Williamite War in Ireland
The Williamite War in Ireland [a] took place from March 1689 to October 1691. Fought by Jacobite supporters of James II and his successor, William III, it resulted in a Williamite victory. It is generally viewed as a related conflict of the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War.
The November 1688 Glorious Revolution replaced the Catholic James with his Protestant daughter Mary II and her husband William, who ruled as joint monarchs of England, Ireland and Scotland. However, James retained considerable support in largely Catholic Ireland, where it was hoped he would address long-standing grievances on land ownership, religion and civic rights.
The war began in March 1689 with a series of skirmishes between James's Irish Army, which had stayed loyal in 1688, and Protestant militia.[5] Fighting culminated in the siege of Derry, where the Jacobites failed to regain control of one of the north's key towns.[6] This enabled William to land an expeditionary force, which defeated the main Jacobite army at the Boyne in July 1690. James returned to France after the battle, while the Jacobites were decisively defeated at Aughrim in 1691. The war ended with the Treaty of Limerick in October 1691.
One contemporary witness, George Story, calculated the war cost over 100,000 lives through sickness, famine, and in battle.[3] Subsequent Jacobite risings were confined to Scotland and England, but the war was to have a lasting effect on the political and cultural landscape of Ireland, confirming British and Protestant rule over the country for over two centuries. While the Treaty of Limerick had offered a series of guarantees to Catholics, subsequent extension of the Penal Laws, particularly during the War of the Spanish Succession, would further erode their civic rights.
War[edit]
1688–1689: the North[edit]
Prior to November 1688, James was so confident Ireland would remain loyal that he ordered 2,500 troops, or around 40% of the Irish army, transferred to England.[13] This deprived Tyrconnell of vital trained personnel, while their presence led to near mutiny in several of James' most reliable English units.[14] Many of the Irish rank and file were arrested after William's landing, and later sent to serve under Emperor Leopold in the Austrian–Ottoman War.[15]