Brighid Nic Gearailt

Bridget FitzGerald^[1] (Irish: Brighid Nic Gearailt; c. 1592 – 1682) was an Irish poet and noblewoman.

Bridget FitzGerald Brighid Nic Gearailt
Other names	Brighid Chill Dara Brighid of Kildare
Born	c. 1589
Died	1682

Biography

Brighid Nic Gearailt, also known as Brighid Chill Dara (Brighid of Kildare), was the daughter of the 12th Earl of Kildare Henry FitzGerald and Lady Frances Howard, daughter of the Earl of Nottingham. When her father died in 1597 she was sent to live with her grandmother, Mabel Browne, Countess of Kildare, in Maynooth. She went on to marry Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell at some point after 1603 when she was around fourteen. Her son, Hugh Albert O'Donnell, was born in 1606 in Maynooth and became known as the 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell, having inherited the title upon his father's death in 1608, and long before the attainder of 1614.^[2]

Bridget was pregnant when her husband fled the country in the Flight of the Earls with his son. There is evidence that her husband tried to have her join him in Europe but that the English authorities prevented it. Bridget went to England where their daughter Mary was born.^[3] Rory died in Rome on 28 July 1608.^[4] Mary was placed under the patronage of the King and Bridget was sent back to Ireland. She later married Nicholas Barnewall, 1st Viscount Barnewall from Turvey, County Dublin. They had nine children.^[3]

She wrote in Irish, but only one of her poems has survived, a work in an elegant classical style from about 1607.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

Bridget died in 1682, at the age of ninety.^[10]

References

Citations

1. Casway 2003, p. 59.
2. O’Donnell, Francis Martin (2018). The O'Donnells of Tyrconnell – A Hidden Legacy. Washington, D.C.: Academica Press LLC. ISBN 978-1-680534740.
3.  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Barnewall, Nicholas (1592-1663)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
4. FitzPatrick, Elizabeth (August 2007). "San Pietro in Montorio, burial-place of the exiled Irish in Rome, 1608-1623". History Ireland. 15 (4).
5. "NIC GEARAILT, Brighid (c.1589–1682)". ainm.ie (in Irish). 8 November 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
6. "Corpas". Corpas. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
7. Crotty, P. (2018). The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry. Penguin Books Limited. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-241-38798-6. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
8. "An Lúibín" (PDF).
9. Deane, S.; Bourke, A.; Carpenter, A.; Williams, J. (2002). The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing. The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing. New York University Press. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-8147-9906-2. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
10. Casway 2003, p. 61.

Sources

Casway, Jerrold (2003). "Heroines or Victims? The Women of the Flight of the Earls". New Hibernia Review / Iris Éireannach Nua. 7 (1): 56–74. ISSN 1092-3977.

See also

• Irish poetry
• Irish syllabic poetry