Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty

Donough was born in 1594[12] in County Cork, most likely at Blarney Castle or Macroom Castle, residences of his parents.[13] He was the second[14] but would be the eldest surviving son of Charles (or Cormac)[15] MacCarty and his first wife Margaret O'Brien.[16] His father had been educated at Oxford[17] and was, at the time of his birth, known as Sir Charles[18] while his paternal grandfather, Cormac MacDermot MacCarthy, was the 16th Lord of Muskerry.[lower-alpha 4][20] His father, when called Cormac rather than Charles, was distinguished from his grandfather by the epithet "Oge", which comes from the Gaelic óige, the younger, whose pronunciation it tries to approximate.[21] His father's family were the MacCartys of Muskerry, a Gaelic Irish dynasty that branched from the MacCarthy-More line with Dermot MacCarthy, second son of Cormac MacCarthy-Mor, a medieval Prince of Desmond.[10] This second son was given Muskerry as appanage.

Donough's mother was the eldest daughter of Donogh O'Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond, called the great earl.[22] Donough was named for this grandfather (there were no Donoughs in the line of the MacCarthy of Muskerry). The name is an anglicised, shortened form of the Gaelic first name Donnchadh.[23] Her family, the O'Briens, were another important Gaelic Irish dynasty that descended from Brian Boru, medieval high king of Ireland.[24] She married his father in about 1590.[25]

Only a small minority of the Irish had converted to Protestantism under Henry VIII and under Queen Elizabeth. However, both of Donough's grandfathers had done so. His paternal grandfather, Cormac MacDermot MacCarthy, had conformed to the the established religion.[50][20] Donough's maternal grandfather, Donogh O'Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond was well known for his Protestantism.[51][52] Despite their family background, Donough and his siblings grew up to be Catholics. It is not known how this came about but it might have been due to the influence of his stepmother Ellen, who seemed to have been a Catholic.

His mother must have died in or before 1599 as his father remarried in that year.[53] Donough's stepmother was Ellen, widow of Donnell MacCarthy Reagh of Kilbrittain and daughter of David Roche, 7th Viscount Fermoy.[54][55][56] No children from this marriage are recorded in the major genealogical sources. After his father's death she married Thomas Thomas Fitzmaurice, 4th son of Thomas Fitzmaurice, 18th Baron Kerry.[57]

In 1616[58] his father succeeded as the 17th Lord of Muskerry.[59][60] On 15 November 1628 Charles I, King of Ireland, England and Scotland, created Donough MacCarty's father Baron Blarney and Viscount Muskerry. The titles had a special remainder[61] that appointed Donough as successor, excluding his elder brother, who was alive at the time but probably severely handicapped.[33]

Donough MacCarty married Eleanor Butler,[62] a Catholic, the eldest daughter of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, some time before 1633 as their eldest son was born in 1633 or 1634.[lower-alpha 8][65] MacCarty was already in his late thirties while she was about twenty. According to one source he had been married once before and had a son from this first marriage.[2] However, this marriage and this child are ignored by the major genealogical sources.[66][67][68]

His marriage with Eleanor made him a brother-in-law of James Butler, who succeeded as 12th Earl of Ormond on 24 February 1633[69] and would play an important role in MacCarty's life. James was a Protestant, as he had been brought up in England as a crown ward under the care of the Archbishop of Canterbury.[70]

The 2nd Viscount Muskerry[lower-alpha 9]

Donough and Eleanor had five children, three sons:[71]

1. Charles (1633 or 1634 – 1665), also known as Cormac, predeceased his father, being slain in the Battle of Lowestoft, a naval engagement[63][64]
2. Callaghan (c. 1638 – 1676), succeeded his elder brother's son as the 3rd Earl of Clancarty[72]
3. Justin (c. 1643 – 1694), fought for the Jacobites and became Viscount Mountcashel[73][74][75]

—and two daughters:

1. Helen (died 1722), became Countess of Clanricarde. She married 1st John FitzGerald of Dromana and 2ndly the 7th Earl of Clanricarde.[76]
2. Margaret (died 1703), became Countess of Fingal by marrying Luke Plunket, 3rd Earl of Fingal.[77]

Already in his forties, MacCarty was knighted in 1634[78][79] and therefore became Sir Donough MacCarty. In this year he stood for Cork County in the Parliament of 1634–1635, the first of Charles I, as MP or "knight of the shire" as county MPs were then called. Sir Donough was elected as one of the two members for Cork County on 23 June.[6] He sat in the House of Commons while his father sat in the House of Lords as the Viscount Muskerry. At that time both houses held their meetings at Dublin Castle. The Parliament was opened with all pomp on 14 July 1634[80][81] by the new Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Wentworth,[82] later Lord Strafford, who had taken up office in July 1633.[83] The House of Commons had a Protestant majority[84] as King James I had created 39 pocket boroughs to that effect for his Irish Parliament of 1613–1615.[85]

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford[lower-alpha 10]

King Charles I had let it be known in 1626 that he was ready to concede certain rights to the Irish Catholics against payment.[86] These concessions are known as the Graces. A list of 51 articles had been agreed upon between the King and a delegation of Irish Catholic noblemen at Whitehall.[87] At the core of the "graces" were land rights and religious freedom. The graces had been proclaimed and a first installment had been paid.[88] The graces should have promptly been confirmed by the Irish Parliament, but the Lord Deputy at the time, Lord Falkland, never summoned that parliament.[89] The parliament for which Sir Donough was elected in 1634 was the first Irish parliament since the proclamation of the graces. Sir Donough therefore expected to see the graces confirmed in this parliament[90][91] while Wentworth was apprehensive of the demands that would be made on him in this regard.[92]

However, Wentworth insisted that subsidies for the King needed to be attended to first. Six subsidies of £50,000 each,[93] or according to another source £240,000 altogether,[94] were voted unanimously[95] on 19 July[96] in a spirit of patriotism and loyalty exhorted by Wentworth's speech. Sir Donough therefore voted for the subsidies.

Legislation was scheduled afterwards, notably concerning the graces. Of the 51 articles Wentworth let 10 be voted into law, the others would be left at the discretion of the government, except articles 24 and 25, concerning land tenure, which he rejected.[97] Feeling cheated, the Catholic MPs, including Sir Donough, expressed their anger by voting against any law proposed by Wentworth thereafter and due to absenteeism among the Protestant MPs, they were able to vote several laws down. The government recalled the absent Protestant MPs and the laws passed.[98] Wentworth dissolved parliament on 18 April 1635.[99]

About 1638 the MacCartys bought a baronetcy of Nova Scotia for Sir Donough.[100] The King sold these for 3000 merk Scots,[101] £166 13s. 4d. Sterling[lower-alpha 11] at the time and about £26000 today. Wentworth was created Earl of Strafford in January 1640.[103]

The Irish Parliament 1640–1649[lower-alpha 12] was the second parliament of Charles I in Ireland. It was summoned by Lord Strafford, as Wentworth now was. On 2 March 1640 Sir Donough was re-elected for Cork County. The parliamentary records list him as a knight,[3] and not as the baronet he now was, probably because his baronetcy was not Irish. Parliament met on 16 March 1640.[105] It unanimously voted four subsidies of £45,000[106] to raise an Irish army of 9000[107] for use by the King against the Scots in the Bishops' Wars. Sir Donough must have voted in favour. On 31 March 1640 parliament was prorogued until the first week of June.[108][109]

On 3 April 1640 Strafford left Ireland,[110] called elsewhere by the King, having appointed Christopher Wandesford as Lord Deputy.[lower-alpha 13] Wandesford opened the second parliamentary session on 1 June 1640.[113][114] News from England was that the Short Parliament had refused subsidies to the King.[115] The Irish MPs regretted having voted subsidies and wanted to sabotage their action by changing how they would be evaluated and collected.[116] After two weeks of inconclusive discussions, Wandesford prorogued parliament on 17 June.[117]

Parliament reconvened on 1 October.[118] The House of Commons formed a committee for grievances in which Sir Donough served.[119] The committee compiled a remonstrance (or complaint) against Strafford, that was voted by the House of Commons.[120] Wandesford prorogued parliament on 12 November,[121] a day after Strafford's impeachment in Westminster by the Long Parliament. A delegation headed by Audley Mervyn brought the remonstrance to Westminster on 21 November.[122] Sir Donough was part of this delegation.[123]

The Lords had not acted on grievances during the parliamentary session, but afterward some lords decided to send Lords Muskerry (i.e. Sir Donough's father), Gormanston, Dillon, and Kilmallock to London to submit their grievances to the King.[8][124]

Parliament met again on 26 January 1641.[121] Lord Deputy Wandesford had died on 3 December 1640 and the Irish government had devolved to the Lords Justice, Parsons and Borlase. The House of Lords decided to formally recognise the lords who had gone to London as one of its committees.[125] On 18 February 1641 the lords' grievances were written up in 18 articles.[126]

On 20 February 1641, Sir Donough's father, aged about 77, died in London, during his parliamentary mission.[lower-alpha 14][133] Sir Donough's ailing elder brother had died some time before this moment, making Sir Donough the second but first surviving son and heir. Sir Donough therefore succeeded as 2nd Viscount Muskerry and Lord Muskerry would be his name for 16 eventful years, from 1641 to 1657, when he would be promoted Earl of Clancarty. On 3 March 1641 the lords decided to replace Sir Donough's father as member of the lords' delegation in London with Thomas Roper, 2nd Viscount Baltinglass.[134][135]

Ireland suffered 11 years of war from 1641 to 1652, which are usually decomposed into the Rebellion of 1641, the Confederate Wars, and the Cromwellian Conquest. The Rebellion was launched by Phelim O'Neill from the northern province of Ulster in October 1641.[136] Muskerry, based in the southern province of Munster, initially raised an armed force of his tenants and dependants to try to maintain law and order.[137] He and his wife also tried to save Protestants fleeing from the rebels.[138][139]

In rebellion

In February 1642 Muskerry still sided with William St Leger, Lord President of Munster, against the rebels.[140] However, on 2 March 1642[lower-alpha 15] Muskerry joined the rebels.[142] to defend the Catholic faith and, as he thought, the King.[143] Muskerry, like many other Catholic royalists, imagined Charles could be convinced to accept Catholicism in Ireland as he had accepted Presbyterianism in Scotland.[144] Muskerry's estates were declared forfeit by the Irish Parliament,[145] who could, however, not seize them as its power was limited to Dublin and a few other towns and their immediately surroundings, whereas Muskerry's estates lay entirely within the territories held by the rebels.

Limerick Castle with the Cathedral's tower behind it on which Muskerry placed a cannon

He was also prompted to take up arms by the atrocities committed by St Leger against the Catholic population[146] and by the approach of Mountgarret's rebel army entering Munster from Leinster. Muskerry refused to serve under Mountgarret and competed for the leadership in Munster with Maurice Roche, 8th Viscount Fermoy,[147] who had led the rebellion in Munster before Muskerry joined.[148] In March, Muskerry and Fermoy unsuccessfully besieged St Leger in Cork City.[149][150] Early in April 1642, they were driven from their base at Rochfordstown near Cork by Murrough O'Brien, 6th Baron of Inchiquin.[151] Muskerry lost his armour, tent, and trunks in this action.[152] St Leger died on 2 July 1642.[153] and Inchiquin who was vice-President took over.[154] On 16 May 1642 Muskerry and Fermoy captured Barrymore Castle at Castlelyons, seat of Lord Barrymore.[155] In May and June 1642 Muskerry fought together with Garret Barry at the Siege of Limerick.[156] The town opened its gates almost immediately, but the Protestants defended King John's Castle obstinately. It was Muskerry's idea to place a cannon on the tower of St Mary's Cathedral, which overlooked the castle.[157] The castle surrendered on 21 June and Muskerry took possession.[158] Later that year, on 3 September, Muskerry fought at the Battle of Liscarroll where the Munster rebels under Barry were routed by Inchiquin.[159][160]

On 24 October 1642 Muskerry attended the Confederates' first General Assembly at Kilkenny.[161][162] One of the decisions made by this assembly was to formally appoint General Barry as the head of the Munster army,[163] despite his defeat at Liscarroll. Barry seems to have kept the position until his death early in March 1646 at Limerick,[164] but having become old and infirm, others commanded in his stead. In the General Assembly held in May 1643, Muskerry was elected to the Supreme Council[165] and, being a member of the 3rd, 4th and 5th council, stayed councillor until 1646.[166] Muskerry led the foot at the Battle of Cloughleagh on 4 June 1643[167] where the Irish horse under James Tuchet, 3rd Earl of Castlehaven, routed a detachment of Inchiquin's troops.[168] That same year Purcell under Muskerry's supervision besieged Lismore Castle unsuccessfully.[169]

The Cessation

The Confederates had rebelled against the government. Muskerry, like the other magnates among the Confederates, was afraid to lose his lands when the King would regain control. He therefore sought an agreement with the King that would protect his house against loss of title and lands. The King in turn sought to make peace with the Confederates to be able to withdraw troops from Ireland for use in the First English Civil War. In 1643 he commissioned Ormond to treat with the Confederates.[170] On 15 September 1643 at Sigginstown, Strafford's unfinished mansion,[171] the Confederates signed a cease-fire, called the "Cessation", with Ormond.[172] Muskerry was one of the signatories for the Confederates.[173] As loyal subjects, the Confederates agreed to support the King with £30,000, to be paid in several installments.[174]

The Marquess of Ormond[lower-alpha 16]

Following the cease-fire, the Confederates sent Muskerry[175] with six other agents[176] to the King to submit grievances[177] and negotiate peace. On 24 March 1644 they arrived in Oxford where the King held his court.[178] They demanded free exercise of the Catholic religion and independence of the Irish Parliament from the English one.[179] However, the arrival of a competing Irish Protestant delegation prevented the King from making concessions to the Confederates and no peace was signed.[180]

The cease-fire with the royalists allowed the Confederates to concentrate on their war with the covenanters in Ulster, who were aligned with the English Parliament. The Confederate Ulster army, under Owen Roe O'Neill, was deployed on that front. However, the Supreme Council imposed Castlehaven as the General for the campaign of 1644.[181] Castlehaven marched to Charlemont but did not bring the covenanters to battle.[182] In July 1644 Inchiquin declared for the Parliament,[183] reactivating the southern front around Cork where the Munster army was deployed.

In August 1644, at Dublin, Muskerry agreed with Ormond, now Lord Lieutenant,[184] to extend the cease-fire until 1 December.[185][186][187] In the campaign of 1645, the Munster army was commanded by Castlehaven who fought against Inchiquin.[188] Castlehaven took among others Lismore Castle.[189]

In September 1644 Muskerry signed an agreement with Bolton, royalist Lord Chancellor of Ireland,[190] extending the cease-fire to 31 January 1645.[191]

Giovanni Battista Rinuccini[lower-alpha 17]

The Nuncio

Pope Innocent X decided to help the Irish Catholic Confederates. He sent Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, an Italian archbishop, as nuncio to Ireland. On 21 October 1645 Rinuccini landed with money and weapons at Kenmare, County Kerry.[192] On his way to Kilkenny, the Confederate capital, Rinuccini visited Macroom Castle, Muskerry's main residence, where Lady Muskerry received him with all honours while her husband was away negotiating with Ormond in Dublin.[193] After a sojourn of four days, the Nuncio continued to Kilkenny arriving on 12 November 1645.[194] At the capital he was received by Mountgarret, the President of the Confederacy, but also met Muskerry, who had just returned from Dublin.[195]

Early in 1646 Muskerry lost Blarney Castle to the Parliamentarians of Cork,[196] as it was captured by Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill, who made it his headquarters.[197]

After lengthy talks and the episode of the Glamorgan treaty,[198] Muskerry signed the "First Ormond Peace" on 28 March 1646 for the Confederates.[199] The treaty contained the civil articles, but the religious ones were postponed.[200] The parties agreed to keep the treaty secret. According to the treaty the Confederates should sent 10,000 men to England before the 1 May. However, at that time it was already too late for an Irish intervention in England. On 1 February 1646 the Siege of Chester had ended with the fall of the city to the Parliamentarians, depriving the King of his main harbour on the Irish sea.[201] In addition, the Irish sea was patrolled by the Irish Squadron of the Parliamentarian Navy, commanded by Vice-Admiral William Penn. Muskerry wrote to Ormond on 3 April that the expedition of the Irish army to England had to be abandoned for the time being.[202] The First English Civil War ended shortly after the First Ormond Peace was signed. The King was taken into custody by the Scots on 5 May 1646[203] and later handed over to the English.

Bunratty Castle, which Muskerry besieged in 1646

The Confederates could now use for their own purposes the troops that should have gone to fight for the King in England. One part of them reinforced the Ulster army, enabling it to win on 5 June 1646 the Battle of Benburb over the Covenanters.[204] Another part, under Glamorgan, favoured by Rinuccini, reinforced the Munster army and was sent to reduce Bunratty Castle near Limerick, into which the 6th Earl of Thomond, a Protestant, had admitted a Parliamentarian garrison in March 1646.[205][206] However, after a setback Glamorgan was replaced by Muskerry.[207] Muskerry had under him Major-General Stephenson, Lieutenant-General Purcell, and Colonel Purcell.[208] The castle had been transformed into a modern fortress by surrounding the castle proper, essentially a big tower house, with modern earth-works and forts equipped with cannons. This fortifications abutted on the sea and Bunratty could therefore also be supported by the Parliamentarian Navy, which was present with a small squadron under Vice-Admiral William Penn. On 9 May, Lord Thomond left Bunratty for England on one of the ships.[209] Muskerry avoided to destroy the castle with his artillery as Thomond was his uncle[210] (see the collapsed family tree below).

However, when the Parliamentarian commander was killed by a chance shot through a window, Muskerry stormed the castle,[211] which capitulated on 14 July 1646.[212][213] The garrison was allowed to board ships and was evacuated to Cork by the Parliamentarian Navy.[214]

Family tree: Lord Thomond

Barnabas O'Brien was one of his mother's younger half-brothers.[lower-alpha 18] Helen Roche d. 1597 Donogh 4th Earl d. 1624 Elizabeth FitzGerald d. 1617 Charles 1st Viscount 1564–1641 Margaret O'Brien d. c. 1599 Henry 5th Earl c. 1588 – 1639 Barnabas 6th Earl c. 1590 – 1657 Donough 1st Earl Clancarty 1594–1665 Eleanor Butler 1612–1682 Legend XXX Subject of the article XXX Viscounts Muskerry & Earl of Clancarty XXX Earls of Thomond

The First Ormond Peace was confirmed and signed again on 29 July 1646 by Muskerry and Ormond.[215] Rinuccini, however, in August and September 1646 objected to the peace and excommunicated Muskerry and others who supported it.[216] In September 1646 Rinuccini overturned the Confederate government in a coup d'état executed with help of the Ulster Army that Owen Roe O'Neill had marched down to Leinster. On 26 September 1646 Rinuccini made himself president and appointed a new Supreme Council.[217][218] He arrested Muskerry and other members of the old Supreme Council and detained them in Kilkenny Castle.[219] He replaced Muskerry with Glamorgan at the head of the Munster army.[220] Patrick Hackett, a Dominican priest and chaplain in the army, preached against Muskerry and drummed up support for Glamorgan[221] using Gaelic as his medium as this was still the predominant language among the rank and file. Rinuccini sent Preston with the Leinster Army and O'Neill with the Ulster Army to attack Ormond in Dublin while Glanmorgan with the Munster army stayed in the south to keep Inchiquin in check. Arriving before Dublin's walls Preston and O'Neill demanded on 2 November that Ormond should admit a Catholic garrison into Dublin.[222] Ormond refused, but O'Neill abandoned the siege. The Confederates failed due to lack of cooperation between Preston and O'Neill.[223]

Having failed to take Dublin, Rinuccini called a general assembly and released Muskerry and other political prisoners. On 10 January 1647 the Confederates assembly met in Kilkenny.[224] It lasted until the beginning of April. Before dissolving, the assembly elected a new Supreme Council that was dominated by the nuncio's men but also included Muskerry[166] and three other members of the moderate or "Ormondist" faction.[225] Disillusioned with the Confederates, Muskerry sent his eldest son, Cormac (or Charles) at the head of a regiment to France.[226] Cormac left Ireland on 15 May 1647 from Waterford.[227]

Kilkenny Castle where Muskerry was detained in 1646

The provincial assembly had confirmed Glamorgan as commander of the Munster army, but he was unpopular with the troops[228] and the Munster gentry.[229] Glamorgan submitted a complaint against Muskerry, who was asked to defend himself at a meeting of the Supreme Council. On 12 June 1647 Muskerry rode over from the Council meeting to the army's camp and was acclaimed by the troops as their leader. This was called the mutiny. He also submitted a remonstrance against Owen Roe O'Neill.[230] He was forced to resign early in August 1647,[231] and Glamorgan was reinstated in his command but only for a few days to save the form. It was then given to Taaffe, another member of the moderate faction.[232]

Meanwhile, Ormond in Dublin had on 6 June 1647 accepted Michael Jones with 2000 Parliamentarian troops into town. On 28 July Ormond handed Dublin over to the Parliamentarians and left for England,[233][234] from where he would then pass on to France and join the Queen at her court in exile at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

On 8 August 1647 Preston with the Leinster army tried to march on Dublin but was beaten by Jones at Dungan's Hill.[235] On 13 November 1647 Taaffe lost the Battle of Knocknanuss against English and Munster Protestant troops under Inchiquin.[236]

Towards the end of 1647 the Supreme Council sent three commissioners, Muskerry, Geoffrey Browne, and the Marquess of Antrim, to the Queen in France to invite the Crown Prince to Ireland[237] and negotiate another peace to replace the one concluded with Ormond.[238] They landed at St Malo on 14 March 1648. The commissioners reached Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 2 April.[239] On 3 April 1648 N.S. the queen received the three envoys in audience.[240] The Prince of Wales stayed in France and no treaty was signed.

On 3 April 1648 Inchiquin changed side, leaving the Parliamentarians and joining the royalists.[241] Muskerry urged the Queen to appoint Ormond Lieutenant of Ireland and to accept Inchiquin as an ally.[242]

Ormond returned to Ireland landing at Cork on 29 September 1648.[243] On 17 January 1649 the Second Ormond Peace was signed. The Irish Catholic Confederation was dissolved and the power handed to 12 Commissioners of Trust of which Muskerry was one.[244] On 30 January 1649 Charles I was beheaded[245] and the Commonwealth of England was declared. The Nuncio left Ireland on 23 February 1649.[246] On 2 August 1649 the Irish royalists under Ormond, who had been besieging Dublin, were defeated by Jones at the Battle of Rathmines.[247]

General Edmund Ludlow[lower-alpha 19]

Cromwellian conquest

On 15 August 1649 Oliver Cromwell landed in Dublin with an Parliamentarian army.[249] His aims were to avenge the uprising of 1641, confiscate enough Irish Catholic-owned land to pay off some of the Parliament's debts, and eliminate a dangerous outpost of royalism.[250]

Muskerry fought the last three years of this campaign in his own lands in western Cork and Kerry, from where he raised troops from his tenants and guerrilla bands known as "tories". In April 1650, in the context of the Battle of Macroom, fought on 10 April,[251] he lost Macroom Castle, where his family had been living. An Irish force raised by Fermoy[252] and Boetius MacEgan, Catholic Bishop of Ross, tried to relieve the Siege of Clonmel. This force, led by Colonel David Roche and the bishop, passed by Macroom and camped in the castle's park. Cromwell sent Lord Broghill to intercept the Irish. The castle's garrison set the castle alight and joined Roche's force,[253][254] which was nevertheless routed in the ensuing battle.[255][256]

In 1651 Muskerry tried to relieve the siege of Limerick but was intercepted and defeated on 26 July 1651 by Broghill in the Battle of Knocknaclashy (also called Knockbrack), near Banteer, east of Killarney,[257][258] and never came near Limerick. Knocknaclashy was the last pitched battle of the war. Limerick fell on 27 October 1651.[259] The Siege of Galway followed. The surrender of Galway on 12 May 1652[260] marked the effective end of the Confederates' resistance to the Cromwellian invasion.

Family tree: Valentine Browne

Valentine Browne, 3rd Baronet, was Muskerry's (i.e. Clancarty's) nephew. by his sister Mary. Curiously, two of his sisters married successive Browne baronets.[lower-alpha 20] Gerald 15th Earl c. 1533 – 1583 Rebel Earl Nicholas Browne d. 1606 Charles 1st Viscount 1564–1641 Margaret O'Brien d. c. 1599 Alice FitzGerald Valentine 1st Bt. d. 1633 Julia MacCarty d. 1633 Donough 2nd Viscount & 1st Earl 1594–1665 Valentine 2nd Bt. d. 1640 Mary MacCarty Valentine 3rd Bt. & 1st Viscount 1638–1694 Legend XXX Subject of the article XXX Viscounts Muskerry & Earl of Clancarty XXX Baronets Browne & Viscounts Kenmare

Muskerry fell back into the mountains of Kerry and based himself at Ross Castle near Killarney,[262] which belonged to Valentine Browne, 3rd Baronet, Muskerry's nephew by his eldest sister, Mary.[263] Browne, born in 1638, was at that time a minor and had become Muskerry's ward after his father died in 1640.[264]

Muskerry was besieged in Ross Castle by Edmund Ludlow. This castle stands on a peninsula in Lough Leane. It was difficult to access and the defenders were supplied with victuals and munitions by boat over the lake. Ludlow had boats of his own brought to the lake whereupon Muskerry surrendered on 27 June 1652, disbanding his 5000-men army.[265] One of his sons was with him in Ross Castle and was given to Ludlow as hostage to guarantee his father's compliance with the terms.[266] This son must have been Callaghan, his second son, as his eldest, Cormac, was away in France and Justin was only about nine years old and probably with his mother in France. Daniel O'Brien was another hostage.[267] Muskerry lost his estates in the Act of Settlement of 1652. His name is the eighth on the list of 104 men who were excluded from pardon by the Parliamentarians.[268]

Muskerry was allowed to embark for Spain.[269] He found that he was not welcome in Spain because he had opposed the nuncio. He then signed a treaty for employment by the Venetian Republic, but it is not known what became of it.[270]

He therefore returned to Ireland in February 1653. He was held a prisoner and put on trial in Dublin in December,[271] being accused of having been responsible for the murder of English settlers in 1642 during their evacuation from Macroom to Cork. The case was presided by Chief Justice Lowther. Elizabeth Butler, Duchess of Ormond had returned to Ireland from her French exile and had obtained some of her land from Oliver Cromwell. She secretly visited Lowther, who gave her legal advice for Muskerry.[272] This helped him convince the court that he had tried to protect the refugees and he was acquitted.[273]

Ross Castle, his last stand

After his acquittal he was again allowed to embark to Spain, but went to France where his family had moved after the loss of Macroom Castle and some time before the capture of Ross Castle. His wife lived with her sister Mary Butler, Lady Hamilton, in the convent of the Feuillantines in Paris,[274] and his daughter Helen was sent to boarding school at the abbey of Cistercian nuns of Port-Royal-des-Champs, near Versailles, together with her cousin Elizabeth Hamilton.[275]

In 1655 Muskerry and Richard Bellings travelled to Poland to propose the use of Irish troops in the Second Northern War (1655–1660) and to raise funds for the Charles II.[276][277][278] In 1657 the King sent Muskerry, together with Sir George Hamilton to Madrid on a fruitless diplomatic mission.[279] The King, in exile at Brussels in 1658, rewarded Muskerry with the title of Earl of Clancarty.[280]

At the Restoration, Clancarty, as he was now, returned to Ireland. He recovered his estates in 1660[281] and was confirmed in their possession by the Act of Settlement 1662. He seems to have lived in Macroom Castle as he had it repaired and enlarged.[282]

On 3 June 1665 Charles, his eldest son and heir apparent, called Lord Muskerry (courtesy title), was killed during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667) in the Battle of Lowestoft, a naval engagement with the Dutch.[63][64] He was buried on 19 June in Westminster Abbey[283] as his grandfather, the 1st Viscount, had been.[133] Charles left an infant son, also called Charles, who became the new heir apparent.

Clancarty died in London on 4 August 1665.[284] He was succeeded by Charles's infant son as the 2nd Earl of Clancarty, but the younger Charles died a year later on 22 September 1666.[285] The succession then reverted to the 1st Earl's second son, Callaghan, who succeeded as the 3rd Earl of Clancarty.

• Irish nobility
• Eóganachta dynasty, kings of Munster.

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• Portrait at Hunt Museum, Limerick
• Biography of Donough MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry online in the British Civil War Project