Treaty of Limerick
The Treaty of Limerick (Irish: Conradh Luimnigh), signed on 3 October 1691, ended the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland, a conflict related to the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War. It consisted of two separate agreements, one with military terms of surrender, signed by commanders of a French expeditionary force and Irish Jacobites loyal to the exiled James II. Baron de Ginkell, leader of government forces in Ireland, signed on behalf of William III and his wife Mary II. It allowed Jacobite units to be transported to France, the diaspora known as the Flight of the Wild Geese.
Signed
3 October 1691
Civil Articles
Baron de Ginkell
de Tessé- D'Usson
- Latour Monfort
Earl of Lucan- Viscount Galmoye
- Mark Talbot
- Nicholas Purcell
English
The other set out conditions for those who remained, including guarantees of religious freedom for Catholics, and retention of property for those who remained in Ireland. Many were subsequently altered or ignored, establishing the Protestant Ascendancy that dominated Ireland until the Catholic emancipation in the first half of the 19th century.[1]
Military articles[edit]
These articles dealt with the treatment of the disbanded Jacobite army. Under the treaty, Jacobite soldiers in formed regiments had the option to leave with their arms and flags for France to continue serving under James II in the Irish Brigade. Some 14,000 Jacobites chose this option and were marched south to Cork where they embarked on ships for France, many of them accompanied by their wives and children. Individual soldiers wanting to join the French, Spanish or Austrian armies also emigrated in what became known as the Flight of the Wild Geese.
The Jacobite soldiers also had the option of joining the Williamite army. 1,000 soldiers chose this option. The Jacobite soldiers thirdly had the option of returning home which some 2,000 soldiers chose.
This treaty had twenty-nine articles, which were agreed upon between Lieutenant-General Ginkle, Commander-in-Chief of the English army, and the Lieutenant-Generals D'Usson and de Tessé, Commanders-in-Chief of the Irish army. The articles were signed by D'Usson, Le Chevalier de Tesse, Latour Montfort, Patrick Sarsfield (Earl of Lucan), Colonel Nicholas Purcell of Loughmoe, Mark Talbot, and Piers, Viscount Galmoy.
Civil articles[edit]
These articles protected the rights of the defeated Jacobite landed gentry and merchants who chose to remain in Ireland, most of whom were Catholics. Their property was not to be confiscated so long as they swore allegiance to William III and Mary II, and Catholic noblemen were to be allowed to bear arms. Four were included by name: Colonel Lutterel, Captain Rowland White, Maurice Eustace of Yeomanstown, and Chievers of Maystown commonly called Mount Leinster. William required peace in Ireland and was allied to the Papacy in 1691 within the League of Augsburg.
This Treaty contained thirteen articles which were agreed upon, on the Williamite side, by the Lords Justices of Ireland — Sir Charles Porter and Thomas Coningsby, 1st Earl Coningsby — and the Commander-in-Chief, Baron de Ginkel; and on the Jacobite side by Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan; Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye; Colonels Nicholas Purcell of Loughmoe, Nicholas Cusack, Garrett Dillon, and John Brown; and Sir Toby Butler, who was the actual draftsman. The treaty was signed by Porter, Coningsby, and de Ginkel, and witnessed by Scavenmoer, H. Mackay, and T. Talmash.
It has been said that "the ink was not dry on the Treaty" before the English broke it—the civil articles were not honoured by the victorious Williamite government.[5] The few Catholic landowners who took the oath in 1691-93 remained protected, including their descendants. Those who did not were known as "non-jurors", and their loyalty to the new regime was automatically suspect. Some managed to have outlawry specifically reversed, such as the 8th Viscount Dillon in 1694, or the Earl of Clanricarde in 1701.
The Papacy again recognized James II as the lawful king of Ireland from 1693. From 1695 this provoked a series of harsh penal laws to be enacted by the Parliament of Ireland, to make it difficult for the Irish Catholic gentry who had not taken the oath by 1695 to remain Catholic. The laws were extended for political reasons by the Dublin administration during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14), and reforms did not start until the 1770s.
It is often thought that Limerick was the only treaty between the Jacobites and the Williamites. A similar treaty had been signed on the surrender of Galway on 22 July 1691, but without the strict loyalty oath required under the Treaty of Limerick. The Galway garrison had been organised by the mostly-Catholic landed gentry of counties Galway and Mayo, who benefited from their property guarantees in the following century. The Limerick treaty marked the end of the war.
In the following 8 years further confiscations were made from the continuing adherents to the Jacobite cause, and also further pardons were granted. The Commissioners of Forfeitures reported to the Irish House of Commons in December 1699 as follows:[6][7]
Of these,