henry VIII., from whom
descends in the female line the present Lord
Windsor.
In a writ in the Abingdon Cartulary, Henry I.
addresses Walter son of Walter de Windsor and
informs him that he has granted to Farice Abbot of
Abingdon (1100-16) the land and house at Windsor
which had been held by Albert (18). It is the name
of Albert that is found the interest of this writ.
For one cannot doubt that this was the 'Albert the
clerk' who is mentioned in Domesday, in
conjunction with Walter FitzOther, as holding land
at Windsor under the Crown (fo. 56b) and the 'Albert'
who is entered as holding in chief land at
Dedworth (fo. 63) adjacent to Clewer and Windsor.