#williamites

In 1685, the Roman Catholic James II came to the throne of England. His agent Richard Talbot, earl of Tyrconnell, started to dismiss Protestant officers from the army in Ireland, replacing them with Roman Catholics. For English Protestants, the last straw came when the birth of a son to his second wife meant that his Protestant daughter Mary would not succeed to the throne. In the summer of 1688,…

Image courtesy of William Hart McNichols via Fine Art America.

William of Montevergine, or William of Vercelli (1085 – 25 June 1142), also known as William the Abbot, was a Catholic hermit and the founder of the Congregation of Monte Vergine or "Williamites."

William was born in 1085 to a noble family. He was orphaned as an infant and raised by relatives.

At the young age of 14, he made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain and decided to devote his life to God as a hermit.

On his pilgrimage to Compostela, William asked a blacksmith to make an iron implement that would encircle his body and increase his suffering. He wore it throughout the pilgrimage.

After he returned to Italy, he intended to go to Jerusalem. For this purpose, he reached South Italy.

However, he was beaten up and robbed by thieves.

He considered this misfortune a sign of God's will to stay in South Italy and spread the message of Christ.

He returned to Italy and lived as a hermit for two years at Monte Solicoli, where he was credited with healing a blind man.

At Monte Vergiliano, his reputation for holiness attracted many disciples, and in 1119, he established a monastery with a Rule based on the Benedictines.

Five other houses were formed during his lifetime but only the original survives today.

He died on 25 June 1142 of natural causes.

The popularity of tv shows like Britain’s Derry Girls (2018-present) which depicts life in Northern Ireland during the 1990′s near the tail end of the conflict known as The Troubles which lasted officially from the 1960′s until 1998′s Good Friday Agreement has renewed some interest in the conflict and more broadly Northern Ireland, in particular its future.  While that tv show is principally focused on the social growing pains of being a teenager and the use of The Troubles is more a backdrop, that comes in and out of the character’s lives and while it is set in a particular time and time, its popularity is a testament to the adage from Irish author James Joyce “in the particular is contained the universal.”  It appeals to many people the world over outside of Northern Ireland and has contributed to a slight resurgence in discussion about this corner of the world and its history and indeed wonder about its present and future.  As always to understand the present and potentially the future, we need to understand the past.  This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of one of Northern Ireland’s darkest chapters and indeed for many, a deciding event in The Troubles, where for some battle lines were drawn and hearts hardened.  Leading to another quarter century of conflict...

Historical Overview (The British in Ireland):

-The conflict in Northern Ireland had many short-term immediate causes but also had roots in centuries old conflicts as well.  At the heart was the ongoing political presence of Britain in Ireland.  This indeed is an issue that goes back to the Middle Ages.

-Following the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, the new Anglo-Norman dynasty and its aristocracy had some designs on expanding their rule to Ireland.  In part because Ireland had provided a safe haven for enemies of the Anglo-Normans.

-In the 11th and 12th centuries, Ireland was never historically one united political entity, instead it was a complex mix of various kingdoms that alternately were at peace and war with each other, fortunes waxing and waning with the passing of time.  There had been at times, a nominal High King of Ireland, to whom other petty Irish kings owed their allegiance and who held sort of a symbolic position but never exercised total control over the whole of Ireland. 

-In 1166 a civil war broke out.  A political coalition lead by then High King of Ireland, Rory O’Connor who was also King of Connacht ousted the King of Leinster Dermot MacMurrough.  Dermot fled to Wales and onto England & France to request Anglo-Norman assistance in his restoration to the throne.  

-Henry II, King of England gave permission for Dermot to use Anglo-Norman soldiers and mercenaries in his program, including an Anglo-Norman noble named Richard de Clare, known to history as Strongbow.  As part of Strongbow’s deal with Dermot, he would get to marry the Irish exile’s daughter in exchange for having his soldiers assist Dermot getting back Leinster.

-1169 saw an army of Anglo-Normans and Welsh mercenaries land in Ireland, touching off the first lasting English presence on the Emerald Isle.  The Anglo-Normans also eventually included Maurice Fitzgerald whose family was to play a role in Ireland’s history.

-The Anglo-Normans with their heavy armor and fierce and capable fighting skills proved too much for the Irish soldiers of the time, taking Wexford, Waterford & Dublin by 1170.  Dermot’s gamble paid off in that he got the High King Rory O’Connor to agree to return Leinster to him in exchange for recognizing O’Connor as High King.

-Strongbow did indeed marry Dermot’s daughter Aoife and after Dermot’s death in 1171, he claimed kingship of Leinster in his wife’s name while her brother also did.  Meanwhile, Henry II of England was growing concerned about the ongoing presence of his nobles in Ireland gaining too much local influence.  

-Strongbow had his lands in England, Wales & France confiscated by the English crown, so a deal was cut with his King.  Strongbow’s lands in all the Anglo-Norman lands in England, Wales & France would be restored, and he could keep his Irish holdings as well in exchange for handing over Wexford, Waterford and Dublin officially to the English crown.  

-Henry landed in Ireland with an army in 1172 to enforce his claim.  He managed to get both the Gaelic kings of southeastern Ireland to pay homage to him and in addition to the Norman nobles who had semi gone rogue in their mercenary adventure.  Strongbow became the first English Chief Justice of Ireland and in time the English kings would take the style of Lord of Ireland.

-The Anglo-Normans in time began to settle and colonize parts of Ireland, gradually expanding into the interior of the country.  Many began to disassociate from their Anglo-Norman roots and take on the Gaelic culture of their adopted country.  Becoming “more Irish than the Irish themselves” as they were famously described.  This impacted Ireland politically and in language, an English presence was now permanent and family names with the prefix Fitz such as Fitzgerald & Fitzpatrick, so associated with Irish culture today came from this Norman naming convention.  These families were originally Anglo-Norman in origin before morphing in Irish families and identities over time.

-As the centuries went by, the English maintained their control but limited their influence on the everyday lives of the Gaelic speaking majority and as stated before, many began to identify as Irish.  The real sea change of Anglo-Irish intercourse next came in the 16th century Plantation system.  This started under the Tudors, specifically Queen Mary though the early attempts to establish English forts were not very successful due to Gaelic resistance.

-The Plantation system was a confiscation of land from the Gaelic speaking Irish, including some of the Old Anglo-Norman Irish, called the Old English.  In their stead came more massive settlement from Great Britain from England & Wales.  This system was ramped up under Queen Elizabeth I in the 1560′s and beyond.

-The plantations divided Ireland into new areas and in the north of Ireland during the 1610′s under James I, first monarch of the Stuart dynasty that ruled both England and Scotland in personal union, the Plantation of Ulster started.  

-Ulster would become an area of particular focus, Irish resistance to English settlement had been very strong here but and it remained outside of English control and under native clans.   

-James I, planned the plantation unite the “British” as no longer just an English venture but also include the Scots, half of the settlers in Ulster (made up of six counties) was to be Scottish in origin.  As the 17th century would progress a real demographic change would take place in Ulster.  Scottish settlers from Scotland’s Lowlands and borderlands with England would leave in droves and along with English settlers from the north of England.  They would very gradually over time replace the native Irish as the majority populace in Ulster.

-The native Irish, who were mostly Roman Catholic begin to be more identified with their religion while the English, Welsh & Scottish settlers from Britain tended to be Protestant usually of the Church of England & Ireland (Anglican) and Scottish Presbyterian denominations.  

-The Irish Rebellion of 1641 was particular divisive and resulted in a moderate Irish victory in which the Irish Catholic Confederation formed and made an attempt to carve out self-rule.  There are reports of the Irish Catholics massacring the British Protestant settlers numbering in a few thousand in Ulster and some revenge attacks by settlers on the Irish in kind. These attacks on the settlers outraged the British and were seared into the memory of the Ulster Protestant community’s cultural memory.

-The rebellion was only a partial success and soon Ireland found itself dragged into the concurrent English Civil War between Parliament and the English Crown.  This became known as the Confederate War in Ireland and it also involved Scotland, becoming the War of the Three Kingdoms (England, Scotland & Ireland) since all had the English king as their respective king.

-Initially, Royalist and Parliamentary sentiment in both England & Scotland was inclined to crush the Irish rebels but their own tensions broiled over into civil war in England which eventually saw the execution of King Charles I and the establishment of Parliamentary control headed by the English Parliamentarian and devout Puritan, Oliver Cromwell who became Lord Protector of England, Scotland & Ireland, collectively known as the Commonwealth.  

-Politics making for strange bedfellows lead to an unlikely alliance between the English Royalists and the Irish Confederates.  In exchange for their help against the English Parliament, the Irish Confederates would be promised self-government and full equal rights for Catholics.  

-Cromwell and Parliament invaded Ireland in 1649 to rid themselves first and foremost the threat of the Stuart heir Charles II who was declared King of Ireland.  The hope was to shatter Royalist and Confederate strength before it could use Ireland as a staging ground to invade England.  Secondly, it was to break up Catholic power which the largely Puritan and other Protestant members of Parliament saw as heresy and threat to their own power. In effect it would avenge the massacres and reverse the losses in 1641.

-From 1649-1653 Cromwell’s forces successfully defeated the Irish Confederates and Royalist troops in Ireland.  The garrison of Irish Confederates and English Royalists at Drogheda was killed along with much the population but Cromwell’s troops and like the Anglo-Normans centuries earlier, Wexford & Waterford were likewise taken in succession.  Disease and famine exacerbated the losses among the Irish population during this time with estimates varying in a 15-83 percent drop in the overall Irish population, though exact figures are hard to come by.  

-Realizing the war in Ireland was a lost cause, Charles II forsook his father’s earlier alliance with the Confederates and left them to their fate.  He instead made an alliance with Scottish Covenanters who would aid the Royalist cause in recognition of Presbyterian rights in Scotland.  They would invade England but likewise be defeated by the Parliamentary forces in 1651 & 1652.  This resulted in Parliament’s control over all three lands for the next decade.  

-In Ireland, in particular in Ulster the war and its side effects of famine & disease along with imprisonment of native Irish bound for indentured servitude in England and its colonies in the Americas contributed to a shifting of politics and population to the Protestants.

-Though Protestants remained a minority in Ireland, they began to assume a majority in parts of Ulster.  This again consisted of English and Scots settlers.

-After Cromwell’s death and the collapse of the Commonwealth, Charles II was allowed to return to throne of England, Scotland & Ireland in exchange for limitations from Parliament.  He reigned from 1660-1685 and during this time he alternated with in his relations with Parliament.  He supposedly would become lenient in the Penal Laws enacted against Catholics which impacted Ireland.  Then Charles would rescind his policy in favor of improved relations with Parliament, the same was true of his religious policy being seen by the Protestant Parliament as too tolerant of Catholic practices which they saw as idolatry.  Ultimately, on his death bed, Charles converted to Catholicism from Anglicanism.  He was succeeded by his brother James II.

-James II like his brother towed the line between support for Catholicism and official Anglicanism.  His daughters Mary and Anne however had been raised as devout Protestants in support of the Anglicanism.  In time, James married Italian princess Mary of Modena and would convert to Catholicism, giving rise to concerns among Protestants that a Catholic heir would be born to the king and a resumption of Catholic rule at the expense of Protestants would take place.  

-This concern was especially poignant in Ireland, given the tensions & atrocities of the recent decades.  In 1688 on invitation to replace James II was sent by Protestant nobles in Britain to William, Prince of Orange & Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic who was nephew of James II & son in law by marriage to his cousin and James’ daughter Mary.  William led an army of Dutch troops and in the so-called Glorious Revolution he landed in England deposed his uncle-father -in-law.

-Mary and William were called to jointly rule England, Scotland & Ireland jointly as Mary II & William III.  They promised to uphold Protestantism and ensure its supremacy over Catholicism.  James II retreated to the court of his cousin Louis XIV of France, Europe’s leading power of the age.  Louis was a major opponent of William and a major reason for his invasion of England was to bring it on side with the Dutch Republic to contain French power on the continent.

-With William & Mary: England, Scotland & Ireland were in personal union with the Dutch Republic, but this was not universally accepted.  James looked to restore his throne from his daughter and son-in-law.  He needed French backing and also turned to Irish Catholics like his brother and father had earlier.  The motivations for the Irish Catholics were his promises of granting political rights in exchange for recognition and restoration of his rule.  His supporters became known as Jacobites, taken from the Latin for James which is Jacobus.

-In Ireland, war (Williamite War in Ireland 1689-1691) would soon break out with Irish Jacobites and French troops looking to take over key cities in Ireland and in particular Ulster which was now 50% Protestant even though roughly 25% of Ireland’s population was Protestant at most. Ulster had solidified Protestant settlement in the wake of Cromwell’s success decades before.  More English and Scottish settlers had come, additionally, local Irish converts to Protestant alongside religious and political Protestant refugees from France, Germany and later the Dutch Republic also joined in part to escape the wars with Catholic France.  The majority of these Ulster Protestant settlers however were Scottish and Scottish culture and Presbyterian religion predominated.  In time the Scots, English, French, German & Dutch Protestants would congeal into a community known as Ulster Scots or Ulster Protestants, this community would also become known particularly in America where many later emigrated as Scots Irish.

-Jacobite forces began to skirmish with Ulster Protestant militias at Enniskillen & most famously Derry/Londonderry.  The Siege of Derry in summer of 1689 was particularly desperate for the Protestant defenders, they gave the political rallying cry of “No Surrender”, still used by Northern Irish Unionists today.  Thousands of Derry Protestants died due to disease and starvation during the French-Jacobite siege, but Derry’s now famous stone walls proved too stout to overcome.  Eventually, a Protestant relief naval force from England arrived and broke the siege in later summer 1689.

-1690 saw William himself land in Belfast with a relief force meant to confront James and take Ireland into his full control.  The force was a mix of English, Welsh & Scot regulars alongside Dutch regulars, French Huguenot & Danish auxiliaries. Also joining were the militia regiments of Ulster Protestants from Derry and Enniskillen who William held in high regard relative to his English and Scottish regulars.  They defeated James at the Battle of the Boyne.  James fled back to France while William returned to England.  His armies mopped up the Jacobite forces by 1691 and the peace was tenuously restored by the Treaty of Limerick.  Though tensions obviously remained.  As the 18th century and the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland dawned, more changes and events would impact Northern Irish history...

Treaty of Limerick is signed ending the Williamite war between the Jacobites and the supporters of William of Orange. The Treaty, was signed on a stone in the sight of both armies at the Clare end of Thomond Bridge on the 3rd of October 1691. The stone was for some years resting on the ground opposite its present location, where the old Ennis mail coach left to travel from the Clare end of…

#OTD in 1690 – Battle of the Boyne | The Jacobite forces (Irish, French, Germans and Walloons) are defeated by the Williamites (Irish, English, Dutch, Germans and Danes).

The Williamite victory, being seen as a defeat for Louis XIV, is welcomed by Pope Alexander VIII. Fought on 1 July 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II and his successor, King William III, the Battle of the Boyne was the largest engagement ever to take place on Irish soil. While militarily indecisive, it was an event of multi-layered complexity and long-term significance,…

#OTD in 1691 – Treaty of Limerick is signed, ending the Williamite War in Ireland; the treaty allows evacuation of the Irish army to France and promises tolerance of Irish Catholics.

Treaty of Limerick is signed ending the Williamite war between the Jacobites and the supporters of William of Orange. The Treaty, was signed on a stone in the sight of both armies at the Clare end of Thomond Bridge on the 3rd of October 1691. The stone was for some years resting on the ground opposite its present location, where the old Ennis mail coach left to travel from the Clare end of…