In 1575 James Fitzmaurice fled from Ireland to seek assistance from some of the Catholic rulers of the Continent. His petitions met, however, with scant success in Paris, Lisbon, and Madrid, and it was only from Pope Gregory XIII. that he received any promise of men and arms. Already an English adventurer named Stukely had been intriguing with the Pope to obtain a small army and fleet for a descent upon Ireland, and the celebrated English theologian and controversialist, Nicholas Sander,[70] who was working at the Roman Court on behalf of the English exiles, also favoured the attempt. The expedition started in 1578, but when Stukely, who was in supreme command, reached Lisbon, he joined his forces with those of the King of Portugal in an attack on the Moors, in the course of which he was killed, and his army was destroyed. By the exertions of Sander and of the nuncio at Madrid, Fitzmaurice was enabled to fit out a small ship, and in 1579, accompanied by Sander as papal representative, he arrived in Dingle. At once he addressed an appeal to the people to join him in fighting for the faith against a heretical sovereign. So terrified were the vast body of the noblemen by the punishments inflicted on them already and by the fear of losing all their property in case of another defeat that the proclamation met with only a poor response. Ormond joined Sir William Pelham against the rebels, as did also several of the old enemies of the Geraldines. Fitzmaurice himself was killed early in the campaign by the Burkes of Castleconnell, and although the Earl of Desmond at last decided to take up arms, there was no longer any hope of success. For years the way was carried on with relentless cruelty by Pelham and afterwards by Lord Grey de Wilton; the crops and the cattle were destroyed in a hope of starving out the scattered followers of Desmond, and a force composed of Spaniards and Italians were butchered after they agreed to surrender the fortress of Dunanore. Viscount Baltinglass hastened to take up arms against the Deputy, and with the assistance of Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne he inflicted a severe defeat on Lord Grey at Glenmalure (1580). But in the end the rebellion was completely suppressed, and the Earl of Desmond was taken and murdered (1583). Two years before, Nicholas Sander, the papal representative, died in a wood near Limerick after having received the last sacraments at the hands of the Bishop of Killaloe.[71]