The kingdom officially ended in 1606 when Donal of the Pipes, 17th Prince of Carbery chose to surrender his territories to the Crown of England;[1] but his descendants maintained their position in Carbery until the Cromwellian confiscations, following their participation in the Irish Rebellion of 1641 after which some emigrated to the Chesapeake Colonies.

This wealth came not, for the most part, from its predominantly rocky lands, but from its numerous excellent harbours, and greatest proximity to France and Spain.

Only the Earls of Desmond, who were intermittently able to force the MacCarthys to pay them tribute in order to avoid continual harassment,[2] were wealthier.

Carbery is fortunate to be very well documented for a medieval Irish principality, the sources being diverse and fairly copious.

Two years later, the barony was granted to the Anglo-Irish politician George Evans, whose descendants still hold the title of Baron Carbery.

The many movements of the clans during the 13th century resulted in the relocation of many of the septs in the area, including those of the O'Mahonys, O'Driscolls.

The O'Learys of ancient Rosscarbery, close kin to the O'Driscolls, retired northwards to Muskerry sometime around the year 1300.

The source of the naming of the Carberry area has been debated by many scholars, with John O'Donovan arguing it came from the migration of the O'Donovans of Uí Chairbre (and who ignored the MacCarthaig element within the Uí Chairbre), and others, including Canon John O'Mahony in his work History of the O'Mahony Septs,[3] arguing that the name derived from much earlier (circa 300 AD) rulers, and from whom descended the O'Driscolls and the O'Mahonys and which occupied the region from the 5th or 6th century AD onwards, in Late Antiquity.

Beginning with the expansion of the MacCarthaig territory in a north east direction in 1259 as certain MacCarthaig septs recaptured a significant amount of land from the Normans, demolished a multitude of their castles, occupying others, and built a considerable string of their own fortresses, the territory of Carbery was expanded to as much as 500 square miles (1,300 km2) by 1500.

Less active septs (or for which fewer events were recorded), were the O'Mahonys, the O'Driscolls, and the O'Donovans which had migrated to the Carbery area.

[5] They were of verifiable princely extraction and in 1597 were named as the only other lords (freeholders) under the MacCarthys Reagh after the above-mentioned families.

Later they were the leading supporters of his brother Dermod Maol MacCarthy and for this were condemned to have their lands wasted in 1602 by Sir George Carew.

Carbery was also blessed to have a branch of one of Ireland's greatest bardic families of all time, the Ó Dálaigh, or O'Dalys.

[7] The Ó Coileáin (Anglicised: O'Collins, Collins), of County Limerick origin and cousins to the O'Donovans above, are also noted in Carbery, but not as lords or great landholders, although a number were in military service.

The chief of the O'Collins was killed about 1197, and that of the O'Donovans in 1200, by an alliance of the O'Brians, the MacCarthy and William DeBurgo and other Norman settlers, with both events contributing to a migration to Carbery of parts of their septs during the next century.