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"The Boyne Water" is an Ulster Protestant folksong by an anonymous lyricist. The lyrics of the song commemorate King William III of Orange's victory over James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, part of the Williamite War in Ireland.
Unionists point to the Battle of the Boyne as decisive in achieving a constitutional monarchy in the United Kingdom. Modern historians also agree that this conflict, otherwise known as the Glorious Revolution and played out in Scotland as well, was the conclusion of the English Civil War of 1642–1651/ [1] Indeed, King James II as a very young Duke of York was present with his father Charles at the Battle of Edge Hill in 1642.
The lyrics of the song narrate the course of the Battle of the Boyne. It mentions real events such as the death of the Duke of Schomberg, William of Orange's leading the Enniskillen cavalry across the River Boyne, and the Williamite infantry's repulse of the Jacobite cavalry's counter-attacks. The song also expresses the view that victory in the battle saved the Irish Protestant community from massacre by the Irish Catholics – "So praise God, all true Protestants, and I will say no further, But had the Papists gained that day, there would have been open murder". Folk memories in the 17th century, when the song was possibly written, were no doubt still very fresh concerning the various retributive massacres between Irish natives and Protestant settlers in the Irish Rebellion of 1641.
At the climactic scene of C. S. Lewis's novel That Hideous Strength , when protagonists are preparing for a dangerous fateful encounter with their enemies, the character MacPhee, an Ulster Protestant, is shown humming "The Boyne Water". Lewis gives a slightly deviant text: "King William said, be not dismayed, for the loss of one commander" (see ).
In Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind , Gerald O'Hara is described as having killed a man for whistling "The Boyne Water". He had to flee Ireland to avoid prosecution for murder, and emigrated to Georgia, where in time he became a successful planter and the master of Tara. [2]
The Jacobite song "Lady Keith's Lament" is sung to the same tune.
Separately, there is also another Gaelic Irish language song, 'Rosc Catha na Mumhan' ('The Battle Cry of Munster'), but giving the perspective of Irish Catholics warring with the settlers, and is attributed to Piaras Mac Gearailt (1709–92).
Many American versions of the traditional folk song Barbara Allen use a tune related to "The Boyne Water". [3]
The Battle of the Boyne was a battle in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II of England and Ireland, VII of Scotland, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II, had acceded to the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1689. The battle took place across the River Boyne close to the town of Drogheda in the Kingdom of Ireland, modern-day Republic of Ireland, and resulted in a victory for William. This turned the tide in James's failed attempt to regain the British crown and ultimately aided in ensuring the continued Protestant ascendancy in Ireland.
The Ulster Scots, also called Ulster Scots people or Scotch-Irish (Scotch-Airisch), are an ethnic group in Ireland, found mostly in the province of Ulster and to a lesser extent in the rest of Ireland. Their ancestors were approximately half from Northern England and half Protestant Presbyterian Lowland Scottish settlers, the largest numbers coming from Dumfries and Galloway, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, Scottish Borders, Northumberland, Cumbria, Yorkshire, and to a much lesser extent, from the Scottish Highlands. Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. The majority of people living in Northern Ireland are British or Irish citizens.
Meinhardt Schomberg, 3rd Duke of Schomberg, Duke of Leinster, KG, was a general in the service of Willem, Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of Holland, later King William III of England. He fought in the Franco-Dutch War, then played a crucial role at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690 during the Williamite War in Ireland and finally commanded the British troops deployed to Portugal during the War of the Spanish Succession.
The Williamite War in Ireland, was a conflict between Jacobite supporters of deposed monarch James II and Williamite supporters of his successor, William III. It is also called the Jacobite War in Ireland, Williamite Conquest of Ireland, or the Williamite–Jacobite War in Ireland.
The Battle of Aughrim was the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland. It was fought between the largely Irish Jacobite army loyal to James II and the forces of William III on 12 July 1691, near the village of Aughrim, County Galway.
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantations of Ireland. They also wanted to prevent a possible invasion or takeover by anti-Catholic English Parliamentarians and Scottish Covenanters, who were defying the king, Charles I. It began as an attempted coup d'état by Catholic gentry and military officers, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland. However, it developed into a widespread rebellion and ethnic conflict with English and Scottish Protestant settlers, leading to Scottish military intervention. The rebels eventually founded the Irish Catholic Confederacy.
The Twelfth is an Ulster Protestant celebration held on 12 July. It began in the late 18th century in Ulster. It celebrates the Glorious Revolution (1688) and victory of Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne (1690), which ensured a Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. On and around the Twelfth, large parades are held by the Orange Order and Ulster loyalist marching bands, streets are bedecked with British flags and bunting, and large towering bonfires are lit in loyalist neighbourhoods. Today the Twelfth is mainly celebrated in Northern Ireland, where it is a public holiday, but smaller celebrations are held in other countries where Orange lodges have been set up.
The Battle of Newtownbutler took place near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, Ireland, in 1689 and was part of the Williamite War in Ireland between the forces of William III and Mary II and those of King James II.
Ireland during the period 1536–1691 saw the first full conquest of the island by England and its colonization with Protestant settlers from Great Britain. This established two central themes in future Irish history: subordination of the country to London-based governments and sectarian animosity between Catholics and Protestants. The period saw Irish society transform from a locally driven, intertribal, clan-based Gaelic structure to a centralised, monarchical, state-governed society, similar to those found elsewhere in Europe. The period is bounded by the dates 1536, when King Henry VIII deposed the FitzGerald dynasty as Lords Deputies of Ireland, and 1691, when the Irish Catholic Jacobites surrendered at Limerick, thus confirming British Protestant dominance in Ireland. This is sometimes called the early modern period.
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.
Limerick, a city in western Ireland, was besieged twice in the Williamite War in Ireland in 1689-1691. On the first occasion, in August to September 1690, its Jacobite defenders retreated to the city after their defeat at the Battle of the Boyne. The Williamites, under William III, tried to take Limerick by storm but were driven off and had to retire into their winter quarters.
The Break of Dromore took place on 14 March 1689 near Dromore, County Down in the early stages of the Williamite War in Ireland. It featured Catholic Jacobite troops under Richard Hamilton and Protestant Williamite militia led by Hugh Montgomery and Arthur Rawdon.
Events from the year 1690 in Ireland.
The Irish Army or Irish establishment, in practice called the monarch's "army in Ireland" or "army of Ireland", was the standing army of the Kingdom of Ireland, a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from the early 1660s until merged into the British Army in 1801, and for much of the period was the largest force available to the king, being substantially larger than the English and Scottish establishments.
The Battle of Cavan took place in Cavan, Ireland on 11 February 1690 between forces of Williamite and Jacobite troops during the Williamite War in Ireland. It ended in a victory for the Williamites who captured, sacked and burned the town of Cavan before withdrawing to their forwarding base at Belturbet and further afield Enniskillen.
The Siege of Carrickfergus took place in August 1689 when a force of Williamite troops under Marshal Schomberg landed and laid siege to the Jacobite garrison of Carrickfergus in Ireland. After a week the Jacobites surrendered, and were allowed to march out with the honours of war.
The raid on Newry took place in November 1689 during the Williamite War in Ireland when a Franco-Irish force loyal to James II attacked the Williamite garrison of Newry in County Down. The raid was carried out by the French Major General Alexandre de Rainier de Droue, Marquis de Boisseleau a French officer serving with James' Irish Army. It was largely unsuccessful and the Jacobite forces withdrew having suffered casualties.
The Battle of the Boyne is a 1778 historical painting by the Anglo-American artist Benjamin West. It portrays the Battle of the Boyne which took place in Ireland in 1690. West's depiction of William of Orange on his white horse became the iconic image of liberation from Catholic Ireland; the painting was widely copied and distributed throughout the nineteenth century. The painting itself is at Mount Stewart, Newtownards, Northern Ireland, and is the property of the National Trust.
The Capture of Bandon occurred in 1689 when the town of Bandon in County Cork, Ireland was forcibly seized from its rebellious Protestant inhabitants by a force of Irish Army troops under Justin McCarthy. The skirmishing at the town took place during the early stages of the Williamite War in Ireland. The Jacobite success at Bandon helped suppress any chance of a general Munster uprising against the rule of James II similar to that which occurred in Ulster the same year. The slogan "No Surrender!" is believed to have been first used at Bandon and subsequently taken up, more famously, by the defenders at the Siege of Derry the same year.
Dominic Sheldon, often written as Dominick Sheldon, was an English soldier. A leading Jacobite he served in James II's Irish Army during the Williamite War between 1689 and 1691. He was a noted cavalry commander, present at the Battle of the Boyne and Battle of Aughrim. Later after going into exile, he rose to the rank of lieutenant general in the French Army. He was also remained a prominent courtier at the Jacobite court in exile at Saint Germain.