Page 189 - Demo

Chapter Six 189
upon the “prelates, princes, and lords of Ireland” to band together and take up arms in de- fence of “faith and fatherland.” Fitzmaurice was joined by the MacCarthy Mór, O Brien of Thomond, the sons of Clanricarde of Connacht, and Sir Edmund Butler, Lord Ormond’s Catholic brother- the amalgamated group became known as ‘The Geraldine League.’
Unfortunately, the members of the League never really united. One by one they gradu- ally withdrew from the ield, and the rebellion was put down without mercy in 1573. In the aftermath, Fitzmaurice led to the Continent where he sought assistance from Philip, the Catholic King of Spain, and Pope Gregory X111, both of whom were at enmity with Queen Elizabeth: Elizabeth had been formally excommunicated in 1570. The Pope agreed to help Fitzmaurice, and in 1578 he itted out a small expedition under the command of an English-born adventurer named Thomas Stukeley.This expedition never reached Ire- land, however, because Stukeley joined with the King of Portugal in a campaign against the Moors of Morocco, where, at the battle of Alcasar, he and most of his men were slain.
Fitzmaurice then went from Rome to Spain by land, and from there set out for Ireland with a small force of Spanish and Italians, and the promise of more, in three Spanish ships, landing at Smerwick Harbour, Kerry, in July 1579. Once ashore, he issued a proclamation, calling upon all Irishmen to rally to his standard in a war against the “Heretic Queen.” But there was little response to his appeal, and inding the rebellion practically dead in Munster, Fitzmaurice, in order to raise more troops proceeded to Connacht, where a month later he was killed in a skirmish with the Burkes at Caisleán O gConaing, now Castleconnell, in Lim- erick.
The Earl of Desmond and his brother John Fitzgerald were released shortly after Fitz- maurice led to the Continent in 1573. Desmond himself, though sympathizing with his cousin, had not, it is said, ‘the resolution to take to the ield,’ and on the death of Fitzmau- rice, the command of the rebel remnants devolved on John.
Under his leadership, the rebels gained a victory at Springield, county Limerick, but were defeated at Croom, also in Limerick the same year. The position of afairs, however, assumed such a character as made it impossible for Desmond to remain neutral any longer. He joined the insurgents and his action gave, it is told, ‘a great illip to the rebellion.’
So much so that, an outbreak even occurred within the Pale itself. James Eustace,Viscount Baltinglass, a Catholic nobleman, who resenting the suppression of his religion joined forces with the local chief Fiach MacHugh O Bryne, and showing overwhelming strategic-supe- riority roundly defeated the English under Lord Grey at the Battle of Glenmalure, in the