ut without much resistance, and
therefore decreed the complete disarmament of all Irish retainers who
still acknowledged the leadership of the chieftains. One of the greatest
of these chieftains, O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnel, was called upon to
conform openly to the English Church, under pain of being proceeded
against as a traitor.

The state of things he found existing on his return to Ireland would
naturally have driven Tyrone into rebellion, and the rulers of the
country appear to have made up their minds that he must be planning some
such rising. Tyrconnel was naturally regarded as an enemy of the same
order, and the policy of the ruling powers was to anticipate their
designs and condemn them in advance. Tyrone and Tyrconnel were
accordingly proclaimed traitors to the King. The two earls determined
that, as immediate insurrection had no chance of success, there was no
safety for them but in prompt escape from the country.

Then followed "the flight of the earls." Tyrone and Tyrconnel, with their
families and many of their friends and retainers, nearly a hundred
persons in all, made their escape in one vessel from the Irish shore,
and for twenty-one days were at the mercy of the sea and of the
equinoctial winds, for they sailed about the middle of September. A story
characteristic of the faith which then filled the hearts of Irish
chieftains is told. Tyrone fastened his golden crucifix to a string and
drew it through the sea at the stern of the vessel, in the hope that the
waves might thus be stilled. In the first week of October they landed on
the shore of France and travelled on to Rouen, receiving nothing but
kindness from the French. When King James heard of their flight he at
once demanded from France the surrender of the earls, but Henry IV
refused to surrender them.

Henry received the exiles with gracious and friendly greeting, but it was
not thought prudent by the earls, any more than by the French King, they
should remain in France at the risk of involving the two countries in
war. The earls, with their families and followers, went into Flanders
and then on to Rome. Pope Paul V gave them a cordial welcome, and made
liberal arrangements for their maintenance, while the King of Spain
showed his traditional sympathy with Ireland by settling pensions on
them. Tyrconnel died soon after, in the Franciscan Church of St. Pietro
di Montorio, and was laid in his grave wrapped in the robe of a
Franciscan friar. Ty