After his flight from England in December 1688, James II had been given refuge by Louis XIV, who provided him financial and diplomatic assistance. Accompanied by 6,000 French troops, on 12 March 1689 he landed in Ireland, where he was backed by the majority Catholic population. His supporters were known as "Jacobites", and the war in Ireland was accompanied by a rising in Scotland; for James, the main objective was to retake England and thus he viewed both Scotland and Ireland as strategic dead ends. On the other hand, Louis saw them as an opportunity to divert British resources from the Low Countries, a difference in aims that was never adequately resolved.