DESMOND, GERALD FITZGERALD, I5TH EARL OF (d. I583), Irish leader, was son of James, 14th earl, by his second wife More O'Carroll. Young Gerald was to have been educated in England as the companion of the young king, Edward VI. Un fortunately for the subsequent peace of Munster these projects were not carried out. Claims on the Desmond estates were made by the Butlers, the hereditary enemies of the Geraldines, but temporary peace was made by Gerald's marriage with the daugh ter and heiress of the iith earl of Desmond, who had previously married, first, the 9th earl of Ormonde and secondly, Sir Francis Bryan.
Gerald succeeded to the earldom in 1558; he was knighted by the lord deputy Sussex, and did homage at Waterford. He allied himself with his namesake Gerald Fitzgerald, iith earl of Kildare (1525-1585), and with Shane O'Neill, and trouble was renewed between Ormonde and the Fitzgeralds. Desmond, summoned to appear in London to account for the misdeeds of his clan, delayed his appearance until May 1562. He was detained in London for two years, and after his return the death of his wife freed him from such restraint as had existed. Open war followed, and Des mond was defeated and taken prisoner. Desmond and his brother Sir John of Desmond were sent over to England, where they sur rendered their lands to the queen after a short experience of the Tower.
Desmond was allowed to return to Ireland in 1573. He was detained for six months in Dublin, but in November slipped through the hands of the Government, and in a short time had reduced the province to a state of anarchy. On July 18, 1574, the Geraldine chiefs signed the "Combination" promising to support the earl unconditionally; shortly afterwards Ormonde and the lord deputy, Sir William Fitzwilliam, marched on Munster, and put Desmond's garrison at Derrinlaur Castle to the sword. Des mond submitted at Cork on Sept. 2, handing over his estates to trustees. Sir Henry Sidney visited Munster in 1575, and affairs seemed to promise an early restoration of order. But Fitzmaurice had fled to Brittany in company with other leading Geraldines. He intrigued at the French and Spanish courts for a foreign in vasion of Ireland, and at Rome met the adventurer Stucley, with whom he projected an expedition which was to make a nephew of Gregory XIII. king of Ireland. In 1579 he landed in Smerwick bay, where he was joined later by some Spanish soldiers at the Fort del Ore. His ships were captured on July 29, and he himself was slain in a skirmish while on his way to Tipperary. Desmond had perhaps been restrained before by jealousy of Fitzmaurice; his indecisions ceased when on Nov. Sir William Pelham pro claimed him a traitor. The sack of Youghal and Kinsale by the Geraldines was speedily followed by the successes of Ormonde and Pelham acting in concert with Admiral Winter. In June 1581 Des mond had to take to the woods; on Nov. he was seized and murdered by a small party of soldiers. His brother Sir John of Desmond had 'been caught and killed in Dec. 158i, and John Fitz gerald, seneschal of Imokilly, had surrendered on June 14, 1583.
By his second marriage with Eleanor Butler, the I 5th earl left two sons, the elder of whom, James, i6th earl (I S 7o-16oI ), spent most of his life in prison. After an unsuccessful attempt in 1600 01 to recover his inheritance he returned to England, where he died, the title becoming extinct.