Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/128

Fitzgerald into Munster, attacked Derrinlaur Castle, captured it, and put the garrison to the sword. Convinced of the necessity of temporising, Desmond appeared at Cork and humbly submitted himself (2 Sept.) ; but on 10 Sept. he made over all his lands to Lord Dunboyne, Lord Power, and Sir John Fitzedmund Fitzgerald of Cloyne [q. v.], in trust for himself and his wife during their joint lives, with provision for his daughters and remainder to his son James (Carew MSS. i. 481). This feoffment, though suspicious, does not necessarily imply that he had, when he made it, any premeditated intention of rebelling. In March 1575 James Fitzmaurice [q. v.] left Ireland for the express purpose of soliciting foreign aid, but whether he did so, as MacGeoghegan asserts, with the connivance of the earl is extremely doubtful. Certain it is that during the government of Sir H. Sidney (1575-8) he manifested no rebellious intentions, though occasionally resenting President Drury s arbitrary conduct, and he even revealed to the deputy the nature of Fitzmaurice's negotiations on the continent. 'This and other good shows in the Earl of Desmond,' wrote Sidney to the queen, 'maketh demonstration that his light and loose dealings (whereunto he runneth many times rashly) proceedeth rather of imperfection of judgement, than of malicious intendment against your majesty.' 'I hold him,' he added, 'the least dangerous man of four or five of those that are next him in right and succession. . . being such an impotent and weak body, as neither can he get up on horseback, but that he is holpen and lift up, neither when he is on horseback can of himself alight down without help, and therefore, in mine opinion, the less to be feared or doubted, if he would forget himself, as I hope now he will not.' Sidney's is probably the most correct, as it is the most charitable, explanation of his subsequent foolhardy conduct. On the arrival of Fitzmaurice (17 July 1579) Desmond rejected his overtures to join with him in re-establishing the old religion, notified the fact to Drury, protested his own loyalty, declared his intention of marching against the invader, and did what he could in that direction. The death of Fitzmaurice, of whom he seems to have been extremely jealous, and the representations of Sanders exercised a prejudicial effect upon him. His conduct aroused the suspicion of Drury, who on 7 Sept. 'restrained him from liberty' for two days, until he promised to send his son as hostage for his conduct to Limerick. Fascinated by the rhetoric of Sanders and yet unwilling to risk everything by openly rebelling, he Endeavoured to temporise. Warned by Malby that he was suspected, he refused to take the only safe course open to him, and on 1 Nov. he was proclaimed a traitor. Compelled to act, he marched against Youghal, which he sacked, while the Earl of Clancar did the same for Kinsale. This did little to add to his strength. In March 1580 Pelham captured the castle of Carrigafoyl, and in April Askeaton and Ballyloughan, his last fortresses, shared the same fate. On 14 June he and Sanders narrowly escaped being surprised by Pelham, and in August he was reduced to such extremities that he sent his countess to the lord justice to intercede for him. About the same time he applied to Admiral Winter, who was cruising in Kinsale waters, to transport him to England to beg his pardon personally from the queen. After the destruction of the Spaniards in Fort-del-Ore the government of Munster was entrusted to the Earl of Ormonde, while Captain Zouche with 450 men was deputed to hunt him down. On 15 June 1581 he was surprised in the neighbourhood of Castlemange and obliged to fly in his shirt into the woods of Aharlow. During the winter he was compelled to keep his Christmas in Kilquegg wood, near Kilmallock, where he was nearly captured by the garrison stationed there. In September 1582 he was reported to have two hundred horse and two thousand foot under his command. In January 1583 he had two remarkable escapes. All attempts to capture him seemed useless. The Munster officials were at their wits' end. Fenton suggested that he should be assassinated, while St. Leger advised the queen to adopt a policy similar to that which her father had found useful in the case of 'Silken Thomas.' Meanwhile Ormonde, by more legitimate means, was bringing him to the end of his resources. On 5 June his countess left him, and a proclamation of pardon deprived him of most of his followers. Deserted by all except a priest, two horsemen, one kerne, and a boy, he wandered about helplessly from one place to another. On 19 Sept. he was nearly captured on the borders of Slievloghra. On Monday, 11 Nov., just as day was breaking, he was surprised in a cabin in the wood of Glanaginty by five soldiers of the garrison of Castlemange, led on by Owen MacDonnell O'Moriarty, whose brother-in-law had just been plundered by the earl. Fearing a rescue, his head was cut off by Daniel O'Kelly and sent into England. His body was conveyed, according to tradition, through the byways of the hills to the little mountain churchyard of Kill-na-n-onaim, or the 'Church of the Name.' In 1586 an act of parliament declared his estates forfeited to the crown.