slaughtered. Fiach escaped with the loss of two sisters and two foster brothers. In retaliation he led 400 men in raids on villages in Wexford, managing to retire to Glenmalure after evading the seneschal's forces. But in August he surrendered custody of the original murderer in return for a pardon and a fine of 20 marks. Under the government of Sir Henry Sidney, O'Byrne gave support to his own brother-in-law, Rory Oge O'More, the pretender to the lordship of Leix, who broke out in rebellion in 1577. In a bloody fight with Sir John Harrington, many of O'More's household were killed, although O'Byrne's sister was spared by the crown forces. After O'More's death, O'Byrne took in the rebel's son for training at Ballinacor, which by that time had become a martial academy. O'Byrne was in correspondence with Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond and never lost touch with Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare, for whom he did a great favour by hanging an important witness when Kildare was under government investigation. The O'Byrnes continued with their cattle raids, until Fiach made his submission in early 1579 at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, where he gave pledges of allegiance and acknowledged the authority of the crown government. This sequence of raids and pardons continued for some time. Desmond rebellions In 1579, after succeeding his father in the leadership of the O'Byrnes, Fiach joined with James Eustace, Viscount Baltinglass – despite a history of mutual enmity between their families – during the Second Desmond Rebellion. In the summer of 1580, the Earl of Desmond fled Munster into Queens County (aided by the O'Mores), where he joined the O'Byrnes near the Wicklow border. In August Fiach joined with the Kavanagh clan to ambush crown forces in Idrone (County Carlow): the Irish fought their way through the territory and, after burning the manor house, executed those Kavanaghs who had succumbed to the rule of the English Carew family. In the same month in 1580 a new Lord Deputy of Ireland, Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton, arrived with 6,000 newly recruited troops. He found the country in a nervous state, owing to the threat of Spanish intervention in favour of the rebels: Crown commanders throughout the country were on guard, and Grey was beset at every point of the compass. It was clear that cutting off the source of so many raids against