Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare

Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare (1525 – 16 November 1585), also known as the "Wizard Earl" (a sobriquet also given to Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland), was an Irish peer. He was the son of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare and Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kildare.

FitzGerald became the sole male representative of the Kildare Geraldines at the age of twelve, after his half-brother, Silken Thomas, the tenth earl, was executed at Tyburn in 1537 with five of his uncles. He spent the next few years on the run in Ireland and spent some time in Donegal, under the guardianship of his aunt, Lady Eleanor McCarthy, the wife of the O Domhnaill chief. The short-lived Geraldine League, a federation including the O'Neills, the O'Donnells, the O'Briens of Thomond, and other powerful Irish clans related to the Geraldines through marriages, formed around FitzGerald's claim to the Kildare Earldom. The League came to nothing, however, after the principal members were badly defeated in Monaghan following a raid into The Pale in August 1539.

FitzGerald escaped Ireland with a few loyal servants and was protected from Henry VIII and his agents by both Francis I of France and Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. He was educated at a monastery in Liège, and spent time with the Bishop of Verona, the Cardinal of Mantua, and the Duke of Mantua. Due to his time in the duke's court, FitzGerald was fluent in Italian and experienced the court culture of Renaissance Italy. From there, he then moved on to Rome, and for three years studied under the guidance of his kinsman, Cardinal Reginald Pole.

...
Wikipedia