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James FitzMaurice retired with a few followers to the mountains. All the castles and the plain country were in the hands of Government, and Sir John Perrot was put in command of the conquered province. FitzMaurice renewed the war early in 1570. On 2nd March he invested, took by escalade, plundered, and burned Kil- mallock. In 1571 Sir John Perrot took the field in Munster, boasting that he "would hunt the fox [FitzMaurice] out of his hole;" who, however, in the wilds of Aherlow was able to set Perrot and his troops at defiance. At the same time a desultory warfare was waged by the Irish chiefs in Connaught and Ulster. In 1572 the Earl of Clanricard having been taken prisoner by Sir Edward Fitton, his sons renewed the war ; multitudes of the Irish rallied to their standard, and amongst the rest FitzMaurice. In May he went into Ulster, collected 1,500 Scots, and came down upon the country bordering the Shannon. His first step was to burn Athlone — the scanty English guard left in the castle being unable to interfere. Thence he moved down to Portumna, where he was joined by the De Burghs, and crossed the river into Limerick. Sir John Perrot came up with him between Limerick and Kil- mallock, cut his forces in two, and might have annihilated them but for a mutiny among his soldiers, whose wages were in arrear. Perrot again surprised Fitz- Maurice at Ardagh, and killed thirty of his Scots ; a month later the Butlers destroyed a hundred more, and sent their heads to rot on the gates of Limerick. After aim- less and wasting expeditions, the Con- naught insurgents dispersed to their homes, and FitzMaurice, having encountered in- numerable perils, forced his way south, only to find that Castlemaine, the last of his strongholds, had been compelled to capitulate to the Lord-President. He sustained 'limself in the woods iintil the following February (1573), when he sent in hostages and proffered his submission to the President. This was gladly re- ceived ; and he was still powerful enough to ensure his life being preserved. The ruined church of Kilmallock, the scene of his principal aggression, was selected for the ceremony of reconciliation. There, on his knees, in the most abject terms, he con- fessed his guilt, and craved the pardon of the President, who held his naked sword with the point towards the fallen chief- tain's breast. The latter kissed the wea- pon, and fallingij on his face exclaimed : " And now this earth of Kilmallock, which town I have most traitorously sacked and burnt, I kiss, and on the same
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lie prostrate, overfraught with sorrow upon this present view of my most mischievous part ! " FitzMaurice after this appears to have taken up his residence in France, and before long was engaged in plots for the subversion of Elizabeth's power in Ireland. Having made application unsuccessfully both to Henry III. of France and Philip II. of Spain, to furnish him with means for an expedition against the English power in Ireland, he proceeded to Rome, where he was favourably received by Gre- gory XIII. in 1 5 78. His solicitations were warmly seconded by the Bishop of Killaloe, and Dr. Saunders, an English ecclesiastic. The Pope granted a bull encouraging the Irish to fight for their autonomy and in defence of their religion, and an expedition was fitted out under the command of Stukely, an English adventurer — formerly high in the confidence of Sidney in Ireland. Stukely, created Lord of Idrone by Gregory, acted as admiral of the expedition, while Hercules Pisano, an experienced soldier, had the military command. The soldiers numbered about 800, many, according to O'Sullevan's Historioe Compendium, high- waymen, who had been pardoned on con- dition of their joining the expedition. Stukely sailed with his squadron from Civita Vecchia. Touching at Lisbon, he was easily persuaded to join Sebastian, King of Portugal; in an expedition to Morocco, upon the promise of after assist- ance in the Irish project. At the battle of Alcansar, Stukely, Sebastian, and the greater part of his troops, were killed. Meanwhile FitzMaurice, travelling by land to Spain, embarked for Ireland with about eighty persons in three small vessels. [Philip's -views regarding England had been changed by Drake's doings in the West Indies.] The party consisted of Fitz- Maurice and his wife ; Saunders, the Legate ; two Irish bishops ; a few friars ; a handful of English refugees ; and some twenty-five Italians and Spaniards. Their strength lay in FitzMaurice's name, and in their being representatives of the Pope, who had furnished them with a banner blessed by himself. Off the Land's End they took a couple of small vessels, and on the 17th July 1579 landed at Dingle, and crossed over to Smerwick, where they set to work to fortify Oilen-an-Oir. Fitz- Maurice sent a long explanatory letter to the Earl of Desmond, who immediately forwarded it to Government with assurances of his loyalty. He was, however, joined by the Earl's brothers, Sir John and Sir James of Desmond, and by some 200 of the O'Flahertys, who came round from Galway in their galleys. The murder of Da veils
