exploited to extend their conquests across almost all
of the area of modern County Cork and to hold it down
with a string of castles built as far west as Bantry and
possibly beyond. Domnall’s son, Diarmait (d. 1229),
succeeded in reigning as king of Desmond, though he
actually ruled a very diminished kingdom. Diarmait’s
brother, Cormac Finn MacCarthaig, reigned until
his death in 1247 and was succeeded by another
brother, Domnall Got. Domnall Got MacCarthaig had
established a lordship for himself on O’Mahony ter-
ritory in southwest Cork, the basis of the lordship of
MacCarthaig Reagh (Riabhach) of Carberry. Domnall
Got was killed by John fitz Thomas Fitzgerald, the
leading colonist in Kerry in 1257.
Finín MacCarthaig, Domnall Got’s son and succes-
sor, battled with success against the O’Mahonys, who
wanted their land back, and against the English lords
who dominated southern Munster. After he destroyed
a number of English castles in 1261, the English
mounted a major campaign against him. However, at
the Battle of Callan, near Kenmare, on July 24, 1261,
Finín routed the English decisively. He overthrew a
series of castles along the south coast and drove the
colonists eastward toward Cork and Kinsale. He was
killed in battle at Rinrone late in 1261 while pressing
home his advantage over the colonists.
In 1262, Domnall Ruad MacCarthaig became the
king of Desmond and reigned until 1303. In 1280, he
captured the castle at Dunloe. He established Feidlim,
a grandson of King Diarmait who died in 1229, on the
borderlands north of Killarney and recognized the lord-
ship of Domnall Óc MacCarthaig, a son of Domnall
Got, over Carberry. It became a feature of MacCarthaig
power that ambitious collateral branches of the former
royal lineage were established on borderlands to
absorb their energies at the expense of their neighbors.
The main line of the royal lineage of Desmond took
on the name “Mac Cartaig (MacCarthy) Mór” during
the course of the fourteenth century, and the title of king
was abandoned. The MeicCarthaig Mór had their power-
base in the south of what is now County Kerry—hence
Kerry’s popular designation as “The kingdom.” They
exercised an overlordship over the lesser MacCarthaig
lordships in modern County Cork, but in the later Middle
Ages that overlordship grew weaker over the increas-
ingly powerful lordships of MacCarthaig Reagh of
Carberry, MacDonogh (Mac Donnchada) MacCarthaig
of Duhallow and MacCarthaig of Muskerry.
Cormac MacCarthaig (d. 1359), grandnephew of
Domnall Ruad MacCarthaig, while king of Desmond
adopted a policy of cooperating with the English crown
in order to bolster his position vis-à-vis the earls of
Desmond. MacCarthaig received a royal grant of exten-
sive lands in Muskerry and Coshmang. These lands
were entrusted to collateral branches of the former
royal lineage of Desmond who pushed the boundaries
of MacCarthaig power ever eastward. The MeicCar-
thyaig Mór succeeded in passing power from father to
son from the time of Cormac, son of Domnall Ruad,
through five subsequent generations to 1508. This kept
the dynasty united and strong into the sixteenth cen-
tury. In 1565, Domnall MacCarthy Mór (d. 1596) was
made the first earl of Clancare, ensuring the dynasty
remained powerful into early modern times.
Through the course of the later Middle Ages the
MacCarthys Reagh came to dominate virtually all of
the south of modern County Cork, pushing the English
colony into coastal enclaves in the baronies of Ibawn and
Courceys. By the late fifteenth century, MacCarthaig
Mór exercised very little authority over MacCarthaig
Reagh. The MacDonogh MeicCarthaig of Duhallow
came to dominate the upper Blackwater valley in the
latter Middle Ages, at the expense of the Barrys. They
were subject to some continued overlordship by
MacCarthaig Mór into the early sixteenth century. The
MeicCarthaig of Muskerry proved to be the most
dynamic of the collateral branches of the former royal
dynasty. They tended to seek legitimation from the
English crown for their land acquisitions as they
expanded closer to Cork city. The most renowned of
the MeicCarthaig lords of Muskerry was Cormac mac
Taidc (d. 1495), founder of Kilcrea Friary and builder
of the famous Blarney Castle. He pushed the bound-
aries of MacCarthaig power to Carrigrohane, just west
of Cork. The castle at Blarney, built probably in the
1480s, allowed the MeicCarthaig of Muskerry to over-
awe the citizens of Cork and exact from them an annual
“black rent” (a financial tribute). For a brief period from
1535 to 1536, Cormac Óc MacCarthaig, lord of Muskerry,
enjoyed control of Kerrycurrihy, on the shores of Cork
harbor. That barony reverted to the earl of Desmond on
Cormac Óc’s death, but MacCarthaig expansion around
Cork continued piecemeal until late in the sixteenth
century. Most of the former kingdom of Desmond was
once more under the control of MeicCarthaig.
HENRYA. JEFFERIESReferences and Further Reading
Jefferies, Henry A. “Desmond: The Early Years and the Reign
of Cormac MacCarthy.” Cork Historical and Archaeological
Society88 (1983).
———. “Desmond before the Norman Invasion.” J.C.H.A.S. 89
(1984).
Nicholls, Kenneth W. “The Development of Lordship in County
Cork, 1300–1600.” In Cork: History and Society, edited by
P. O’Flanagan and C. G. Buttimer. Dublin: Geography Pub-
lications, 1993.
See alsoÉoganachta; Mac Carthaig, Cormac;
Munster; Ua Briain, Muirchertach;
Ua Conchobair, TairrdelbachMAC CARTHAIG (Mac CARTHY)