The Munster Desmonds were a cadet (junior) branch of the powerful FitzGerald dynasty who came to Ireland from Wales as part of the 12th century Anglo-Norman invasion.

The English government imprisoned James FitzGerald, the eldest son of the last earl, in the Tower of London for decades.

However, in 1600, during the Nine Years War, in an attempt to pacify the people of Munster, James was freed and title recreated for him though without right of inheritance.

The people of Munster refused to accept the new Earl - a Protestant - and James died a year later in obscurity.

[2][3] Desmond (Irish: Deasmhumhain, meaning 'South Munster') was a historic kingdom in southwestern Ireland, founded in 1118.

Through her, John FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Desmond and all subsequent Geraldine earls of Desmond could trace descent through Eleanor de Bohun to Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, daughter of King Edward I of England of the House of Plantagenet by his queen, Eleanor of Castile of the House of Burgundy.

Over time, according to English sources, the FitzGerald family became highly assimilated to the local Irish culture.

The FitzGeralds and Fitzmaurices had resisted the Protestant Reformation of King Henry VIII and, after the failure of the first and second Desmond Rebellions, the 14th Earl was defeated and killed by forces loyal to Queen Elizabeth I on 11 November 1583.

When that failed in 1598 he joined the rebellion and assumed the title of Earl of Desmond, leading eight thousand clansmen.

John died in Barcelona [9] and Gerald - Conde de Desmond in Spanish - entered the service of the Emperor Ferdinand, and was killed in 1632.

The coat of arms of the Geraldine Earls of Desmond, blazoned ermine a saltire gules,[10] where the ermine tincture is a mark of cadency relative to the senior Kildare branch of the Geraldines (whose arms are more simply blazoned "argent, a saltire gules").