Supreme Council that such concerns would be addressed in the peace treaty negotiated with Ormond, negotiated in 1646, now known as the First Ormond Peace. However, when the terms were published, they granted only the private practice of Catholicism. Alleging that he had been deliberately deceived, Rinuccini publicly backed the militant faction, which included most of the Catholic clergy and some Irish military commanders such as Owen Roe O'Neill; on the other side there were the Franciscans Pierre Marchant, and later Raymond Caron. In 1646, when the Supreme Council tried to get the Ormond Peace ratified, Rinuccini excommunicated them and helped to get the Treaty voted down in the Confederate General Assembly. The Assembly had the members of the Supreme Council arrested for treason and elected a new Supreme Council. Defeat However, the following year, the Confederates' attempts to drive the remaining English (mainly Parliamentarian) armies from Ireland met with disaster at the battles of Dungans Hill on 8 August 1647 and Knocknanuss on 13 November 1647. As a result, the chastened Confederates hastily concluded a new deal with the English Royalists to try to prevent a Parliamentarian conquest of Ireland in 1648. Although the terms of this second deal were better than those of the first one, Rinuccini again tried to overturn the treaty. However, on this occasion, the Catholic clergy were split on whether to accept the deal, as were the Confederate military commanders and the General Assembly. Ultimately, the treaty was accepted by the Confederacy, which then dissolved itself and joined a Royalist coalition. Rinuccini backed Owen Roe O'Neill, who used his Ulster army to fight against his former comrades who had accepted the deal. The Nuncio tried in vain to repeat his success of 1646 by excommunicating those who supported the peace. However, the Irish bishops were split on the issue and so Rinuccini's authority was diluted. Militarily, Owen Roe O'Neill was unable to reverse the political balance; despairing of the Catholic cause in Ireland, Rinuccini left the country embarking on 23 February 1649 at Galway on the ship that had brought him to Ireland, the frigate San Pietro. In the same year, Oliver Cromwell led a Parliamentarian re-conquest of the country, after which Catholicism was thoroughly repressed. Roman Catholic worship was banned, Irish Catholic-owned land was widely confiscated east of the Shannon, and captured Catholic clergy were executed. Return to Italy and death Rinuccini returned