The Feudal Earldom of Clancare was one of the more unusual titles of the Tudor period in Ireland, reflecting the Crown’s attempt to integrate Gaelic lords into the English peerage system. It was created in 1565 for Donald McCarthy Mór, the last ruling prince of Desmond, under Queen Elizabeth I’s “surrender and regrant” policy. This initiative sought to pacify Ireland by converting hereditary Gaelic lordships—based on clan loyalty and Brehon law—into feudal titles held directly from the English Crown.

The newly created Earl of Clancare nominally ruled over large parts of County Kerry, including the lands of the McCarthy Mór sept. Though Donald accepted the title and outwardly pledged loyalty to Elizabeth I, his allegiance to English authority was tenuous. He continued to exercise traditional Gaelic lordship, maintaining private armies and alliances with neighboring Gaelic and Hiberno-Norman families.

Political instability and pressure from the Desmond Rebellions (1569–1583) eroded the earl’s power. Donald’s only son, Teige, died before him, leaving no legitimate male heir to succeed to the title. After Donald’s death in 1596, the earldom became extinct, and his lands were confiscated or absorbed into the English-controlled Munster Plantation.

The Earldom of Clancare stands today as a symbol of the Crown’s failed efforts to anglicize Gaelic Ireland through feudal integration. It marked the end of the ancient McCarthy Mór lineage as an independent power, closing a chapter on the Gaelic political order that had dominated southwest Ireland for centuries.  The Earldom of Clancare was recreated by legal process in the United Kingdom, not through re-grant or re-establishment by the Crown. The current holder of this feudal title acquired this property in November of 2025. This title is registered with the UK Manorial Society and is listed in multiple registries.