Digby, Lettice (c. 1588–1658)

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Digby, Lettice (c. 1588–1658)

English noblewoman. Name variations: Lady Digby; Baroness Offaley; Baroness Offaly. Born Lettice Fitzgerald around 1588; died in 1658 in England; daughter of Gerald Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare; married Lord Robert Digby, of Coleshill, in 1608.

Lettice Fitzgerald Digby inherited the barony of Offaly from her parents. In 1608, she married Lord Robert Digby of Coleshill, becoming one of England's wealthiest and most powerful women through the union of the two houses. Lettice's vast estates made her a prime target for insurgents during the English Civil War. Forced to defend her various castles and manors from mutinous mobs, including Geashill Castle against Irish rebels in 1642, she was known as a brave warrior.

Laura York , Riverside, California