Margaret FitzGerald, Countess of Ormond

Lady Margaret FitzGerald
Countess of Ormond Countess of Ossory
Effigies of Margaret FitzGerald (in the foreground) and Piers Butler on their tomb inside St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny
Spouse(s)	Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond
Issue James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret Thomas Butler Edmund Butler, Archbishop of Cashel Catherine Butler Margaret Butler Joan Butler Eleanor Butler Helen Butler
Noble family	Fitzgerald
Father	Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare
Mother	Alison FitzEustace
Born	circa 1473 Ireland
Died	9 August 1542 Kilkenny, Ireland
Buried	St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny, Ireland

Margaret FitzGerald, Countess of Ormond, Countess of Ossory (c. 1473 – 9 August 1542) was an Irish noblewoman and a member of the powerful and celebrated FitzGerald dynasty also known as "The Geraldines". She married Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, by whom she had four sons and five daughters.

In 1501, she rebuilt Gowran Castle. In 1502, she also decorated St. Mary's Collegiate Church Gowran where her husband Sir Piers Butler's ancestors are buried including, Edmund Butler, Earl of Carrick and Lord Deputy of Ireland, his son James Butler, First Earl of Ormonde, his grandson also James Butler second Earl of Ormonde his great grandson James Butler, third Earl of Ormonde. James Butler, third Earl of Ormonde built the first castle in Gowran in 1385 and made it his main residence. He bought Kilkenny Castle in 1391. She was a patron of schools and craftsmen and also played an active role in legal affairs pertaining to the Ormond estates. She is sometimes styled the Great Countess of Ormond or by her Irish name of Mairgread Gerroid. The Reverend James Graves in his History of the Cathedral Church of St. Canice, Kilkenny described her as having been "unquestionably one of the most remarkable women of her age and country".

Lady Margaret was born in Ireland, the daughter of Gerard FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare and his first wife Alison FitzEustace, daughter of Rowland FitzEustace, 1st Baron Portlester. She had a brother Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, three sisters, Lady Eleanor Fitzgerald (ca. 1482-after 1541), Lady Alice, and Lady Eustacia; and five half-brothers from her father's later marriage to Elizabeth St. John following the death of her mother on 22 November 1495.