le Gros. 66 against Edward Bruce and the Scots, who had in- Raymond "vaded Ireland, and were overrunning the province " of Leinster."* Raymond le Gros received also from Dermoid Mac Carthy, king of Cork, whom he restored to his dominions,† an extensive tract of land in the county of Kerry; which he settled upon Maurice Fitz-Raymond,‡ his second son, ancestor to the family of Fitz-Maurice. On the death of earl Strongbow, 22. Henry II. (1176), he was appointed sole governor of Ireland. It is stated in the oldest record extant in the office of Ulster, King of Arms:§ "that Raymond le Gros, one of the principal In"vaders of Ireland, and first Viceroy under King "Henry II. married Basilia de Clare, sister unto "Richard de Clare, commonly called Strongbow, "Earl of Pembroke, Chepstow or Strigul, and "Ogey; by whom, he was ancestor to the families of "Grace in the County of Kilkenny, and Fitz-Maurice "in the County of Kerry." We have been unable to -ascertain on what authority 1184 is stated as the period of this distinguished chieftain's death, but an The historian here speaks of the battle of Ascul in the county of Kildare, in which Hamon le Gras commanded the English army. A very aucicnt crest of the Grace family, formerly in partial use among some of its branches, is described in the books of the Office of Arms to be, a Lion passant argent, trampling on a Royal Scotch Thistle- in allusion to King Edward Bruce's defeat by Sir Hamon le Gras. The crest of the barons of Courtstown, was a Lion rampant, per fess argent and or, as in the arms; but that of the Ballylinch or Gracefield family was a demi Lion rampant argent. Leland's History of Ireland, vol. 1. chap. 4, page 110. Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, vol. 2, p. 184. The first volume of MS. Pedigress. Le Gros. 66 Raymond entry in the archieves of the abbey of St. Thomas in Dublin, distinctly proves it to have been previously to 1201 since, in that year, his wife Basilia granted to that house certain lands held by William Danmartin, for the health of the souls of earl Gilbert her father, Richard her brother, and her husband Raymond; and from the same authority, we learn, that "Raymond "Fitz-William (so called from being the son of William "Fitz-Gerald) and his wife Basilia, daughter of earl Gilbert, directed their bodies to be buried in this "abbey." It is, however, stated in the Monasticon Hibernicum,* that Raymond le Gros was interred in the abbey of Molana in the county of Waterford'; and that on his death, Basiliat became second wife to Geoffrey Fitz-Robert de Marisco, baron of Kells county of Kilkenny, and seneschal of Ireland, by whom she had no issue. Raymond's eldest son William Fitz-Raymond retained the patronymic of le Gros, (the usual mark of primogeniture at this period,) and succeeded to all the lands Raymond The descent of this family is singularly illustrative of this practice. William, the eldest son of Walter Fitz-Othor, governor of Windsor, in 1078 retained the superadded, or, as in French, the surname of Windsor, and is ancestor to the family ofthat name; while Gerald Fitz-Walter the youngest son, acquired from bis Lordship of Carew in Pembrokeshire, the surname of Carew. William, the eldest son of this Gerald de Carew kept the paternal surname, which was never assumed by Maurice FitzGerald the 2d son, ancestor to the Fitz-Gerald, Mackenzie, and Fitz-Gibbon families. Odo, as eldest son of this William de Carew, was likewise cailed de Carew, and is ancestor to the Carew Family; while Raymond his second son, acquired from his prowess and great stature the Cognomen of le Gros, which be transmitted to bis eldest son, William, ancestor to the Grace family, and which was never assumed by Maurice |