Historical Background:

{ See Province of MUNSTER }

FORMATION of COUNTY KERRY

    { Researching... }

THE EARLY YEARS in DESMOND

CORK AND KERRY The Ancient Desmond

THE IRISH CHIEFS AND CLANS

CORK (in Latin "Corcagia," and also "Coracium") got its name from Corc (No. 89, p. 69), a prince of the Eugenian race, who was King of Munster, in the fifth century; Kerry (in Latin "Kerrigia") got its name from Ciar, son of Fergus Mac Roy, by Meava or Maud, the celebrated Queen of Connaught, a short time before the Christian era. This Ciar, in the first century, got a large territory in Munster, called from him Ciar Rioghact, signifying "Ciar's Kingdom"; hence, the word "ciaraidhe," anglicised "Kerry."

    The Eugenians, we saw, ruled as kings over Desmond or South Munster, which comprised the whole of the present county Cork, and the greater part of Kerry, together with a portion of Waterford, and a small part of the south of Tipperary, bordering on Cork; while the Dalcassian kings ruled over Thomond. From each race was alternately elected a king of all Munster; and, in that kingdom, this mode of government continued from the third to the tenth century, when Brian Boru, of the Dalcassian race, became king of Munster. After that period the O'Briens alone were kings of Munster and kings of Thomond; and the MacCarthys, who were the head of the Engenian race, were kings and princes of Desmond.

    When, on the English invasion, King Henry the Second landed at Waterford, in October A.D. 1171, Dermot MacCarthy, king of Desmond, waited on him the day after his arrival, delivered to him the keys of the city of Cork, and did him homage.* A.D. 1177, Henry II granted to Robert Fitzstephen and Milo de Cogan, for the service of sixty knights to himself and his son John and their heirs, the whole kingdom of Desmond, with the exception of the city of Cork and the adjoining cantreds, which belonged to the Ostmen or Danes of that city, and which Henry reserved to hold in his own hands. The MacCarthys maintained long contests for their independence, with the Fitzgeralds, earls of Desmond, the Butlers, earls of Ormond, and other Anglo-Norman and English settlers; and held their titles, as princes of Desmond, with considerable possessions, down to the reign of Elizabeth. They were divided into two great branches, the head of which was MacCarthy Mór: of whom Donal MacCarthy was, A.D. 1565, created earl of Glencare or Clancare, by Queen Elizabeth; the other branch, called MacCarthy Reagh, were styled princes of Carbery. Besides the earls of Clancare, the MacCarthys were also created at various periods barons of Valentia, earls of Clancarty, earls of Muskerry, and earls of Mount Cashel; and, had several strong castles in various parts of Cork and Kerry.

There are still in the counties of Cork and Kerry many highly respectable families of the MacCarthys; and several of the name have been distinguished commanders in the Irish Brigades in the service of France and Spain.

IN Kerry, the following have been the Irish chiefs and clans:

• O'Connor, king or prince of Kerry, was descended from Ciar, of the Irian race already mentioned; and took the name from Con, one of their chiefs, in the eleventh century, and from Ciar, their great ancestor; thus making the word "Conciar" "Conior," or Conchobbar, anglicised "Conner" (See No. 103, page 331). From a portion of the ancient inheritance of this family the present barony of Iraghticonnor takes its name.
• O'Donoghoe was of the Eugenian race, and chief of Lough Lein; a branch of this family was the O'Donoghoe Mór, lord of Glenfesk or O'Donoghoe of the Glen.
• O'Donnell (of the same race as O'Donoghoe), chief of Clan Shalvey (a quo Shelly); comprising the district called Iveleary, and a great portion of Muskerry.
• O'Carroll, prince of Lough Lein.
• O'Falvey, chief of Corca Duibhne (now the barony of "Corcaguiney"), and lord of Iveragh: both in the county Kerry. The O'Falveys were hereditary admirals of Desmond.
• O'Shea, chief of Iveragh.
• O'Connell, chief of Magh O g-Coinchinn, now the barony of "Magonihy," in Kerry. These O'Connells were a branch of the O'Connells of Thomond; descended from Conaire the Second, the  111th Monarch of Ireland.
• O'Leyne or Lane, chief of Hy-Fearba;
• O'Duividin, chief of Hy-Flannain: districts in the county Kerry.
• O'Neide, chief of Clar Ciarraidhe or the Plain of Kerry.
• O'Dunady, chief of Slieve Luachra, now Slievlogher, on the borders of Limerick and Kerry.
• O'Muircheartaigh (Moriarty, or Murtagh), and O'Hinnesvan (or Hinson), chief of Aos Aisde of Orlar Eltaigh, a district which comprised the parish of Templence, in the barony of Dunkerron.
• The MaGillicuddys (a branch of the O'Sullivans) were chiefs of a territory in the barony of Dunkerron: from this family the Mac Gillicuddy's Reeks in Kerry got their name: and some of this family anglicised the name "Archdeacon."
• MacElligot (or Elligot), an ancient family in Kerry, from whom the parish of Ballymacelligott, in the barony of Troughenackmy, got its name. From MacElligott the name of "MacLeod" was said to be derived; but "MacLeod" is of Scotch origin.
• MacFinneen, MacCrehan, O'Scanlan, and O'Harney (or Harnet), were also clans of note in Kerry.

MAJOR LANDHOLDERS in KERRY

CORK AND KERRY ( or Desmond ).

    AS already stated, King Henry the Second gave a grant of the kingdom of Desmond to Robert Fitzstephen and Milo de Cogan. With that Robert Fitzstephen came Maurice Fitzgerald and other Anglo-Norman chiefs, A.D. 1169, who assisted Strongbow in the invasion of Ireland. In 1173, Maurice Fitzgerald was appointed by Henry the Second chief governor of Ireland; and he and his descendants got large grants of land in Leinster and Munster, chiefly in the counties of Kildare, Wicklow, Wexford, Cork, and Kerry. He died, A.D. 1177, and was buried in the abbey of the Grey Friars at Wexford.

A branch of the Fitzgeralds were, down to the reign of Elizabeth, earls of Desmond; and had immense possessions in the counties of Cork and Kerry.

Another branch of them became barons of Offaly,* earls of Kildare, and dukes of Leinster. ( *Offaly: The ancient territory of Offaly comprised a great part of the King's County, with part of the Queen's County and Kildare. )

The Fitzgeralds trace their descent from the dukes of Tuscany: some of the family from Florence, settled in Normandy, and thence came to England with William the Conqueror. The Geraldines, having frequently joined the Irish against the English, were charged by English writers as having become Irish in language and manners: hence, the origin of the expression; "Ipsis Hibernis Hiberniores" or "More Irish than the Irish themselves." The Fizgeralds, who were created earls of Desmond, became one of the most powerful families in Munster; and several of them were lords deputies of Ireland in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Gerald Fitzgerald, sixteenth earl of Desmond, was one of the greatest subjects in Europe; he held the rank of a "Prince Palatine," with all the authority of a provincial king. Having resisted the Reformation in the reign of Elizabeth, and waged war againt the English government, the earl of Desmond's forces after long contests were defeated, and he himself was slain in a glen near Castle Island, in the county Kerry, on the 11th of November, A.D. 1583; his head was cut off and sent to England, by Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond, as a present to Queen Elizabeth, who caused it to be fixed on London Bridge. James Fitzgerald (nephew of Gerald, Earl of Desmond) attempting to recover the estates and honours of his ancestors, took up arms and joined the standard of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. This James Fitzgerald was styled Earl of Desmond; but his title not being recognized, he was designated the sugan earl, which signifies the "earl of straw." His forces being at length defeated and himself taken prisoner, he was sent to England along with Florence MacCarthy, and imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he died, A.D. 1608; and thus terminated the once illustrious House of Desmond. The vast estates of Gerald, Earl of Desmond, were confiscated in the reign of of Elizabeth, and granted to various English settlers (called planters or undertakers), on conditions that no planter should convey any part of the lands to any of the "mere Irish": and the English settlers were also prohibited to intermarry with the Irish, and none of the Irish were to be maintained in any family.

The following are the denoted MAJOR LANDOWNERS who obtained grants of the Desmond estates in Cork and Waterford, thus confiscated:

• Sir Walter Raleigh, ( To Sir Walter Raleigh we are indebted for the introduction into Great Britain and Ireland (consequent upon his voyage in A.D. 1585 to colonize Virginia, in North America) of the potato plant, and the use of tobacco; the former of which has since become an almost universal article of diet, and the latter a most productive source of revenue. Sir Walter Raleigh it was who flrst planted potatoes in Ireland, in a field near Youghal, about A.D. 1610. In his time, too, the publication of newspapers in England is said to have originated. Copies of the "English Mercurie," relating to the threatened descent of the Spanish Armada, are still preserved in the British Museum),
• Arthur Robins,
• Fane Beecher,
• Hugh Worth,
• Arthur Hyde,
• Sir Warham St. Leger,
• Hugh Cuffe (in Irish "Durneen"),
• Sir Thomas Norris,
• Sir Arthur Hyde,
• Thomas Say,
• Sir Richard Beacon (in Irish "Beagan"),
• and (the poet) Edmond Spencer.

Of the families who got the Desmond estates in Limerick, an account has been given in the names of the new settlers in "Thomond." (see Co. Limerick... )

In the county Kerry, the following persons got grants of the Desmond estates:

Sir William Herbert,

Charles Herbert,

Sir Valentine Brown (ancestor of the earls of Kenmare),

Sir Edward Denny,

and some grants to the families of Conway, Holly, and others.

In Kerry, the following have been the chief Anglo-Norman and English families:

• Fitzmaurice, earls of Kerry, descended from Raymond le Gros, a celebrated warrior who came over with Strongbow. Raymond having formed an alliance with Dermot MacCarthy, King of Desmond, got large grants of land in Kerry, in the territory called Lixnaw.
• The other principal families were those of Herbert, Brown, Stack, Blennerhasset, Crosbie, Denny, Gunn, Godfrey, Morris, Rice, Spring, etc.

   THE following have been denoted as MAJOR LANDHOLDERS in KERRY since the reign of King John:

• Fitzmaurice, barons of Lixnaw; and

• O'Dorney, viscounts of Clanmaurice, and earls of Kerry;

• Petty, or Fitzmaurice-Petty, barons of Dunkerron, viscounts Clanmaurice, earls of Kerry, earls of Shelbourne, and marquises of Lansdowne in England;

• Fitzgerald, knights of Kerry;

• Brown, earls of Kenmare, and viscounts of Castlerosse;

• Herbert, barons of Castleisland;

• Child, viscounts of Castlemaine, and earls of Tilney in England;

• Monson and Palmer, viscounts of Castlemaine;

• Power, viscounts of Valencia;

• Crosbie, viscounts of Brandon, and earls of Glandore;

• Wynn, barons Hedley;

• De Moleyns, barons of Ventry;

• Hare, barons of Ennismore, and earls of Listowell; and

• Spring-Rice, barons Monteagle of Brandon.

    Down to the last century, the mountains of Cork and Kerry were covered with ancient forests of oak, ash, pine, alder, birch, hazel, and yews of immense size; and afforded retreats to wolves and numerous herds of red deer. It is needless to speak of the majestic mountains and magnificent lakes of Kerry, celebrated as they are for their surpassing beauty and sublime scenery.