Damian Duffy. Margaret Fitzgerald, countess of Ormond by History Hub published on 2014-09-25T18:34:27Z Recording of a paper by Damian Duffy (NUI Maynooth) at the 2014 Tudor and Stuart Ireland Conference. About the paper: ' ...a lady of suche port, that all estates of the realme crouched unto her':Margaret Fitzgerald, countess of Ormond. Margaret Fitzgerald, daughter of Gareth Mor ‘Great’ Earl of Kildare, and wife of Piers Butler Earl of Ormond, was one of the most remarkable and powerful women of sixteenth century Ireland. Largely under researched, she was a lady who possessed a strong and defiant personality which not only set her apart from her peers, but served to highlight the influence she held over her husband, preserve the earldom, and prepare the next generation. As a Tudor countess, Margaret’s story is one that merits much attention and examination. When compared with her peers in England, the world of Margaret was one of more than one society, dealing with the Gaelic Irish the Anglo Irish and the English in Ireland. Margaret came from a family of strong Kildare women and held a pivotal position between two of Irelands chief aristocratic families, by virtue of her marriage. How she successfully straddled the lines between private and public, personal and political, is indicative of how she as countess of Ormond, demonstrated female aristocratic power through her own prowess every bit as much as by virtue of her birth or the arrangement of her marriage alliance. This Tudor countess is an example of a woman who the historical record has all too frequently neglected or forgotten, through perhaps a sweeping narrative of the sixteenth century focused largely on conquest and reformation, rather than individuals and legacies. The 2014 Tudor and Stuart Ireland conference was generously supported by UCD School of History and Archives, UCD Research, Marsh's Library, Graduate Studies at NUI Maynooth, and the Department of History at NUI Maynooth. Recorded for podcasting by Real Smart Media (https://soundcloud.com/real-smart-media) for History Hub. Genre irish
