If ever a tale should illustrate the dramatic twists and turns of history in Ireland’s Ancient East, it is that of “rash and headlong” Silken Thomas.
Plot and counterplot, jealousies and betrayals, false rumours – each played their part in pushing Lord Thomas to rebellion against England’s Henry VIII: a rebellion that lost the FitzGerald family its birthright to the Earldom of Kildare as well as Kilkea Castle and estates. The fate of the dynasty would then precariously lie with a 12-year-old child.
So, just how did this happen, all within just three short, tumultuous years?
Thomas FitzGerald (1513–1537) was the son of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare and his first wife Elizabeth Zouche. As Lord Deputy of Ireland – the King’s representative in Ireland – Gerald wielded immense power that attracted envy and mistrust, not least from the English court.
And so it happened that early in 1534 Earl Gerald was summoned yet again to London to account for various actions to King Henry VIII. Renowned for his intelligence and diplomacy, in all probability the Earl might as usual have made his peace. Except that this time was different.
Before he left Ireland, Gerald had appointed his son as acting Lord Deputy in his absence. Known as Silken Thomas for the rich style in which he and his retinue dressed, the youth was scarcely 21 years old.
Family enemies wasted no time in exploiting Silken Thomas’s inexperience and fiery nature. In June 1534 (false) rumours spread that his father had been executed at the Tower of London and the English government were out for Thomas too. He summoned the Council of Ireland to St Mary’s Abbey, Dublin, himself hastening there accompanied by 140 armed warriors in their silk-fringed helmets.
Chaotic scenes ensued. Lord Thomas, inflamed by chants from a bard in his retinue, refused to listen to reason and, renouncing his allegiance to the Lord of Ireland (Henry VIII), he cried: “I am none of Henry’s Deputy, I am his foe”. He threw down the sword of state and rushed out. The rebellion had begun.
Rallying followers, Thomas “did many injuries to the English” and in July attacked Dublin Castle, which was holding out for the King. However his army was now routed and suddenly his supporters began to melt away – in no small part due to the terrible murder of the Archbishop of Dublin, a longstanding enemy of the FitzGeralds.
Before the year was out, Thomas’s father Earl Gerald, hearing of his son’s rebellion, had died “of grief” in the Tower of London. Some months later, Thomas was persuaded to surrender and gave himself up to Lord Leonard Grey, new Lord Deputy of Ireland (and coincidentally Thomas’s step-uncle) on condition of his personal safety.
Any such assurances soon proved false and in October 1535 Thomas was sent as a prisoner to the Tower of London. There, in a far cry from his Silken riches, he languished in misery, writing piteously to a former servant in Ireland to beg for £20 to buy food and clothes, and complaining, “I have gone wolward [shirtless] and barefoot and barelegged divers times (when it hath not been very warm)”.
Thomas, still only 24 years old, and his five uncles were executed at Tyburn in 1537. The rebellion had failed but henceforth it sharpened Henry VIII’s focus on Irish matters including curbing the powers of the Lord Deputy.
For the FitzGeralds of Kilkea Castle and Kildare, the rebellion had been a disaster. The Earldom was forfeited, their estates confiscated and their family proscribed. Their hopes for the future lay with Silken Thomas’s 12-year-old half-brother Gerald, and spies and enemies were already trying to track the boy down. After many adventures, Gerald (later known as the Wizard Earl) would survive and family fortunes would be restored – but that’s another story.