2. What I’m going to talk about
1.Origins of the Eóganacht
2.Early Eóganacht genealogies
3.Origins of the MacCarthys in Tipperary
4.Migration to Cork and Kerry
5.Early MacCarthy genealogies
3. • The story does not begin with the McCarthys but much earlier, with the
Éoganacht
• The Éoganacht are of unknown origin, and even the ‘true’ Éoganacht
lineages are unknown, as several later peoples claimed spurious
connections with them
• The Éoganacht were a confederation of polities claiming a common
ancestry and dominating Munster politics from the dawn of recorded
history
• Branches were located in Tipperary, east Limerick, northern Clare, Kerry,
and the Bandon Valley area. Their capital was at Cashel
• Scholars differ regarding their origins: returned Roman mercenaries who
establish Cashel (castellum), a dynasty originating in Kerry and spreading
eastwards, a group established as late as the early 7th century
4. • It is safe to suggest that the principal lineages descend from
one Conall Corc mac Láire, the founder of Cashel, depicted
as having lived during the first half of the fifth century
• In the tales this Corc and his five sons are shown as
establishing a new ruling coalition in Munster at the expense
of an older alliance of polities, the Érainn
• The main branch of the Éoganacht were those of Cashel,
who would in turn divide into several competing branches
over time, and these would dominate the kingship of Munster
for six centuries
7. • McCarthy line descends from Colgu son of Fáilbe Flainn by 8 anonymous
generations to Cellachán son of Buadacháin
• Cellachán of Cashel was a powerful king, the last Eoganacht king of
Munster for over a century, who campaigned in the midlands dies in 954
• Succeeded by his son Donnchad who was killed by his brother in 963
• After this Eoganacht Chaisil ruled mostly by the Uí Donnchada for a
period, and Cellachán descendants retreat to Emly
• Eventually Cartach challenges for the kingship of Eoganacht Chaisil and a
civil war wages between 1030 to 1080 when Muiredach MacCarthy
emerges dominant
10. • By 1090s McCarthys and O Callaghans in dispute for the kingship, and
by 1101 both have been driven southwards to Cork by the O Briens, who
donate Cashel to the Church
• Yet the traditional view of a complete break is not totally accurate
• McCarthys appear to have retained lands around Emly into the 1120s at
least, and are still associated with Cashel itself well into the 1130s.
• Ráth Áine was one royal residence c.1120, now Rathanny four
kilometers west of Emly. The ringfort survives
• At the same time they also have demesne lands in western Limerick and
around Cork.
• By the 1160s the focus of McCarthy power in east Munster has shifted to
Lismore and Molana (and perhaps Ardfinnan), their main base. From
here they were still attacking the O Briens around Cashel as late as the
Invasion
11.
12. Cormac’s Chapel, Cashel
Thought to have been built
by German masons
imported by Cormac
MacCarthy,king of
Munster, around 1130
13.
14. The Anglo-Norman Invasion of course changed everything. The McCarthys
are fragmented under the ‘divide and rule’ policy and gradually pushed
into the poor lands of the west
Here they fight each other, as for instance at Callann, eventually breaking
into four main power blocks:
• MacCarthy Mór
• MacCarthy Riabhach (displacing Uí Mathghamhna)
• MacCarthy Múscraighe
• MacCarthy Dúiche Ealla
From the period 1252 onwards to the early 1320s the MacCarthy Mór and
MacCarthy Riabhach are locked in mortal combat, with MacCarthy Mór
supporting the Normans against MacCarthy Riabhach. In 1280 the River
Lee is marked as the boundary, and this remains largely unchanged
apart from being forced south to the southern watershed by McCarthy
Muskerry in the late 1300s, apart from the MacCarthy Riabhach
extensions eastwards against the Barrys and Courcys to the Lower
Bandon
15. Muiredach († 1092)
Tadhg Cormac Muigh Thamnaigh († 1138)
(MacAuliffe) Diarmuid Cille Badhúna († 1185)
Domhnall Mór na Corre († 1206) Cormac Liathanach
Cormac Fionn († 1247) Domhnall Got († 1252) Diarmuid Dúna Draighnean († 1229) Clann Tadhg
Ruadh
na Sgairte
Domhnall Ruadh († 1302) Diarmuid Ruadh († 1297)
MacCarthy Mór, Muskerry, etc. MacCarthy Duhallow
From whom descend over one dozen 16th
century septs, such as MacCarthy Riabhach, Clann Diarmuid
Reamhair (Kilcoe), Clann Tadhg Aighlinn, Clann Sean Ruadh (Enniskeane), Clann Donnchadha
(Ballinspittle), Sliocht Mhaicne Uí Chruimín, MacCarthy Glas, Sliocht Diarmuid of Enniskeane, Sliocht
Cormac na Coille, etc. etc.
