My name is Rev. Levon Lion F. Cordingley.  I am the Founder and acting President of the Church of Cognitive Therapy. My writings are my own opinions, though recognized by the church, they do not necessarily reflect the community beliefs as a whole.  Thank you very much for your  understanding and love.  Much love and many blessing to all.

My Ancestry

The English surname of CORDINGLEY is of the locational group of surnames meaning 'of Cordonley'. The precise spot has not been discovered, but it may fairly be assumed that it was some small estate situated in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Local surnames, by far the largest group, derived from a place name where the man held land or from the place from which he had come, or where he actually lived. These local surnames were originally preceded by a preposition such as "de", "atte", "by" or "in". The names may derive from a manor held, from working in a religious dwelling or from literally living by a wood or marsh or by a stream. The instance below, was from the Yorkshire Poll Tax (1379) and occurs at Bowling, near Bradford. Ricardus de Cordonlay, 1379, Poll Tax of Yorkshire. Later instances of the name mention Jacob Bateman and Mary Cordingley, who were married at St. George's, Hanover Square, London in 1795, and Hubert Bushby wed Ann Cordingley at the same church in 1803. The associated coat of arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884. (No date or area given). The origin of badges and emblems, are traced to the earliest times, although, Heraldry, in fact, cannot be traced later than the 12th century, or at furthest the 11th century. At first armorial bearings were probably like surnames and assumed by each warrior at his free will and pleasure, his object being to distinguish himself from others. It has long been a matter of doubt when bearing Coats of Arms first became hereditary. It is known that in the reign of Henry V (1413-1422), a proclamation was issued, prohibiting the use of heraldic ensigns to all who could not show an original and valid right, except those 'who had borne arms at Agincourt'. The College of Arms (founded in 1483) is the Royal corporation of heralds who record proved pedigrees and grant armorial bearings. Translation: Argent (white) denotes Peace and Sincerity. The Mullets are five pointed stars. Azure (blue) is associated with the church and represents Loyalty and Truth. Gules (red) was for Military Fortitude and Magnanimity.

The SCOTT'S were one of the most powerful of the border clans and they take their name from a race who invaded Scotland at an early date. Uchredus filius Scoti witnessed charters between 1107 and 1128, and from him were descended the Scotts of Buccleuch and the Scotts of Balwearie. The Buccleuchs exchanged Murdochston in Lanarkshire for Branxholm in Roxburghshire. Sir Walter, 13th, Baron, was created Lord Scott of Buccleuch by James VI and his son was raised to the dignity of Earl of Buccleuch in 1619. On the failure of the male line the Countess of Buccleuch married the Duke of Monmouth, natural son of Charles II who was created Duke of Buccleuch. His grandson became 2nd Duke and the third Duke succeeded to the Dukedom of Queensbury. Sir Michael Scott, knighted by Alexander II obtained the lands of Balwearie by marriage with the heiress of Sir Richard Balwearie. Their son, Michael, who died about 1300, was the famous wizard, actually one of the most learned men of his time. it is notable that of fourteen successive barons of Balwearie, thirteen of them were knighted. The Balwearie family are now represented by the Scotts of Ancrum. Among the many prominent families of the clan are the Scots of Harden, of which family Sir Walter Scott, author of Waverley, was a scion. The burghs of Scotland owe much of their prosperity to the large immigration of foreigners which went on during the 12th and 13th centuries. The original founders of the towns, were in many cases wanderers from Flanders, who brought with them their habits of industry and knowledge of trade and manufactures. Settlers of this description came in great numbers to England in the reign of Henry I (1100-1135) and when Henry II (1154-1189) drove all foreigners out of his dominions they flocked into Scotland, where a more enlightened policy made them welcome. Most of the European surnames were formed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The process had started somewhat earlier and had continued in some places into the 19th century, but the norm is that in the tenth and eleventh centuries people did not have surnames, whereas by the fifteenth century most of the population had acquired a second name.

The Fitzgerald's and The White's

The White name is one of the most common surnames in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.  This White line can be continuously traced back to England/Wales to 70 B.C. and of noble origin.

In ENGLAND its most common origin is as a descriptive nickname for someone who was fair-haired or pale, and a sizeable proportion of those bearing the name in Ireland will be of English extraction; such families were prominent in Clare, Waterford and Kilkenny. 

In some cases, as families were absorbed by Gaelic culture, White was phonetically hibernicized Mac Faoite. After the final collapse of the Gaelic order in the seventeenth century this was re-anglicised as MacWhitty and MacQuitty, as well as the original White. 

In the north of Ireland, many Whites are of Scottish extraction. The surname was a semi-translation of the Highland Gaelic Mac Gille Bhain, ‘son of the fair-haired servant or youth’, and was also adopted by many of the MacGregors and Lamonts when they were outlawed and their own names proscribed. Elsewhere in Ireland White was sometimes used locally for many Irish originals containing, or thought to contain the elements ban (‘white’) or fionn (‘fair’).

A significant portion but not all of the White's can trace there history back to the Fitzgerald's and the royal linage of Nesta Rhy.  (This includes, In the US, the early settlers in MA, VT)

Fitzgerald is a Norman name, made up of Fi(t)z, Norman French for ‘son of’, and Gerald, a personal name of Germanic origin from geri, ‘spear’ and wald, ‘rule’. 
Also (Mac Gearailt) called collectively the "Geraldines."

The family trace their origin to Walter FitzOther, keeper of Windsor forest in the late eleventh century, whose son Gerald was constable of Pembroke Castle in Wales. 
His wife was Nest, daughter of Rhys Ap Tewdwyr, King of South Wales. Gerald flourished in the early part of the twelfth century.  (these lines are listed on this site)

His son, Maurice Fitzgerald, ancestor of the Irish FitzGeralds, was one of the allies of Strongbow, the leader and organizer of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. Maurice received grants of land in several parts of Ireland, and his descendants were, among the most powerful of Norman families in Ireland, and members of this family often filled high offices in Ireland under the English Crown. Over the following eight centuries the family became one of the most powerful and numerous in Ireland. 

The head of the main branch, the Duke of Leinster, known historically as the Earl of Kildare, is the foremost peer of Ireland. The Leinster branch of the family held for many centuries the Earldom of Kilare.

A branch of the Fitzgeralds, the Barrons (Barun) of Burnchurch, County Kilkenny, assumed the surname of Barron from their title in those parts, and remain a highly respectable family in that area and Waterford. 

The MacMorises (Mac Muiris) or Fitzmaurices were a branch of the Geraldines who became lords of Lixnaw in County Kerry, and became famous for their resistance to the English invaders of the sixteenth century. 

The Munster branch held the Earldom of Desmond, and in 1333 the then Earl Palatine of Desmond created three hereditary knights, which still survive: the White Knight (now Fitzgibbon and White), the Knight of Kerry, the Knight of Glin. The White Knight was the head of the MacGibbons (Mac Giobuin) or Fitzgibbons line. Descend from Gilbert de Clare, who about 1300 possessed the manor or Mahoonagh and other valuable estates in southeastern County Limerick. This branch of the family settled in County Cork, where they were chiefs of a territory known as Clangibbon.
Two other Knights were sons of a John Fitzgerald. The two lineal male descendants and heirs of these two brothers are still known respectively as the Knight of Glin and the Knight of Kerry. The power of the Munster branch, the Earls of Desmond, was severely disrupted in the wars of the sixteenth century.

The surname is now common, but remains concentrated in the ancient homeland of the Earls of Desmond, counties Cork, Limerick and Kerry.


FITZGERALD, EDWARD 


in 1620 as Lady Offaley for life. George, the 16th earl (1620— 1660), had his castle of Maynooth pillaged by the Roman Catholics in 1642, and after its subsequent occupation by them in 1646 it was finally abandoned by the family.
The history of the earls after the Restoration was uneventful, save for the re-acquisition in 1739 of Carton, which thenceforth became the seat of the family, until James the 20th earl (1722— 1773), who obtained a viscounty of Great Britain in 1747, built Leinster House in Dublin, and formed a powerful party in the Irish parliament. In 1756 he was made lord deputy; in 1760 he raised the royal Irish regiment of artillery; and in 1766 he received the dukedom of Leinster, which remained the only Irish dukedom till that of Abercorn was created in 1868. His wealth and connections secured him a commanding position. His younger children, one son was created Lord Lecale; another was the well-known rebel, Lord Edward Fitzgerald; another was the ancestor of Lord De Ros; and a daughter was created Baroness Rayleigh. William Robert, the 2nd duke (1749— 1804), was a cordial supporter of the Union, and received nearly £30,000 for the loss of his borough influence. In 1883 the family was still holding over 70,000 acres in Co. Kildare; but, after a tenure of nearly 750 years, arrangements were made to sell them to the tenants under the Land Purchase Acts. In 1893 Maurice Fitzgerald (b. 1887) succeeded his father Gerald, the 5th duke (1851—1893), as 6th duke of Leinster.

The other great Fitzgerald line was that of the earls of Desmond, who were undoubtedly of the same stock and claimed descent from Maurice, the founder of the family in Ireland, through a younger son Thomas. It would seem that Maurice, grandson of Thomas, was father of Thomas “Fitz Maurice” Nap peg/i (“ of the ape “), justice of Ireland in 1295, who obtained a grant of the territory of “ Decies and Desmond” in 1292, and died ~n 1298. His son Maurice Fitz Thomas or Fitzgerald, inheriting vast estates in Munster, and strengthening his position by marrying a daughter of Richard de Burgh, earl of Ulster, and was created earl of Desmond (i.e. south Munster) on the 22nd of August 1329, and Kerry was made a palatine liberty for him. The greatest Irish noble of his day, he led the Anglo-Irish party against the English representatives of the king, and was attacked as the king’s enemy by the viceroy in 1345. He surrendered in England to the king and was imprisoned, but eventually regained favor, and was even made viceroy in 1355. however, He died the following year.  Two of his sons succeeded in turn, Gerald, the 3rd earl (1359—1398), being appointed justiciar (i.e. viceroy) in 1367, despite his adopting his father’s policy which the crown still wished to thwart. But he was superseded two years later, and defeated and captured by the native king of Thomond shortly after. Yet his sympathies were distinctly Irish. The remote position of Desmond in the south-west of Ireland tended to make the succession irregular on native lines, and a younger son succeeded as 6th or 7th earl about 1422. His son Thomas, the next earl (1462—1467), governed Ireland as deputy from 1463 to 1467, and upheld the endangered English rule by stubborn conflict with the Irish. Yet Tiptoft, who superseded him, procured his attainder with that of the earl of Kildare, on the charge of alliance with the Irish, and he was beheaded on the 14th of February 1468, his followers in Munster avenging his death by invading the Pale. His younger son Maurice, earl from 1487 to 1520, was one of Perkin Warbeck’s Irish supporters, and besieged Waterford on his behalf. His son James (15201529) was proclaimed a rebel and traitor for conspiring with the French king and with the emperor. At his death the succession reverted to his uncle Thomas (1529—1534), then an old man, at whose death there was a contest between his younger brother Sir John “of Desmond” and his grandson James, a court page of Henry VIII. Old Sir John secured possession till his death (1536), when his son James succeeded defacto, and de jure on the rightful earl being murdered by the usurper’s younger brother in 1540. Intermarriage with Irish chieftains had by this time classed the earls among them, but although this James looked to their support before 1540, he thence forth played so prudent a part that in spite of the efforts of the Butlers, the hereditary

foes of his race, he escaped the fate of the Kildare branch and kept Munster quiet and in order for ‘the English till his death in 1558. His four marriages produced a disputed succession and a break-up of the family. His eldest son Thomas “Roe” (the Red) was disinherited, and failed to obtain the earldom, which was confirmed by Elizabeth to his half-brother Gerald “ the rebel earl” (1558—1582), but Gerald had other enemies in his uncle Maurice (the murderer of 1540) and his son especially, the famous James “Fitz Maurice” Fitz Gerald. Gerald’s turbulence and his strife with the Butlers led to his detention in England (1562—1564) and again in 1565—1566. In 1567 Sidney imprisoned him in Dublin Castle, whence, with his brother, Sir John “ of Desmond,” he was sent to England and the Tower, and not allowed to return to Ireland till 1573. Meanwhile the above James, in spite of the protests of Thomas “Roe,” had usurped his position in his absence and induced the natives to choose him as” captain “or chieftain of Desmond. He formed a strong Irish Catholic party and broke into revolt in 1569. Suppressed by Sidney, he rebelled again, till crushed by Perrot in 1573. As Earl Gerald on his return would not join James in revolt, the latter withdrew to France. But Gerald himself, after some trimming, rose in rebellion (July 1574), though he soon submitted to the queen’s forces. On the continent James Fitz Maurice offered the crown of Ireland in succession to France and to Spain, and finally to the nephew of Pope Gregory XIII. With the papal nuncio and a few troops he landed at Dingle in Kerry (June 1579) and called on the earls of Kildare and Desmond to join him, but the latter assured the English government of his loyalty, and James was killed in a skirmish. Yet Desmond was viewed with suspicion and finally forced, by being proclaimed as a traitor (Nov. 1st, 1579), into a miserable rebellion. His castles were soon captured, and he was hunted as a fugitive; till surprised and beheaded on the 11th of November 1583, after long wanderings, his head being fixed on London Bridge. His ruin is attributable to his restless turbulence and lack of settled policy. The vast estates of the earls, estimated at 6oo,ooo acres, were forfeited by act of parliament.

But the influence of his mighty house was still great among the Irish. The disinherited Thomas “ Roe” left a son James “Fitz Thomas,” who, succeeding him in 1595 and finding that the territory of the earls would never be restored, assumed the earldom and joined O’Neill’s rebellion in 1598, at the head of 8ooo of his men. Long sheltered from capture by the fidelity of the peasantry,’ he was eventually seized (1601) by his kinsman the White Knight, Edmund Fitz Gibbon, whose sister-in-law he had married, and sent to the Tower. The “sugan” (sham) earl lingered there obscurely as “James M. Thomas” till his death. In consequence of his rebellion and the devotion of the Irish to his race, James, son of Gerald “ the rebel earl,” who had remained in the Tower since his father’s death (1583), was restored as earl of Desmond and sent over to Munster in 16oo, but he, known as “the queen’s earl,” could, as a Protestant, do nothing, and he died unmarried in 1601. The “sugan” earl’s brother John, who had joined in his rebellion, escaped into Spain, and left a son Gerald, who appears to have ‘assumed the title and was known as the Conde de Desmond. He was killed in the service of the emperor Ferdinand in 1632. The common origin of the earls of Desmond and of Kildare had never been forgotten, and intermarriage had cemented the bond. Just before his death the exile wrote as “ Desmond alias Gerratt Fitz Gerald "to his Most Noble Cosen" the earl of Kildare, that “ wee must not be oblivious of the true amity and love that was inviolably observed between our antenates and elders.”

There can be no doubt that the house of Fitzmaurice was also of this stock, although their actual origin, in the 12th century, is doubtful. From a very early date they were feudal lords of Kerry, and their dignity was recognized as a peerage by Henry VII. in 1489. The isolated position of their territory ("Clanmaurice") threw them even more among the Irish than the earls of Desmond, and they often adopted the native form of their name, “MacMorrish.” Under Elizabeth the lords of Kerry narrowly escaped sharing the ruin of the earls. The conduct of Thomas in the rebellion of James “Fitz Maurice” was suspicious, and his sons joined in that of the earl of Desmond, while he himself was a rebel in 1582. Patrick, his successor (1590—1600), was captured in rebellion (1587), and when free, joined the revolt of 1598, as did his son and heir Thomas, who continued in the field till he obtained pardon and restoration in 1603, though suspect till his death in 1630. His grandson withdrew to France with James II., but the next peer became a supporter of the Whig cause, married the eventual heiress of Sir William Petty, and was created earl of Kerry in 1723. From him descend the family of Petty-Fitzmaurice, who obtained the marquessate of Lansdowne (q.v.) in 1818, and still hold among their titles the feudal barony of Kerry together with vast estates in. that county.

From the three sons by a second wife of one of the earls of Desmond’s ancestors, descended the hereditary White Knights, Knights of Glin and Knights of Kerry, these feudal dignities having, it is said, been bestowed upon them by their father, as Lord of Decies and Desmond. Glin Castle, county Limerick, is still the seat of ,the (Fitzgerald) Knight of Glin. Valencia Island is now the seat of the Knights of Kerry, who received a baroneicy in 1880.

Au-i-H0RITIEs.—Calendars of Irish documents and state papers and

Carew papers; Gilbert’s Viceroys of Ireland; Lord Kildare’s Earls

of Kildare; G. E. C~okaynej’s Complete Peerage; Haymond Graves,

Unpublished Geraldine Documents; Annals of the Four Masters;

Calendar of the duke of Leinster’s MSS. in 9th Report on Historical

MSS., part ii.; Ware’s Annals; J. H. Round’s Origin of the

Fitzgeralds” and “Origin of the Carews” in the Ancestor; his Earldom of Kildare and Barony of Offaley” in Genealogist, ix.,

and “ Barons of the Naas” in Genealogist, xv.; and his “Decies

and Desmond” in Eng. lust. Rev. xviii. (J. H. R.)

FITZGERALD, EDWARD (1809—1883), English writer, the poet of Omar Khayyám, was born as EDWARD PURCELI~, at Bredfield House, in Suffolk, on the 31st of March 1809. His father, John Purcell, who had married a Miss FitzGerald, assumed in 1818 the name and arms of his wife’s family. From 1816 to 1821 the FitzGeralds lived at St Germain and at Paris, but in the latter year Edward was sent to school at Bury St Edmunds. In 1826 he proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge, where, some two years later, he became acquainted with Thackeray and W. H. Thompson. With Tennyson, “a sort of Hyperion,” his intimacy began about 1835. In 1830 he went to live in Paris, but in 1831 was in a farm-house on the battlefield of Naseby. He adopted no profession, and lived a perfectly stationary and rustic life, presently moving into his native county of Suffolk, and never again leaving it for more than a week or two. Until 1835 the FitzGeralds lived at Wherstead; from that year until 1853 the poet resided at Boulge, near Woodbridge; until 1860 at Farlingay Hall; until 1873 in. the town of Woodbridge; and then until his death at his own house hard by, ealled Little Grange.

During most of this time FitzGerald gave his thoughts almost without interruption to his flowers, to music and to literature. He allowed friends like Tennyson and Thackeray, however, to push on far before him, and long showed no disposition to emulate their activity. In 1851 he published his first book, Euphranor, a Platonic dialogue, born of memories of the old happy life at Cambridge. In 1852 appeared Polonius, a collection of “ saws and modern instances,” some of them his own, the rest borrowed from the less familiar English classics. FitzGerald began the study of Spanish poetry in 1850, when he was with Professor E. B. Cowell at Elmsett and that of Persian in Oxford in 1853. In the latter year he issued Six Dramas of Calderon, freely translated. He now turned to Oriental studies, and in 1856 he anonymously published a version of the Salamdn and Absdl of Jámi in Miltonic verse. In March 1857 the name with which he has been so closely identified first occurs in FitzGerald’s correspondence—” Hafiz and Omar Khayyam ring like true metal.”, On the ¶5th of January 1859 a little anonymous pamphlet was published as The Rubdiydt of O’mar Khayydm. In the world at large, and in the circle of FitzGerald’s particular friends, the poem seems at first to have attracted no attention. The publisher allowed it to gravitate to the fourpenny or even

(as he afterwards boasted) to the penny box on the bookstalls. But in 1860 Rossetti discovered it, and Swinburne and Lord Houghton quickly followed. The Rubaiydt became slowly famous, but it was not until 1868 that FitzGerald was encouraged to print a second and greatly revised edition. Meanwhile he had produced in 1865 a version of the A garnemnon, and two more plays from Calderon. In 1880—1881 he issued privately translations of the two Oedipus tragedies; his last publication was Readings in Crabbe, 1882. He left in manuscript a version of Attar’s Mantic- Uttair under the title of The Bird Parliament.

From 1861 onwards FitzGerald’s greatest interest had centred in. the sea. In June 1863 he bought a yacht, “The Scandal,” and in 1867 he became part-owner of a herring-lugger, the “ Meum and Tuum.” For some years, till 1871, he spent the months from June to October mainly in “knocking about somewhere outside of Lowestoft.” In this way, and among his books and flowers, FitzGerald gradually became an old man. On the 14th of June 1883 he passed away painlessly in his sleep. He was “an idle fellow, but one whose friendships were more like loves.” In 1885 a stimulus was given to the steady advance of his fame by the fact that Tennyson dedicated his Tiresias to FitzGerald’s memory, in some touching reminiscent verses to “Old Fitz.” This was but the signal for that universal appreciation of Omar Khayyâm in his English dress, which has been one of the curious literary phenomena of recent years. The melody of FitzGerald’s verse is so exquisite, the thoughts he rearranges and strings together are so profound, and the general atmosphere of poetry in which he steeps his version is so pure, that no surprise need be expressed at the universal favour which the poem has met with among critical readers. But its popularity has gone much deeper than this; it is now probably better known to the general public than any single poem of its class published since the year 1860, and its admirers have almost transcended common. sense in the extravagance of their laudation. FitzGerald married, in middle life, Lucy, the daughter of Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet. Of FitzGerald as a man practically nothing was known until, in 1889, Mr W. Aldis Wright, his intimate friend and literary executor, published his Letters and Literary Remains in three volumes. This was followed in 1895 by the Letters to Fanny Kemble. These letters constitute a fresh bid for immortality, since they discovered that FitzGerald was a witty, picturesque and sympathetic letterwriter. One of the most unobtrusive authors who ever lived, FitzGerald has, nevertheless, by the force of his extraordinary individuality, gradually influenced the whole face of English belles-i cUres, in particular as it was manifested between 1890 and

1900. 

The Works of Edward FitzGerald appeared in 1887. See also a chronological list of FitzGerald’s works (Caxton Club, Chicago, 1899); notes for a bibliography by Col. W. F. Prideaux, in Notes and Queries (9th series, vol. vL), published separately in 1901; Letters and Literary Remains (ed. W. Aldis Wright, 1902—1903); and the Life of Edward FitzGerald, by Thomas Wright (1904), which contains a bibliography (vol. ii. pp. 241-243) and a list of sources (vol. i. pp. xvi.-xvii.). The volume on FitzGerald in the ‘ English Men of Letters “ series is by A. C. Benson. The FitzGerald centenary was celebrated in March 1909. See the Centenary Celebrations Souvenir (Ipswich, 1909) and The Times for March 25,

1909. (E. G.) 

FITZGERALD, LORD EDWARD (1763—1798), Irish conspirator, fifth son of James, 1st duke of Leinster, by his wife Emilia Mary, daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd duke of Richmond, was born at Carton House, near Dublin, on the I 5th of October 1763. In 1773 the duke of Leinster died, and his widow soon afterwards married William Ogilvie, who superintended Lord Edward’s early education. Joining the army in 1779, Lord Edward served with credit in America on the staff of Lord Rawdon (afterwards marquess of hastings), and at the battle of Eutaw Springs (8th of September 1781) he was severely wounded, his life being saved by a negro named Tony, whom Lord Edward retained in his service till the end of his life. In 1783 Fitzgerald returned to Ireland, where his brother, the duke of Leinster, had procured his election to the Irish parliament as member for Athy. In parliament he acted with the small

Strongbow's father was Gilbert fitz Gilbert de Clare, lord of Orbec and Bienfaite, lord of Striguil (Chepstow), and earl of Pembroke. Gilbert was a younger son of Gilbert fitz Richard de Clare, earl of Tonbridge and Clare and lord of Ceredigion, the Marcher lordship of Cardigan. Strongbow's mother was Isabel (Elizabeth) de Beaumont, sister to Robert earl of Leicester and Waleran count of Meulan. Isabel had been the youngest mistress of King Henry I, and their liaison resulted in a natural daughter, Isabel (Elizabeth), born c.1129/30. When Isabel de Beaumont married Gilbert in 1130, she took this daughter with her. Strongbow was born before the end of 1130; thus he was raised with the natural half-sister of the Empress Matilda. 

There has been debate about the name "Strongbow" ascribed to both Richard and his father Gilbert. In a charter in The Chronicle of Melrose issued by Richard's grandson, Richard Marshal, both Richard and Gilbert de Clare are named as "Strongbow". The men of Netherwent (Gwent) were known for their skill and use of an unusually long and strong bow; both Gilbert and Richard held the lordship of Netherwent. Since Gilbert de Clare's seal shows him holding a long arrow in his right hand, historians assume that the ability and skill to use this type of bow earned both Richard and his father Gilbert their nicknames. 

Strongbow's father, grandfather, uncles and great-uncles were men favored by both King Henry I and King Stephen. On the death of Roger de Clare without legal heirs in 1130, King Henry I granted Gilbert de Clare his lands of Orbec and Bienfaite in Normandy. With the death of King Henry I in 1135, Strongbow's father, Gilbert, supported Stephen as king, and was an active military commander for Stephen during the "anarchy". When Gilbert's uncle Walter de Clare died in 1138, King Stephen granted Gilbert the lordship of Netherwent, including the castles of Chepstow and Usk. Stephen also granted Gilbert the comital title and lands of the earldom of Pembroke the same year. Gilbert and Strongbow supported King Stephen against Matilda until c.1146. In 1146 King Stephen held Gilbert fitz Richard de Clare, earl of Hertford, as a hostage for the "good behavior" of his uncle Ranulf, earl of Chester. (This Gilbert was also the nephew of Gilbert, earl of Pembroke.) When Ranulf changed sides and began to support the Empress Matilda, King Stephen forced Earl Gilbert of Hertford to surrender his castles and lands. This action immediately drove Gilbert to support Matilda, along with his uncle Earl Ranulf. Stephen, in anticipation of Earl Gilbert of Pembroke following his nephew, took the earl's lands and castles. This enraged the earl of Pembroke so that he also changed sides, following his nephew to the side of Empress Matilda and taking his sixteen-year old son, Richard, with him. 


Gilbert earl of Pembroke died circa 1148, and at the age of eighteen, Strongbow inherited all of his father's lands, including Orbec and Bienfaite in Normandy, the lordship of Striguil and the earldom of Pembroke. Strongbow first appears in official records as "comes de Penbroc" in the Treaty of Westminster, November 1, 1153, but this is the last occasion in any royal document that Strongbow signs as earl of Pembroke. From this point in extant records, Strongbow signs his name as "comes de Striguil" or "comes Richardus". The records indicate that King Henry II refused to recognize Richard's right to the title and lands of Pembroke. The title of earl and the earldom of Pembroke did not come back into Richard's family until after the marriage of his sole heir, Isabel de Clare, to William Marshal in 1189. It was King John who "belted" William Marshal in 1199 creating him earl of Pembroke. 

Historians have proposed different answers to the question of why King Henry II refused to recognize Richard's right to the title and lands of Pembroke. Some have believed that Henry did not trust Richard de Clare, or blamed him for holding too long to the cause of King Stephen. Some historians have stated that Henry II was determined to not recognize any claim to land based on tenure granted during the anarchy. The answer to this question may never be discovered, but the results of Henry's actions definitely contributed to Strongbow's reasons for accepting the offer of Dermot MacMurchada, king of Leinster. With King Henry denying Strongbow the title and lands of the earldom of Pembroke, and Strongbow finding himself in debt to Aaron the Jew of Lincoln, Dermot's proposal was a chance to reclaim fortune and glory. 

Dermot MacMurchada, king of Leinster, had been deposed in Ireland, and he went to Henry II in 1168 to seek aid in reclaiming his kingdom. According to Gerald of Wales, Henry II issued a writ telling the men who held of him in any of his lands that they were free to aid Dermot in his quest. Dermot proceeded to Bristol to seek men, and he found them. Dermot offered Strongbow his daughter Eve (Aoife) in marriage as well as the kingdom of Leinster on Dermot's death, if Strongbow helped Dermot regain his kingdom. 
[For a complete discussion of the legality of this offer by Dermot, please see M. T. Flanagan's Irish Society, Anglo-Norman Settlers and Angevin Kingship included in the bibliography.] 

The Anglo-Normans who participated in the invasion of Ireland with Strongbow were an inter-connected group of men. These men were bound together by family, land and fealty; many tied to Wales by family and fiefs. They were men used to war and trained to take and defend frontier lands. 

Many had fought for King Henry in the Welsh wars of 1164/65 and lost their lands and/or their office as a result of Rhys ap Gruffydd's successes. 

Maurice fitz Gerald and William fitz Gerald, Meiler fitz Henry, Robert fitz Stephen and Raymond le Gros were all related through Nest, daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr of Deheubarth. 
Hervey de Montmorency and Robert de Quinci were tied by blood and/or land to the de Clares. 

The first contingent arrived in Ireland in May 1169; and with Dermot, who met them at Bannow, they took the city of Wexford. In May 1170 Raymond le Gros arrived, followed by Strongbow in August. Strongbow had collected men from Striguil, Gowerland and Haverfordwest, and he arrived at Waterford with 200 men-at-arms, and about one thousand archers. They met Dermot and the other Anglo-Normans and took Waterford on St Bartholomew's Eve (August 28, 1170). Strongbow and Eve were married in the Cathedral of Waterford, and after the marriage, the army immediately moved toward Dublin arriving September 21, 1170. They came with over 3000 Anglo-Normans and some 1000 Irish troops. While the city leaders were negotiating with Dermot and Strongbow through archbishop Lawrence O' Toole, Roderick (Rory) O'Connor withdrew his army and left the field. A small group of the besiegers broke the truce and took the city, causing Asgall Mac Torquil to take to his ships and flee to the Scottish Isles. 

After the capture of Dublin, King Henry II, perhaps seeing the possibility of palatine lordships in Ireland, issued a writ. This writ ordered that no ships from any of the lands subject to Henry II could carry men or supplies to Ireland and that all of "his" men who had gone to Ireland must return by Easter (March 28,1171) or risk forfeiture of their lands. Dermot MacMurchada had died at Ferns in May 1171, and Strongbow had assumed the kingship of Leinster in right of his wife. Perhaps in reaction to Strongbow's action and the forays of Anglo-Normans into other Irish kingdoms, Roderick O' Connor, Domnall Mor O Brien of Munster and Magnus MacDunleavy gathered an army and besieged the city of Dublin. Strongbow, de Cogan and their men were trapped inside the city. When O' Connor would not accept Strongbow's offer to hold Leinster and all of his conquered lands in Ireland of O' Connor as high king, Strongbow sent 600 of his men out from Dublin to attack O' Connor's camp at Castleknock. The success of this strategy confused and routed the entire Irish army and freed Dublin. 

Strongbow then turned to the problem of Henry and his writ and sent his uncle Hervey to King Henry II. Hervey returned and urged his nephew to go in person. Strongbow crossed over to England and met King Henry at Newnham in Gloucestershire (or at Pembroke as Henry was preparing to depart for Ireland according to Robert of Torigny). Strongbow and Henry settled their differences, with Strongbow giving up Dublin and all its adjacent lands, the maritime towns and castles to Henry. The rest of the lands that Strongbow held by conquest and marriage he gave to Henry and received them back as lands-in-chief of the king and his heirs. Henry II also acknowledged Strongbow's comital status, though not his right to Pembroke, and from this point Strongbow signed his name as 'comes Richardus' or 'comes de Strigoil'. 


On October 18, 1171, Henry arrived in Waterford with 400 ships, 500 knights, 4000 men-at-arms and several thousand archers. With Henry were his own familiares and men of his household, including William fitz Audelin, Hugh de Lacy, Robert fitz Bernard, Philip de Braose, and Bertrum de Verdun. Henry placed Waterford in the custody of Robert fitz Bernard, and then he proceeded to Dublin taking the fealty and oaths of the kings of Cork, Limerick, and Ossory on his way. Henry spent Christmas at Dublin, organized the synod at Cashel for the ecclesiastical reform demanded by the Pope, and left on February 2, 1172 to return to Wexford. Between March 26 and April 16, 1172, Henry II moved to protect the royal interests in Ireland and limit Strongbow's power. He placed the city and land of Dublin in the custody of Hugh de Lacy and created Hugh lord of Meath. He gave the custody of Waterford and Wexford to Robert fitz Bernard and William fitz Audelin. Henry separated Strongbow from his most important military commanders by placing fitz Stephen, Maurice fitz Gerald, Milo fitz David, and Meiler fitz Henry in the garrison of Dublin. Henry put fitz Audelin, de Braose and de Hastings with thirty knights in charge of Wexford, and fitz Bernard, de Bohun and de Gundeville with forty knights in charge of Waterford. Though Henry recognized the value and need of his barons, he wanted no palatine lordships in Ireland as he had inherited in Wales. 

In April 1173, Henry's sons began a rebellion, and Henry called Strongbow to aid him in Normandy. Strongbow defended Gisors for Henry II, was at Breteuil, and in August he was part of the relief of Verneuil. At Rouen August 10, 1173, Henry II named Strongbow governor (royal justiciar) of Ireland, gave him the city of Wexford, the castle of Wicklow, and made him constable of Waterford and Dublin. Henry II then sent Strongbow back to Ireland. On reaching Ireland Strongbow sent back fitz Bernard, fitz Stephen and others to aid the king in England and Normandy in Henry's war with his rebellious sons. 

At the end of 1174, due to the rebellion of the Irish, Strongbow had been pushed from Limerick back to Wexford by David of Limerick. Strongbow sent for le Gros to return as commander of his armies; Gerald of Wales says it was because Strongbow's men would not follow Hervey and demanded the return of Raymond. (There had been a disagreement between Strongbow and le Gros earlier when Robert de Quency, husband of Strongbow's sister Basilia, had died.) Whatever the true reason, le Gros returned to Ireland and was given Basilia in marriage, custody and wardship of her daughter Maud de Quency, the constableship of Leinster, and lands in Fothard, Idrone and Glasskarrig. During this same time period, two more members of Strongbow's family married into the fitz Gerald family. Strongbow's daughter Alina married William, son of William fitz Gerald, and his uncle Hervey married Nest, daughter of Maurice fitz Gerald. (There are no known records of the mother of Alina; historians can only presume that Alina was a natural daughter of Strongbow because Flanagan states that Strongbow was not married before Eve MacMurchada.) This marrying of Strongbow's family to the Geraldines may have been an attempt to lessen the strife between their families and strengthen alliances of the Anglo-Normans in Ireland. 

In October 1175 Strongbow was in England for the Treaty of Windsor between Henry II and O'Connor of Ireland, and this may have encouraged the Irish princes to begin another revolt. Strongbow returned to Ireland by the beginning of 1176. In April 1176, Strongbow sent le Gros to relieve Dermot Macarthy, prince of Desmond. After restoring Dermot to Desmond, le Gros headed for Cork. On the way he received a letter from Basilia saying: 

" . . . that huge grinder which gave me so much pain has fallen out. . . ." 
This was a coded message telling le Gros that Strongbow had died April 5, 1176 (June 1, 1176) of some type of infection ("a mortification of his foot" according to The Annals). After le Gros reached Dublin, Strongbow was buried with great ceremony at Holy Trinity Church with Lawrence archbishop of Dublin presiding. 
[There is no mention of Strongbow's widow or of his children for this time.] 
Strongbow left a widow, Eve, a minor son Gilbert, and a daughter Isabel. According to records, Gilbert died a minor in 1185. On Strongbow's death Henry II took his lands into royal hands, with William fitz Audelin as administrator in Ireland and Eve holding dower rights, and possibily the lordship of Striguil, until as late as 1185/86. Strongbow's daughter and heir, Isabel, was protected by Henry II; one of Henry's last acts was to promise Isabel and all of her father's lands to William Marshal in 1189. 

There are many years in Strongbow's life for which there are no known records. Little is known of his early years and of his life with his father during the wars between Matilda and Stephen. His time in Ireland is only seen through the eyes of a few sources and the charters and writs Strongbow issued and/or witnessed. Strongbow was generous in ecclesiastical grants; founding the preceptory of Knights Hospitallers at Kilmainham outside of Dublin, and helping to build the choir of the cathedral at Dublin with the two chapels of St. Edmond and St. Mary Alba and St. Laud. He gave charters and lands to St. Mary's in Dublin and to Dunbrody and founded the priory of Benedictine nuns at Usk. 

Gerald of Wales describes Strongbow as a tall man with red hair, freckles, grey eyes and a soft (weak) voice. 

"In war Strongbow was more of a leader than a soldier. . . . When he took-up his position in the midst of battle, he stood firm as an immovable standard around which his men could re-group and take refuge. In war he remained steadfast and reliable in good fortune and bad alike. . . ." 
If a man who was Strongbow's contemporary and not overly fond of him could describe him thus, Strongbow must have been a unique man. Strongbow had the patience and intelligence to not openly defy King Henry II, despite being denied what he must have seen as his rightful inheritance. He had the military skills and abilities of a commander that enabled him to conquer great lands in Ireland and the sagacity of a diplomat that allowed him to offer those conquests to his king and vassal lord, Henry II. On Strongbow's death at the age of forty-six, King Henry II guarded and protected his widow, his heir and his vast fiefs which leads to the belief that Strongbow had earned Henry's respect and perhaps even his affection. When Isabel de Clare married William Marshal in 1189, she brought with her the inheritance of her father. Isabel brought to Marshal the lordship of Striguil (Chepstow) in Wales, the lordship of Leinster in Ireland, fiefs in some nine shires in England, and the claims to the earldom of Pembroke and one half the barony of Earl Giffard in England and Normandy. Richard Strongbow de Clare would have approved of King Henry's choice for his son-in-law, a man who made his own place in his world. William Marshal would have respected his father-in-law for the loyal knight and vassal he was to King Henry II and to the Angevin Crown.

Tagwadihi or Catawba Killer, Thomas Glass - Cherokee - 1888

Tagwadihi ("Catawba-killer"), better known as The Glass, was a leading chief of the Cherokee  in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, eventually becoming the last principal chief of the Lower Cherokee. Son of an adopted Wyandot, [1]  he first rose to prominence during the Chickamauga wars, leaving the Overhill Towns with Dragging Canoe in 1777.

Living at Nickajack in the Five Lower Towns after 1782, he remained one of the chief leaders of the Chickamauga (later Lower) Cherokee throughout the wars, leading raids and war parties, often with Dick Justice of Lookout Mountain Town, at least as late as 1792. After the Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse in 1794, he remained prominent among the Lower Cherokee and became so in the nation as well, eventually becoming assistant principal chief to Black Fox.

In the journal of his travels in the South, particularly among the Cherokee of the Lower Towns, John Norton reported several encounters with The Glass and that a few years after the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the old warrior travelled up to the North country among the Iroquois and became friends with Joseph Brandt, the Mohawk who was the head chief of the Five Nations and had the same year as the treaty initiated the formation of the Western Confederacy to resist American incursions into the Old Northwest.[2] Norton was Brandt's adopted son. The resulting Northwest Indian War (1785-1795) included the great victory of the Confederacy at the Battle of the Wabash in 1791 and the American victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1795, which ended the war.

In the revolt of a group of the younger chiefs of the Upper Towns in 1808 against the domination of national affairs by the older chiefs of the Lower Towns, both he and Black Fox were deposed from their positions in the National Council. They were, however, returned to their seats on the council two years later, but although Black Fox again became principal chief of the nation, he himself did not return as his assistant. This took place at the council in Willstown in 1810 which abolished separate councils for each of the Cherokee divisions (Upper, Lower, Hill, and Valley Towns) and clan blood-revenge.[3]

Following the assassination of Doublehead in 1809, he had succeeded him as head of the Lower Towns council and their principal chief—the Lower Towns still considered Black Fox the lawful principal chief of the nation, but the position was abolished along with the Lower Towns council.