Fitzsimons’s Famine Year
Archived: 19 October 2026
Abstract
In 1492, Ireland endured famine, disease and conflict amid Henry VII’s attempt to weaken Gerald FitzGerald, earl of Kildare. Suspected because of Yorkist links and Perkin Warbeck’s Cork landing, Kildare was replaced in government by Archbishop Walter Fitzsimons and Sir James Ormond. The changes intensified rivalries across the Pale, Leinster, the midlands and East Breifne, where Gaelic and Anglo-Irish lords fought, raided and contested succession. Poor weather damaged grain before famine; a hot summer and sweating sickness compounded insecurity. Ulster saw truces, killings, imprisonments and raids. Ecclesiastical life continued, while Thaddeus MacCarthy died returning from Rome. Central authority remained fragile.
