Sir William Skeffington, the deputy, was ordered to crush the rebellion, and he pursued the Kildare faction into their strongholds, besieging the Castle of Maynooth, while its owner was in Connaught collecting troops. The castle could have held out until the arrival of its owner, but the inevitable Irish traitor appeared in the person of Christopher Parese, a creature who had received many benefits at the hands of Lord Offaly and his father. Parese betrayed the castle for a reward, which was {66} promptly paid him, but the deputy immediately had him executed, because he dare not trust a rogue who had already betrayed one benefactor. Treachery was again employed by Skeffington's successor, Lord Grey, and eventually Lord Offaly, tenth Earl of Kildare, and five of his uncles were executed on Tower Hill. The ten-year-old heir to the earldom would, doubtless, have perished also, but he had a remarkable mother, who kept him in hiding for some years, and succeeded in smuggling him out of the country to France, where his education was supervised by the famous Cardinal Pole. Lord Grey continued in office until 1540, and although, from the English point of view, he ruled well and successfully, on his return to England he was imprisoned and subsequently executed, the ostensible reason being his partiality for the Kildares. Grey was replaced by a remarkable man, Sir Anthony St. Leger, whose three terms of office covered thirteen years. Sir William Brereton, a foolish person, was the deputy until St. Leger arrived, and distinguished himself by leading a vast army in search of a phantom enemy. St. Leger, from the moment he arrived in Ireland, set about restoring some order in the country, and he succeeded so well that the historians of the period call attention to the amazing fact that the sight was actually seen of English lords and Irish chiefs meeting in the same chamber and proclaiming Henry VIII. King of Ireland. St. Leger went further than this, and {67} actually paid the debts incurred during his viceroyalty. [Sidenote: Religious persecution] In 1548 he was recalled, and Sir Edward Bellingham ordered to act as deputy and to punish those Irish who had not become Protestants by Act of Parliament. This was a new feature in Irish politics, but Bellingham found diplomacy, force, and threats, and persecution equally ineffective, and he retired in disgust. Sir Francis Bryan followed as deputy in 1550, but he died the same year, and Brabazon, hastily elected in his stead, retired when Sir Anthony St. Leger returned, to be welcomed by all classes. He held office until 1556, save for a period between 1551-52, when Sir James Croft represented him, and when he retired he had the satisfaction of knowing that he left Ireland better off than when he found it.