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.

The chiefs and lords, in fact, enjoyed their freedom from control. During all this period they ruled Ireland unchecked by any central Government, and they did not desire to be
therwise.

Lords and chiefs, great and small, Irish and Norman, overned their clans or followers and fought their rivals without any preference. To a few of the great Norman lords, of course, the office of  theLord Deputy with the control of the Dublin officials was an asset which they were always ambitious to secure.

But, apart from its value as a personal chattel, they paid little respect to the position, and a Lord Deputy broke the laws against fosterage and Irish alliances and ” coyne and livery ” and private wars as easily as if he were not the King’s representative. 

The arrest in the development of Irish literature, which has been noted as marking the advent of the Normans, continued during the succeeding two centuries. If original literature worthy of the name was then produced, all trace and record of it has been lost.

Yet our annals clearly show that learning and scholarship flourished and were encouraged. They record, year after year, the names of those who were famous as scholars, bards, historians, and lawyers ; they constantly preserve the names of Gaelic chiefs and Norman lords who were conspicuous for their patronage and hospitality to poets and men of learning. Every Gaelic family, and many Norman ones, still had their hereditary bards and historians occupying honoured and privileged positions.

Learned and famous books were produced, as will be shown, but these were mostly compilations. At the time that the new nations were developing popular literature, the Gaelic voice was suppressed. While England, France, Spain and Italy were creating their national languages, and the Renascence was spreading over Europe, the cultured mind of Ireland was forcibly turned back upon the past.