The New Earldroms were Kildare, Desmond, Ormonde. It was just when the last of the early Lordships disappeared that there rose into clear prominence three familks which from that time became the conspicuous leaders of the Irish of Norman descent. They were not late arrivals ; their founders had been amongst the earliest settlers, but hitherto they had occupied a secondary position to the Marshalls, De Lacys, De Burghs and others.

Unlike most of these families, their interests lay altogether in Ireland, and they were only remotely concerned in English politics. They were the Fits-Geralds of Leinster, the Fitz-Geralds of Munster, and the Butlers, the respective heads of which were now created Earls of Kildare (1318), of Desmond (1330), and of Ormonde (1328).

The original location of Geraldines and Butlers in the lordship of Leinster, and the development of their influence have been already indicated (page 127). Although the Geraldines had lost their possessions in Connacht, they were powerful elsewhere.

 In Leinster, the Earl of Kildare ruled the plains from the Liffey to the Barrow, and across Munster the territories of the Earl of Desmond stretched from the mouth of the Shannon to beyond the mouth of the Blackwater.

Between the two Geraldine families lay the Earl of Ormonde, occupying the coast from Arklow to Waterford, and the country around the lower waters of the Nore and the Suir.*\ In those wide territories the great earls were obeyed and acknowledged as protectors not only by the Norman lords, but also by many isolated Irish chiefs.