Clan MacCarthy

The MacCarthy dynasty was a great Gaelic Irish ruling family from Munster in southwest Ireland. They first became important in the 12th century and came to rule Desmond, a large region that now includes parts of Cork and Kerry.^[1]

The name comes from Carthach, a king from the Eóganacht Chaisil line, who died in 1045. His sons chose Mac Carthaigh—“son of Carthach”—as their surname, and that name became the clan’s identity. Around 1118, the region of Munster was divided, and the MacCarthys took control of Desmond.

Over the centuries, the MacCarthy family grew into different branches:

• MacCarthy Mór – the main line and rulers of Desmond, especially in south Kerry.
• MacCarthy of Muskerry – started in the 14th century by Dermot MacCarthy, second son of the King of Desmond. They later became Viscounts and Earls.
• MacCarthy Reagh – based in Carbery (southwest Cork), this branch ruled as princes of a smaller kingdom, often wealthy and independent.

From the 13th to the 16th centuries, these branches remained strong and often united in resisting outside powers like the Normans and later the English. Some members, like Florence MacCarthy of the Reagh line, played major roles in politics and even suffered imprisonment in London.

The MacCarthy of Muskerry branch held famous seats like Blarney Castle. Legend says the Blarney Stone was a gift from Robert the Bruce to a MacCarthy chief for help at Stirling Bridge in 1314.

Although the MacCarthys lost political power after the 17th century, their legacy lives on. Castles, books, family names, and cultural stories carry their history forward in Munster and among people around the world who trace their heritage to the old Gaelic kings.

• Burke, Bernard and Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Irish Family Records, or Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland. London: Burke's Peerage Ltd. 5th edition, 1976.
• Byrne, Francis J., Irish Kings and High-Kings. Four Courts Press. 2nd edition, 2001.
• Cronnelly, Richard F., Irish Family History Part II: A History of the Clan Eoghan, or Eoghanachts. Dublin. 1864.
• D'Alton, John, Illustrations, Historical and Genealogical, of King James's Irish Army List, 1689 2 vols. London: J.R. Smith. 2nd edition, 1861.
• Laffan, Thomas (1911). Tipperary Families : Being The Hearth Money Records for 1665–1667. James Duffy & Co.
• O'Donovan, John (ed. and tr.), Annála Ríoghachta Éireann. Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1616. 7 vols. Royal Irish Academy. Dublin. 1848–51. 2nd edition, 1856.
• O'Hart, John, Irish Pedigrees Dublin. 5th edition, 1892.
• Ó hInnse, Séamus (ed. and tr.) and Florence MacCarthy, Mac Carthaigh's Book, or Miscellaneous Irish Annals (A.D. 1114–1437). Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. 1947.
• O'Keeffe, Eugene (ed. and tr.), Eoganacht Genealogies from the Book of Munster. Cork. 1703. (available here)
• McCarthy (Glas), Daniel, A Historical Pedigree of the Sliochd Feidhlimidh the MacCarthys of Glean-nacroim, from Carthach, twenty-fourth in descent from Oilioll Olum, (1880; W. Pollard)
• O'Brien, Michael J, The McCarthys in Early American History, (1921; New York, Dodd, Mead & Company)
• McCarthy, Samuel Trant, The MacCarthys of Munster: The Story of a Great Irish Sept, (1922: The Dundalgan Press)

• The McCarthy Clan Gathering 2013 Archived 19 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine
• MacCarthy Mór Pedigree at Library Ireland
• The MacCarthys and the Nine Years War in Munster, 1595-1603 at The Irish Story
• Centuries of ‘lost’ MacCarthy lore returned at Irish Examiner
• McCarthy's Clan History by Turtle Bunbury
• McCarthy at Araltas