Florence MacCarthy
Encyclopedia
Finnian or Fínghin mac Donnchadh Mac Cárthaigh (1560–1640), known to the English as Florence MacCarthy, was an Irish prince
of the late 16th century and the last credible claimant to the MacCarthy Mór title before its suppression by English authority. MacCarthy's involvement in the Nine Years War (1595-1603) led to his arrest by the crown government, and he spent the last 40 years of his life in custody in London. His lands were distributed among his relatives and English colonists.
Castle near Kinsale
in the province of Munster
in Ireland, into the MacCarthy Reagh
dynasty, rulers of Carbery, the son of Donogh MacCarthy Reagh, 11th Prince of Carbery. His grandfather was Donal MacCarthy Reagh, 9th Prince of Carbery
.
The significance of MacCarthy's career lies in his command of territories in west Munster, at a time when the Tudor conquest of Ireland was underway. Southwest Munster was the area most open to Spanish intervention, which had been mooted from the late 1570s to aid Catholic rebellions in Ireland. The overlord of much of this area, but excluding Carbery, was the MacCarthy Mór of Desmond, whose lands were located in modern west Cork
and Kerry
. There were, in addition, three more princely branches of the MacCarthy dynasty
, the MacCarthys of Muskerry
, the MacCarthys of Duhallow
, and finally the most wealthy: the MacCarthys Reagh of independent Carbery, of whom Florence's father had been a (semi-)sovereign prince. It was into a complex interplay between the crown government and these opposing branches that Florence found himself pitched.
The MacCarthy Reagh branch established itself as loyal to the crown during the Desmond Rebellions
(1569–73 and 1579–83), in order to assert their independence from their nominal overlords, the Earl of Desmond and the MacCarthy Mor, both of whom had gone into rebellion. Florence's father, Donagh MacCarthy Reagh, served the crown faithfully and reported that he had mobilised his men to drive the rebel Gerald Fitzgerald, 15th Earl of Desmond
out of his territory during the Second Desmond Rebellion
. When his father died in 1581, Florence, by then in his late teens or early twenties, led around 300 men in the English service with the assistance of an English captain, William Stanley
, and his lieutenant, Jacques de Franceschi, under the overall command of the Earl of Ormonde. They drove Desmond’s remaining followers out of MacCarthy territory, ‘into his own waste country’, where the rebel earls' troops could find no provisions and deserted. Florence also claimed credit for the killing of Gorey MacSweeney and Morrice Roe, two of Desmond’s gallowglass
captains.
Upon his father's death in 1581, MacCarthy inherited substantial property but was not the prince's tanist (second in command and usually successor to the head), and therefore did not assume his father's title, which went to Florence's uncle, Owen MacCarthy Reagh, 12th Prince of Carbery
. The position of tanist went to Florence's cousin, Donal na Pipi (Donal of the Pipes). But in 1583 Florence did go to court, where he was received by the queen, who granted him 1000 marks and an annuity of 100 marks. In 1585 he served as a member of the Irish Parliament at Dublin.
and Jacques de Francesci, who had defected with a regiment of Irish soldiers from the English to the Spanish side in the Eighty Years' War in Flanders
.
As a result of these suspicions, Florence MacCarthy was arrested in 1588 as a precaution against his assumption of the title of MacCarthy Mór, which would have given him command over huge estates and thousands of followers. The English authorities considered this too dangerous a prospect in a country they were trying to pacify and disarm.
Six months later, he was moved to Dublin, and then to London, where he arrived in February 1589 to be committed to the Tower. His wife escaped from Cork a few days later, probably on his instructions. He was examined by the privy council in March and denied all complicity in the continental intrigues of the English Catholic, Sir William Stanley
. He was sent back to the Tower, but fifteen months later his wife appeared at court and Sir Thomas Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde
, volunteered to stand surety for him in the sum of £1000. Since no charges were proved against him, MacCarthy was set at liberty in January 1591 on condition that he not leave England nor travel more than three miles outside London without permission. The Queen's principal secretary, Lord Burghley
, backed him, and he obtained protection against his creditors and permission to recover an old fine of £500 due to the Crown from Lord Barry, a neighbour and rival of his in Munster, whom he blamed for his arrest; Barry was later to accuse him of disloyalty as this suit was prosecuted. MacCarthy subsequently obtained permission to return to Ireland.
In 1596, Donal MacCarthy, MacCarthy Mór and Earl of Clancarthy, died without male issue and the matter of the MacCarthy succession became highly complicated. Clancar's estate should by law have reverted to the crown, but Florence had a mortgage on the lands and also had right by his wife. Another Donal, the Earl's illegitimate son (not to be confused with Donal na Pipi), also asserted a claim, not to the English Earldom, but to the Gaelic title of MacCarthy Mor. Florence MacCarthy would in future correspondence, refer to Donal as "Donal the bastard".
It was most unlikely that the English authorities would acknowledge Florence as MacCarthy Mór or grant him the derived English title – Earl of Clancarthy as they wanted to break up the MacCarthy lands; so the real dispute in law came down to the recovery of lands by Florence from an English mortgagee (William Brown), who had possessed them on account of a debt owed to him by the earl. In June 1598, MacCarthy travelled to England to pursue the matter.
However, the situation was transformed by the arrival in Munster of the Ulster forces of Hugh O'Neill, who was leading a nation-wide rebellion – the Nine Years War – against English government in Ireland. In the autumn, Donal MacCarthy (the late Earl's illegitimate son) was reported to have acknowledged the authority of the rebel O'Neill and assumed the title of MacCarthy Mór; but the O'Sullivan
Mór withheld the White Wand
or rod of inauguration (which symbolically approved the accession of a chieftain) in favour of Florence MacCarthy. In a desperate situation, when it seemed that all the native lords in Munster were going into rebellion, the crown granted Florence MacCarthy a free pardon, on terms that he immediately withdraw his followers from rebellion in return for qualified acknowledgment of his title against Donal MacCarthy; but he prevaricated and only returned to Munster after Sir Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
– whose favour he had been relying upon – threw up his command as lord lieutenant in Ireland in late 1599 and returned to England under a cloud. Florence MacCarthy had managed to negotiate English support for his claims to land and title, but he also maintained contact with the rebels to the same end. This has made some commentators claim that his real sympathy lay with the rebels, especially as he was described in his youth as being "very zealous in the old religion [Catholicism]". However it is more likely that MacCarthy was using both sides as a lever to further his own aims.
In 1599, MacCarthy visited Fitzthomas, the rebel "Súgan" Earl of Desmond
, in Carbery, where he claimed to have spoken in the queen's favour; it is more likely that Florence promised his support for the rebels on condition that O'Neill acknowledge him as MacCarthy Mor. In the following days, Fitzthomas, followed reluctantly by Donal MacCarthy, laid waste to Lord Barry's territory of Ibawne, on the ground that Barry had refused to join the rebellion. From his base at Kinsale
, Florence closed all the approaches into his own country.
In 1600 O'Neill's army arrived in Munster and pitched camp between the rivers Lee
and Bandon
, whereupon MacCarthy came in to the camp for interview and was installed there as MacCarthy Mór at the expense of his rival, Donal MacCarthy. To the English it now appeared that Florence had sided conclusively with O'Neill, and military action was taken against him. In fact, Florence may simply have been playing both sides in order to become the MacCarthy Mor. In April an English expedition led by Captain George Flower raided his lands in Carbery and fought a bloody skirmish with MacCarthy's levies, which left over 200 men dead between the two sides.
In the same month Sir George Carew
was appointed governor of Munster, with sufficient men and resources to pacify the province. Carew summoned MacCarthy to Cork for an explanation of his conduct; at first, MacCarthy refused to come in without guarantees for his life and liberty, and when he did come in he refused to give his son as hostage. Carew urged him to support the English campaign, but MacCarthy promised no more than his neutrality, arguing that he was loyal, but that if he were to side openly with the English his own followers would desert him (a common plea of Gaelic leaders).
In fact, at this time MacCarthy, in an intercepted letter to Hugh Roe O'Donnell
, had sought to assure the northern rebels of his commitment to their cause. He was also the main contact in the south of Ireland for the Spanish, who planned a landing in Munster, which MacCarthy most likely expected would settle the war for good. On 5 January 1600, he wrote to Philip II of Spain
, via his agent in Ulster, Donagh MacCormac MacCarthy, offering,
In the months that followed, Carew broke the rebellion in Munster, retaking rebel castles, arresting Fitzthomas, the Súgan Earl, and persuading Donal MacCarthy to change sides. Carew viewed this as highly significant, because Donal MacCarthy was not only a credible rival for MacCarthy support, but also knew the remote and mountainous terrain in which Florence was based. Having pacified the province, Carew had no intention of leaving Florence installed as MacCarthy Mór, judging that his supremacy would make any future English presence in the area impossible. To this end, he arrested Florence, having called him to his camp for talks, 14 days before the expiry of the safe conduct "on discretion" (i.e. without charge) - an action which, although unlawful, was approved by the Queen's secretary, Robert Cecil
, for reasons of state.
The Irish Annals of the Four Masters
states:
MacCarthy was sent to England in August 1601 and committed to the Tower. Carew also arrested Florence’s son, as well as his kinsmen, Dermot MacOwen and Taig MacCormac, and his follower, O’Mahon. Only a month later, the Spanish landed at Kinsale
and enquired immediately for MacCarthy, their main local contact. His absence was no doubt a serious disadvantage in organising local support. Most of the MacCarthys, including both Donal MacCarthy and Donal na Pipi, did go over to the Spanish side, but surrendered after the English victory over the Irish and Spanish at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601.
's men under the command of Finghin MacCarthy, his first cousin, son of his uncle Owen ; many of his kinsmen were also killed in various encounters with English or rival Irish forces. In 1604 he was transferred to the Marshalsea for his health, but sent back to the Tower, with the privilege of access to his books.
In 1606, Donal na Pípí surrendered his claim to the MacCarthy lordship and received a grant of the territory of Carbery. Then Sir Richard Boyle
, Earl of Cork, and Lord Barry tried to wrest from MacCarthy the territory inherited from his father, but he successfully resisted by means of the law. However, much of his former lands were re-distributed. He went to the Marshalsea again in 1608, was released in 1614 on bonds of £5000 not to leave London, and in 1617 was recommitted to the Tower on the information of his servant, Teige O'Hurley, alleging his involvement with William Stanley and several exiled Irish Catholic priests and nobles, including Hugh Maguire. MacCarthy was due for release in 1619 but was sent back to the Gatehouse in 1624, to "a little narrow close room without sight of the air", owing to the death of two of his sureties, the Earl of Thomond
and Sir Patrick Barnewall. He was freed in 1626 on fresh sureties and won his protracted suit for the barony of Molahiffe in 1630 (although the lands were still in the possession of the English mortgagees in 1637).
MacCarthy lived the remainder of his life in London, where he wrote a history of Ireland, Mac Carthaigh's Book
, based on Old Irish texts. He wrote that, "although they [the Irish] are thought by many fitter to be rooted out than suffered to enjoy their lands, they are not so rebellious or dangerous as they are termed by such as covet it". He died in 1640.
), Florence (married Mary daughter of Donal III O'Donovan
), and Cormac (Charles).
In time, the title of MacCarthy Mór was subdued and the personal lands of Florence MacCarthy were distributed to English settlers, among them Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork
. The MacCarthy lords, including Donal na Pipi of Carberry, Donal MacCarthy (son of the earl) and Dermot MacCarthy of Muskerry were granted title to their lands, but had to surrender up to a third of their inheritance to the crown. Donagh MacCarthy
, the son of Dermot MacCarthy, later created Viscount of Muskerry, would later be one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1641
and Confederate Ireland
in the 1640s.
A rough portrait of MacCarthy was taken to France in 1776 by a collateral kinsman, Justin MacCarthy (1744–1811) of Springhouse, Bansha
, County Tipperary, who was a direct descendant of Dónal na Pípí and was going into exile because of the harsh treatment in Ireland of Catholics under the Penal Laws
. The portrait was kept in the mansion at 3, Rue Mage in the city of Toulouse
where he resided as Count MacCarthy-Reagh of Toulouse. The Count was noted for his rich library which in importance was second only to the King's in Paris.
An anonymous writer in 1686 wrote of Florence MacCarthy, drawing on a contemporary description in Pacata Hibernia, ‘Of all the MacCarthys, none was ever more famous than…Florence, who was a man of extraordinary stature (being like Saul higher by the head and shoulders than any of his followers) and as great policy with competent courage and as much zeal as anybody for what he falsely imagined to be the true religion, and the liberty of his country. However, his rival Donal "the bastard" MacCarthy described him as "a damned counterfeit Englishman whose study and practice was to deceive and betray all the Irishmen in Ireland".
Flaith
A flaith or flath , plural flatha, was an hereditary prince, or even princess, in the Gaelic world, with the plural often referring to the social class...
of the late 16th century and the last credible claimant to the MacCarthy Mór title before its suppression by English authority. MacCarthy's involvement in the Nine Years War (1595-1603) led to his arrest by the crown government, and he spent the last 40 years of his life in custody in London. His lands were distributed among his relatives and English colonists.
Early life
MacCarthy was born in 1560 at KilbrittainKilbrittain
Kilbrittain or Killbrittain is the name of a village, townland and parish in County Cork, Ireland. The village lies about southwest of Bandon, and near Clonakilty and Kinsale. The coastal route around the edge of the parish is the R600...
Castle near Kinsale
Kinsale
Kinsale is a town in County Cork, Ireland. Located some 25 km south of Cork City on the coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon and has a population of 2,257 which increases substantially during the summer months when the tourist season is at its peak and...
in the province of Munster
Munster
Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...
in Ireland, into the MacCarthy Reagh
MacCarthy Reagh
The MacCarthy Reagh dynasty are a branch of the great MacCarthy dynasty, Kings of Desmond, deriving from the ancient Eóganachta, of the central Eóganacht Chaisil sept. The MacCarthys Reagh seated themselves as Princes of Carbery in what is now southwestern County Cork in the 13th century...
dynasty, rulers of Carbery, the son of Donogh MacCarthy Reagh, 11th Prince of Carbery. His grandfather was Donal MacCarthy Reagh, 9th Prince of Carbery
Donal MacCarthy Reagh, 9th Prince of Carbery
Donal MacCarthy Reagh was the 9th Prince of Carbery from 1505 to his death in 1531. He belonged to the MacCarthy Reagh dynasty, and was the son of Finghin MacCarthy Reagh, 8th Prince of Carbery, and Lady Catherine FitzGerald, daughter Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond.In some sources and...
.
The significance of MacCarthy's career lies in his command of territories in west Munster, at a time when the Tudor conquest of Ireland was underway. Southwest Munster was the area most open to Spanish intervention, which had been mooted from the late 1570s to aid Catholic rebellions in Ireland. The overlord of much of this area, but excluding Carbery, was the MacCarthy Mór of Desmond, whose lands were located in modern west Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
and Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
. There were, in addition, three more princely branches of the MacCarthy dynasty
MacCarthy dynasty
The MacCarthy dynasty was one of Ireland's greatest medieval dynasties. It was and continues to be divided into several great branches. The MacCarthy Reagh, MacCarthy of Muskerry, and MacCarthy of Duhallow dynasties were the three most important of these, after the central or MacCarthy Mór...
, the MacCarthys of Muskerry
MacCarthy of Muskerry
The MacCarthy dynasty of Muskerry is a branch of the great MacCarthy Mor dynasty, the Kings of Desmond. Their branch descends from Dermod Mor MacCarthy, 1st Lord of Muscry , second son of Cormac MacCarthy Mor , King of Desmond....
, the MacCarthys of Duhallow
Duhallow
Duhallow is a barony located in the north-western part of County Cork, Ireland.- Legal context :Baronies were created after the Norman invasion as subdivisions of counties and were used for administration. Baronies continue to be regarded as officially defined units, but they are no longer used...
, and finally the most wealthy: the MacCarthys Reagh of independent Carbery, of whom Florence's father had been a (semi-)sovereign prince. It was into a complex interplay between the crown government and these opposing branches that Florence found himself pitched.
The MacCarthy Reagh branch established itself as loyal to the crown during the Desmond Rebellions
Desmond Rebellions
The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569-1573 and 1579-1583 in the Irish province of Munster.They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond – head of the FitzGerald dynasty in Munster – and his followers, the Geraldines and their allies against the threat of the extension of Elizabethan English...
(1569–73 and 1579–83), in order to assert their independence from their nominal overlords, the Earl of Desmond and the MacCarthy Mor, both of whom had gone into rebellion. Florence's father, Donagh MacCarthy Reagh, served the crown faithfully and reported that he had mobilised his men to drive the rebel Gerald Fitzgerald, 15th Earl of Desmond
Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond
Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond was an Irish nobleman and leader of the Desmond Rebellions of 1579.-Life:...
out of his territory during the Second Desmond Rebellion
Second Desmond Rebellion
The Second Desmond rebellion was the more widespread and bloody of the two Desmond Rebellions launched by the FitzGerald dynasty of Desmond in Munster, Ireland, against English rule in Ireland...
. When his father died in 1581, Florence, by then in his late teens or early twenties, led around 300 men in the English service with the assistance of an English captain, William Stanley
William Stanley (Elizabethan)
Sir William Stanley , son of Sir Rowland Stanley of Hooton , was a member of the Stanley family. He was an officer and a recusant, who served under Elizabeth I of England and is most noted for his surrender of Deventer to the Spanish in 1587.-Early career:Stanley was educated with Dr. Standish at...
, and his lieutenant, Jacques de Franceschi, under the overall command of the Earl of Ormonde. They drove Desmond’s remaining followers out of MacCarthy territory, ‘into his own waste country’, where the rebel earls' troops could find no provisions and deserted. Florence also claimed credit for the killing of Gorey MacSweeney and Morrice Roe, two of Desmond’s gallowglass
Gallowglass
The gallowglass or galloglass – from , gallóglach – were an elite class of mercenary warrior who came from Norse-Gaelic clans in the Hebrides and Highlands of Scotland between the mid 13th century and late 16th century...
captains.
Upon his father's death in 1581, MacCarthy inherited substantial property but was not the prince's tanist (second in command and usually successor to the head), and therefore did not assume his father's title, which went to Florence's uncle, Owen MacCarthy Reagh, 12th Prince of Carbery
Owen MacCarthy Reagh, 12th Prince of Carbery
Owen MacCarthy Reagh was the 12th Prince of Carbery from 1576 to 1592. He belonged to the MacCarthy Reagh dynasty. Owen is commonly called "Sir" Owen MacCarthy in the English records but this may have been only for convenience, for the MacCarthys Reagh were foreign princes at this time, if...
. The position of tanist went to Florence's cousin, Donal na Pipi (Donal of the Pipes). But in 1583 Florence did go to court, where he was received by the queen, who granted him 1000 marks and an annuity of 100 marks. In 1585 he served as a member of the Irish Parliament at Dublin.
The Tower
Upon his marriage to Ellen, the daughter and sole heir of the MacCarthy Mór (also Earl of Clancar), Florence fell foul of the crown government in Munster on account of the prospective unification of the two main branches of the Clan Carthy. To add to government suspicion, there was also a rumour of communications by him with Spain. In particular, he was accused of contact with William StanleyWilliam Stanley (Elizabethan)
Sir William Stanley , son of Sir Rowland Stanley of Hooton , was a member of the Stanley family. He was an officer and a recusant, who served under Elizabeth I of England and is most noted for his surrender of Deventer to the Spanish in 1587.-Early career:Stanley was educated with Dr. Standish at...
and Jacques de Francesci, who had defected with a regiment of Irish soldiers from the English to the Spanish side in the Eighty Years' War in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
.
As a result of these suspicions, Florence MacCarthy was arrested in 1588 as a precaution against his assumption of the title of MacCarthy Mór, which would have given him command over huge estates and thousands of followers. The English authorities considered this too dangerous a prospect in a country they were trying to pacify and disarm.
Six months later, he was moved to Dublin, and then to London, where he arrived in February 1589 to be committed to the Tower. His wife escaped from Cork a few days later, probably on his instructions. He was examined by the privy council in March and denied all complicity in the continental intrigues of the English Catholic, Sir William Stanley
William Stanley
William Stanley may refer to:* William Stanley , English military leader in the Wars of the Roses* William Stanley , English military commander under Queen Elizabeth I...
. He was sent back to the Tower, but fifteen months later his wife appeared at court and Sir Thomas Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde
Thomas Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde
Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde and 3rd Earl of Ossory, Viscount Thurles , was an Irish peer and the son of James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond and Lady Joan Fitzgerald daughter and heiress-general of James FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond...
, volunteered to stand surety for him in the sum of £1000. Since no charges were proved against him, MacCarthy was set at liberty in January 1591 on condition that he not leave England nor travel more than three miles outside London without permission. The Queen's principal secretary, Lord Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...
, backed him, and he obtained protection against his creditors and permission to recover an old fine of £500 due to the Crown from Lord Barry, a neighbour and rival of his in Munster, whom he blamed for his arrest; Barry was later to accuse him of disloyalty as this suit was prosecuted. MacCarthy subsequently obtained permission to return to Ireland.
Succession disputes
MacCarthy returned to Ireland (though he was still technically a prisoner) in November 1593, following his wife and child. In the next year, his uncle Owen (the MacCarthy Reagh) died and was succeeded by his nephew, Donal na Pípí. The latter bound himself in the sum of £10,000 not to divert the MacCarthy Reagh succession from MacCarthy, who was in turn his tanist. Florence appeared before the council at Dublin in June 1594 to reply to the accusations of Lord Barry, a local rival of MacCarthy's with whom he had a land dispute, which again implicated him pro-Spanish intrigues with William Stanley. Florence then returned to England by licence and remained there until the spring of 1596 in a vain attempt to prosecute Barry.In 1596, Donal MacCarthy, MacCarthy Mór and Earl of Clancarthy, died without male issue and the matter of the MacCarthy succession became highly complicated. Clancar's estate should by law have reverted to the crown, but Florence had a mortgage on the lands and also had right by his wife. Another Donal, the Earl's illegitimate son (not to be confused with Donal na Pipi), also asserted a claim, not to the English Earldom, but to the Gaelic title of MacCarthy Mor. Florence MacCarthy would in future correspondence, refer to Donal as "Donal the bastard".
It was most unlikely that the English authorities would acknowledge Florence as MacCarthy Mór or grant him the derived English title – Earl of Clancarthy as they wanted to break up the MacCarthy lands; so the real dispute in law came down to the recovery of lands by Florence from an English mortgagee (William Brown), who had possessed them on account of a debt owed to him by the earl. In June 1598, MacCarthy travelled to England to pursue the matter.
However, the situation was transformed by the arrival in Munster of the Ulster forces of Hugh O'Neill, who was leading a nation-wide rebellion – the Nine Years War – against English government in Ireland. In the autumn, Donal MacCarthy (the late Earl's illegitimate son) was reported to have acknowledged the authority of the rebel O'Neill and assumed the title of MacCarthy Mór; but the O'Sullivan
O'Sullivan
O'Sullivan or simply Sullivan is an Irish surname, associated with the southwestern part of Ireland, originally found in County Tipperary before the Anglo-Norman invasion, then in County Cork and County Kerry, which due to emigration is also common in Australia, North America and Britain...
Mór withheld the White Wand
White Wand
The White Rod, White Wand, Rod of Inauguration, or Wand of Sovereignty, in the Irish language variously called the slat na ríghe and slat tighearnais , was the primary symbol of a Gaelic king or lord's legitimate authority and the principal prop used in his inauguration ceremony...
or rod of inauguration (which symbolically approved the accession of a chieftain) in favour of Florence MacCarthy. In a desperate situation, when it seemed that all the native lords in Munster were going into rebellion, the crown granted Florence MacCarthy a free pardon, on terms that he immediately withdraw his followers from rebellion in return for qualified acknowledgment of his title against Donal MacCarthy; but he prevaricated and only returned to Munster after Sir Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the seventeenth century. With the start of the English Civil War in 1642 he became the first Captain-General and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, also known as the Roundheads...
– whose favour he had been relying upon – threw up his command as lord lieutenant in Ireland in late 1599 and returned to England under a cloud. Florence MacCarthy had managed to negotiate English support for his claims to land and title, but he also maintained contact with the rebels to the same end. This has made some commentators claim that his real sympathy lay with the rebels, especially as he was described in his youth as being "very zealous in the old religion [Catholicism]". However it is more likely that MacCarthy was using both sides as a lever to further his own aims.
War in Munster
During the Nine Years War in Munster, MacCarthy failed to engage with the English military campaign and secretly negotiated with the rebels under Hugh O’Neill and the Spanish. O'Neill's strategy was to back those local Irish lords who had a grievance against English authority and were in command of sufficient land and followers to contribute to his war effort.In 1599, MacCarthy visited Fitzthomas, the rebel "Súgan" Earl of Desmond
Earl of Desmond
The title of Earl of Desmond has been held historically by lords in Ireland, first as a title outside of the peerage system and later as part of the Peerage of Ireland....
, in Carbery, where he claimed to have spoken in the queen's favour; it is more likely that Florence promised his support for the rebels on condition that O'Neill acknowledge him as MacCarthy Mor. In the following days, Fitzthomas, followed reluctantly by Donal MacCarthy, laid waste to Lord Barry's territory of Ibawne, on the ground that Barry had refused to join the rebellion. From his base at Kinsale
Kinsale
Kinsale is a town in County Cork, Ireland. Located some 25 km south of Cork City on the coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon and has a population of 2,257 which increases substantially during the summer months when the tourist season is at its peak and...
, Florence closed all the approaches into his own country.
In 1600 O'Neill's army arrived in Munster and pitched camp between the rivers Lee
River Lee (Ireland)
The Lee is a river in Ireland. It rises in the Shehy Mountains on the western border of County Cork and flows eastwards through Cork City, where it splits in two for a short distance, creating an island on which Cork's city centre is built, and empties into the Celtic Sea at Cork Harbour on the...
and Bandon
River Bandon
The River Bandon is a river in County Cork in Ireland. It rises at Nowen Hill , to the north of Drimoleague.The river then flows to Dunmanway, before turning eastward towards the twin villages of Ballineen and Enniskean...
, whereupon MacCarthy came in to the camp for interview and was installed there as MacCarthy Mór at the expense of his rival, Donal MacCarthy. To the English it now appeared that Florence had sided conclusively with O'Neill, and military action was taken against him. In fact, Florence may simply have been playing both sides in order to become the MacCarthy Mor. In April an English expedition led by Captain George Flower raided his lands in Carbery and fought a bloody skirmish with MacCarthy's levies, which left over 200 men dead between the two sides.
In the same month Sir George Carew
George Carew
George Carew was an English diplomat and historian.-Life:He was the second son of Thomas Carew of Antony and brother of Richard Carew. He was educated at Oxford and entered the Inns of Court before travelling abroad. At the recommendation of Queen Elizabeth I, who conferred on him the honour of a...
was appointed governor of Munster, with sufficient men and resources to pacify the province. Carew summoned MacCarthy to Cork for an explanation of his conduct; at first, MacCarthy refused to come in without guarantees for his life and liberty, and when he did come in he refused to give his son as hostage. Carew urged him to support the English campaign, but MacCarthy promised no more than his neutrality, arguing that he was loyal, but that if he were to side openly with the English his own followers would desert him (a common plea of Gaelic leaders).
In fact, at this time MacCarthy, in an intercepted letter to Hugh Roe O'Donnell
Hugh Roe O'Donnell
Aodh Rua Ó Dónaill, anglicised as either Hugh Roe O'Donnell or Red Hugh O'Donnell , was An Ó Domhnaill and Rí of Tir Chonaill . He led the Irish forces against the English conquest of Ireland from 1593 and helped to lead the Nine Years' War from 1595 to 1603...
, had sought to assure the northern rebels of his commitment to their cause. He was also the main contact in the south of Ireland for the Spanish, who planned a landing in Munster, which MacCarthy most likely expected would settle the war for good. On 5 January 1600, he wrote to Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, via his agent in Ulster, Donagh MacCormac MacCarthy, offering,
In the months that followed, Carew broke the rebellion in Munster, retaking rebel castles, arresting Fitzthomas, the Súgan Earl, and persuading Donal MacCarthy to change sides. Carew viewed this as highly significant, because Donal MacCarthy was not only a credible rival for MacCarthy support, but also knew the remote and mountainous terrain in which Florence was based. Having pacified the province, Carew had no intention of leaving Florence installed as MacCarthy Mór, judging that his supremacy would make any future English presence in the area impossible. To this end, he arrested Florence, having called him to his camp for talks, 14 days before the expiry of the safe conduct "on discretion" (i.e. without charge) - an action which, although unlawful, was approved by the Queen's secretary, Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil may refer to:*Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury , statesman, spymaster and minister to Elizabeth I of England and James I of England...
, for reasons of state.
The Irish Annals of the Four Masters
Annals of the Four Masters
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland or the Annals of the Four Masters are a chronicle of medieval Irish history...
states:
MacCarthy was sent to England in August 1601 and committed to the Tower. Carew also arrested Florence’s son, as well as his kinsmen, Dermot MacOwen and Taig MacCormac, and his follower, O’Mahon. Only a month later, the Spanish landed at Kinsale
Kinsale
Kinsale is a town in County Cork, Ireland. Located some 25 km south of Cork City on the coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon and has a population of 2,257 which increases substantially during the summer months when the tourist season is at its peak and...
and enquired immediately for MacCarthy, their main local contact. His absence was no doubt a serious disadvantage in organising local support. Most of the MacCarthys, including both Donal MacCarthy and Donal na Pipi, did go over to the Spanish side, but surrendered after the English victory over the Irish and Spanish at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601.
In custody at London
MacCarthy vainly petitioned for release from prison with a promise to serve against O'Neill. After the English victory at the battle of Kinsale, his brother, Diarmuid Maol ("Bald Dermot"), who commanded Florence's followers in his absence, was killed accidentally in a cattle-raid by some of Donal II O'DonovanDonal II O'Donovan
Donal II O'Donovan , The O'Donovan of Clann Cathail, Lord of Clancahill , was the son of Ellen O'Leary, daughter of O'Leary of Carrignacurra, and Donal of the Skins, The O'Donovan of Clann Cathail....
's men under the command of Finghin MacCarthy, his first cousin, son of his uncle Owen ; many of his kinsmen were also killed in various encounters with English or rival Irish forces. In 1604 he was transferred to the Marshalsea for his health, but sent back to the Tower, with the privilege of access to his books.
In 1606, Donal na Pípí surrendered his claim to the MacCarthy lordship and received a grant of the territory of Carbery. Then Sir Richard Boyle
Richard Boyle
Richard Boyle may refer to:*Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork , Lord High Treasurer of Ireland*Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington and 2nd earl of Cork , Lord High Treasurer of Ireland and a cavalier...
, Earl of Cork, and Lord Barry tried to wrest from MacCarthy the territory inherited from his father, but he successfully resisted by means of the law. However, much of his former lands were re-distributed. He went to the Marshalsea again in 1608, was released in 1614 on bonds of £5000 not to leave London, and in 1617 was recommitted to the Tower on the information of his servant, Teige O'Hurley, alleging his involvement with William Stanley and several exiled Irish Catholic priests and nobles, including Hugh Maguire. MacCarthy was due for release in 1619 but was sent back to the Gatehouse in 1624, to "a little narrow close room without sight of the air", owing to the death of two of his sureties, the Earl of Thomond
Earl of Thomond
"Earl of Thomond" was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created twice for the family of Ó Briain. The O'Brien dynasty were an ancient Irish sept native to north Munster....
and Sir Patrick Barnewall. He was freed in 1626 on fresh sureties and won his protracted suit for the barony of Molahiffe in 1630 (although the lands were still in the possession of the English mortgagees in 1637).
MacCarthy lived the remainder of his life in London, where he wrote a history of Ireland, Mac Carthaigh's Book
Mac Carthaigh's Book
Mac Carthaigh’s Book is a collection of annals of the period AD 1114-1437 inclusive. It was compiled from earlier material by Fínghin Mac Carthaigh Mór an Irish nobleman who was imprisoned for years in London. He was a patron of learning and a scholar in his own right...
, based on Old Irish texts. He wrote that, "although they [the Irish] are thought by many fitter to be rooted out than suffered to enjoy their lands, they are not so rebellious or dangerous as they are termed by such as covet it". He died in 1640.
Legacy
MacCarthy had a troubled relationship with his wife, who grew jealous of his inheritance and who informed on him to the English authorities. She also seems to have disapproved of his political choices, reportedly saying that she, "would not go begging in Ulster or Spain". In 1607 he reported that he had, "sent away that wicked woman that was my wife…whom I saw not nor could abide in almost a year before my commitment [imprisonment]". Nevertheless, he did have four children by her who are known of: Teige (died as a boy in the Tower), Donal (who converted to Protestantism and married Sarah daughter of the MacDonnell Earl of AntrimEarl of Antrim
Earl of Antrim is a title that has been created twice, both times in the Peerage of Ireland and both times for members of the MacDonnell family, originally of Scottish origins. This family descends from Sorley Boy MacDonnell, who established the family in County Antrim...
), Florence (married Mary daughter of Donal III O'Donovan
Donal III O'Donovan
Donal III O'Donovan , The O'Donovan of Clancahill, born before 1584, was the son of Helena de Barry and Donal II O'Donovan, The O'Donovan of Clancahill...
), and Cormac (Charles).
In time, the title of MacCarthy Mór was subdued and the personal lands of Florence MacCarthy were distributed to English settlers, among them Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork , also known as the Great Earl of Cork, was Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland....
. The MacCarthy lords, including Donal na Pipi of Carberry, Donal MacCarthy (son of the earl) and Dermot MacCarthy of Muskerry were granted title to their lands, but had to surrender up to a third of their inheritance to the crown. Donagh MacCarthy
Donagh MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry
Donagh [Donough] MacCarthy, 1st Earl of Clancarty, 2nd Viscount Muskerry was an Irish noble. He married Ellen Butler , who was the sister of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde). The Earl served as a Munster general during the Irish Confederate Wars...
, the son of Dermot MacCarthy, later created Viscount of Muskerry, would later be one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1641
Irish Rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...
and Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland
Confederate Ireland refers to the period of Irish self-government between the Rebellion of 1641 and the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. During this time, two-thirds of Ireland was governed by the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny"...
in the 1640s.
A rough portrait of MacCarthy was taken to France in 1776 by a collateral kinsman, Justin MacCarthy (1744–1811) of Springhouse, Bansha
Bansha
Bansha is a village in the barony of Clanwilliam, South Tipperary in Ireland. The village is part of the parish of "Bansha and Kilmoyler" in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly. Bansha is co-extensive with the pre-Reformation parish of Templeneiry of which the townland name of...
, County Tipperary, who was a direct descendant of Dónal na Pípí and was going into exile because of the harsh treatment in Ireland of Catholics under the Penal Laws
Penal Laws (Ireland)
The term Penal Laws in Ireland were a series of laws imposed under English and later British rule that sought to discriminate against Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters in favour of members of the established Church of Ireland....
. The portrait was kept in the mansion at 3, Rue Mage in the city of Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
where he resided as Count MacCarthy-Reagh of Toulouse. The Count was noted for his rich library which in importance was second only to the King's in Paris.
An anonymous writer in 1686 wrote of Florence MacCarthy, drawing on a contemporary description in Pacata Hibernia, ‘Of all the MacCarthys, none was ever more famous than…Florence, who was a man of extraordinary stature (being like Saul higher by the head and shoulders than any of his followers) and as great policy with competent courage and as much zeal as anybody for what he falsely imagined to be the true religion, and the liberty of his country. However, his rival Donal "the bastard" MacCarthy described him as "a damned counterfeit Englishman whose study and practice was to deceive and betray all the Irishmen in Ireland".
See also
- Irish nobilityIrish nobilityThis article concerns the Gaelic nobility of Ireland from ancient to modern times. It only partly overlaps with Chiefs of the Name because it excludes Scotland and other discussion...
- EóganachtaEóganachtaThe Eóganachta or Eoghanachta were an Irish dynasty centred around Cashel which dominated southern Ireland from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of Desmond, and its offshoot Carbery, well into the 16th century...
- Tudor conquest of Ireland
- Nine Years War (Ireland)
- Mac Carthaigh's BookMac Carthaigh's BookMac Carthaigh’s Book is a collection of annals of the period AD 1114-1437 inclusive. It was compiled from earlier material by Fínghin Mac Carthaigh Mór an Irish nobleman who was imprisoned for years in London. He was a patron of learning and a scholar in his own right...