Military campaigns and Jacobitism

Author: * Cinaedh Cruithni - 7 Posts on this thread out of 507 Posts sitewide.
Date: Jun 19, 2006 - 12:02

Jacobite war in Ireland

James II and VII had his viceroy Tyrconnell take action to secure Ireland for the Catholic cause, culminating in the Siege of Derry which began on 7 December 1688. By then the deposed James had fled to France, and with support from Louis XIV, who was already at war with William of Orange, James landed in Ireland on 12 March 1689. Having taken Dublin and joined the Siege of Londonderry, to maintain the support of Catholic nationalists he reluctantly agreed to the Irish Parliament's demand for an Act declaring that the Parliament of England had no right to pass laws for Ireland. By August 1689 Williamite forces relieved the siege and cleared most of Ulster of Jacobites.

The following July, William's army was victorious in a skirmish at the Battle of the Boyne. The Jacobite army retreated, little damaged, but James fled to France, acquiring the nickname Séamus an chaca (James the beshitten) and leaving the Irish to fight on until in October 1691 they surrendered and the Irish army was made to leave Ireland to become the Irish Brigade of the French army. Jacobitism lingered on for another century in the ideology of nationalist secret societies, but did not play an overt role again in Ireland.

Dundee's rising

On 16 April 1689, almost a month after he left the Convention in Edinburgh and five days after it had proclaimed William and Mary, John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, raised James's standard on the hilltop of Dundee Law with fewer than 50 men in support. At that time he was known as Bluidy Clavers for his part in dealing with Covenanters, but nowadays he is remembered as Bonnie Dundee from the words of a popular song written by Walter Scott in 1830. At first he had difficulty in raising many supporters, but after the Williamite commander had proved ineffective and 200 Irish troops had landed at Kintyre he gained support from Catholic and Episcopalian Highland Clans, though not from the Episcopal Bishops of the Scots nobility.

Victory for the Jacobite Highlanders at the Battle of Killiecrankie on 27 July 1689 was marred when Dundee was killed in the fighting. A series of government expeditions to subdue the Highlands eventually led to Jacobite defeat in May 1690 and lingering hopes faded with news of the Battle of the Boyne. A year later the Jacobites were forced to agree to a truce while the Clan chieftains sent requests to the exiled James VII and II for permission to submit to William, and in January 1692 the Jacobite Clans formally surrendered to the government.

William's main interest was in the War of the Grand Alliance in the Low Countries against the French and he paid little attention to Scotland, trying to bribe or coerce the clan leaders. His demands that each chief put in writing the submission authorised by James resulted in the Massacre of Glencoe on 13 February 1692.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobitism#Jacobite_community.2C_ideology_and_policy