Fitzthomas [q. v.], first earl of Desmond (Sweetman, iii. 54). In the summer of 1288 the new justiciar of Ireland proclaimed a muster against the Irish of Offaly and Leix, who were in a state of open rebellion. They had in 1285 taken Gerald Fitzmaurice, Fitzthomas's predecessor in the barony, prisoner on his own lands (ib. iii. 265; Clyn, pp. 10, 11). John Fitzthomas was one of the three chief leaders of the host, and was appointed to guard the marchers from Rathemegan (Rathangan? in co. Kildare) to Baly-madan. The expedition was on the whole successful, but there is an entry of 11l. 13s. 4d. for the ‘rescue of John Fitzthomas’ (Sweetman, pp. 267, 273); and Clyn, under 1289, tells us that ‘lord John Fitzthomas lost many horses and followers (garciones) in Offaly.’ Four years later the castle of Sligo was granted to him (Annals of the Four Masters).
In 1291 Fitzthomas seems to have been in England, and a little earlier had been on an expedition against the king's enemies in Ireland (Sweetman, No. 915, p. 428). In May 1292 he was empowered to treat with the king's adversaries. In 1294 ‘Mac Maurice’ (i.e. in all probability John Fitzthomas) leagued with the great Anglo-Norman family of the Berminghams in a disastrous expedition against Calbach Mor O'Conor, one of the most dangerous of the rebellious Irish princes of Leinster (Loch Cé, p. 501). When Magnus O'Conor, king of Connaught, died in 1293, William de Vescy, the new justiciar (12 Sept. 1290–18 Oct. 1294), put Ædh O'Conor, a scion of the rival race of Cathal Crobdherg, on the throne, but so great was Fitzgerald's power in Connaught, that within ten days the new king was a prisoner. Before the year was out Fitzgerald had set Ædh free, and the justiciar had made his own candidate king (Loch Cé, p. 509; Annals of the Four Masters, p. 459). This opposition on the part of a mere noble seems to have roused the anger of William de Vescy (Abbrev. Plac. p. 231; Sweetman, vol. ii. sub 13 Nov. 1278, Nos. 2025, &c.). The feud was at its height by April 1294, and William de Vescy accused John Fitzthomas of felony. John accused the justiciar of saying that the great lords of Ireland need care very little for a king like Edward, who was ‘the most perverse and dastard knight in his realm.’ William denied the charge, and offered wager of battle. From Ireland the case was transferred to Westminster, and a day appointed for the combat. At the fixed time (24 July) William de Vescy appeared in full armour, and, as his opponent had not arrived, claimed judgment by default (ib. Nos. 135, 137, 147; Abbrev. Plac. pp. 231–4; Rymer, ii. 631). Other accounts represent that William de Vescy, to avoid fighting, fled to France, and the king gave to John all that was his, including Kildare and Rathangan. But it would seem, from a note to Butler's ‘Grace,’ that Kildare remained in the king's hands till 16 May 1316, whereas William de Vescy was still receiving summons to parliament in 24 Edward I, and did not surrender Kildare and his Irish estates till 1297 (Annals of Ireland, p. 323; Parl. Rolls, i. 127–34; Grace, p. 43; and note in Irish Close Rolls, i. 36, Nos. 45–6). The famous Fitzgerald legend of this quarrel may be read in Campion, p. 115, Holinshed, p. 241, and Burke's ‘Peerage.’ The justiciarship was transferred in the same year (18 Oct. 1294) to William de Oddyngeseles (Sweetman, vol. iv. Nos. 165–6).
By this time the rivalry of the De Burghs and the Geraldines had become violent, and in December 1294 John Fitzthomas took Richard de Burgh, the earl of Ulster, prisoner, and kept him in his castle of Ley till 12 March 1295. For this the lord of Offaly was once more impleaded at Westminster; he had to find twenty-four sureties by 11 Nov., and was finally mulcted in Sligo and all his Connaught estates (Clyn, p. 10; Annals of Ireland, p. 323; Sweetman, p. 104; cf. Campion, p. 79; Parl. Rolls, i. 135–6). The same year John Wogan, the new justiciar, made a peace between the two earls for two years, and it was made permanent about 28 Oct. 1298 (Annals of Ireland, pp. 325, 328).
From 1295 John Fitzthomas's name figures frequently on the writs for military service. In 1296 he accompanied the justiciar and Richard de Burgh on the Scotch expedition, and was sumptuously entertained by the king of England on Whitsunday (13 May). When summoned to London for a campaign against the king of the French, he and the Earl of Ulster were allowed a grace of three weeks (till 1 Aug.) beyond the English barons, ‘pour la longe mer qu'il ount a passer’ (ib. p. 326; Annals of the Four Masters, p. 467; Parl. Writs, pp. 280, 284, &c.; Dignity of a Peer, ii. 278, 322). In 1301 he was again serving in Scotland with Edward I from August to November, and probably again in 1303, unless he was excused on this occasion because of his son's death (ib.; Parl. Writs, i. 367; Rymer, ii. 897). He received similar summons to attend the Earl of Ulster against the Scotch for the nativity of St. John, 1310, and for the Bannockburn campaign of 1314 (Parl. Writs, ii. 392, 424).
During all these years there seems to have
