Battle of the Boyne 1690

Battle of the Boyne

In the late 1600's, two men were claimants to the English throne, William and James (Lenihan). William landed at Torbay on November 5, 1688 and marched slowly through the country, gaining followers as he went, while support for King James withered away. James fled to France on December 11, and in January 1689, Parliament declared that James had abdicated, and offered the throne to William and Mary. Although the English made an attempt to appoint Mary the sole English monarch, she rejected the proposal. William had no intention of being his wife's consort stating that if that was all England could do for him after he had saved the country, then he would go back to the Netherlands. King William and Queen Mary were declared joint sovereigns on February 13. To confirm his claim to the throne, William promised to obey the Declaration of Rights, which assured the English people of certain basic rights while making it illegal for the king to keep a standing army, levy taxes without Parliament's approval or become a Roman Catholic. William was willing to let Parliament limit his power in return for its support against France (Hayes McCoy).

In the meantime, James would not give up his kingdom without a fight. He was still supported by the Catholics of Ireland and he looked at Ireland as a stepping stone to the recovery of his throne. James landed in ireland in March 1689, and William declared war on Louis XIV the following May. Initial opposition to James' invasion was nonexistent, and he marched into Dublin on March 24 to become the first English monarch to visit the Irish capital in almost 300 years. Within a month, however, English power in Ireland had been reduced to the cities of Londonderry and Enniskillen. Those cities managed to withstand a 105-day siege and gave William time to raise a large army. William claimed the throne of Great Britain in 1689, which gave him the title of King of Ireland. However, James still controlled many parts of Ireland. In July 1689, James unsuccessfully attempted to capture Derry in northern Ireland. William, in response, sent 16,000 men to the this area. However, no battles ensued. The following year, William came to Ireland to take command.

The battle for the English throne was also a battle to determine the political climate throughout Europe (Lenihan). The Irish in the south supported James, believing that he may be more lenient with Catholics than William. The Irish in the north backed William. This religious divide occurred throughout Europe, with English, Belgian and French Catholics supporting James and their Protestant fellow-countrymen supporting William.

The Battle

In August 1689, 10,000 soldiers under the command of William's most trusted officer, Marshal Frederick Herman Schomberg, landed unopposed at Groomsport, in County Down. William's troops included not only English and Dutch soldiers, but Danish mercenaries and French Huguenots. The armies met at the Boyne river near Drogheda. James and his army of about 26,000 troops were on the south bank. William and his army of 36,000 troops were on the north bank. The battle began in the early morning. A group of 7,500 troops from William's army flanked westwards away from the battle intending to attack further up the river and approach James from behind. This move was a decoy and James took the bait, sending a large part of his army to attack this group. William's small army crossed the Boyne and marched north, tracked by the opposing soldiers. However, neither side attacked the other because there was marshy ground separating them making maneuvering difficult. At the same time, William brought his main army from behind a hill and lead his troops in a head-on attack across the Boyne (Hayes McCoy).

James did not lead his troops in battle, but chose to withdraw to a hilltop away from the battlefield. This difference in leadership styles is considered to play a large part in the swift victory of William's forces (Kinross). The Irish cavalry fought desperately, but they had been outmaneuvered and were not able to recover the ground lost due to being deployed by James against the decoy.

Within hours, William's troops were clearly winning the battle and James retreated hastily towards Dublin. At about 2 p.m., a messenger brought James the news that William's forces had secured Oldbridge and the right wing of the Jacobite army was defeated. James still had not committed the main portion of his army, which he had held in readiness for what he thought would be the main Williamite effort at Rosnaree. At that point, however, he also became aware that Williamite dragoons, commanded by Marshal Schomberg's son, Count Meinhard Schomberg, were flanking him to the south. His friend Lauzun persuaded him to withdraw to Dublin before that dragoon force cut off his escape route. His army followed in disarray, leaving behind its belongings and artillery. Continuing his escape to the south coast, where French frigates awaited him, James sailed to France, never to return to the British Isles again. On July 6, William entered Dublin in triumph. The Battle of the Boyne was a decisive European battle, one of the largest battles of its time. The defeat of James left the throne of England, and with it control of Ireland, to William. William's victory at the Boyne was less than overwhelming, but the outcome of the Irish campaign was no longer in doubt. Spain and Austria, William's partners in the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV, rejoiced upon learning of it. Illustrated brochures of the battle circulated in many parts of Europe. In Ireland itself, William's victory was to have importance that reached well beyond the politics of the day and enshrined his name in its history and folklore. The outcomes of this victory were felt across Europe and persist in Ireland to this day.

Aftermath of the Battle of the Boyle

On July 12 every year in Northern Ireland, tens of thousands of "Orangemen," so called because they commemorate William of Orange, march in celebration of the great victory at the Battle of the Boyne. The Battle of the Boyne remains a controversial topic today, especially in Northern Ireland where Protestants remember it as a great victory over Catholics and responsible for the sovereignty of Parliament and the protestant monarchy, while Catholics mourn it as a great disaster when the legitimate 'true' king sympathetic to Irish Catholics and Irish nationhood was deposed in a protestant coup However, both of these sentiments are more related to each sides' agendas and perspectives than to historical fact.