Sir Charles MacCarthy, 1st Viscount of Muskerry (died 1641), also called Cormac Oge, especially in Irish, was from a family of Irish chieftains but acquired a noble title under English law, becoming

Viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicia ...

Muskerry instead of Lord of Muskerry. He sat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...

in both Irish parliaments of King Charles I. He opposed Strafford, the king's

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...

in Ireland, and in 1641 contributed to his demise by submitting grievances to the king. Muskerry died during this mission to London and was buried in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

Birth and origins

Charles, also called Cormac, was probably born in the 1570s in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns ar ...

, southern Ireland. Living in a bilingual context, he had two names, Charles in English and Cormac in Irish. He was the eldest son of Cormac MacDermot MacCarthy and his wife Mary Butler. As his father's name also was Cormac, he was distinguished as "Cormac oge", using the Irish generational suffix "oge", the younger, whereas his father usually included the

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, al ...

"MacDermot" (son of Dermot) in his name. MacDermot (Charles's father) was the 16th Lord of Muskerry. MacDermot had conformed to the

established religion A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a ...

, in other words: become a Protestant, by adhering to the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second l ...

. Charles's father's family were the

MacCarthys of Muskerry The MacCarthy dynasty of Muskerry is a tacksman branch of the MacCarthy Mor dynasty, the Kings of Desmond. Origins and advancement The MacCarthy of Muskerry are a cadet branch of the MacCarthy Mor, ...

, a

Gaelic Irish The Gaels ( ; ga, Na Gaeil ; gd, Na Gàidheil ; gv, Ny Gaeil ) are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man in the British Isles. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languag ...

dynasty that had branched from the MacCarthy-Mor line in the 14th century when a younger son received

Muskerry Muskerry ( ga, Múscraí) is a central region of County Cork, Ireland which incorporates the baronies of Muskerry West

as an

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much ...

. Charles's mother was the second daughter of Theobald Butler, 1st Baron Cahir. His mother's family was a cadet branch of the

Butler Dynasty Butler ( ga, de Buitléir) is the name of a noble family whose members were, for several centuries, prominent in the administration of the Lordship of Ireland and the Kingdom of Ireland. They rose to their highest prominence as Dukes of Ormon ...

, which was Old English and descended from

Theobald Walter Theobald Walter (sometimes Theobald FitzWalter, Theobald Butler, or Theobald Walter le Boteler) was the first Chief Butler of Ireland. He also held the office of Chief Butler of England and was the High Sheriff of Lancashire for 1194. Theobald ...

, who had been appointed chief butler of Ireland by King Henry II in 1177. He was one of four siblings, who are listed in his father's article. MacCarthy seems to have been a protestant in his youth but later became Catholic.

First marriage and children

MacCarthy married Margaret O'Brien in about 1590. She was a daughter of Donogh O'Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond, a protestant. Her family, the

O'Briens The O'Brien dynasty ( ga, label=Classical Irish, Ua Briain; ga, label=Modern Irish, Ó Briain ; genitive ''Uí Bhriain'' ) is a noble house of Munster, founded in the 10th century by Brian Boru of the Dál gCais (Dalcassians). After becomin ...

, were another Gaelic Irish dynasty, descending, in her case, from

Brian Boru Brian Boru ( mga, Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig; modern ga, Brian Bóramha; 23 April 1014) was an Irish king who ended the domination of the High Kingship of Ireland by the Uí Néill and probably ended Viking invasion/domination of Ireland. ...

, a medieval high king of Ireland. Charles and Margaret had two sons: #Cormac, probably

intellectually disabled Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation, Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signifi ...

, died young predeceasing his father # Donough (1594–1665), 1st earl of Clancarty and 2nd viscount of Muskerry —and five daughters (in an unordered list as their birth order is poorly known): *Julia, also called Sheela (died 1633), married Sir Valentine Browne, 1st Baronet of Molahiffe, County Kerry, as his 2nd wife *Mary, the 2nd daughter, married 1st

Sir Valentine Browne, 2nd Baronet Sir Valentine Browne, 2nd Baronet, of Molahiffe (died 1640), was an Irish landowner and MP. Birth and origins Valentine was born about 1615. He was the eldest son of Sir Valentine Browne and his first wife, Alice FitzGerald. His father wa ...

of Molahiffe, and had

Valentine Browne, 1st Viscount Kenmare Sir Valentine Browne, 1st Viscount Kenmare and 3rd Baronet Browne of Molahiffe (1638–1694), was an Irish Jacobite who fought for James II of England in the Williamite War in Ireland. Birth and origins Valentine ...

as son *Elena, married John Power and was ancestress of Frances Power, who married Richard Trench and was mother of William Trench, 1st Earl of Clancarty of the 2nd creation. *Eleanor, married in 1636 Charles MacCarthy Reagh, son of

Donal MacCarthy Reagh Donal MacCarthy Reagh ( ga, Domhnall Mac Carthaigh Riabhach) (1450/1460–1531) was the 12th Prince of Carbery from 1505 to his death in 1531. He belonged to the MacCarthy Reagh dynasty,John de Courcy, 21st Baron Kingsale *Helen, the 5th daughter, married Colonel Edmund Fitzmaurice, eldest son of the second marriage of Thomas Fitzmaurice, 18th Baron Kerry

Tyrone's Rebellion

MacDermot (MacCarthy's father) fought in Tyrone's Rebellion, also called the Nine Years' War, which lasted from 1593 to 1603. MacDermot sided with the English and fought the Spanish during the Siege of Kinsale in 1601. Most of MacCarthy's life fell into the subsequent period of almost 40 years of peace in southern Ireland from the Treaty of Mellifont, which ended the Nine Years' War, to the

Irish Rebellion of 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantat ...

Lord and Viscount

In 1616 MacCarthy succeeded his father as the 17th Lord of Muskerry. Lord Deputy

Oliver St John Sir Oliver St John (; c. 1598 – 31 December 1673) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons from 1640-53. He supported the Roundheads, Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War. Earl ...

knighted him in 1620. On 15 November 1628 Charles I, King of Ireland, England, and Scotland, created him Baron Blarney and Viscount Muskerry. The titles were probably bought. They had a special

remainder In mathematics, the remainder is the amount "left over" after performing some computation. In arithmetic, the remainder is the integer "left over" after dividing one integer by another to produce an integer quotient (integer division). In algeb ...

that appointed his second son Donough as successor, excluding his eldest son Cormac, who was alive at the time but probably insane. This is the first creation of the title Muskerry. The title would become extinct with the attainder of the 4th earl in 1691, but would be resurreted in the 2nd creation as Baron Muskerry in favour of Robert Tilson Deane, 1st Baron Muskerry in 1781.

Parliament of 1634–1635

Muskerry, as he was now, sat in the

during the two Irish parliaments of King Charles I. The Irish Parliament of 1634–1635 was opened on 14 July 1634 by the new

Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland. The plural form is ...

, Thomas Wentworth (the future Lord Strafford), who had taken office in July 1633. Muskerry attended the Irish Parliament of 1634–1635 at the House of Lords. He took his seat immediately on the day of its opening. Wentworth dissolved parliament on 18 April 1635.

Second marriage

When his first wife died, Muskerry remarried to Ellen Roche, eldest daughter of David Roche, 7th Viscount Fermoy, a zealous Catholic. It was also her second marriage. She was the widow of Donal MacCarthy Reagh of Kilbrittain, with whom she had had a son called Charles MacCarthy Reagh of Kilbrittain, who had before his father's death, married Eleanor, one of Muskerry's daughters from his first marriage. Muskerry thus married the mother of one of his sons-in-law. The date of Muskerry's second marriage is disputed. Some propose 1599 or earlier, others 1636 or later. The earlier date is too near (26 years) to his father-in-law's birth in 1573. At some stage, probably after the death of his first wife, Muskerry became Catholic.

Parliament of 1640–1649

The Irish Parliament of 1640–1649 was opened on 16 March 1640 by Christopher Wandesford, whom Strafford, as Wentworth was now called, had appointed Lord Deputy. Strafford arrived two days later. In its first session the parliament unanimously voted four subsidies of £45,000 (about £ in ) to raise an Irish army of 9000 for use by the King against the Scots in the Second Bishops' War. During the sessions, Muskerry probably stayed at his new townhouse built about 1640 on Dublin's College Green. On 3 April 1640 Strafford left Ireland. The Commons formed a commission of grievances that gathered evidence for Strafford's misbehaviour. They sent a delegation to Westminster where they submitted the grievances to the King. This delegation included Muskerry's son Donough. The Lords had not acted on grievances during the third parliamentary session as the Commons had done, but afterwards some of them decided to send Lords Muskerry, Gormanston, Dillon, and

Kilmallock Kilmallock () is a town in south County Limerick, Ireland, near the border with County Cork. There is a Dominican Priory in the town and King's Castle (or King John's Castle). The remains of medieval walls which encircled the settlement are sti ...

to London to submit their grievances to the King. Parliament met again on 26 January 1641. Lord Deputy Wandesford had died on 3 December 1640 and the Irish government had devolved to the Lords Justices,

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...

and Borlase. The House of Lords recognised the lords who had gone to London as one of its committees and excused their absence. On 18 February 1641 the lords' grievances were written up in 18 articles. The lords complained that Strafford had overtaxed them.

Death and timeline

On 20 February 1641 Muskerry died in London during his parliamentary mission. He was buried in

. Muskerry was succeeded by his second son Donough. As the ailing elder brother had died some time before, the title's special remainder did not need to be invoked. His wdow married Thomas, 4th son of Thomas Fitzmaurice, 18th Baron Kerry.

Notes and references

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * – 1603 to 1642 * * – (for MacCarty & Roche) * – (for Ormond) * – West Carbery * * – 1613 to 1641 * – 1643 to 1660 * – Marriages, baptisms and burials from about 1660 to 1875 * * – G to K (for Valentine Brown, Earl of Kenmare) * – L to M (for Muskerry) * – S to T (for Strafford and Thomond) * – 1611 to 1625 (for Browne) * – Canonteign to Cutts (for Clancarty) * – Moels to Nuneham * – (Preview) * * – Scotland and Ireland * * * – Labdon to Ryves (for MacCarty) * – (for timeline) * * * – to 1603 * * * – 1634 to 1699 * * * * * – (Preview) * – Earls (for Kerry) * – Barons (under Aylmer) * * * * * * * * – House of Commons * * – Irish stem * * * * * – (Preview) * – Knights bachelors & Index * – History * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muskerry, Charles MacCarthy, 1st Viscount of 1641 deaths 17th-century Irish people Burials at Westminster Abbey MacCarthy dynasty