which he had three horses killed under him, the Spaniards fell back, leaving a thousand dead upon the field (Froude, Hist. of England). Through 1579 he co-operated in Flanders with the French army under François de la Noüe (cf. Correspondance de F. de la Noüe, ed. Kervyn de Volkaersbeke, 1854, pp. 143 sq., 183 sq.) On 20 Feb. 1580 he displayed exceptional prowess in the relief of Steenwyk, which was besieged by the Spaniards under the Count von Rennenberg; and in operations round Meppel he proved himself a match for the Spanish general Verdugo (Strada, De Bello Belgico, x. 560–562; Van der Aa, Woordenboek der Nederlanden, xiii. 323). His fame in England rose rapidly, and William Blandie bestowed extravagant eulogy on him in his ‘Castle or Picture of Pollicy,’ 1581 (cf. p. 25b).
Norris remained in the Netherlands—chiefly in Friesland—until March 1583–4; but the war was pursued with less energy in the last two years. When he was again in England, it was reported at court that he was ‘not to return in haste’ (Birch, Memoirs, i. 37, 47). In July 1584 he was sent for a second time to Ireland, and the responsible office of lord-president of Munster was conferred on him. He at once made his way to his province; but the misery that he found prevailing there he had no means of checking, and his soldiers deserted him in order to serve again in the Low Countries (cf. Cal. State Papers, Ireland, 1574–85, pp. xci, xcii, 554). In September 1584 Norris accompanied the lord-deputy Perrot on an expedition against his earlier opponents, the Scottish settlers in Ulster. With the Earl of Ormonde he set about clearing the country of cattle, the Scots' chief means of support, and seized fifty thousand cattle round Glenconkein in Londonderry. No decisive results followed, and Norris returned to Munster to urge the home government to plant English settlers there. In the following winter the Ulster Scots grew more threatening than before, and Norris was summoned to Dublin by Perrot. He complained that the lord-deputy would not permit him to go north; but as M.P. for co. Cork he attended the parliament which Perrot opened on 26 April 1585, and distinguished himself by the forcible eloquence with which he supported measures to confirm the queen's authority over the country (ib. pp. 563, 565).
But Norris's ambition was directed to other fields. He had no wish, he admitted, ‘to be drowned in this forgetful corner’ (ib. p. 557); and the news that the Spaniards were besieging Antwerp and likely to capture it from the Dutch aroused all his enthusiasm in behalf of his former allies. He was anxious that Queen Elizabeth should directly intervene in the struggle of the Dutch protestants with Spain. Obtaining a commission by which his office as president of Munster was temporarily transferred to his brother Thomas, he hurried to London in May 1585. On 10 Aug. a treaty was concluded between Elizabeth and the States-General, whereby four thousand foot soldiers and four hundred horse were to be placed at their disposal. On 12 Aug. Norris was appointed to the command of this army, and left England twelve days later. The queen, when informing the States-General of his appointment, reminded them of his former achievements in their service. ‘We hold him dear,’ she added; ‘and he deserves also to be dear to you’ (Motley, United Netherlands, i. 334). Soon after his arrival in Holland Norris stormed with conspicuous gallantry a fort held by the Spaniards near Arnhem; but the queen, who still preferred her old policy of vacillation, resented his activity, and wrote to him on 31 Oct. that he had neglected his instructions, ‘her meaning in the action which she had undertaken being to defend, and not to offend.’ Nevertheless, Norris repulsed Alexander of Parma, the Spanish leader, in another skirmish before Arnheim on 15 Nov., and threatened Nymegen, which ‘he found not so flexible as he had hoped.’ But he was without adequate supplies of clothing, food, or money, and soon found himself in a desperate plight. There was alarming mortality among his troops, and his appeals for aid were disregarded at home. In December the Earl of Leicester arrived with a new English army, and, accepting the office of governor of the Low Countries, inaugurated the open alliance of England with the Dutch, which the queen had been very reluctant to recognise.
In February 1586 Norris left Utrecht to relieve Grave. The city was besieged by Alexander of Parma, and formed almost the only barrier to the advance of the Spaniards into the northern provinces of Holland. Norris was joined by native troops under the command of Count Hohenlohe. Three thousand men thus formed the attacking force. A desperate encounter followed on 15 April, and Norris received a pike-wound in the breast (Grimeston, Hist. of Netherlands, p. 827); but he succeeded in forcing the Spanish lines and provisioning the town. Leicester described the engagement as a great victory, and knighted Norris during a great feast he gave at Utrecht on St. George's day (26 April). Owing, however, to the treachery of Count Hemart, the governor
