Joan Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond

Who was Joan Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond?

Joan Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond, Countess of Desmond was a Norman-Irish noblewoman and heiress, a member of the Fitzgerald family, who were also known as the "Geraldines". She married three times. Her first husband was James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond, who had been proposed as a bridegroom for Anne Boleyn in 1522 to settle a dispute over the title and estates of the Earldom of Ormond. Her second husband was courtier Sir Francis Bryan. Her third marriage to Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond brought peace to Ireland for a few years until he broke his truce with her eldest son Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond and warfare broke out between the rival Butler and Fitzgerald clans, who had been hereditary enemies for many generations.

Joan carried on an amicable correspondence with Queen Elizabeth I of England who recognised Joan's skill in diplomacy, and relied upon her to restore and keep the precarious peace in Munster.