| Knight Of Glin |
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The Knight of Glin is a Hereditary Title in the Fitzgerald s of Limerick clan since the early 13th century. The Knights of Glin have a landholding in Western Limerick Co, Ireland, on the south shore of the Shannon River. The family name "Fitzgerald" (Fils du Gerald, i.e Son of Gerald") is of Norman origin. In the early 1600's under Elizabeth I, England set about enforcing loyalty in the western parts of Ireland. When one of her ships came up to the Knight of Glin's castle on the Shannon, a fierce battle ensued. The ship's captain managed to capture one of the Knight's sons and sent the Knight a message that he should surrender or else the son would be put in one of the ship's cannons and fired against the castle wall. The Knight reportedly sent the reply, "Fire away, there's plenty more where he came from!" Apparently the Knights eventually swore loyalty to the English crown and became Protestants; none of the surrounding peasants followed suit, they remained Roman Catholic - a division which remains to this day in the town of Glin. The "Old Castle" of Glin - the scene of the above battle - is a ruin. The tower still stands in Glin with a historic plaque in place. After the destruction of the old castle, the Knights built the "New Castle" - a beautiful Georgian Mansion - on the banks of the Shannon about a mile west of the old site. The current Knight still lives there (as well as in Dublin and London). A final footnote to the history of the Knights - apparently at the height of the Irish Revolution, in the early 1920's, local IRA men came to the Knight to tell him that no-one whose title to land came from the English Crown could keep their land. The Knight immediately produced a title from the Duke of Normandy, indicating that his title did not originate from the English Crown at all. The IRA left the Knight with his properties, which he holds to this day. EXTERNAL LINK |
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