William FitzWilliam (Lord Deputy)

[citation needed] Between 1559 and 1571 he served five times as Lord Justice of Ireland (during the absences of the Earl of Sussex, and of his successor, Sir Henry Sidney).

[2] FitzWilliam quarrelled bitterly with the Lord President of Connaught, Sir Edward Fitton (1527–1579), but he did manage to compel the troublesome Earl of Desmond into submission in 1574.

[2] In 1588 FitzWilliam was again in Ireland as Lord Deputy, and although old and ill he displayed great activity in leading expeditions, and found time to quarrel with Sir Richard Bingham (1528–1599), the new President of Connaught.

FitzWilliam immediately seized on an opportunity to discredit him by giving countenance to the allegations by a renegade priest that Perrot had plotted with King Philip II of Spain to overthrow the Queen.

[citation needed] The Spanish threat was readily dealt with, and FitzWilliam turned up the pressure on those Ulster lords who owed their allegiance to the Earl of Tyrone.

One of these lords, the MacMahon, was put to death by royal authority in Monaghan town in 1591, and it became clear that the Dublin government was set on thoroughly curbing the power of the Gaelic leaders of Ulster.