Desmond (Mac Carthaig)

Who he is

Name

Domnall Mor na Curra Mac Carthaig (Domhnall Mor Mac Carthaigh)

Title

King of Desmond (Desmumu)

Since

1185, when his father Diarmait was killed at a parley near Cork by Theobald Walter's men

Born

Not pinned

Family

Son of Diarmait Mac Carthaig (king of Desmond, killed 1185). His brother Finghin turned on him in 1194 and took him prisoner for a time; the Mac Carthaig kin are divided.

Confidence

medium

Dies in 1206. In 1196 he raided the castle of Kilfeakle, killed its garrison and pulled down castles in Imokilly, and turned back Cathal Crobderg's attempt to destroy Cork after making his own terms with the English there (Mac Carthaigh's Book).

Overlord

None in fact; the English hold his old capital, Cork, and claim his kingdom under the 1177 grant

What it holds

• Kerry and west Cork beyond the English cantreds
• The hostages of the Desmond sub-kings
• Claims to the cantreds of the 1177 grant held by the Cork English

How it was acquired

Succession on his father's killing, 1185.

Allies and rivals

Enemy of the Cork English and of William de Burgh; rival of his brother Finghin; old enemy of the Ui Briain.

How things stand that morning

King in the west; his eastern borders wasted by the 1199 war.

Wealth

Cattle, the fisheries of the south-west and the trade of the western harbours.

Military

The hostings of Desmond; skilled at taking castles (Kilfeakle, Imokilly, 1196).

Threats

• De Burgh and the English of Cork and Limerick (the hosting of 1201)
• His brother Finghin

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1201 (later course)De Burgh, three Ua Briain brothers and the English of Cork and Munster harry Desmond for a week; a legate and the Munster bishops make peace between the Ui Briain, the Meic Carthaig, Ua Mathgamna and de Burgh, who winters at Cork.Depends on: De Burgh's ambitions Stopped by: A Desmond victory

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Mac Carthaigh's Book is a Desmond annal and is good for these years; his seat is not pinned.

On the map: Approximate; the eastern border was a raided belt.

Primary sources for Desmond

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Annals of Inisfallen, Anonymous (monks of Inisfallen, Kerry, and earlier of Emly and Lismore) (the manuscript was written in 1092 and continued at Inisfallen in many contemporary hands to 1450). The Munster chronicle, written in Kerry in a hand close to the events. Read online
• Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, Various; compiled by Micheal O Cleirigh and others (1632 to 1636, from medieval annals now partly lost). A seventeenth century compilation but it draws on lost medieval annals, so its 1200 entries add names and incidents missing elsewhere: the Connacht war and the English of Meath and Munster, the deaths of Irish kings and churchmen across the island, and raids in Thomond and Desmond. Read online
• Mac Carthaigh's Book (Miscellaneous Irish Annals), Anonymous (a Munster compilation) (compiled in the later Middle Ages from Munster annals; manuscript of the 17th century). A Munster annal with a Mac Carthaig and Desmond slant, giving for the years around 1200 the kings of Desmond and Thomond, their wars with each other and with the English of Cork and Limerick, and the castles the settlers were building. Read online
• The Topography of Ireland; The Conquest of Ireland, Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis) (Topographia 1187 to 1188; Expugnatio 1189, revised later). The Conquest ends in 1185 and the Topography describes the island as Gerald saw it in 1183 to 1185, so neither covers 1200, but they explain the lordship of Ireland as John found it: the grants of Leinster and Meath, the de Courcy conquest of Ulster, the Irish kings and their customs, and Gerald's advice on governing the country. Read online