trouble to him (Pat. 6 John, m. 9, Cat. No. 524). The establishment of Hugh de Lacy as Earl of Ulster (29 May 1205) was a great triumph for Fitzhenry. Before long, however, war broke out between Lacy and Fitzhenry (Four Masters, iii. 155).
Another lawless Norman noble was William de Burgh [see under Fitzaldhelm, William], who was now engaged in the conquest of Connaught. But while De Burgh was devastating that region, Fitzhenry and his assessor, Walter de Lacy, led a host into De Burgh's Munster estates (1203, Annals of Loch Ce, i. 229, 231). De Burgh lost his estates, though on appeal to King John he ultimately recovered them all, except those in Connaught (Pat. 6 John, m. 8, Cal. No. 230). Fitzhenry had similar troubles with Richard Tirel (Pat. 5 John, m. 4, Cal. No. 196) and other nobles. Walter de Lacy, at one time his chief colleague, quarrelled with him in 1206 about the baronies of Limerick (Pat. 8 John, m. 2, Cal. No. 315). In 1204 he was directed by the king to build a castle in Dublin to serve as a court of justice, as well as a means of defence. He was also to compel the citizens of Dublin to fortify the city itself (Close, 6 John, m. 18, Cal. No. 226). Fitzhenry continued to hold the Justiciarship until 1208. The last writ addressed to him in that capacity is dated 19 June 1208 (Pat. 10 John, m. 5). Mr. Gilbert (Viceroys, p. 59) says that he was superseded between 1203 and 1205 by Hugh de Lacy, but many writs are addressed to him as Justiciar during these years (Cal. Doc. Ireland, pp. 31-44 passim). On several occasions assessors or counsellors were associated with him in his work, and he was directed to do nothing of exceptional importance without their advice (e.g. Hugh de Lacy in 1205, Close, 5 John, m. 22, Cal. No. 268).
Fitzhenry remained one of the most powerful of Irish barons, even after he ceased to be Justiciar. About 1212 his name appears immediately after that of William Marshall in the spirited protest of the Irish barons against the threatened deposition of John by the Pope, and the declaration of their willingness to live and die for the king (Cal. Doc. Ireland, No. 448). Several gifts from the king marked John's appreciation of his administration of Ireland (ib. No. 398). But it was not till August 1219 that all the expenses incurred during his viceroyalty were defrayed from the exchequer (ib. No. 887). He must by that date have been a very old man. Already in 1216 it was thought likely that he would die, or at least retire from the world into a monastery (ib. No. 691).
There is no reference to his acts after 1219, and he died in 1220 (Clyn, Ann. Hib. p. 8). He had long ago atoned for his early want of piety by the foundation in 1202 ('Annals of Ireland' in Chart. St. Mary's, ii. 308; Dugdale, Monasticon, vi. 1138) of the abbey of Connall in County Kildare, which he handed over to the Austin canons of Llanthony, near Gloucester. This he endowed with large estates, with all the churches and benefices in his Irish lands, with a tenth of his household expenses, rents, and produce (Chart. 7 John, m. 7, Cal. No. 273). He was buried in the chapter-house at Connall (Ann. Ireland, ii. 314). He had, by the niece of Hugh de Lacy, a son named Meiler, who in 1206 was old enough to dispossess William de Braose of Limerick (Close, 8 John, m. 3, Cal. No. 310), and whose forays into Tyrconnell had already spread devastation among the Irish (Annals of Loch Cé, i. 231). The brother of the elder Meiler, Robert Fitzhenry, died about 1180 (Exp. Hib. p. 354).
[Giraldus Cambrensis, Expugnatio Hibernica, in Opera, vol. v. (Rolls Ser.); The Anglo-Norman Poem on the Conquest of Ireland, wrongly attributed to Regan, ed. Michel; the Patent, Close, Charter, Liberate, and other Rolls for the reign of John, printed by the Record Commissioners, and summarised, not always with quite the necessary precision, in Sweetman's Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, 1171-1251; Chartularies, &c., of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin (Rolls Ser.); Gilbert's Viceroys of Ireland is not in this part always quite accurate; Annals of Loch Cé, vol. i. (Rolls Ser.)]
FITZHENRY, Mrs. (d. 1790?). actress, was the daughter of an Irishman named Flannigan, who kept the old Ferry Boat tavern, Abbey Street, Dublin. She contributed by her needle to the support of her father, and married a lodger in his house, a Captain Gregory, commander of a vessel engaged in the trade between Dublin and Bordeaux. After the death, by drowning, of her husband, followed by that of her father, she proceeded to London in 1753 and appeared at Covent Garden 10 Jan. 1754 as Mrs. Gregory, 'her first appearance upon any stage,' playing Hermione in the 'Distressed Mother.' Alicia in 'Jane Shore' followed, 23 March 1754, Her Irish accent impeded her success, and at the end of the season she went, at a salary of 300l., soon raised to 400l., to Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, under Sowdon and Victor, where she appeared (?3 Jan, 1755) as Hermione, and played (14 March 1755) Zara in the 'Mourning Bride,' Zaphira in 'Barbarossa' (2 Feb, 1756), and Volumnia in 'Coriolanus.' These representations gained her high reputation. On 5 Jan. 17C7 she reappeared at Covent Garden as Hermione, and added to her repertory Calista in the 'Fair Penitent,' and for her benefit Lady Macbeth.
