Williamite War

Williamite War (1689–91), between supporters of James II and William III. Despite James's fall in England, Tyrconnell remained in control of most of Ireland. In Munster Justin MacCarthy suppressed Protestant resistance in Bandon (surrendered 2 Mar. 1689) and elsewhere. In eastern Ulster a Protestant association led by the earl of Mountalexander was defeated at Dromore in Co. Down (14 Mar.). However, the Protestants of north Connacht and south Ulster had assembled a formidable force commanded by Gustavus Hamilton, with headquarters at Enniskillen, and declared their allegiance to William, as, after some debate, did those of Derry. Following James's arrival on 12 March, bringing French officers and supplies, Tyrconnell's hastily expanded army was reduced from 45,000 or above to a more manageable 35,000 and placed under the command of Conrad van Rosen, a Livonian in French service. But its first major operation, the siege of Derry (18 Apr.–31 July), ended in failure. Meanwhile the Enniskillen Protestants, led by Thomas Lloyd, nicknamed ‘the little Cromwell’, defeated Jacobites threatening Ballyshannon at Belleek, Co. Fermanagh (7 May), slaughtered MacCarthy's Jacobites at Newtownbutler (31 July), occupied Sligo town, and defeated another Jacobite force at Boyle, Co. Roscommon (20 Sept.). However, the major Williamite expedition under Schomberg that landed near Belfast on 13 August failed to advance beyond Ulster, while in October Sarsfield recaptured Sligo and drove the Enniskillen men out of Connacht. The year 1689 thus ended inconclusively.

William reluctantly came to Ireland in June 1690 to take personal charge of what was now an army of 37,000 men, made up of Dutch, Huguenot, Danish, and English troops (the last including many Irish Protestant officers), as well as six regiments formed from Ulster Protestant forces. Meanwhile Louis XIV had sent about 6,000 troops, half French, the rest Germans and Walloons, to assist James, along with a new commander, the comte de Lauzun. Victory at the battle of the Boyne (1 July 1690) gave the Williamites control of Dublin and eastern Ireland, but the Jacobites still held Munster and Connacht. Williamites failed to force a crossing of the Shannon at Athlone (17–24 July), and abandoned their siege of the main Jacobite stronghold at Limerick on 30 August. Just before campaigning ended for the winter, however, they gained control of south Munster, after a seaborne expedition of 5,000 men commanded by the earl of Marlborough had captured Cork (28 Sept.) and Kinsale (15 Oct.). Tyrconnell and Lauzun sailed to France around 12 September, taking with them the French troops and leaving the duke of Berwick, James II's illegitimate son, in command. A new French commander, the marquis de Saint Ruth, arrived on 9 May 1691 to take charge of a new campaigning season. However, the capture of Athlone after a bloody ten‐day siege (21–30 June) allowed the Williamites to cross the Shannon. Defeat at Aughrim (12 July), followed by the surrender of Galway and the encirclement of Limerick, completed the collapse of what had been an apparently strong Jacobite position.

William III had initially hoped to pay for the war out of forfeited Jacobite lands. Following the failure of the first siege of Limerick, he became more flexible, but remained less ready than Ginkel to forgo the prospect of extensive forfeitures by offering the Jacobites attractive surrender terms. On the Jacobite side there were deep divisions. Surrender on terms was particularly attractive to ‘new interest men’, predominantly Old English, who held property under the Restoration settlement. Those with nothing to lose, which included most of the Gaelic Irish, were more inclined to fight on. Secret negotiations with representatives of the Jacobite peace party began in July 1690; in January 1691 Sarsfield arrested some of those involved. A Williamite proclamation on 7 July 1691 offered only limited assurances, but the articles of Galway provided more attractive surrender terms and the conversion of Sarsfield to negotiations cleared the way for the war to end with the treaty of Limerick.

The war was both an episode in a major European conflict and an Irish civil war. Despite the penal laws, the main outcome was to confirm the Protestant dominance of Irish society already established at the Restoration. The Williamite land settlement was also limited in scope. Memories of the conflict, perpetuated by regular commemoration of the victories at Derry, the Boyne, and Aughrim, nevertheless became an important part of Protestant political culture, though the precise content of the Williamite tradition was to change significantly over time.

Bibliography

Maguire, W. A. (ed.), Kings in Conflict (1990)
Simms, J. G. , Jacobite Ireland 1685–91 (1969)