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Title of Irish nobility granted by the English Monarch

Earl of Desmond (Iarla Dheasumhan meaning Earl of South Munster) is a title in the peerage of Ireland which has been created four times since 1329. The title was first awarded to Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Baron Desmond, a Hiberno Norman lord in Southwest Ireland, and it was held by his descendants until 1583 when they rose against the English crown in the Desmond Rebellions. Following two short lived recreations of the title in the early 1600s, the title has been held since 1628 by the Feilding family of Warwickshire, England. The current holder is Alexander Feilding, 12th Earl of Denbigh and 11th Earl of Desmond (4th creation).

The Munster Desmonds were a cadet (junior) branch of the powerful FitzGerald dynasty who came to Ireland from Wales as part of the 12th century Anglo Norman invasion. Over the following centuries, the FitzGeralds famously assimilated themselves in Ireland, and, in the late 16th century Tudor conquest of Ireland, they took arms against the Protestant English Crown in the Desmond Rebellions. As a result, the family's estates were confiscated, the earl beheaded and the title suppressed. The English government imprisoned James FitzGerald, the eldest son of the last earl, in the Tower of London for decades. However, in 1600, during the Nine Years War, in an attempt to pacify the people of Munster, James was freed and title recreated for him though without right of inheritance. The people of Munster refused to accept the new Earl a Protestant and James died a year later in obscurity. The third creation was in 1619 for Richard Preston, a favourite of James I: Preston had married the daughter and heiress of the 10th Earl of Ormond, neighbour, relative and enemy of the Munster Desmonds. Preston died without male heir and before Preston's death James I decided the Desmond title should be subsequently awarded to George Feilding, a nephew of another of the King's favourites. The idea was that George would marry Preston's daughter Elizabeth and thereby inherit lands in Ireland. Charles I confirmed George Feilding as Earl of Desmond on Preston's death in 1628 (the fourth creation) but George never got to marry the independent minded Elizabeth. Since 1675 the title, shorn of its traditional Irish estate, has been held by Feilding's descendants as a secondary title to that of the Earl of Denbigh.

Desmond (Irish: Deasmhumhain, meaning 'South Munster') was a historic kingdom in southwestern Ireland, founded in 1118. It comprised all of what is now County Cork and most of County Kerry. The eastern half of Desmond was conquered by the Anglo Normans and became the Earldom of Desmond, but the western half of Desmond lived on as a semi independent Gaelic kingdom until 1596.

The House of Desmond was a branch of the famous FitzGerald Dynasty (Geraldines) in Ireland which had been founded by Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan in Wales ( c.1105 – c.1176). Maurice was of Anglo Norman and Welsh descent. Though the House of Desmond branch was founded by the eldest of Maurice FitzGeralds's sons, Thomas FitzMaurice, Lord OConnello, it became the cadet or junior branch of the family: the senior branch, the House of Kildare, was founded by Thomas's younger brother Gerald, 1st Lord of Offally. Thomas, Lord OConello was a key supporter of the Lord of Pembroke known as ("Strongbow") in his 1169 invasion of Ireland. Thomas's son, John FitzThomas, became the first Baron Desmond upon receiving, for his homage and service, a grant in 1259 of the lands of Decies (today's County Waterford) and Desmond from Prince Edward of England. Before passing to Edward, these lands had been held by Thomas FitzAnthony, the father of John's wife Margery FitzAnthony. Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond, married Eleanor Butler. Through her, John FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Desmond and all subsequent Geraldine earls of Desmond could trace descent through Eleanor de Bohun to Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, daughter of King Edward I of England of the House of Plantagenet by his queen, Eleanor of Castile of the House of Burgundy. Over time, according to English sources, the FitzGerald family became highly assimilated to the local Irish culture. The final Earl of Desmond of this creation was Gerald FitzGerald, the 14th Earl. The FitzGeralds and Fitzmaurices had resisted the Protestant Reformation of King Henry VIII and, after the failure of the first and second Desmond Rebellions, the 14th Earl was defeated and killed by forces loyal to Queen Elizabeth I on 11 November 1583. His title, along with the enormous estates of his family, were forfeit to the English Crown.

Authors have numbered the earls of the first creation from 1 to 14, 1 to 15, or 1 to 16, depending on whether Nicholas, an "idiot", is included as 3rd Earl, and whether John, the de facto 12th Earl (died 1536) and James FitzGerald, de jure 12th Earl of Desmond (died 1540), are both numbered 12 or are numbered 12 and 13. Wikipedia numbers the earls 1 to 14 omitting the "idiot" and numbering John de facto and James de jure both as 12, following Cokayne (1916) and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004). Burke (1866), Webb (1878) and the Dictionary of national Biography (1889) admit 15, and Bagwell (1885) 16 earls of the first creation.

The second creation was in 1600 for James FitzGerald the "Tower Earl", son of the last (14th Earl) of the first creation. He spent much of his life in captivity in the Tower of London, and was obliged to convert to Protestantism. He was temporarily, but unsuccessfully, restored to the earldom in 1600–01 by the English in an attempt to pacify Munster during the Nine Years War, and to combat rise of the Súgán (pretender, see below) Earl but the people rejected the new Protestant Earl. James was not restored to the lands associated with the title, and was only given the right to the title of Earl of Desmond for life; he was also created Baron Inchiquin with the right to pass that title to his successors, but he did not have heirs and died in obscurity in 1601.

James FitzThomas FitzGerald, the Súgán (Irish: straw, i. e. pretender) Earl, attempted, but failed, to regain the title during the Nine Years War. James's claim was based on the fact he was the eldest grandson of the 13th Earl, but he was illegitimate by descent. The 13th Earl's first marriage had to been to his own great niece: the marriage had been declared invalid due to consanguinity and James's father, the child of the union, had been declared illegitimate (the 14th Earl was the child of a second, legitimate marriage). James had not joined the rebellion of the 14th Earl and following the 14th Earl's death, James lobbied the English at first with some success to be restored to the title. When that failed in 1598 he joined the rebellion and assumed the title of Earl of Desmond, leading eight thousand clansmen. He was captured in 1601 and is believed to have died in the Tower of London in 1608. James's younger brother John had joined him in rebellion but escaped to Spain. Following the Súgán Earl's death John and his son Gerald continued the pretence to the title. John died in Barcelona and Gerald Conde de Desmond in Spanish entered the service of the Emperor Ferdinand, and was killed in 1632. The motto appearing beneath the Desmond arms was "Shanid abu" (Shanid to victory) a reference to the Desmond stronghold of Shanid Castle.

The third creation was in 1619 for Richard Preston, 1st Lord Dingwall, who was also created Baron Dunmore. The fourth creation happened while Preston was still alive, in 1622 for George Feilding, 1st Viscount Callan, second son of the Earl of Denbigh and nephew of James I's favourite and lover, George Villiers. The eight year old Feilding was given the right to the title Earl of Desmond as and when Preston died without a male heir. Preston had also been a favourite and probably lover of James I; he had a daughter who, the plan was, George Feilding would marry, but this did not happen. In 1628 Preston died and George was made Earl of Desmond by Charles I (Preston's Scottish Lordship of Dingwall passed to his daughter Elizabeth, the Duchess of Ormond). George Feilding's eldest son, the second Earl of Desmond, also inherited the title of third Earl of Denbigh after his uncle, the second Earl of Denbigh, died childless. The title Earl of Desmond has descended subsequently with the title Earl of Denbigh and the current holder is the twelfth Earl of Denbigh and eleventh Earl of Desmond.

James FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond (1571–1601) The Tower Earl. (son of the 14th Earl). Title created as a life peerage.

Richard Preston, 1st Earl of Desmond (died 1628) married the great granddaughter of 10th Earl of the first creation. (extinct)

George Feilding, 1st Earl of Desmond(died 1665) granted right to title on reversion, 1622; possession of title, 1628. William Feildng, 2nd Earl of Desmond (died 1685) inherited superior title of Earl of Denbigh in 1675. For subsequent Earls of Desmond (title held with the title Earl of Denbigh), see List of Earls of Denbigh and Earls of Desmond.