he fled to the English Pale, being based at Dublin and Drogheda for the rest of his time, only entering Ulster on raids against O'Neill and others. Evidently frustrated, Essex had Piers arrested and accused him of passing intelligence to Sir Brian McPhelim (Piers was later released). In November 1574, Sir Brian McPhelim had invited Essex to Belfast Castle to a feast where they would discuss concluding a peace. At the end of the three day feast, Essex's men, suddenly fell upon their Irish hosts and carried out the Clandeboye massacre, where 200 men, women and children were murdered without warning. Sir Brian McPhelim, his wife and his half-brother Rory Oge MacQuillin were all taken hostage to Dublin where they were hanged for opposing the plantations. The following year, Essex was responsible for an even more gratuitous massacre in Ulster, this time against the MacDonnells of Antrim in the Rathlin Island massacre (Essex accused the Clandeboye O'Neills and MacDonnels of being co-conspirators against the English colonists), before Elizabeth I called an end to "the Enterprise" in 1575. Before his own death in 1576, Essex was able to sow division among the ranks of the Clandeboye by declaring Niall McBrian Fertagh O'Neill (grandson of Niall Oge O'Neill and son-in-law of Sir Brian MacPhelim) as rightful lord of all Clandeboye. 17th century: divisions and dissolution Various different factions of the Clandeboye O'Neills felt aggrieved by the unexpected selection of Niall McBrian Fertagh O'Neill (whose father had been assassinated by Shane O'Neill) as lord of Clandeboye, causing internal conflict. The situation was such that the English authorities in the form of John Perrot, the new Lord Deputy of Ireland, intervened in 1584. Lower Clandeboye was split into two: three-quarters, based around Belfast, were awarded to Shane McBrian O'Neill (son of the late Sir Brian McPhelim O'Neill), while the remaining quarter, based around Edenduffcarrick, was awarded to Hugh Oge O'Neill (son of Sir Brian McPhelim's brother Hugh). Meanwhile, Conn McNeill O'Neill, the son of Niall McBrian Fertagh O'Neill, was confirmed in his lordship of Upper Clandeboye. Shane McBrian O'Neill and Hugh Oge O'Neill bitterly contested the control of Lower Clandeboye, particularly Shane's Castle at Edenduffcarrick. Despite an attempt at arbitration, Hugh Oge was killed at the Castle in the dispute in 1586 and was succeeded by his brother Neill McHugh O'Neill at Lower Clandeboye (Edenduffcarrick), the conflict between the two factions caused "great dissension