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o donaghue
Clan O’Donoghue
The Clan O’Donoghue is Royal in its origin being in fact a cadet line of the Eóghanacht dynasty of Munster. Originally styled Princes of Eoghanacht Loch Lein (Lough Lein), an area extending from the river Roughty at Kenmare, to Lough Lein at Killarney, the Clan divided at an early period into the distinct Chiefly lines of O’Donoghue Mór (extinct since the sixteeth century), and O’Donoghue of the Glens.
The greatest stronghold of the O’Donoghue Clan in County Kerry was the recently restored Ross Castle on the shores of Lough Leane. Originally a Norman fortress the O’Donoghue Mór was granted possession of it by MacCarthy Mór soon after the Battle of Callan (1261) when the Anglo-Normans were driven from South Kerry. The Chiefly houses of O’Donoghue Mór and O’Donoghue of the Glens were granted substantial estates by the MacCarthy Mór Kings of Desmond including the lordships of Ross and Glenflesk which they held by feudal tenure. O’Donoghue Mór’s lordship contained some 45 ploughlands for which he rendered a feudal service of 12 mounted horsemen and 200 kearne (lightly armed foot soldiers) to MacCarthy Mór when so summoned. O’Donoghue of the Glens held a smaller fief of 20 ploughlands on a money rent of £ 2-6s-4d and was exempt from ‘knights service’. This exemption reflected the close relationship between the ruling house of MacCarthy Mór and their O’Donoghue kinsmen.
The senior line of the O’Donoghue Chiefs, that of O’Donoghue Mór (The Great O’Donoghue) was destroyed during the ‘Desmond Rebellion’ of 1575. O’Donoghue Mór supported the Earl of Desmond in his war against Elizabeth Tudor and perished during the war. His estates were confiscated by the English Crown but subsequently restored to the feudal overlord Donal IX MacCarthy Mór. The O’Donoghue of the Glens survived the rebellion and his house represents the sole surviving Chiefly line. It is a moot point if O’Donoghue of the Glens is not infact O’Donoghue Mór since there is no superior Clan Chief.
Despite the Elizabethan Plantation of Munster the O’Donoghues of the Glens retained possession of their ancestral estates and Petty’s Survey of 1653 indicates that Glenflesk was then in the possession of Geoffrey O’Donoghue of the Glens (d. 1655) who resided at Killaha Castle. In fact his seat had been heavily damaged in 1652 when the Cromwellian General Ludlow had besieged and captured the castle. Driven from Glenflesk by Ludlow the O’Donoghues regained possession of the lordship at the restoration of the Stuart Monarchy in 1660. The English Planters viewed their return with alarm describing Killaha as the main centre of ‘repparees, and persons of Romish religion out in arms’.
Like most Gaelic aristocratic families the O’Donoghues of the Glens supported the ill fated King James II and VII in his attempt to regain his lost crown. As a consequence they suffered wholesale confiscation of their property following the victory of William of Orange. The then O’Donoghue of the Glens, Daniel, had a distinguished military career and was a friend of both Sarsfield and Viscount Mountcashel, two of King James’s leading Commanders. Daniel married Mary, daughter of Dermot MacCarthy, Lord of Drishane, and his son and heir, Geoffrey, also married a MacCarthy, Elizabeth, daughter of Randal MacCarthy who descended from the tower Prisoner, Florence MacCarthy. Through this last MacCarthy alliance the O’Donoghues came into possession of the MacCarthy MÛr vault in Muckross Abbey, County Kerry.
Unlike most Gaelic aristocratic families who suffered the rigours of confiscation the O’Donoghues survived every attempt to eradicate their influence in County Kerry. Daniel, The O’Donoghue of the Glens, was a Member of Parliament for County Tipperary from 1857 to 1865, and for Tralee from 1865-1885. He was a prominent member of the Nationalist Party and a friend of the great Charles Stuart Parnell. Thus, in the nineteeth century, a Lord of Glenflesk continued the age old struggle of his people to assert their right to national self determination. With this centuries old tradition behind them it was little wonder that Daniel’s grandson, Captain Geoffrey, The O’Donoghue of the Glens, played such an heroic part in the 1921 ‘Mooltan Rebellion’.