Treaty of Mellifont

The Lord Deputy of Ireland, Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, had succeeded where his predecessor, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, had failed.

The war was costing three quarters of the Exchequer's annual revenue, and the aged Queen had been obliged to maintain an army of 20,000 men for several years past.

Moore, a personal friend of O'Neill, found him in early March at his retreat near Lough Neagh and persuaded him that he should negotiate peace terms, and would travel under a safe conduct.

On 2 June 1603 Mountjoy left Ireland in company with Hugh O'Neill and the new lord of Tír Conaill, Rory O'Donnell, to see King James in London.

He led the campaign by royal officials, acting on the complaints of the "servitors" (tenants) to undermine the authority of Tyrone and Tyrconnell and to erode their economic base.

When Hugh O'Neill and other rebel chieftains left Ireland in the Flight of the Earls (1607), interpreted as seeking Spanish help for a new rebellion, Chichester felt entitled to seize their lands under the law of forfeiture.