Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare

Who was Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare?

Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare was a prominent Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland and Lord Justice of Ireland.

The second son of Thomas FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Kildare by his spouse Joan, daughter of Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, he succeeded his brother Richard, 3rd Earl, who died aged 12 in 1329.

Maurice, Earl of Kildare, suppressed the insurrection in 1339 of the O'Dempsies in Leinster; and in November 1346, with Lord Justice Bermingham, forced the O'Mores to submit and give hostages for their future good behaviour.

On January 26, 1347, he was summoned by Writ signed at Eltham Palace to serve King Edward III at the siege of Calais where he proceeded in May with thirty men-at-arms and was subsequently made leader of the army, and knighted.

With various irregulars and foot-soldiers assigned to defend County Kildare against rebel Irish, the earl was appointed, on September 14, 1358, supervisor of the four commissioners for raising and collecting their pay from that county.

On March 30, 1360, he was constituted Lord Justice of Ireland with an annual salary of £500 sterling. He was made Custos of the realm again on March 22, 1371, and a third time on February 16, 1375, until the return of Sir William Windsor.