Wall monument in Unknown Townland

16th-century wall-memorial (H. 0.64m x Wth 0.61m) of Sir Edward Fitton (Fytton) (1528-79) located in the south choir aisle of St Patrick’s Cathedral (DU018-020269-).  Described in the Urban Survey of Dublin City (Bradley and King 1988, Vol. 1, 83-5) as; ‘Sir Edward ffitton. 1579. Wall memorial brass in south choir aisle. Square plaque with a running scroll around the edges. The upper part shows Sir Edward and his wife kneeling at a prie-dieu [prayer-desk] with their fifteen children behind. The inscriptions are in Gothic lettering. A scroll to the right of Sir Edward's head has : AMEN RE-VLT, ETIAM VENI CITO VENI DOMINE IHV, while a scroll over their heads reads: GLORIFY THY NAME: HASTEN THY KINGDONE: COMFORTE THY FLOCK: CONFOUND THY ADVERSARIES.  The main inscription below the figures reads: SER EDWARD FFITON OF SAULWORTH IN THE COUNTE OF CHESTER IN ENGLAND, KNIGHT WAS SENT INTO IRELAND BY QUENE ELIZABETH TO SERVE AS THE FIRST L. PRESIDENT OF HER HIGHNES COUNSELL IN THE PROVINCE OF CONNAGHT + THOMOND, WHO LANDING IN IRELAND ON THE ASCENTION DAY 1569 Ao RR ELIZABETH Xl LYVED THERE IN THE ROME AFORE SAID TILL MICHELMAS 1572 Ao ELIZABETH XIIIIo + THEN THAT COUNSELL BEING DISOLVED + HE REPAYRING INTO ENGLAND WAS SENT OVER AGAINE IN MARCHE NEXT FOLLOWING AS-THREASAURER AT WARRES, VISE-TREASAURER, + GENERALL RECEYBOR Wth IN THE REALME OF IRELAND, AND HATH HERE BURIED THE WYEF OF HIS YOUTH, ANNE, THE SECOND DAUGHTER OF sr PETER WARBURTON OF ARELEY IN THE COUNTY OF CHESTER KNIGHT, WHO WERE BORNE BOTH IN ON YERE VIZ, HE Ye LAST OF MARCHE 1527 AND SHE THE FIRST OF MAYE IN THE SAME YEARE + WERE MARRIED ON SONDAY NEXT AFTER HILLARIES DAYE 1539 BEING Ye 19 DAYE OF JANUARIE IN THE 12 YERE OF THERE AGE, AND LYVED TOGETHER IN TRUE + LAWFULL MATRYMONIE IUSTE 34 YERES: FOR Ye SAME SONDAY OF Ye YEARE WHEREIN THEY WERE MARIED Ye SAME SONDAIE 34 YERES FOLLOWING WAS SHE BURIED THOUGH SHE FAITHFULLY DEPTED THIS LYEF, 9 DAIS BEFORE, VIZ. ON SATURDAIE Ye 9 DAIE OF JANUARIE 1573 IN wch TYME GOD GAVE THEIM 15 CHILDREN, VIZ 9 SONNES AND 6 DAUGHTERS, AND NOW HER BODY SLEPETH UNDER THIS STONE, + HER FAMILY IS RETOURNED TO GOD Yt GAVE Yt + THERE REMAYNETH IN KEEPINGE OF CHRISTE JESUS HER ONLY SAVIOUR AND THE SAID SER EDWARD DEPTED THIS LYEF THE THIRDE DAIE OF JULY Ao DNI 1579 AND WAS BURIED THE XXI DAIE OF SEPTEBER NEXT FOLLOWING WHOSE FLESH ALSO RESTETH UNDER THE SAME STONE IN ASSU-RED HOPE OF FULL + PFECTE RESURRECTION TO ETERNALL LYEF IN IOYE THROUGH CHRISTE HIS ONELY SAVIOUR AND THE SAID SER EDWARD WAS REVOKED HOME INTO ENGLAND AND LEFT THIS LAND THE [  ]      DAYE OF [    ] ANNO DOMINI [  ] BEING THE [   ] YERE OF HIS AGE’ (Mason 1820, Bernard 1906, 527). Memorial brass described by Heather King (1994, 116, 126) as; 'The Fitton brass, 1579, also in St Patrick's Cathedral (no. 21), commemorates Sir Edward Fitton, his wife Anne Warburton and their fifteen children. They are all dressed in Elizabethan fashion, with the boys kneeling behind their father and the girls behind their mother. Again this brass is typical of the Elizabethan brasses in Britain and can be compared with brasses from Denbighshire, 1575, Berkshire, c. 1585, and Ruthin, 1583 (Gawthorpe 1923, pl. 52; Macklin 1928, 278; Lewis 1974, 53). This square plaque is on the south wall of the ambulatory. A running scroll around the edges is obscured on the top and right side by a plaster frame. The upper part of the plaque shows Sir Edward Fitton, his wife Anne Warbinton and their fifteen children. The couple are kneeling at a prie-dieu with nine sons behind Sir Edward and six girls kneeling behind their mother. A shield behind Sir Edward shows eight coats of arms and there are six on a shield behind Anne Warbinton. The family are all dressed in Elizabethan costume. Sir Edward is bearded, has short hair and is dressed in a full-length fur-trimmed cloak with short sleeves, under which he wears a tunic and breeches. His shoes are flat and round-toed. A high frilled ruff encircles the neck and wrists. Four sons are dressed similarly but the remaining five are clad as young boys in long gowns tied at the waist with lace frills at the neck and wrists. The youngest two are clean-shaven. Anne Warbinton is wearing an overgown open below the waist to show an embroidered underskirt. The embroidery pattern would appear to replicate the fret pattern in the middle chief of her shield. The sleeves are tight-fitting on the lower arm but full and slashed above the elbow. She wears a French hood with a high neck ruff and lace frills at the wrists. Three of her children are dressed similarly and three are wearing square-necked gowns and bonnets. All have their hands joined'.   The Dictionary of Irish Biography gives the following account of the life and career of Sir Edward Fitton; 'the eldest son of Sir Edward Fitton of Gawsworth, Cheshire, and his wife, Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Guicciard Harbottle, of Northumberland. At the age of twelve he married Anne, daughter of Peter Warburton of Arley, Cheshire. He was MP for Cheshire in 1553 and was knighted on 19 October that year. On 1 June 1569 he was appointed the first lord president of Connacht and Thomond, having arrived in Ireland in May. About December, he conducted court sessions in Roscommon and Galway, where he outlawed Gaelic customs, suppressed catholic images and shrines, and took pledges of good behaviour from powerful lords. Some landowners welcomed him, as they wished to be freed from the onerous military exactions imposed on them by their overlords. However, although a capable and conscientious administrator, he had no experience of Irish affairs and was totally unsuited to the task of persuading hitherto proudly autonomous gaelicised lords to accept the considerable restraints imposed on them by English rule and law. By summer 1570, Fitton's presidency had evolved from an administrative body into an army. This was the only means by which it could maintain its authority in Connacht, but it also made it more burdensome and consequently more unpopular. During 1570–71, Fitton campaigned mainly against the Gaelic Irish in north Connacht. Following the re-establishment of the presidency of Connacht in 1576, Fitton reluctantly surrendered his command in Athlone and, more pertinently, the lucrative lease of crown lands associated with the castle. Fitton died 3 July 1579, having fallen ill during an expedition to Longford, and was buried 21 September in St Patrick's cathedral, Dublin' (Clavin 2009). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien