Cormac_Laidir_MacCarthy

Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, 9th Lord of Muskerry

Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, 9th Lord of Muskerry

Irish chieftain (1411–1494)

For other people with similar names, see Cormac McCarthy (disambiguation).

Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, 9th Lord of Muskerry (1411–1494), was an Irish chieftain. He founded Kilcrea Friary and built Kilcrea Castle.

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Birth and origins

Cormac was born in 1411,[4] the eldest son of Teige MacCarthy. His father was the 6th Lord of Muskerry. His father's family were the MacCarthys of Muskerry,[5] a Gaelic Irish dynasty that had branched from the MacCarthy-Mor line in the 14th century[6][7][8] when a younger son received Muskerry as appanage.[9] Nothing seems to be known about his mother, not even her name.

He had a younger brother Dermod, ancestor of the MacCarthys of Drishane, and a sister Ellen, married first Donal MacCarthy Reagh, Prince of Carbery, and then secondly Eoghan of Rathduane.

Marriage and children

Muskerry married Mary, daughter of Edmond FitzThomas Fitzmaurice, 9th Baron Kerry (died 1498),[10] who is also called Baron Lixnaw instead of Baron Kerry.

Cormac and Mary had at least one son:

—and two daughters (birth order unknown):

Later life

His father died in 1448[16] but MacCarthy did not succeed immediately. Two uncles, Owen the 7th Lord and Cormac the 8th Lord, reigned based on tanistry.

MacCarthy improved Blarney Castle by enlarging its keep.[17] A Latin inscription on the machicolation of the added part reads "Cormac Macarthy fortis me fieri facit AD 1446", which translates into "Cormac MacCarthy the stout had me built anno domini 1446". He might also have built Carrignamuck Tower House unless that was his son. According to the legend Maccarthy discovered and enshrined the Blarney Stone.

In 1465 he founded and built Kilcrea Friary[18] and built nearby Kilcrea Castle.

Death

Muskerry died in 1494 having been killed by his brother Owen[19] and was buried in the chancel of the church of the Kilcrea Friary. No epitaph is found there now,[20] but earlier observers have recorded the following Latin inscription:

Hic Jacet Cormacus fil. Thadei, fil. Cormaci, fil. Dermatu magni Mc Carthy Dnus de Musgraigh Flayn ac istius conventus primus fondator, an Dom. 1494[21]

which translates as: Here lies Cormac, son of Thadeus, son of Cormac, son of Dermot the elder, Prince of Muskerry, the initial founder of this friary, anno domini 1494. Interestingly the Latin text uses the Irish word "Flayn", "Prince", in addition to Dominus as his title.

Notes and references

Notes

  1. This family tree is based on a tree of the Lords of Muskerry,[1] and on genealogies of the MacCarthys of Muskerry family.[2][3] Also see the lists of siblings and children in the text.

Citations

  1. [1]
    Gillman 1892, fold-out.
  2. [2]
    Lainé 1836, pp. 74–78Genealogy of the MacCarthy of Muskerry family
  3. [3]
    O'Hart 1892, pp. 122–125. Genealogy of the MacCarthys of Muskerry
  4. [4]
    O'Hart 1892, p. 122, right column, line 1. "119. Cormac Laidir: his son; b. 1411;"
  5. [5]
    Gibson 1861, p. 84, line 9. "There were at this time four distinct chieftainships of the Mac Carthys; the Mac Carthys Mor, or lords of Desmond, and their off-shoots, namely, the Mac Carthys Reagh of Carbery, the Donough Mac Carthys of Duhallow, and the Mac Carthys of Muskerry."
  6. [6]
    O'Hart 1892, p. 122, left column. "116. Dermod Mór: son of Cormac Mór, Prince of Desmond; b. 1310; created by the English in A.D. 1353, 'Lord of Muskerry' ..."
  7. [7]
    O'Hart 1892, p. 112, right column. "115. Cormac MacCarthy Mór, Prince of Desmond: his son; b. 1271; d. 1359."
  8. [8]
    O'Hart 1892, p. 122, top. "Cormac MacCarty Mor, Prince of Desmond (see the MacCarty Mór Stem, No. 115,) had a second son, Dermod Mór, of Muscry (now Muskerry) who was the ancestor of MacCarthy, lords of Muscry and earls of Clan Carthy."
  9. [9]
    Lainé 1836, p. 72. "Dermod-Môr, Mac-Carthy, fils puiné de Cormac-Môr, prince de Desmond et d'Honoria Fitz-Maurice, eut en apanage la baronnie de Muskery ..."
  10. [10]
    Lodge 1789, p. 189, line 21. "... Mary, married to Cormac, Mac-Carthy, lord or chief of Muskery ..."
  11. [11]
    Archbold 1893, p. 435, right column, line 26. "MacCarthy, Cormac Laidir Oge: (d. 1536), Irish chieftain, and Lord of Muskerry, was son of Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, lord of Muskerry (d. 1494) by Mary Fitzmaurice, daughter of Edmund, ninth lord of Kerry."
  12. [12]
    O'Hart 1892, p. 122, right column, last line. "120. Cormac Oge, lord of Muscry: son of Cormac Laidir; b. A.D. 1447; d. in 1537; buried at Kilcrea ..."
  13. [13]
    McCormack 2009a, 1st paragraph, 3rd sentence. "...[Thomas FitzGerald] who was married to his sister Sheila ..."
  14. [14]
    McCormack 2009b, 1st paragraph. "He [Thomas FitzGerald] married first Sheila (Gille), sister of Cormac Óg Láidir, who was still living in 1505."
  15. [15]
    O'Hart 1892, p. 122, right column, line 4. "... and a dau. [daughter] who married Donal MacCarthy-Reagh of Carbery."
  16. [16]
    O'Hart 1892, p. 122, left column, line. "118. Teige (or Thadeus), Lord of Muscry: his son; b. 1380, d. 1448."
  17. [17]
    Woods 1896, p. 344. "As the two castles were built by the same lord of Muskerry, who was killed in 1495, and as Carignamuck keep is a finished copy of what the Blarney keep became with its later addition, it may be inferred that the order of building was first the original small keep (a) of Blarney, next the addition (b) bringing this keep to its existing form, and last the smaller copy of this form at Carrignamuck."
  18. [18]
    O'Hart 1892, p. 122, right column, line 6. "This Cormac, in 1465, founded the Franciscan Monastery of Kilkredhe or Cillcredhe (now 'Kilcrea') ..."
  19. [19]
    O'Donovan 1856, p. 1213. "Cormac (i. e. Mac Carthy) the son of Teige, son of Cormac, Lord of Muskerry, was slain by his own brother, Owen, and his sons."
  20. [20]
    Westropp 1908, p. 159. "Of his tomb nothing but a plain recess is to be found, but its inscribed slab was long legible and a copy is preserved."
  21. [21]
    Windele 1839, p. 223, line 6.

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