An Chlann Mhic Cárthaigh Riabhaigh
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The MacCarthy Reagh Clan

Because there was always a relatively large pool from which a chief’s successor could be elected, it was exceptionally rare for a chiefly line to go extinct. However, today’s clans are often without a recognized chief and lineages have laid dormant for centuries, been lost to history, or are extinct altogether. If the royal derbhfine were to become extinct and there were no members of the derbhfine to survive the chief, then the clan could assemble itself and convene an ad hoc derbhfine. 

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Although Ireland and her clans do no fall under the jurisdiction of the U.K. Crown’s officers, the authority and expertise of Lord Lyon is certainly something to heed. According to the Court of the Lord Lyon’s official guidance, dated 16 December 2021:

“The ad hoc derbhfine was an ancient process for choosing a successor to the late head of a royal house or great family. This process was adopted within the Scottish clan system for the purpose of selecting a chief involving selection by the great and the good of the clan of an individual from a group falling within the chiefly bloodline.

[…]

Where a hereditary chief cannot be identified and a clan or family is without a chief there is a process – known as a family convention – by which a commander may be appointed by the Lord Lyon to lead the clan or family. The Lord Lyon may appoint a commander at the request of the clan or family. The purpose of the appointment of a commander is to allow time and space for the clan or family to raise its profile, build itself up, publicise itself and for a potential candidate to be hereditary chief to be identified. One of the principal responsibilities of a commander is to seek to identify any potential hereditary claimant to the chiefship. If it is not possible to identify a potential claimant who can prove descent from the chiefly line the commander should seek to encourage suitable candidates who may have wide support from the clan or family to come forward as a candidate for the chiefship. 

[…]

If no such candidate comes forward there is a mechanism for the Lord Lyon to recognise a person as Chief of the Name and Arms of the clan or family even where that person cannot prove descent from the chiefly line. However, the Lord Lyon is only likely to do so if there has been a commander in position for at least ten years. While a person who served as commander could be recognised as chief in this way with the support of the clan or family there is no expectation that a person who served as commander will be a candidate for the chiefship. Other candidates may have better qualifications or greater support among the clan or family. If, during the period of the commandership no person comes forward to make up title to the undifferenced Arms (i.e. no hereditary chief is identified) it is then possible for the clan or family to seek a further family convention chaired by a supervising officer appointed by the Lord Lyon to nominate a chief for the approval of the Lord Lyon. Once a chief is recognised by the Lord Lyon in this way that chief’s heirs constitute the new hereditary line for the chiefship and the commandership comes to an end.”

 

As Lord Lyon has no jurisdiction over Irish clans, the question remains: if we are to use Lyon Court’s guidance in Irish families, who is the authoritative equivalent to the Lord Lyon? Although a Scottish Justice, Lord Aitchinson’s advice on the matter is indeed very relevant:

“The fundamental thing to bear in mind is that neither chiefship of a clan, nor chieftainship of a branch, subject to one exception as regards the right to supporters in arms, is any longer a status known to the law. Highland chiefship or chieftainship in the modern sense is today no more than a high social dignity. Historically it was otherwise. The chief and the chieftain were at one time in the governmental system of the Highlands high political personages, who wielded a large and often an arbitrary authority. But not even a semblance of this now remains. To stand in the succession of an ancient line of chiefs or chieftains maybe a legitimate ground of family pride, but it is not a status that the law recognises. It carries no I patrimonial consequences that the law will countenance and enforce, subject to one exception in the law of supporters. It does not depend upon any defined law of succession of which a Court of law could take cognisance. It ultimately depends, as it must, upon recognition by the clan, in the case of chiefship, or the branch of the clan, in the case of a lesser chiefship. The recognition of the clan or the branch is immune from challenge before any tribunal. Historically the idea of a chief or chieftain submitting his dignity to the arbitrament of it Court of law is really grotesque. The chief was the law, and his authority was derived from his own people.” (Maclean of Ardgour v Maclean, 18 July 1941)

 

While Lord Aitchinson is speaking specifically about Scottish clans, the underlying argument is precisely the same for Irish clans. The succession to an Irish chiefship, then, “ultimately depends, as it must, upon recognition by the clan, in the case of chiefship, or the branch of the clan, in the case of a lesser chiefship” (such as that of MacCarthy Reagh), and so legitimate authority rests solely with the sept – just as the Brehon Laws codified (see Ginnell, p.107-108 and O’Curry, Vol I, p. cxcviii, ccxxxii, ccxxxiii). Therefore it is wholly within the intention of Brehon Law, the law to which Irish chiefships are subordinate, to paraphrase Lord Lyon’s guidance and declare:

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The ad hoc derbhfine is the process for electing a successor to the late chief of a royal house, or great family, from a group falling within the chiefly bloodline. Where a hereditary chief cannot be identified, and a clan or family is without a chief, a family convention may be convened during which a Commander (called a Ceann Cath) may be appointed by the clan or family. One of the principal responsibilities of the Ceann Cath is to endeavor to identify any potential hereditary claimant to the chiefship. If it is not possible to prove descent from the former chiefly line, the Ceann Cath should seek to encourage suitable candidates who may have wide support from the clan or family to come forward as a candidate for the chiefship – even where that person cannot prove descent from the former chiefly line. If, during the period of the commandership no hereditary chief is identified and no person comes forward to make up title to the chiefship, it is then possible for the clan or family to elect a new chief. While a person who served as Ceann Cath could be recognized as Chief in this way, there is no expectation that a person who served as Ceann Cath will be a candidate for the chiefship, as other candidates may have better qualifications or greater support among the clan or family. Once a chief is recognized by the clan or family in this way, that chief’s heirs constitute the new hereditary line for the chiefship and the commandership comes to an end.

 

Indeed, the Kingdom of Desmond Association – managed by the Chancellor to The MacCarthy Mór – defends the same position: “an Ad Hoc Derbhfine may be established within certain guidelines, in conformity with the Salic form of Tanistic succession.* Those guidelines include and require: A determination, by the most thorough efforts possible, that there is no historical evidence of a previous Chiefly-line having existed, or that if a Chiefly line did exist, it has been extinguished, is extinct, or lost to history, and there is no other traceable descent from a past Chief or Chieftain of the family/clan.” (Irish Chiefly Succession in the 21st Century  by Leonard M. Keane Jr.)

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*It should certainly be noted that The O’Cahan who wrote that has renounced all association with the fraudulent Terence MacCarthy, his verbiage “Salic form of Tanistic succession” bears a strong similarity to the verbiage coined by Mr. MacCarthy. Inclusion of it here by The MacCarthy Reagh Clan is to provide unedited context for the quote, and not to endorse (tacitly or otherwise) the views held by Mr. Terence MacCarthy. 

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The Current Historiographic Situation

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Understanding that (1) “an Irish Chiefship is not based upon seniority or Primogeniture” (Irish Chiefly Succession in the 21st Century  by Leonard M. Keane Jr.) but by the consent and election of the clan or sept, (2) the senior bloodline descending from Donal na Pipi is extinct,  (3) since the death of Finghin of Benduff, “a Chiefly line did exist” but has since been “lost to history.”  Therefore, having now restored a pedigree (namely the McCarthy Reagh of Drinagh, the MacCarthy-Willis-Bund family, and others) documenting “other traceable descent from a past Chief,” it is evident that the family may have recourse to an Ad Hoc Derbhfine to reestablish a Chief. 

 

According to Mr. Lainé, who served as the Royal Genealogist to both King Louis XVIII and King Charles X of France, the lineage of the family stemming from Cormac MacCarthy Reagh and Eleanor MacCarthy of Muskerry was lost upon the deaths of Alexander and his second cousin, twice removed, Florence - known as Finghin of Benduff.

 

As the Royal Genealogist to the king of France, he was thorough in his documentation of the Springhouse branch’s Counts MacCarthy-Reagh of Toulouse (who were ennobled by King Louis XVI). The progeny of the Counts MacCarthy-Reagh of Toulouse (i.e. all the progeny of Justin, the first count) became extinct in 1906, and according to Lainé there were no other male descendants of Owen (Donal na Pipi’s son) who had surviving issue. Translating his French, he writes in his book, Généalogie de la Maison de Mac-Carthy anciennement Souveraine des Deux Momonies ou de l'Irlande Méridionale (p. 96-97), that:

“XVII. Owen MacCarthy of Kilbrittain, the 4th of the sons of Donal (na Pipi) MacCarthy-Reagh, mentioned in the inquiry of 20 December 1614, married Honoria MacCarthy, daughter of Tadhg MacCarthy, Lord of Gleannachroim in Carbery. Owen was living in 1641, and left of his marriage:

XVIII. Daniel MacCarthy, Lord of Knocnahinshy and several other lands in Carbery, died 16 December 1666, leaving Honoria, his wife, daughter of John O’Hea of Corably, in County Cork, and Mary MacSweeny:

XIX. Donogh or Denis MacCarthy…”. 

 

Of course, this Donogh’s family is listed on our Clan Family Tree page under the heading "The MacCarthy of Springhouse Line," and is extinct – i.e. no male descendants of his survived beyond 1906. As such, the Springhouse branch is extinct, unless male descendants can be shown to descend from either Owen or Daniel. However, even the notoriously inaccurate Irish Pedigrees by John O’Hart doesn’t document any other children of Owen or Daniel. So for now at least, the Springhouse branch of the MacCarthy Reagh is dormant. 

 

 

The Genetics

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Given the loss and destruction of Irish genealogical records, historiographic genealogical descent from the MacCarthy Reagh chiefs is now almost certainly an impossibility. Again citing The O’Cahan’s piece published by The Kingdom of Desmond Association: “We now have the additional tool of genetic genealogy using Y-DNA testing to establish, with reasonable certainty, proof of a Gaelic-Irish lineage” (Irish Chiefly Succession in the 21st Century  by Leonard M. Keane Jr.). While we don’t have any proven historiographic genealogical pedigrees, we do have a good number of families who have taken Y-DNA tests via the McCarthy Surname Y-DNA Study and have thence proven their bloodline descent from the MacCarthy Reagh. 

 

With the advancements in the McCarthy Surname Y-DNA Study we now know a good amount of identifying genetic information:

• the SNP ZZ50 denotes descent from the earliest MacCarthy Reagh princes;

• the SNP Z29544 appears to be unique to the MacCarthy Glas sept;

• the SNP BY7779 is unique to the “McCarthy Reagh of Drinagh” and MacCarthy Tullagh families;

• the SNP BY140627 is unique to the MacCarthy Rabagh Branch;

• the SNP FGC1058 is unique to the MacCarthy Farshing and Tallin septs;

• the SNP BY82013 is unique to the MacCarthy Tallin (Talún) sept

• According to the Fiant of Elizabeth I (1558-1603), the MacCarthy Reagh family of Kilbrittain was being distinguished from the MacCarthy Farshing of Skate by the 16th century, so the Farshing and Tallin branches are junior to the Springhouse branch (founded in the 17th century).

 

With this information we can start to establish seniority of branches of the family:

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1. MacCarthy Reagh progeny of Cormac and Eleanor (extinct in the male line)

2. MacCarthy Reagh of Kilbrittain progeny of "one of the other sonnes" of Daniel MacCarthy Reagh (d. 1 Aug. 1636) (extent - includes the McCarthy families of Vancouver, Colorado, and Oak Bluffs)

3. MacCarthy of Toulouse (extinct in the male line)

4. MacCarthy of Springhouse (dormant, probably extinct in the male line)

5. MacCarthy Farshing & Tallin/Talún (extent - likely descended from one of the sons of Finghin, the 10th Prince of Carbery, or from the son of Dermod, the 11th Prince of Carbery)

6. MacCarthy Rabagh (extent - descended from the 7th Prince of Carbery)

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Works Cited

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• Ginnell, L. (1894). The Brehon Laws: A Legal Handbook. T. Fisher Unwin. 

• Keane, L. M. (2014, May). Irish Chiefly Succession in the 21st Century. Kingdom of Desmond Association. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://kingdomofdesmond.com/?page_id=331 

• Laine, P. L. (1839). Généalogie de la Maison de Mac-Carthy anciennement Souveraine des Deux Momonies ou de l'Irlande Méridionale. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://celt.ucc.ie/published/F830000-001.html.

• Morrow, J. J. (2021, December 16). Guidance Note, Chiefs of Clans and Families, Succession of Chiefs, Family Conventions, Nomination of Heir. Retrieved April 26, 2023, from https://courtofthelordlyon.scot/SuccessionofChiefsGuidanceNote.pdf 

• O'Curry, E. (1996). On the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish: A series of lectures. (W. K. O'Sullivan, Ed.) (Vol. 1). Éammon de Búrca for Edmund Burke Publisher.