The Battle of the Boyne
The Battle of the Boyne (Irish: Cath na Bóinne) was a turning point in the Williamite claim on the English throne.
The deposed King James VII of Scotland and James II of England and Ireland and his Jacobite supporters were defeated by James' nephew and son-in-law, William III and his supporters. By the invitation of Parliament, William had deposed James in 1688. Both kings acted as commander of their respective armies.
The battle took place on July 1, 1690 (Old Style) just outside the town of Drogheda on Ireland's east coast. Each army stood on opposing sides of the River Boyne. William's forces easily defeated those of James who led an army of mostly raw recruits. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known battles in British and Irish history and a key part in Irish Protestant folklore. It is still commemorated today, principally by the Orange Institution. As a consequence of the adoption of the Gregorian calendar ("New Style" dating), the battle is now commemorated on July 12 each year.
A sectarian battle?
The battle of the Boyne is seen as the decisive encounter in a war that was primarily about James' attempt to regain the thrones of England and Scotland and was the result of Parliament's move to put William on the throne, but is especially widely remembered as a crucial moment in the struggle between Irish Protestant and Catholic interests.
Recent analyses have played down the religious aspect of the conflict. In fact, both armies were religiously mixed; William of Orange's own elite force — the Dutch Blue Guards — had a papal banner with them on that day, many of them being Dutch Catholics. They were part of the League of Augsburg, a cross-Christian alliance designed to stop a French conquest of Europe, supported by the Vatican. The war in Ireland was also the beginning of a long-running but ultimately unsuccessful campaign by James' Jacobite supporters to restore the Stuarts to the British thrones. While most Jacobites in
The deposed King James VII of Scotland and James II of England and Ireland and his Jacobite supporters were defeated by James' nephew and son-in-law, William III and his supporters. By the invitation of Parliament, William had deposed James in 1688. Both kings acted as commander of their respective armies.
The battle took place on July 1, 1690 (Old Style) just outside the town of Drogheda on Ireland's east coast. Each army stood on opposing sides of the River Boyne. William's forces easily defeated those of James who led an army of mostly raw recruits. The symbolic importance of this battle has made it one of the best-known battles in British and Irish history and a key part in Irish Protestant folklore. It is still commemorated today, principally by the Orange Institution. As a consequence of the adoption of the Gregorian calendar ("New Style" dating), the battle is now commemorated on July 12 each year.
A sectarian battle?
The battle of the Boyne is seen as the decisive encounter in a war that was primarily about James' attempt to regain the thrones of England and Scotland and was the result of Parliament's move to put William on the throne, but is especially widely remembered as a crucial moment in the struggle between Irish Protestant and Catholic interests.
Recent analyses have played down the religious aspect of the conflict. In fact, both armies were religiously mixed; William of Orange's own elite force — the Dutch Blue Guards — had a papal banner with them on that day, many of them being Dutch Catholics. They were part of the League of Augsburg, a cross-Christian alliance designed to stop a French conquest of Europe, supported by the Vatican. The war in Ireland was also the beginning of a long-running but ultimately unsuccessful campaign by James' Jacobite supporters to restore the Stuarts to the British thrones. While most Jacobites in