Thomas FitzGerald, 5th Earl of Desmond (c. 1386–1420), was the only son of John FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Desmond. Upon John's death in 1399, Thomas succeeded to the earldom of Desmond, which lay in Munster, in the southwest of Ireland.
In 1418, Thomas was dispossessed of his lands and deprived of his earldom by his paternal uncle, James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond, after Thomas had concluded a marriage far below his station to Catherine MacCormac of Abbeyfeale;Webb, Alfred. A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: 1878. Catherine was the daughter of one of Thomas's dependants, William MacCormac, known as "the Monk of Feale."Cokayne, George Edward, Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Volume III. London: George Bell & Sons. 1890. p. 85 A marriage between a man of Norman blood and a woman of Gaelic ancestry was in violation of the Statutes of Kilkenny."Parish History", Abbeyfeale Parish, Diocese of Limerick
This ill-fated romance was the subject of the air "Desmond's Song"Moore, Thomas, The poetical works of Thomas Moore, including melodies, ballads, etc. Philadelphia: 1835. p. 349 by the Irish poet Thomas Moore.
After the loss of his earldom, Thomas withdrew to France, where he "died at Rouen, 10th August 1420, and was buried at Paris 'with great and mighty show, where the two kings of England and France were present'".
Marriage and issue Thomas FitzGerald and Catherine MacCormac (a.k.a. Katherine McCormick) of Abbyfeale had two sons:Burke, Bernard, A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire. London: Harrison. 1866. p. 204 Maurice, ancestor of the FitzGeralds of Adare and Broghill, John Claragh, who died in 1452.Ireland and her people; a library of Irish biography, (Thomas W. H. Fitzgerald, ed.), Fitzgerald Book Company, 1910, p. 189
Notes