House of Fitzgerald

FitzGerald Mhic Gearailt, Gearaltaigh Geraldines
Arms of FitzGerald: Argent a saltire gules
Ethnicity	Cambro-Norman
Etymology	"Son of Gerald"
Place of origin	Wales
Current head	Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Duke of Leinster
Motto	Crom A Boo ("Crom Forever")
Estate(s)	Croom Castle
Cadet branches	House of Kildare House of Desmond

The FitzGerald dynasty (Irish: Ríshliocht Mhic Gearailt) is an Irish Hiberno-Norman or Cambro-Norman royal dynasty. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 14th century, and are identified in The Annals of the Four Masters as being "more Irish than the Irish themselves" or Galls, due to assimilation with the native Gaelic aristocratic and popular culture. The dynasty has also been referred to as the Geraldines. They were established by the conquest of large swathes of Irish territory by the sons and grandsons of Gerald FitzWalter of Windsor (c. 1075 – 1135). Gerald was a Norman castellan in Wales, and is the male progenitor of the Fitzgerald dynasty ("fitz", from the Anglo-Norman fils indicating "sons of" Gerald).

Gerald's Welsh wife Nest ferch Rhys (c. 1085 – before 1136) is the female progenitor of the FitzGeralds. She was the daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, last King of Deheubarth. Through her the FitzGeralds are descended from the Welsh rulers of Deheubarth as well as related to the Tudors who are descended from the same Welsh royal line. Consequently, the FitzGeralds are cousins to the Tudors (Tewdwrs) through Nest and her Welsh family.

In his poetry, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, referred to Elizabeth FitzGerald (1527–89) as "Fair Geraldine".

The main branches of the family are:

The progenitor of the Irish FitzGeralds was a Cambro-Norman Marcher Lord, Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Lanstephan; a younger son of the Norman chieftain Gerald FitzWalter of Windsor and his wife, Nest ferch Rhys of the Welsh royal House of Dinefwr. The Lord of Lanstephan was a major participant in the 1169 Norman invasion of Ireland.