This is series 2 of An Irishwoman’s Diary from The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast, search in your podcast app for An Irishwoman’s Diary to find the six-episode Series 1.
Countess Joan Fitzgerald was a pivotal figure in medieval Ireland, immensely wealthy and powerful, but as a woman it was her marriages that defined her power.
From the immensely wealthy Fitzgerald family – the Desmonds of Munster, who owned ten castles, her first marriage at age 16 was to James Butler, an Ormond of Kilkenny, aimed at linking the two great Houses.
His death by poisoning caused some concerns in London – she was too powerful to be left to her own devices – and she was married off to an Englishman, Sir Francis Bryan, who was referred to by Henry VIII as his ‘Vicar of Hell’.
She chose her own third husband from among her own allegiances, and made peace between the warring Ormonds and Desmonds, later being described by Queen Elizabeth as ‘the angel of peace’. The peace she negotiated fell apart just a month after her death.
Read Clodagh’s column here: Clodagh Finn: Formidable medieval women deserve much more recognition
An Irishwoman's Diary series 1: Meet the Irish women who left their mark on history
","author_name":"Irish Examiner"}