1579 Invasion
Nicholas Sanders, Fitzmaurice and others returned to Rome and formed a new expedition with Papal authority. With a small force of Irish, Spanish and Italian troops, they set sail for Ireland in early June 1579, from Corunna in Galicia, Spain. The fleet consisted of Fitzmaurice's own vessel and three Spanish shallops. Fitzmaurice was joined by Matthew de Oviedo and by Nicholas Sanders as Papal commissary.
En route in the English channel, they captured two English vessels and arrived at Dingle harbour (part of the area now known as County Kerry) on the 16 July. On the 18th they cast anchor in the nearby small Smerwick harbour (now known as Ard na Caithne), where they established a defensive garrison at Dún an Óir (Fort of Gold, Spanish:Fuerte del Oro), an Iron Age promontory fort nearby. Nicholas Sanders paraded the Papal banner with some ceremony at Dingle and Fitzmaurice proclaimed Holy War sanctioned by letters from Pope Gregory. This was a very serious matter in 16th century thinking, as it released the Catholic subjects of Elizabeth I from their duty of obedience to her, on the grounds that she was a heretic (the Pope had excommunicated her in 1570). The fact that Fitzmaurice had openly challenged the legitimacy of the Tudor dynasty to rule Ireland meant that, unlike the first Desmond rebellion of 1569–73, this one would be very unlikely to end with a negotiated peace.
The rebels were joined on July 25 by two galleys with 100 more Spanish troops.
Read more about this topic: Second Desmond Rebellion
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