The Patriot Parliament is the name given to the Irish Parliament called by James II during the 1689 to 1691 war in Ireland. The first since 1666, it held only one session, from 7 May 1689 to 20 July 1689.
The House of Commons was 70 members short as there were no elections in Counties Fermanagh and Donegal, while its members were overwhelmingly Old English and Catholic. [1] Sir Richard Nagle was elected Speaker while the Lords was led by Baron Fitton; it contained five Protestant peers and four Church of Ireland bishops, including Anthony Dopping, Bishop of Meath, who acted as leader of the opposition. [2]
Fitton spent much of his adult life in prison for criminal libel; allegedly selected by James because he was a Protestant, he promptly converted to Catholicism. [3] It included five Protestant peers, Granard, Longford, Barrymore, Howth and Rosse, who was Tyrconnell's son-in-law, plus four Church of Ireland bishops; Anthony Dopping, Bishop of Meath, acted as leader of the opposition. [2]
The members of the House of Lords are as follows: [4]
The House was 70 members short, since no elections were held in the northern provinces of Fermanagh and Donegal. Six members were Protestant, the remaining 224 Catholic, a minority being Gaelic or 'Old Irish', while the majority were from the Old English Catholic elite. [8] The Speaker or leader was Sir Richard Nagle, a wealthy Catholic lawyer and close ally of Tyrconnell. [9]
Jacobitism was a political movement that supported the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the British throne. The name derives from the first name of James II of England, which is rendered in Latin as Jacobus. When James went into exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, the Parliament of England argued that he had abandoned the English throne, which they offered to his Protestant daughter Mary II of England, and her husband William III. In April, the Scottish Convention held that he "forfeited" the throne of Scotland by his actions, listed in the Articles of Grievances.
The Williamite War in Ireland took place from March 1689 to October 1691. Fought between supporters of James II and his successor, William III, it resulted in a Williamite victory. It is generally viewed as a related conflict of the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War.
Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, was an Irish politician, courtier and soldier.
The Nonjuring schism refers to a split in the established churches of England, Scotland and Ireland, following the deposition and exile of James II and VII in the 1688 Glorious Revolution. As a condition of office, clergy were required to swear allegiance to the ruling monarch; for various reasons, some refused to take the oath to his successors William III and II and Mary II. These individuals were referred to as Non-juring, from the Latin verb iūrō, or jūrō, meaning "to swear an oath".
Earl of Tyrconnell is a title that has been created four times in the Peerage of Ireland.
Frances Talbot, Countess of Tyrconnell, also called La Belle Jennings, was a maid of honour to the Duchess of York and, like her sister Sarah, a famous beauty at the Restoration court. She married first George Hamilton and then Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell. She was vicereine in Dublin Castle while Tyrconnell was viceroy of Ireland for James II. She lived through difficult times after the death of her second husband, who was attainted as a Jacobite, but recovered some of his wealth and died a devout Catholic despite having been raised as a Protestant.
A Williamite was a follower of King William III of England who deposed King James II and VII in the Glorious Revolution. William, the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, replaced James with the support of English Whigs.
John Drummond, 1st Earl of Melfort, styled Duke of Melfort in the Jacobite peerage, was a Scottish politician and close advisor to James II. A Catholic convert, Melfort and his brother the Earl of Perth consistently urged James not to compromise with his opponents, contributing to his increasing isolation and ultimate deposition in the 1688 Glorious Revolution.
Patriot Parliament is the name commonly used for the Irish Parliament session called by King James II during the Williamite War in Ireland which lasted from 1688 to 1691. The first since 1666, it held only one session, which lasted from 7 May 1689 to 20 July 1689. Irish nationalist historian Sir Charles Gavan Duffy first used the term Patriot Parliament in 1893.
Claud Hamilton, 4th Earl of Abercorn PC (Ire) (1659–1691) was a Scottish and Irish peer who fought for the Jacobites in the Williamite War. He went with King James to Derry in 1689 and tried to negotiate the surrender of the town with Adam Murray. He raised a regiment of horse that he led in the defeats of Newtownbutler in 1689 and Aughrim in 1691. He was killed when the ship that should have brought him to France was intercepted by a Dutch privateer.
Patrick Tyrrell, O.F.M. was an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the Bishop of Clogher (1676–1689), Vicar Apostolic of Kilmore (1678–1689), and Bishop of Meath (1689–1692). A prominent Jacobite, he was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1688.
Baron Gustaf or Gustav Ludvigsson Hamilton, known as the governor of Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, was colonel, and de jurefriherre of Deserf in peerage of Sweden.
Events from the year 1686 in Ireland.
Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Viscount BoynePC (Ire) (1642–1723) was an Irish soldier and politician. In his youth, he fought in his cousin Sir George Hamilton's regiment for the French in the Franco-Dutch War. About 1678 he obtained a commission in the Irish Army. James II appointed him to the Irish Privy Council in 1685.
William Stewart, 1st Viscount Mountjoy (1653–1692), was an Anglo-Irish soldier.
Sir Richard Nagle was an Irish Jacobite politician and lawyer. He held the positions of Attorney-General for Ireland, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, Lord Justice of Ireland and Secretary of State and War for Ireland under King James II. He fled to France in 1691, joining James II at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where he resumed his duties as nominal Secretary of State and War. He later served as Commissioner of the Household.
Sir Stephen Rice (1637–1715) was Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland and a notable supporter of James II.
Anthony Dopping was the Anglican Bishop of Meath, Ireland.
Sir William Talbot, 3rd BaronetPC (Ire) was the last of the Talbot baronets of Carton: his title was forfeited on account of his loyalty to King James II of England. He was an Irish politician and judge, who served briefly as Master of the Rolls in Ireland.
Francis Plowden was an English Jacobite politician, official and courtier who rose to prominence while serving James II of England in Ireland.