Catalogue description THE FITZGERALDS.

A restoration of the Earl of Kildare, his brother and sisters, to their blood, anno 11 Reginæ Eliz.

Petition of Gerald FitzGerald now Earl of Kildare, Edward FitzGerald, brother to the said Earl, Margaret, Elizabeth and Cicely, sisters to the said Earl; to the Queen.

At a Parliament holden at Dublin, 28 Hen. VIII., before Lord Leonard Grey, then Lord Deputy, Gerald FitzGerald, late Earl of Kildare, father to your suppliant, and Thomas FitzGerald, son and heir to the said Earl, and elder brother to your suppliant, were attainted of high treason, by force of which act your suppliants are corrupted in their blood and lineage, and disabled to claim anything by descent from their said father and brother, or from any other collateral ancestors or cousins. After the said attainder your suppliant, the now Earl, being an infant and put in fear, travelled in the countries of strange and foreign potentates, till he was called home by King Edward VI., who restored him to the greatest part of his father's lands; and afterwards Queen Mary gave your suppliant the title of Earl of Kildare. Of late, moreover, your Highness has restored your suppliant to a portion of his living which hitherto was thought to hang in some doubt. But your suppliant finds in himself a great defect, for that he is not restored to his blood. He therefore beseeches your Majesty that it may be enacted by this present Parliament, that your suppliants shall be restored to their blood and lineage; provided always, that this act shall not make void any grant or lease made by King Henry VIII, King Edward VI., Queen Mary, your Highness, or the said Gerald, now Earl, and his feoffees.

Copy.

Calendar of the Carew Manuscripts preserved in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth, ed. J. S. Brewer & W. Bullen (6 vols., 1867-73), vol. I, document 269.