THE KERRY ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Geraldine Tralee - Birth and Destruction of a Medieval Town

1169 Anglo-Norman Invasion: 1278-1279 First Documentary Record of Dingle: 1348 Black Death arrives in Ireland: 1579-1583 Desmond Rebellion: Soon, Anglo-Norman adventurers The Anglo-Normans set up towns as Crowded, dirty and rat-infested During this large-scale military confl ict begin to conquer lands in Ireland. centres of trade and commerce wherever Medieval towns like Tralee are the perfect Munster is devastated due to a “scorched they settle. Tralee and Dingle are the two environment for the plague. earth” policy deployed by both sides, 1200 Anglo-Normans arrive in Kerry via principal towns and ports in Medieval thousands of people die. Limerick: Kerry. 1356 First Earl of Desmond is buried in the In the following years virtually all Abbey in Tralee: 1580 The Earl of Desmond orders Tralee to of the fertile lands in North Kerry 1286 Tralee receives a Murage Grant to build Maurice FitzGerald was Chief Governor be burnt to the ground. and Limerick are conquered by the a Town Wall: of Ireland and fought in France with King Despite this desperate measure, Tralee is powerful FitzGeralds’. Remains of the foundation of the Edward III in the Hundred Years War. captured and the priory occupied by 300 Medieval stone wall or earlier earth and footmen and a company of horse. 1214-1215 Anglo-Normans build a chain of Castles timber defences are yet to be discovered. 1375 Henry Peverell, a merchant from from Castleisland to Killorglin: Bristol, is robbed of goods to the value 1583 The Earl of Desmond is killed in the The southern part of the county along the 1295 Nicholas Strange is charged with the of 100 marks: woods at Glanageenty, near Tralee: River Maine stays under Irish control theft of: Tralee trades with Bristol, England and Deserted by most of his followers, he throughout the Middle Ages. Four ells and one mark of silver from also with France and Spain. is hunted down, killed and his head sent the Abbey and also wheat from the to Queen Elizabeth I to be impaled on 1216 Tralee is founded by John FitzThomas Chapel of St Mary’s. Nicholas is 1411 Siobhán, daughter of Gerald the third London Bridge. FitzGerald: probably “pilloried” at the market cross Earl is buried in the Abbey in Tralee: The place name Trá Lí (the strand of the as punishment. Her marriage to a MacCarthy is a typical 1585 The Munster Plantation: River Lee) is older than the Anglo- example of a political marriage alliance The Earl’s death signals the end of Norman town. 1298 Tralee has 100 houses and about 600 between rival families. Medieval Kerry and the beginning of inhabitants, typical of a small Market Munster’s colonization with English 1232 FitzGeralds defeat the Irish at Tralee: Town: 1468 Eight Earl of Desmond is charged with settlers. Despite numerous attacks by the Irish, Records state that towns-people pay 100 Treason and Executed: namely by the MacCarthys, Tralee shilling annual rent to the Fitzgeralds - Thomas FitzGerald had been loyal to 1587 Tralee is granted to Edward Denny remains in the hands of the Geraldines one shilling per property. England but became too powerful. His and re-built: until the end of the Medieval period. body is brought from Drogheda to Tralee Ten years later, the town is destroyed 1302-1306 St John’s Church is valued at 40 shillings: and buried in the Priory. again and in 1652 Cromwell’s army totally 1243 The Dominican Priory is founded by Tralee’s parish church may have begun deface the abbey and “not one stone is left John FitzThomas FitzGerald: its life as a hospital held by the Knights 1537 Reformation in Ireland: upon a stone” in Tralee. The arrival of this infl uential religious Hospitallers. Church lands and properties are order suggests that Tralee is a well- confi scated by King Henry VIII of This timeline is part of an exhibition on the archaeology established town by the mid-13th century. 1325 Diarmaid MacCarthy is assassinated England. Four years later he declares and history of Medieval Tralee at Kerry County Museum. in the Abbey: himself King of Ireland. 1261 The Irish defeat the FitzGeralds at the Nicholas FitzMaurice or his son William A Secret Tralee Walking Trail narrated by storyteller Battle of Callan, near Kilgarvan: is believed to have committed the 1579 Two English offi cials are murdered at Niall de Burca is available as a free download from John FitzThomas FitzGerald and his son murder. Violating the sanctuary of a Tralee Castle by John FitzGerald: www.kerrymuseum.ie and also from Maurice are killed “as well as fi fteen church is seen as a serious offence. Unwilling to prosecute his own brother, www.culturekerry.com. knights, besides eight noble barons and the Earl of Desmond, Gerald FitzGerald, many young squires and countless 1329 Maurice FitzGerald is created the fi rst is declared a traitor and forced into For more information please contact Claudia Kőhler soldiers”. Earl of Desmond: rebellion. (Education, Community & Outreach Offi ce) at The House of Desmond (Kerry and [email protected] Limerick) is one of the most powerful dynasties in Medieval Ireland.

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