By Edward O’Mahony
In my last column I wrote about the Protestant uprising in Bandon in February 1689. A few weeks after that event, James II, the former king of England, landed in Kinsale as part of an effort to regain his throne. In 1688, James’ Catholicism and his increasingly autocratic rule had led the British Parliament to formally offer the crown of England to Mary, James’ Protestant daughter, and her Dutch husband, William of Orange. When the English army subsequently deserted his cause, James was left with no option but to flee to France, which he did in December 1688. Only in Ireland, among the Catholic population, did James continue to enjoy any support.
James, and Ireland, now became pawns in a much larger game. Louis XIV had been trying for many years to enlarge his realm to the north, but the Dutch, and in particular, William, the Prince of Orange, had repeatedly foiled the French king’s efforts. Louis XIV, who had declared war on the Dutch in November 1688, felt that he could successfully place pressure on William by supporting the government in Ireland, which under the stewardship of Lord Deputy Tyrconnell was still loyal to James. At the beginning of 1689, a French naval officer was sent to Ireland to report on the situation there. The officer found the Catholic population to be enthusiastic supporters of James, and he reported that with French assistance in money and arms Tyrconnell would be able to overcome resistance by Protestant colonists in Ireland, repel an invasion by William of Orange, and even carry the fight into England. The report was accepted by the French government, and it was decided to send James II to Ireland, where it was felt his presence would inspire Irish Catholics with even more enthusiasm for his cause.
On 12 March 1689, James II landed at Kinsale, Co. Cork, accompanied by a number of French officers, as well as various English, Scottish, and Irish supporters. The English navy had been ordered to prevent James II from landing in Ireland, but it failed to intercept his convoy. A second expedition, which set sail from Brest on 26 April with a further supply of weapons and a number of Jacobite troops, managed to get safely to Bantry Bay. The French managed to land the troops and supplies before a British naval squadron intercepted them on 1 May. An inconclusive battle was fought, which left 96 English and about 40 Frenchmen dead, before the English vessels were forced to break off the naval engagement. The French later returned to Brest safely.
After landing at Kinsale, James II proceeded to Cork where he was met by Tyrconnell. James’ prospects appeared to be highly favourable at the time. A large army had been raised by Tyrconnell in Ireland, and even though it was unpaid and lacked weapons, French aid was expected to remedy those deficiencies. Protestant resistance had been crushed everywhere except in the north, and Tyrconnell had sent an army under Richard Hamilton to bring Ulster under James’ control. James’ journey from Cork to Dublin was a triumphal progress, with enthusiastic crowds welcoming him all along the route. Once in Dublin, James responded to overwhelming demand and called a parliament, which met on 7 May. Justin MacCarthy, the army commander who had put down the Protestant uprising in Bandon, was the MP for County Cork. MacCarthy was given the honour of bringing the Bill for the Repeal of the Act of Settlement from the Commons to the House of Lords. This bill prepared the way for the restoration of lands to those families, mostly Catholic, which had held them prior to the rebellion of 1641. Another act threatened to confiscate most of the land owned by Protestants before the Cromwellian settlement by charging them with treason. Both acts caused outrage in England, and they helped to harden Williamite feeling against the supporters of James II.
During this period, the Jacobite forces were also engaged in a frustrating siege of the city of Derry. Derry had become the primary center of Protestant resistance after Jacobite forces had won a string of victories in eastern part of Ulster in late March and April. The siege, which was to become one of the most famous incidents of the war, began on 18 April and lasted for 105 days. The Jacobite army was forced to raise the siege after two merchant vessels successfully breached a boom that had been laid across the Foyle and resupplied the inhabitants with food and other goods. On the same day the siege of Derry was lifted, the 31 July, Jacobite forces under Justin MacCarthy were defeated at Newtownbutler near Enniskillen by a Williamite army consisting of Protestants from northern Connacht and southern Ulster. MacCarthy was seriously wounded in the encounter and was subsequently captured and held as a prisoner in Enniskillen.
The twin defeats came as a serious blow to James II. His army was forced to withdraw from most of Ulster, and desertion became widespread. At this moment of crisis, Tyrconnell once more came to the fore and managed to rebuild the army and organize the country to resist invasion. In England, William III had been unwilling to use the regular army in Ireland, so he ordered that a number of new regiments be raised. Irish Protestant nobles and gentlemen who had fled to England on the outbreak of the war were placed in command of these new regiments, and the force was stiffened with the addition of some Huguenot and Dutch regiments. Overall command of the army was given to the veteran soldier, the Duke of Schomberg. On 13 August, Schomberg landed in Belfast Lough and shortly afterwards captured the castle of Carrickfergus, which was the sole remaining Jacobite center of resistance in the north.
Schomberg now headed south as far as Dundalk, but once he arrived there he found himself very short of supplies for his army. He therefore decided to encamp for the winter just north of the town, a decision that was to have disastrous consequences. The camp site was on marshy ground and subject to heavy rainfall, with the result that disease soon broke out and several thousand men lost their lives. James was aware of the state of Schomberg’s army, but apart from a token show of force he did not seriously engage the Williamite army, and soon afterwards, James and his army retired to winter quarters as well.
During the early months of 1690, both the Jacobites and the Williamites prepared for what they knew would be the crucial battle. William was determined not to repeat his mistake of the previous year, when he had completely under-estimated the forces needed to crush the forces of James II. Accordingly, he hired 6,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry from the king of Denmark and sent them to Ireland in March 1690. In April and May, Dutch, German, and English troops were also sent to Ireland, and supplies were sent over in greater quantities. William himself arrived in Ireland on 14 June, accompanied by 15,000 soldiers and numerous artillery pieces.
Some preparations for the coming conflict were made on the Jacobite side, but a lot of effort was apparently wasted on revelry and games. Nevertheless, Tyrconnell once more illustrated considerable energy in getting uniforms made, establishing the local manufacture of muskets, and generally equipping the army. In March 1690, the French sent 7,000 soldiers to assist James, but Louis XIV demanded that an equivalent number of Irish troops be sent to France in their place. James therefore sent five Irish regiments to France, which formed the core of the first Irish Brigade, under the command of Justin MacCarthy. MacCarthy had escaped from his imprisonment in Enniskillen in December 1689, and he and the Irish Brigade were to serve with distinction in Catalonia and Savoy. The good impression created by this first Irish Brigade led the French to request more Irish troops, and it paved the way for thousands of Irish soldiers to serve in the French army after the Treaty of Limerick.
After William landed in Belfast Lough, James rejected the advice of his French advisors to head westwards and instead marched north to meet his adversary. James and his army made it as far as Dundalk, but on hearing that William was approaching retreated back to the Boyne. On 30 June, William arrived at the north bank of the river to find the Jacobite army encamped on the opposite bank. At that point, William had a combined force of 36,000 men, consisting of English, Danish, German, Huguenot, and Dutch troops, as well as the Derry and Inniskilling regiments, which were made up of Ulster Protestant colonists. The Jacobite army consisted of 25,000 French and Irish troops.
On 1 July, the two armies clashed on the banks of the Boyne. Superior forces and tactics gave the victory to William, and James fled to Dublin as soon as he realized his army had lost the battle. Shortly afterwards he headed for the coast, and on 4 July, James sailed from Kinsale for France, never to return. Following the battle of the Boyne, Tyrconnell and the French were inclined to seek terms of surrender from William. They were opposed, however, by an army group led by Patrick Sarsfield, a cavalry commander who would later become an icon of the war. Sarsfield and his supporters gained the upper hand in the dispute, helped by the news of a French naval victory in the English Channel and rumours of a proposed French invasion of England. The news of the naval defeat kept William near the east coast of Ireland for several weeks, as he tried to decide whether to return to England or continue on his campaign against the Jacobite army in Ireland. The delay gave the Jacobite forces time to rally at Limerick and Athlone. These two points gave the Irish forces control of the Shannon, and it placed them in a very strong position to resist William’s army.
Athlone repelled a Williamite attack shortly after the battle of the Boyne, and this, together with William’s insistence on unconditional surrender, stiffened the determination of the Irish forces. In the second week of August, William and his forces reached the outskirts of Limerick. Although the city’s fortifications were not particularly strong, it was a place of great natural strength. William directed his initial attack on the Irish section of the city, which lay on the east bank of the river. William’s artillery managed to blow a hole in the city’s walls, but the Irish forces were able to hold off all English attacks on the position. Eventually William’s ammunition ran out and he was forced to raise the siege and return to England at the end of August. Limerick was a major setback for William and a great encouragement to the Irish forces. At this moment, however, when victory might still have been a possibility, the French decided to sail back to France.
Shortly afterwards, on September 23, the Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill (a distant ancestor of Winston Churchill), arrived at Passage West, on the western shore of Cork harbour. Marlborough brought with him a combined force of Dutch and Danish troops, and he quickly surrounded Cork. A heavy bombardment of the city ensued, and on September 28, Cork was forced to surrender. Kinsale held out for another fortnight, but on October 15, it too had to surrender. The surrender of Cork and Kinsale represented a major blow to the Irish forces. Marlborough was able to capture 4,500 Jacobite soldiers at Cork, as well as a couple of hundred more at Kinsale. More importantly, by seizing those two ports, he had severed the main links the Jacobites had with France. After capturing Kinsale, Marlborough returned to England, leaving a Dutch general, Ginkel, in command of the Williamite forces in Ireland. Ginkel felt the war in Ireland was a regrettable side-show, which diverted men and materiel from the main theatre of war in Holland, and he strongly felt that generous terms should be offered to the Irish Jacobites in order to end the war. Both armies now settled into winter quarters, but the advantage had now definitely shifted to the supporters of William.
The Williamite campaign of 1691 opened with an attack on Athlone in early June. The town fell on 30 June, and it was quickly followed by the disastrous battle at Aughrim in Co. Galway, where over 7,000 Irish troops were killed. Events now proceeded rapidly. Galway fell on 21 July, and by the end of August, Ginkel’s forces were besieging Limerick. Sarsfield, who was now in command of the Irish forces, realized there was no longer any pointing in holding out, and on 23 September he asked for a ceasefire. On 3 October, the Treaty of Limerick was signed, which permitted all Jacobite soldiers to travel unmolested to France if they wished. This marked the end of Jacobite resistance in Ireland. Over 12,000 men left with Sarsfield for France, where they formed the nucleus of the famous “wild geese,” the Irish regiments who fought for France during the 18th century.
James II landed at Kinsale three hundred and thirteen years ago this month, marking the start of the Williamite war in Ireland.
For Further Reading: The best survey of the Williamite war is J.G. Simms’ “Jacobite Ireland.” For events in Cork, I would recommend I would recommend “Cork: History & Society,” edited by Patrick O’Flanagan and Cornelius G. Buttimer, as well as J. R. Thullier’s “History of Kinsale.”