Eva de Birmingham ★

1190s–1200s

Sole heir of Robert de Bermingham, and Lady of Offaly in her own right. Married Gerald FitzMaurice around 1193, making him Lord of Offaly; their son Maurice was born around 1194. Widowed in 1204.

1210s–1220s

Married Geoffrey FitzRobert, Seneschal of Leinster, who died in 1211, and then Geoffrey de Marisco, Justiciar of Ireland. Died in Ireland between June 1223 and December 1226.

Family Background

Eve de Bermingham was the sole heir of Robert de Bermingham, a Norman-Irish lord who arrived in Ireland with Strongbow's invasion force and received lands in the kingdom of Uí Failghe that became the barony of Offaly; her mother's identity is unrecorded. As Robert's only child, Eve inherited Offaly in her own right and became Lady of Offaly.

First Marriage: Gerald FitzMaurice

Around 1193 Eve married Gerald FitzMaurice, second son of Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Llanstephan; through her, Gerald became the first FitzGerald Lord of Offaly. Their son Maurice FitzGerald, born around 1194, succeeded as 2nd Lord of Offaly and later served as Justiciar of Ireland. Gerald died January 15, 1204.

Second and Third Marriages

Eve next married Geoffrey FitzRobert, Seneschal of Leinster, a union that produced no recorded children; he died in 1211. She then married Geoffrey de Marisco, who served as Justiciar of Ireland from 1215 to 1221, and had at least one further son, Robert de Marisco, with him.

Death

Eve died in Ireland sometime between June 1223 and December 1226, having brought the barony of Offaly into the FitzGerald family through her first marriage — the foundation of one of medieval Ireland's most powerful lordships.