Lord Mountcashel: Irish General
Lord Mountcashel: Irish General
Justin MacCarthy in the service of James II and Louis XIV, 16731694
D.P. Graham
First published in Great Britain in 2018 by
Pen & Sword Military
an imprint of
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Copyright D.P. Graham, 2018
ISBN 978 1 52672 300 0
eISBN 978 1 52672 301 7
Mobi ISBN 978 1 52672 302 4
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A Note on Dates and Places
T he period covered in this work relates to a time when the English calendar lagged ten days behind the rest of Europe. Matters were made more complex by the fact that the New Year in England commenced on 25 March.
The reasons behind such a discrepancy are complex; the Gregorian calendar adopted in 1582 by many European countries was not adopted in Britain and Ireland. By the 1680s then, there was a ten-day gap between England and the rest of Europe. The drift had enlarged to eleven days by the mid-eighteenth century when the calendar was finally adopted in Britain and Ireland. Until that time many contemporary writers gave both dates and, in some instances, both years. On other occasions they would distinguish between Old Style dating (O.S.) and New Style European dating (N.S.).
Modern convention tends to stress the importance of New Style dates. I have in this work, however, used both. The reasoning behind this stems from the nature of the original source material and the fact that the battles and strategic manoeuvring outlined in the text hinge so much on the intricacies of dates and times. Rather than change every date, I have kept the original style not only to add a note of authenticity but also to avoid making major changes in the chapters related to Ireland. English and Irish dates will then be old style as per the source material whilst dates related to European sources for Irish troops serving in France will invariably be new style.
Mountcashels main clash in Ireland, the Battle of Newtownbutler, also raises some questions. The town was called Newtown until 1715 when Theophilus Butler was created baron of the area. That said, the battle is popularly and colloquially known as Newtownbutler having been more succinctly analysed and discussed in the following centuries, well after the name change. In order to avoid confusion for those readers who are familiar with other books and publications on the period, where the battle is invariably referred to with the more recent name, I have used Newtownbutler throughout.
Introduction
M y fascination with the life of Justin MacCarthy, Lord Mountcashel, began a number of years ago whilst carrying out research related to the Battle of Newtownbutler, fought during the Jacobite War in Ireland in 1689. It was at this time that I encountered the commander of the Irish Jacobite forces there. Mountcashels story is as complex and ironic as that period of Irish and English history within which it is set. His father, a major player in the 1641 conflict that was fought in Ireland alongside the English Civil War, was clever enough to escape Cromwells wrath and with his lands mostly intact. His sons would see the restoration of the monarchy and Justin would gain military experience in the troubled Europe of the 1670s before witnessing the attempt by James II to gain greater freedoms for his Catholic subjects an action which the English aristocracy would not forgive.
He also played an important role in the subsequent war in Ireland, especially in its early stages, before taking the first Irish Brigade to France, a group of exiles whose legacy would last until the Napoleonic wars. Indeed, an analysis of French communication at the time would indicate that Justins destiny always lay on the continent. The French had a particular interest in him and not simply because of his experience and knowledge of French methods (having fought under the famous Turenne). The Irish troops, the last Wild Geese of the seventeenth century needed a strong dependable leader. That leader would prove to be Lord Mountcashel. The journey that Justin takes to reach that position however, in the midst of wars between kings and peaks in religious intolerance, is fascinating. His presence at Newtownbutler is today the most popular reference to the Irish general perhaps an undeserved legacy. I therefore aim with this work to analyse Mountcashels life both before and after the fateful battle, in the context of the larger war of the time, Irish and European politics, and his relative success as a soldier and commander.
Justins story then parallels the troubled history of the British Isles and Europe in the late seventeenth century, which although not a currently popular focus for military history, would plant the political seeds of the fledgling British Empire to follow. This is the story of an Irish general, a man betrayed and defeated, yet able to rise above the odds stacked against him and retain a sense of patriotic duty in a desperate situation where his cause was all but doomed. Admired by the French though at times despised by his enemies, Mountcashels choices echo the times and the troubled history in the context of the religious war in Ireland, the battleground of Louis XIVs European diversion and the focus of James IIs flawed attempts to regain a throne that was all but lost forever. The repercussions of these decisions would form the fate of Lord Mountcashel and so many of his men who went to France to fight for Louis. This is their story as much as it his.
Chapter I
The Early Years
J ustin MacCarthy was born in the Irish province of Munster in the early 1640s. This is of course an estimate since no reliable record exists as to his actual birth date, as with so many of his contemporaries. His father was Donough MacCarthy, Lord Muskerry, a powerful man in Munster, the most southerly of Irelands four provinces. At the time of his birth, Justins father was embroiled in the complex struggle that was emerging in the Ireland of the 1640s, a time of revolution, where the ostensibly Royalist supporting Catholics sought a resolution of the land question and a debate over their religious freedoms. The ensuing conflict would parallel, and have resounding implications for, the conduct of the English Civil War, fought on the other side of the Irish Sea. The MacCarthy family bore a noble lineage and had been one of the most powerful ancient clans in Ireland. By force of arms they had been kings in ancient Munster. Irish legend speaks of their descent from Heber, son of the legendary Milesius, reputedly one of the founders of the land over 900 years before the arrival of the Normans. Other tales tell of their ancestry having been converted to Christianity by Saint Patrick himself. Despite the legends, however, it is known that Munster was split between the royal houses of Desmond (the MacCarthys) in the southern part of the province and that of Thomond (the OBriens) in the north, from the third century until the coming of the Normans in the twelfth century.
