The Boyne’s troubled legacy
William III’S victory against James II in 1690 has become a toxic byword for sectarian tensions and violence that still exist in Northern Ireland today
William III’S victory still reverberates today
No other battle from the War of the Grand Alliance has such an emotive and controversial reputation today than the Boyne. One historian wrote in 2000 that William III’S victory was “a minor military triumph, but a landmark in British affairs as well as a continuing landmine in Irish history.”
This is a remarkable statement to make about a battle that was fought over 300 years ago. The Boyne permanently changed the course of Irish and even British history, and the Protestant victory is revered and annually celebrated by the Orange Order, which still provokes problems and unrest in Northern Ireland today.
A European battle fought in Ireland
Contrary to popular perceptions, the Boyne was far from being an almost exclusive clash between Irish Catholics and Protestants. The battle, which was fought across the River Boyne just north of Dublin on 1 July 1690, contained multinational armies and was a personal fight between William III and the deposed
James II for the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. It was the largest battle in Irish history but played second fiddle to the greater geopolitical struggle in Europe.
William’s 36,000-strong army only had small numbers of Protestant Ulstermen and Englishmen, with the vast majority of his troops being Dutch, Danish, German or French Huguenot. James’s infantrymen were Irish Catholics, but they were poorly armed and considered inferior in quality to the elite contingent of French cavalry. In a confusing twist, although James’s army was staunchly Catholic, Pope Alexander VIII was actually part of William’s ‘Grand Alliance’ against Louis XIV and supported his re-conquest of Ireland.
James fled from Ireland after the battle and, although there was a more decisive battle at Aughrim on 12 July 1690, it was the Boyne that ended James’s hopes of a restoration. William had secured his thrones and accepted the
supremacy of the English parliament, which had profound consequences for British history.
Nevertheless, it was in Ireland that the Boyne’s legacy had the most impact. The collapse of Irish Catholic resistance to William cemented Protestant rule in Ireland that became known as the ‘Ascendency’. The descendants of the Anglo-scottish ‘plantation’ in Ulster particularly benefited from William’s victory and their survival was secured, which led to a fiercely Protestant identity.
The Orange Order
The ‘Loyal Orange Institution’ was established 105 years later in 1795 as a Protestant brotherhood. More commonly known as the ‘Orange Order’, this fraternal organisation was founded to secure the Ascendency and named in tribute to William III. The Orange Order’s power grew in Ulster, and by the 20th century every prime minister of Northern Ireland between 1921-72 was an Orangeman.
With their distinctive ceremonial sashes, bowler hats and banners, Orangemen are conservative British unionists who have ‘lodges’ across the world, but they are primarily based in Northern Ireland. As a religious fraternity, the order’s function is to “defend Protestantism” and, although it claims that it “does not foster resentment and intolerance”, accusations of anticatholic activities have arguably defined the order’s image.
During recent decades, particularly during the ‘Troubles’ of 1968-98, the Orange Order was criticised for associating with loyalist paramilitary groups and conducting triumphalist marches through majority-catholic areas in Ulster. There is still an annual ‘marching season’ of events between April-august, which reaches its zenith on 12 July when Orangemen commemorate William’s victory in Ireland. Known as ‘The Twelfth’, this commemoration involves some Protestant communities lighting bonfires and Orangemen organising marches. Some of the traditional marching routes pass through staunchly Catholic or nationalist areas in certain Northern Irish towns. Sectarian violence has almost always been a part of these events since 1797.
Orangemen have always maintained that they are entitled to celebrate their culture in public, but their marches have indisputably contributed to sectarian problems in Ulster alongside the violence perpetrated by republican and loyalist paramilitary groups at large. Many people have been killed, injured or displaced during ‘12 July’ events across the centuries, with three people being killed as recently as 1998.
When William III landed in 1690 he claimed that Ireland would soon be “settled in a lasting peace.” The events of his campaign tragically produced the complete opposite in the following centuries. It is an unfortunate legacy from the dark shadow of history when religious conflicts once tore Europe apart.