A gripping biography of Geroid Mor Fitzgerald, Lord Deputy of Ireland during the rule of Henry VII. Gearoid Mor, the Great Earl of Kildare, or simply Gerald Fitzgerald, was, historiographically speaking, a great deceiver, and he paid for his deception in similar currency. Over time, he was regarded as the uncrowned King of Ireland, a reputation which he himself would not have recognized or welcomed. He was the eighth earl of Kildare, the inheritor of a grand line of feudal dynastic succession that had been, despite regular obstacles and setbacks, steadily expanding its power and its glory. As a ruling magnate in the name of the king and as head of Ireland’s foremost aristocratic dynasty, his tenure marked the critical phase in what historians have termed the Kildare ascendancy. But for reasons other than those of the romantic narratives of the Great Earl reigning royally, Kildare’s epithet is merited. This biography, which expands on established research, accounts for the myriad factors behind the Great Earl’s prominence, including his manraed, estate management, and vast distribution of patronage. His supremacy bridged the worlds of Gaelic Ireland, the English lordship of Ireland, and the center of crown authority at court. In an overview of his exceptional career, this book highlights the Great Earl’s varied and seemingly contradictory facets. He was an English subject who served as a frontier baron, yet also a governing aristocrat who transcended cultural divides. He was not merely a traditional, old colonial marcher lord but a Renaissance prince. In appreciating the combination of each of these, given the challenging circumstances of his age and considering a legacy that has evolved over the centuries, the Great Earl’s extraordinary exploits can truly be deemed, as Steven Ellis observes, the stuff of legend.
