In a "Life of Old Parr," Harl. Misc., vol. vii. p. 79., are the following lines about the old Countess, which may perhaps interest some of your readers:
"Sir Walter Raleigh, a most learned knight,
Doth of an Irish Countess (Desmond) write,
Of sevenscore years of age; he with her spake;
The Lord St. Albans doth more mention make,
That she was married in fourth Edward's reign;
Thrice shed her teeth, which three times came again."
At the bottom of the page is a note by Oldys, but it probably contains nothing new to your correspondents who have so diligently investigated this matter. He quotes however some remarks of Archbishop Usher on this subject, which I do not remember to have seen noticed in your pages.
Erica.
The Knight of Kerry, in his very interesting letter, infers that if the old Countess of Desmond was only eight or nine years old at the death of Edward IV., she therefore could not have been married during the reign of that monarch. Was it not, however, a not uncommon custom, at that period, for royal and noble infants to be given in marriage at quite as early an age as eight or nine, whenever it suited the views, political or otherwise, of their parents or guardians?