that were deeply valued in traditional Irish society - were again outlawed and suppressed. FitzMaurice had emphasised the Gaelic character of the rebellion, wearing Irish dress, speaking only Irish, and referring to himself as the taoiseach of the Geraldines. Irish landowners continued to be threatened by the arrival of English colonists to settle on land confiscated from the Irish. All of these factors meant that, when FitzMaurice returned from Europe to start a new rebellion, plenty of people in Munster were willing to join him. In late 1569 the Catholic Northern Rebellion broke out in England, but was crushed. This and the Desmond Rebellion caused Pope Pius V to issue Regnans in Excelsis, a bull excommunicating Elizabeth and depriving her of the allegiance of her Catholic subjects. Elizabeth had previously accepted Catholic worship in private, but now suppressed militant Catholicism. Luckily for her, most of her Irish subjects did not want to get involved in rebellions, while also mostly remaining Catholic. Second Desmond Rebellion The second Desmond rebellion was sparked when James FitzMaurice launched an invasion of Munster in 1579. During his exile in Europe he had declared himself as a soldier of the counter-reformation, arguing that since the Pope's excommunication of Elizabeth I Irish Catholics did not owe loyalty to a heretic monarch. The Pope granted FitzMaurice an indulgence and supplied him with troops and money. FitzMaurice landed at Smerwick, near Dingle (modern County Kerry) on 18 July 1579 with a small force of Spanish and Italian troops. He was joined on 1 August by John of Desmond, a brother of the earl, who had a large following among his kinsmen and the disaffected swordsmen of Munster. Other Gaelic clans and Old English families also joined in the rebellion. FitzMaurice was killed in a skirmish with the Clanwilliam Burkes on 18 August, and John FitzGerald assumed leadership of the rebellion. Gerald, the Earl of Desmond, initially resisted the call of the rebels and tried to remain neutral but gave in once the authorities had proclaimed him a traitor. He joined the rebellion by sacking Youghal (on 13 November) and Kinsale, and devastated the country of the English and their allies. In the summer of 1580 English troops under William Pelham and locally raised Irish forces under the Earl of Ormonde retook the south coast, destroyed the lands of the Desmonds and their allies, and killed their tenants. They captured