After the wars of the Three Kingdoms, and after the Catholic James II
ascended the throne, his Protestant daughter Mary took a husband, the Protestant William of
Orange, her first cousin. He was Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, favored by various political parties to depose James from his throne. To do so, he
began the “Williamite War” that would start (weakly) in England and wreak havoc
across the still recovering Ireland, beginning in November 1688. The Protestant army
under William were called “Williamites” and those Catholic Irish troops under
James called “Jacobites.” Badly outmanned, James II put up a paltry fight against the
Williamites before fleeing to France where he gathered troops from Louis XIV. The Jacobite army regrouped in Ireland, but its siege of Londonderry was unsuccessful. Protestants in that city still celebrate the victory as a major event in Protestant history. William's most decisive victory was at the Battle of the Boyne, but his unwillingness to draw up a treaty that the Catholics could accept led to more bloodshed. The Jacobite troops regrouped in Galway, Athlone, Aughrim and
Limerick. It was only after Patrick Sarsfield began negotiations with the Dutch
general Godert de Ginkell that the Sieges on Limerick ended and a fairer treaty
that included a clause for swearing loyalty to William was signed, ending the
war, and assuring Protestant rule in Ireland.
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