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Life
| 1513-1537; [“Silken Thomas”]; 10th Earl of Kildare; early life in England; appointed deputry governor of Ireland in absence of his father, summoned to England, 1534; on hearing rumours of his father’s execution, called council at St Mary’s Abbey, Dublin, and rode with 140 horsemen (with silken fringes) to the Abbey to renounce allegiance to the King; attacked Dublin Castle and routed, July; |
| his father died of illness in London; succeeded to the title; retreated to Maynooth; his stronghold there taken by William Skeffington while Fitzgerald was gathering reinforcements; garrison all executed (hence “Maynooth Pardon”); Lord Grey arrives; Fitzgerald seeks pardon; sent to Tower; hanged, drawn and quartered with 5 uncles, Tyburn, 3 Feb. 1537. DIB ODNB |
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Criticism
Patricia Kilroy, Fall of the Gaelic Lords, 1544-1616 (Eamonn de Burca 2009), 220pp. [from Silken Thomas to Hugh O’Neill]. See num. other historical studies.
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References
Dictionary of National Biography [see Fitzgerald family - as supra].
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