In May (1595) Hugh O’Neill himself came into the field, his brother Art having previously captured Portmore. He laid siege to Monaghan, but Bagenal marched to its relief, and he was forced to withdraw. The Deputy Russell, with Sir John Norris, invaded North Ulster, and pressed on to Armagh, O’Neill retreating before them. The army then turned south, and the Deputy went back to Dublin, leaving Norris in command. O’Neill defeated him at Clontibret, on the river Erne, near Monaghan. The English were forced to retreat, and Monaghan soon after surrendered. The Irish victory was followed by a great extension of the revolt. Almost the whole of the Connacht chiefs now threw in their lot with the National party.In the winter hostilities grew less active. The English authorities proposed negotiations, and the Irish agreed. Probably there was little sincerity on either side. In January 1596, O’Neill and O’Donnell, with some of their allies, met the English Commissioners in a field near Dundalk. They demanded complete religious liberty ; that no sheriff or other English official should come into Tir Owen or Tirconnell,orinto the lands of any of the chiefs who had joined them ; and that no garrisons should be planted in Ulster, except at Carrickfergus and Newry. These terms were refused ; the demand for religious freedom being specially objected to as most insolent.