Name Tadhg Mainistreach | ||
Tadhg na Mainistreach Mac Carthaigh Mor reigned as King of Desmond from 1390/2 to his death in 1428. He was the son of the previous king Domhnall Og Mac Carthaigh Mor (r. 1359–1390/2). According to the Annals of Inisfallen Tadhg Mac Carthaigh had the reputation as the greatest wine-drinker in Ireland when he died, but was still "a son worthy of his father." He was married to one Seban, a daughter of "Garret the earl,"; this is probably a reference to Joanne, daughter of Maurice FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare, who married into the MacCarthy dynasty.
Mac Carthaigh was among those Irish kings and princes to submit to Richard II of England in his progress of 1394, after which the title King of Desmond was rarely used by later members of the dynasty, the title of Mac Carthaigh Mor (Prince of Desmond) becoming the preferred.
After dying in Ballycarbery Castle, Tadhg was buried in the monastery there, while his wife Seban died in Caislen Mac nAeducain and was buried at Tralee. He was succeeded by his son Domhnall an Duna Mac Carthaigh Mor, but in recent times his younger son Cormac of Dunguile has frequently been mentioned as the ancestor of the Sliocht Cormaic of Dunguile, the senior or today perhaps only surviving sept of the MacCarthy Mor dynasty.
His epithet "na Mainistreach" means "of the monastery."