Maurice fitz John FitzGerald 1st Knight of Kerry

~ Maurice fitz John, ancestor of the Knights of Kerry: fined 1284 for default in electing four knights; pledge and mainpernor of the sheriff of Kerry 1295; held the county serjeanty of Kerry 1307-13 ('an hereditary possession of the Shanid line'); sheriff of Kerry 1320-1; by 1307 had married Erneburga, widow of Martin le Fereter of Osurrys (ancestor of the Ferriters), holding her dower in the Fereter fees west of Dingle. The 17th-century tradition makes him Muiris mac Seáin, bastard son of John fitz Thomas of Shanid (I100239, k. Callan 1261) 'by the wife of Ó Cinneidigh'; MacCotter 2016 accepts the four reputed bastard sons - Gilbert (ancestor of the White Knights; called 'my paternal uncle' in a charter of Thomas fitz Maurice d.1296), John of Glin ('John fitz John fitz Thomas' in two records), Maurice and Thomas of Ardnagragh - as sons of John fitz Thomas, all active 1285-1321 and born in the 1250s: 'Both his use of patronym and his office ... attest to Maurice's Geraldine origins'. Grade ~ for the filiation (documentary for his brothers, inferential for him). RING 26 Oct 2026: the Cloyne line thus joins the Desmond Geraldines. Wife note-only (Erneburga, a widow, not stated to be Richard's mother). Source: Paul MacCotter, 'The earlier Geraldine Knights of Kerry', Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society 2nd ser. 16 (2016) pp.5-36 (academia.edu/33218063), read 26 Oct 2026. [DIRECT ANCESTOR OF THE COMPILER: flag added 26 Oct 2026 by walking the tree from Aynsley, so that this marker is reliable and can be searched.]