to return to Ireland about the middle of May. He was acknowledged as actual captain of Tyrone, with a general reservation of the rights of Mathew's younger son Hugh, afterwards earl of Tyrone [q. v.] In return he promised to keep the peace with his neighbours, to submit his grievances to arbitration, and not to molest the garrison at Armagh.
He landed at Dublin on 26 May 1562, but, hearing that ‘not iii dayes before hys landyng’ Turlough Luineach had caused himself to be created O'Neill, he declined to make any stay in the city, and having caused the queen's proclamation in his favour to be published, he departed the same day with a guard into Tyrone. Boasting of the victory he had obtained over Elizabeth, he soon made it apparent what value he attached to the concessions extorted from him in England by breaking them in every single particular. When Sussex landed about the end of July, he had a long story to tell of Shane's lawless behaviour in harrying Maguire and the Scots, and in levying forces against Con O'Donnell. Determined to catch him by fair means or foul, he reminded him of his promise to submit his grievances to arbitration, and sent him an ambiguously worded safe-conduct, appointing a meeting at Dundalk. But Shane was too wary to be entrapped after that fashion, and Sussex was fain to content himself with reminding him of his promise not to go to war without license. For answer Shane attacked O'Reilly, plundered Tyrconnel, and reduced Maguire to the direst extremities. Maguire warned the lord lieutenant that unless O'Neill was effectually subdued, he would be ‘the strongest man of all Erlond.’
Sussex and Fitzwilliam, the latter of whom was despatched to England to report personally on the situation, were convinced that nothing but force would bring Shane to his senses. Meanwhile, until Elizabeth's consent could be obtained to that course, the lord lieutenant was obliged to act on the defensive. He managed to detach Turlough Luineach from Shane, which somewhat crippled him; but, hearing that he was meditating a fresh attack on Con O'Donnell, he determined, if the report proved correct, ‘to drawe downe tharmy to Armaghe agynst the full moone, wch will staie him from goyng into eny other countrie while I wth the Armye shalbe in his countrie.’ Moved by Sussex's representations, Elizabeth reluctantly consented to the employment of force, and preparations were made to take the field against Shane early in April 1563. On 6 April the army encamped at Armagh, but so badly equipped and provisioned that before three weeks had elapsed or a battle had been fought Sussex was obliged to withdraw into the Pale. A fortnight later he again took the field, and, crossing the Blackwater at Braintree, penetrated as far as Clogher. A thousand of Shane's cattle were captured; but they barely sufficed for the needs of the army, and ere long the second expedition ended, like the first, in failure. Orders were given for a general hosting; but the gentry of the Pale showed no willingness to respond to the call, and, obliged to acknowledge himself beaten, Sussex retired to Drogheda.
Force having failed, Ormonde and Kildare were sent to try what could be effected by diplomacy; but Shane stoutly refused to abate one jot of his pretensions as O'Neill, and the negotiations were broken off. But for the shame of it, Elizabeth would have consented to purchase peace even at his own price. She knew that to yield to his demands would touch Sussex to the quick; but she implored him to further Sir Thomas Cusack's proposals for an agreement rather than to force her to grant Shane an unqualified pardon. Accordingly, early in September Cusack and the Earl of Kildare met Shane at Drumcree. Professing his willingness to observe his faithfulness to her majesty, he laid the blame of his recent behaviour on Sussex, whom he charged with persistent attempts to assassinate him. He could not, he declared, omit the statutes and ordinances of his predecessors, as neither he nor his subjects were skilled in the English law; but, understanding that it was not her majesty's intention to deal sharply with him, he was content to consent to a treaty, by which he gained everything and yielded nothing (see the form of peace made at Drumcree 11 Sept. 1563, in Cal. Carew MSS. i. 352). The surrender on the queen's part was complete, and though Sussex contrived to put a good face on it, he felt the disgrace keenly. Even Elizabeth, when she saw the conditions of the treaty, was moved to anger, and with her own hand struck out a clause exempting Shane from attendance on the viceroy ‘antequam intelligat an is est illi amicus et favorabilis an non,’ and referring any differences that might arise between him and the government to arbitration. Shane was of course indignant, and insisted on having the original treaty signed, or none at all. But the queen thought she had yielded enough, and Shane, who had other projects on hand, agreed to a temporary cessation of hostilities.
His prisoner, Calvagh O'Donnell, who for nearly three years had preferred to suffer the most exquisite tortures rather than yield to his
