Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty

Sir Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty (1594–1665), was an Irish soldier and politician. He succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount Muskerry in 1641. He rebelled against the government and joined the Irish Catholic Confederation, demanding religious freedom as a Catholic and defending the rights of the Gaelic nobility. Later, he supported the King against his Parliamentarian enemies during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.

He sat in the House of Commons of the Irish parliaments of 1634–1635 and 1640–1649 where he opposed Strafford, King Charles I's authoritarian viceroy. In 1642, he sided with the Irish Rebellion when it reached his estates in Munster. He fought for the insurgents at the Siege of Limerick and the Battle of Liscarroll. He joined the Irish Catholic Confederates and sat on their Supreme Council. Having fought in the Irish Confederate Wars, he negotiated the Cessation of 1643, a cease-fire between the Confederates and the King. He tried to transform this cease-fire into a permanent peace and was the leader of the Confederates' peace party, which opposed the clerical faction led by Rinuccini, the papal nuncio. Together with President Mountgarret, he negotiated the Glamorgan Peace in 1645, which was disavowed by the King. In 1646 he captured Bunratty Castle from the Parliamentarians and negotiated the First Ormond Peace, which was rejected by Rinuccini, who excommunicating him. During the Cromwellian conquest, he lost the Battle of Knocknaclashy in 1651 but held on until 1652, defending Ross Castle against Edmund Ludlow. He was one of the last to surrender.

In 1653 during the Commonwealth he stood trial for war crimes but was acquitted. In exile on the continent, Charles II created him Earl of Clancarty. He recovered his lands at the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.