James fitz Maurice FitzGerald, called Court Page, was earl de jure, but stayed, at least for the moment, away in London.

"And as far as ever I could perceive," wrote Grey to Thomas Cromwell in February 1537, "the stay that keepeth him from inclining to the king's grace's pleasure is the fear and doubt which he and all the Geraldines[b] in Munster have in the Lord James Butler, both for the old malice that hath been betwixt their bloods, and principally for that he claimeth title by his wife to the earldom of Desmond.

In August 1538, Anthony St Leger, who was at the time serving on the commission "for the order and establishment to be taken and made touching the whole state of Ireland," was advised by Cromwell "to handle the said James in a gentle sort."

Suspecting their intention, he declined to place himself in their power, though signing articles of submission and promising to deliver up his eldest son as a hostage for his good faith.

In July 1539, John Allen related to Cromwell how the "pretended Earl of Desmond" had confederated with O'Donnell and O'Neill "to make insurrection against the king's majesty and his subjects, not only for the utter exile and destruction of them, but also for the bringing in, setting up, and restoring young Gerald (the sole surviving scion of the house of Kildare) to all the possessions and pre-eminences which his father had; and so finally among them to exclude the king from all his regalities within this land.

[13] On 19 March 1540 Court Page was killed by his cousin, Maurice fitz John FitzGerald, called Totane, Desmond's brother.

After which murder done, the said James Fitzjohn immediately resorted to your town of Youghal, where he was well received and entertained, and ere he departed entered into all such piles and garrisons in the county of Cork as your majesty's deputy, with the assistance of your army and me, the Earl of Ormonde, obtained before Christmas last.

On the arrival of St Leger as deputy, however, FitzGerald again renewed his offer of submission, and promised, upon pledges being given for his safety, to meet him at Cashel.

I and my fellows thought it not good to leave that cancer remain, but so laboured the matter on both sides, that we have brought them to a final end of the said title."

St Leger assured King Henry "that sith my repair into this your land I have not heard better counsel of no man for the reformation of the same than of the said Earl of Desmond, who undoubted is a very wise and discreet gentleman", for which reason, he said, he had sworn him of the council and given him "gown, jacket, doublet, hose, shirts, caps, and a riding coat of velvet, which he took very thankfully, and ware the same in Limerick and in all places where he went with me".

In token of the renunciation of the privilege claimed by his ancestors of not being obliged to attend the great councils of the realm, he took his seat in a parliament held at Dublin.

During the government of Edward Bellingham, he was accused of treason, and having refused a peremptory order to appear in Dublin, the deputy swooped down upon him unexpectedly in the dead of winter 1548, and carried him off a prisoner.

[30] Half a century after Desmond's death, the chroniclers of the Annals of Four Masters observed: "The loss of this good man was woful to his country; for there was no need to watch cattle or close doors from Dun-caoin, in Kerry, to the green-bordered meeting of the three waters, on the confines of the province of Eochaidh, the son of Lachta and Leinster.