Callaghan MacCarty, 3rd Earl of Clancarty

Callaghan MacCarty, 3rd Earl of Clancarty (c. 1638 – 1676) was born in Ireland, the second son of Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty. Callaghan was destined for a religious career and entered a Catholic monastery in France where his family was in exile during Cromwell's rule. However, when his elder brother died in the Battle of Lowestoft, and the 2nd Earl died in infancy, he unexpectedly left his monastery, returned to Ireland, became a Protestant, and assumed the title. Just before his death he converted back to Catholicism.

Callaghan MacCarty
Earl of Clancarty
Arms of MacCarty
Tenure	1666–1676
Other names	4th Viscount Muskerry
Known for	Former monk
Died	21 November 1676

Birth and origins

Callaghan was born in the late 1630s or the early 1640s,[lower-alpha 1] probably at Blarney Castle, County Cork, Ireland. He was the second son of Donough MacCarty and his wife Eleanor Butler.[3] His father was from the MacCarthy of Muskerry dynasty, a medieval Gaelic Irish family descended from the kings of Desmond. At the time of his birth, Callaghan's father was the 2nd Viscount Muskerry, but he would later become Earl of Clancarty. Callaghan's mother was the eldest sister of James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond.[4] She was from the Butlers, an Old English family. Callaghan's parents were both Catholic; they had married before 1641.[5]

Callaghan appears below among his brothers as the second son:

1. Charles (1633 or 1634 – 1665), predeceased his father, being slain in the Battle of Lowestoft, a naval engagement;[6][1]
2. Callaghan (c. 1638 – 1676); and
3. Justin (c. 1643 – 1694), fought for the Jacobites and became Viscount Mountcashel.[7][8][2]

He also had two sisters:

1. Helen (died 1722), became Countess of Clanricarde;[9]
2. Margaret (died 1703), became Countess of Fingal;[10]

Family tree

Callaghan MacCarty with wife, parents, and other selected relatives. Charles 1st Viscount Muskerry d. 1640 Margaret O'Brien Thomas Butler Viscount Thurles d. 1619 Elizabeth Pointz Donough 1st Earl 1594–1665 Eleanor Butler 1612–1682 James Butler 1st Duke Ormond 1610–1688 Helen d. 1722 Charles Viscount Muskerry d. 1665 Margaret Bourke d. 1698 Justin Viscount Mount- cashel c. 1643 – 1694 Margaret d. 1703 Callaghan 3rd Earl d. 1676 Elizabeth Fitz- Gerald d. 1698 Charles 2nd Earl 1663–1666 Donough 4th Earl 1668–1734 Elizabeth Spencer 1671–1704 Robert MacCarty 1698–1769 Elizabeth Farnelly Legend XXX Callaghan MacCarty XXX Duke of Ormond XXX Earls of Clancarty Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

Cromwellian Conquest

Callaghan was a child while his father, Lord Muskerry, commanded the Confederates' Munster army and fought the Parliamentarians in the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland. Muskerry fought to the bitter end and surrendered Ross Castle near Killarney to Englishman Edmund Ludlow on 27 June 1652, disbanding his 5000-strong army.[11][12]

To guarantee his compliance with the terms his father gave one of his sons to Ludlow as hostage.[13]. This was most probably Callaghan as his eldest, Charles, had gone to France.

First exile

MacCarty's father was allowed to embark to Spain.[14] The family's estates were lost in the Act of Settlement of 1652,[15] passed by the English Rump Parliament on 12 August.

Young Callaghan, aged about five, his mother, and his siblings, except his eldest brother, Charles, had fled already to France some time before the fall of Ross Castle, his father's last stronghold. His mother lived with her sister Mary, Lady Hamilton, in the convent of the Feuillantines in Paris.[16]

On 27 November 1658 his father was created Earl of Clancarty by Charles II in Brussels, where the King was then in exile.[17] By this advancement the title of Viscount of Muskerry became a subsidiary title of the family, which was given as a courtesy title to the Earl's heir apparent. Thus Callaghan's elder brother Charles was from there on styled Viscount Muskerry. A title he would keep until his death; he never succeeded his father to the earldom.

Restoration

At the Restoration his parents and his brother Charles returned to the British Isles with his family. His father, Earl Clancarty, recovered his estates in the Act of Settlement 1662. His brother lived at the court at Whitehall. It seems that Callaghan, aged about 13, stayed behind in France where he was a monk in a monastery.[18]

Earl of Clancarty

On 4 March 1665, the Second Anglo-Dutch War broke out. Three months into the war, on 3 June 1665 O.S., his brother Charles, Lord Muskerry, was killed on the flagship, the Royal Charles, in the Battle of Lowestoft, the first major naval engagement of the war and an English victory.[6] His brother had an infant son, also named Charles, who succeeded him as heir apparent and Viscount of Muskerry. However, their father, the 1st Earl, died two months later, on 4 August 1665,[19] and the younger Charles succeeded as the 2nd Earl of Clancarty. The 2nd Earl died about a year later, on 22 September 1666, still an infant.[20][21][lower-alpha 2]

At this point Callaghan became the 3rd Earl of Clancarty.[21] However, he was then a monk in a monastery in France. Hearing of his accession to the earldom, he put his dynastic obligations above his religious ones. He left the monastery and returned to Ireland, where he left the Catholic Church and joined the Protestant Church of Ireland.[18]

Marriage and children

Now styled Lord Clancarty, he married Elizabeth FitzGerald, daughter of George FitzGerald, 16th Earl of Kildare and his wife Joan Boyle.[22] The FitzGeralds were an Old English family whose ancestor came to Ireland during the Norman invasion of that country. His wife has been described as "a fierce Protestant isolated in a Catholic family".[23]

Callaghan and Elizabeth had two children:

1. Catharine, married Paul Davys, 1st Viscount Mount Cashell;[24] and
2. Donough (1668–1734), became the 4th and last Earl of Clancarty.

Death, succession, and timeline

Clancarty died on 21 November 1676, aged about 38.[25] He seemed to have returned to his original Catholic religion just before his death.[26] He was succeeded by his only son Donough, who was eight years old at the time. His widow married William Davys, chief justice, and died in 1698.[22]

Timeline
As his birth date is uncertain, so are all his ages.
Age	Date	Event
0	1638, estimate	Born in Ireland.[lower-alpha 3]
11	1649, 15 Aug	Oliver Cromwell landed in Dublin.[27]
13	1651, early	Taken to France by his mother.
14	1652, 27 Jun	His father surrendered Ross Castle.
20	1658, 27 Nov	His father is created 1st Earl of Clancarty;[17]
22	1660	His parents and his brother Justin returned to England and Ireland with the Restoration.
27	1665, 3 Jun O.S.	Brother Charles killed at the Battle of Lowestoft, a naval engagement with the Dutch.[6]
27	1665, 4 Aug	Father died in London.[28]
28	1666, 22 Sep	His brother's son died and he became the 3rd Earl.[21]
29	1667, about	Married Elizabeth FitzGerald.[22]
38	1676, 21 Nov	Died.[25]

Notes and references

1. The year of his birth is bracketed by that his older brother in 1633 or 1634[1] and that of his younger brother in about 1643.[2]
2. (Cokayne 1913) states he died on 22 September 1666, whereas (Burke1866) states that he died in 1668.
3. For the needs of the timeline his birth year is assumed to be about 1638, as his older brother was born in 1633 or 1634[1] and his younger brother was born about 1643.[2]

1. Lainé c. 1830, p. 76 line 1: "... dans un combat naval livré aux Hollandais, le 13 juin 1665 [N.S.] à l'âge de trente-et-un ans."
2. Murphy 1959, p. 49: "I have been unable to determine the precise date of his [Justin's] birth: the year 1643 is an approximation arrived at ..."
3. Cokayne 1913, p. 216, line 7a: "[Callaghan] being 2nd s. of the 1st Earl."
4. Lodge 1789b, p. 39, line 33: "Daughter Ellen [Eleanor], married to Donogh, Earl of Clancarthy, and dying in April 1682, AEt. 70, was buried 24 in the Chancel of St. Michan's church."
5. Ohlmeyer 2004, p. 107, left column: "... Donough MacCarthy had married by 1641 Eleanor (or Ellen; 1612–1682), the eldest daughter of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, and sister of James, later Duke of Ormond."
6. Cokayne 1913, p. 215, line 13: "He [Charles] d. v.p. being slain on board 'the Royal Charles' in a sea-fight against the Dutch, 3, and was bur. 22 June 1665 in Westm. Abbey."
7. Cokayne 1893, p. 390: "THE HON. JUSTIN MACCARTY 3d and yst s. of Donough, 1st EARL of CLANCARTY [I.] by Eleanor, sister of James DUKE of ORMONDE ..."
8. Wauchope 2004, p. 111, left column: "c. 1643 – 1694"
9. Cokayne 1913, p. 233, line 2: "He [Clanricarde] m. 2ndly Helen, widow of sir John FITZGERALD, of Dromana, co. Waterford (who d. 1662), da. of Donough (MACCARTY), 1st EARL of CLANCARTY [I.] by Eleanor ..."
10. Cokayne 1926, p. 386, line 26: "He [Luke Plunkett] m., before 1666, Margaret, da. of Donough (MACCARTY) EARL OF CLANCARTY [I.], by Eleanor, sister of James (BUTLER) 1ST DUKE OF ORMONDE, and da. of Thomas BUTLER, styled VISCOUNT THURLES."
11. Ohlmeyer 2004, p. 107, right column: "he fought on before finally surrendering at Ross Castle (27 June 1652) and fleeing to the continent."
12. Firth 1894, p. 320, line 10: "Ross in Kerry; where the Lord Muskerry made his principal rendezvous, and which was the only place of strength the Irish had left, except the woods, bogs and mountains ..."
13. Firth 1894, p. 322, line 4: "... his son together with Daniel Obryan were delivered to me as hostages ..."
14. Webb 1878, p. 303, right column, line 49: "He then passed into Spain."
15. D'Alton 1910, p. 345: "... a long list of distinguished men, more than a hundred in number, were proscribed by name, and excluded from all mercy, among whom were the Lords Ormond, Clanricarde, Castlehaven, Inchiquin, Muskerry ..."
16. Clark 1921, p. 8: "... his [Anthony Hamilton's] mother and his aunt, Lady Muskerry, had apartments at the couvent des Feuillantines in Paris ..."
17. Cokayne 1913, p. 215, line 2: "As reward for his services he was by patent dat. at Brussels 27 Nov., 1658, cr. EARL OF CLANCARTY, co. Cork [I.]"
18. Cokayne 1913, p. 216, line 7b: "He was formerly monk in France, but, on his accession to the title, conformed to the established religion ..."
19. Cokayne 1913, p. 215, line 6: "He [the 1st Earl] d. in London, 4 Aug. 1665."
20. Cokayne 1913, p. 216, line 4: "... d. an infant, 22 Sep. 1666."
21. Burke 1866, p. 344, right column, line 42: "Charles, 2nd earl, who d. a child, in 1668, and was s. by his uncle CALLAGHAN, 3rd Earl."
22. Lodge 1789a, p. 104: "Lady Elizabeth, first married to Callaghan, Earl of Clancarthy, who died 21 November 1676; and secondly to Sir William Davis, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and died in July, 1698, having no issue by him, who died 24 September, 1687."
23. Kenyon 1958, p. 102, line 8: "His [the 4th earl's mother] mother, a fierce Protestant isolated in a Catholic family ..."
24. Cokayne 1893, p. 390, line 33: "... having m. Catherine, da. of Callaghan (MACCARTY), 3rd EARL OF CLANCARTY [I.], by Elizabeth, da. of George (FITZGERALD), EARL OF KILDARE [I.] ..."
25. Cokayne 1913, p. 216, line 12: "He [Callaghan] d. 21 Nov. 1676."
26. Cokayne 1913, p. 216, line 9: "... he d. 'out of the communion of the Church of England.'"
27. Coffey 1914, p. 213: "Cromwell landed in Dublin on August 15th [1649]."
28. Seccombe 1893, p. 437, left column, line 16: "He [Donough MacCarty] died in London on 5 Aug. 1665."

• Burke, Bernard (1866), A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (New ed.), London: Harrison (for MacCarty)
• Clark, Ruth (1921), Anthony Hamilton: his Life and Works and his Family, London: John Lane
• Coffey, Diarmid (1914), O'Neill and Ormond - A Chapter of Irish History, Dublin: Maunsel & Company
• Cokayne, George Edward (1893), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 5 (1st ed.), London: George Bell and Sons – L to M (for Mountcashel)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1913), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 3 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – Canonteign to Cutts (for Clancarty)
• Cokayne, George Edward (1926), Gibbs, Vicary (ed.), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 5 (2nd ed.), London: St Catherine Press – Eardley of Spalding to Goojerat (for Fingall)
• D'Alton, Rev. Edward Alfred (1910), History of Ireland from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, 4, London: The Gresham Publishing Company – 1649 to 1782
• Firth, Charles Harding (1894), The Memoirs of Henry Ludlow, 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Kenyon, John Philipps (1958), Robert Spencer Earl of Sunderland (1641–1702), Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press Publishers, ISBN 083718150X
• Lainé, P. Louis (c. 1830), Histoire généalogique de la maison de Mac-Carthy (in French), Paris(?): A. Pinard
• Lodge, John (1789a), The Peerage of Ireland, 1, Dublin: James Moore – Blood royal, dukes, earls (for Earl of Kildare)
• Lodge, John (1789b), The Peerage of Ireland, 4, Dublin: James Moore – Viscounts (for Thurles)
• Murphy, John A. (1959), Justin MacCarthy, Lord Mountcashel, Commander of the Irish Brigade in France, Cork: Cork University Press
• Ohlmeyer, Jane (2004), "Maccarthy, Donough, first earl of Clancarty (1594–1665)", in Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 35, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 107–108, ISBN 0-19-861385-7
• Seccombe, Thomas (1893), "MacCarthy or MacCarty, Donough, fourth Earl of Clancarty", in Lee, Sidney (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, 34, London: Smith Elder & Co, pp. 436–438
• Wauchope, Piers (2004), "Maccarthy, Justin, first Viscount Mountcashel (1643–1694)", in Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 35, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 111–112, ISBN 0-19-861385-7
• Webb, Alfred (1878), "MacCarty, Donough, Viscount Muskerry, Earl of Clancarty", Compendium of Irish Biography, Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, p. 303, right column, line 35 (for his father)

External links

• Genealogy of Callaghan MacCarty, 3rd Earl of Clancarty on The Peerage website