Gerald FitzGerald (11th count de Kildare)

Gerald FitzGerald (February 25th 1525 - November 16th 1585), 11th Count de Kildare, was also known under the name of “ count magicien ” ( Wizard Earl ).

He became the male representative of the Geraldines at 11 years, with died of his half-brother Thomas FitzGerald, 10th count de Kildare, carried out with Tyburn in 1537. Being the last hope of the family, it was hidden, then it was sent, for his own security, to study with Rome with the cardinal Pole and in Flanders, which made at the time part of the possessions of the emperor Charles Quint.

It turned over to Kildare after the death of Henry VIII, and it succeeds in recovering the family grounds, which had been confiscated. In 1554, during the reign of Marie I {{Re}}, girl of Henri VIII, it helped to put an end to the rebellion Thomas Wyatt the young person. He also helped to make progress the plans of Marie Ire for the colonization of the Ireland.

Its practice of the Alchimie raised the interest of those which lived around its Château of Kilkea, and it was said that it had magic capacities, from where his nickname of “count magician” (Wizard Earl). He died in 1585, and according to the legend, its phantom returns to the castle every seven years, assembled on a shoed money destrier.

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