Stukley, undeterred by his failure to purchase…

Stukley, undeterred by his failure to purchase lands in Ulster, had been appointed seneschal of the lands in the possession of the ancient Kavanagh clan in the southeast of the province of Leinster, and had some say in the controversial land claims of his adversary, Peter Carew (who succeeds him in that office).

He had gone on to buy lands from Sir Nicholas Heron in the adjacent County Wexford, and had been appointed by Sidney to the office of seneschal there, but the queen objected to the appointment and in June 1568 he had been dismissed in favor of Sir Nicholas White.

Stukley had fallen prey to the disputes between Sidney and White's patron, Sir Thomas Butler, which had resulted, in the following year, in a rebuke to Sidney by the queen for his use of Stukley in the negotiations with O'Neill.

Stukley had in June 1569 been committed to custody in Dublin Castle for eighteen weeks, on White's information that he had used coarse language against the queen and supported certain rebels.

He had again been acquitted, and in October 1569 the authorities had released him.

He had been suspected of proposing an invasion of Ireland to King Philip II of Spain, and soon after his release he had offered his services to Fénelon, the French ambassador in London.

He returns to Ireland in 1570, where he fits out a ship at Waterford and makes a great show of his piety, proceeding through the streets of the city on his knees as he offers himself up to God.

He sails from Waterford on the seventeenth of April, supposedly for London, but his real destination lies at Vimiero, in Portugal.

He has twenty-eight men on board, but only the sole Italian knows their course.