page_title: Williamite War in Ireland
section_title: Background; Glorious Revolution
hierarchical_section_title: Williamite War in Ireland / Background; Glorious Revolution
caption_attribution_description: King James II, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt (died 1723). See source website for additional information.
context_page_description: 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 or the Williamite–Jacobite War in Ireland.
  The proximate cause of the war was the Glorious Revolution of 1688, in which James, a Catholic, was overthrown as king of England, Ireland and Scotland and replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and nephew and son-in-law William, ruling as joint monarchs. James's supporters initially retained control of Ireland, which he hoped to use as a base for a campaign to reclaim all three kingdoms. The conflict in Ireland also involved long-standing domestic issues of land ownership, religion and civic rights; most Irish Catholics supported James in the hope he would address their grievances. A small number of English and Scottish Catholics, and Protestants of the established Church in Ireland, also fought on the Jacobite side, while most Irish Protestants supported or actively fought for William's regime.
context_section_description: In March 1689, James II & VII landed in Ireland with French military support, seeking to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland, after being deposed in the 1688 Glorious Revolution. Despite his Catholicism, James became king in 1685 with widespread support in all three kingdoms, due to fear of civil war if he were bypassed; by 1688, it seemed only his removal could prevent one.
  When the Parliaments of Scotland and England refused to pass measures of tolerance for Catholics and Nonconformists in 1685, James suspended them and thereafter ruled by decree. His increasingly authoritarian approach undercut his supporters and caused great concern but it took two events in June 1688 for dissent to turn into a crisis. On the 10th, the birth of James Francis Edward created a Catholic heir and excluded James' Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. The prosecution of the Seven Bishops for seditious libel was seen as an assault on the Church of England and their acquittal on 30 June destroyed James' political authority in England and Scotland.
  In Europe, the Dutch Republic and its allies were on the brink of war with France, which made securing English resources vital. French troops attacked the Rhineland in late September, launching the 1688–1697 Nine Years' War; on 5 November, William landed in South-West England, James' army deserted and he fled to France on 23 December.
  There was wider support for James in Ireland, where around 75% of the population were Catholic, although in Ulster Protestants comprised nearly 50%. James's associate Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell became Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1687 and began a rapid programme of appointing Catholics to the army and other public offices. By February 1689, the Irish army was almost exclusively Catholic, albeit poorly equipped, half-trained and unpaid.
  However, a long-standing problem for the Stuarts was that while Irish Catholics were one of their main bases of support, concessions threatened Protestant support in all three kingdoms, especially England. Reversing the land confiscations of the 1650s was non-negotiable for Irish Catholics, whose ownership declined from 90% in 1600 to 22% by 1685, but changes were viewed with extreme hostility by the Protestants who were its beneficiaries. Pre-1688, this meant James often backed Protestants in disputes over land, and adopted commercial policies favouring English, rather than Irish, merchants.
  As a result, the 1662 Settlement made few changes and primarily benefited the Old English Catholic elite. This faction, led by Tyrconnell's brother-in-law, the Earl of Limerick, feared they would lose from a war either way, and preferred a minimalist solution that was rejected by the majority.
  Finally, demands for Irish autonomy clashed with Stuart ideology, first set out by James VI and I in 1603, which his successors followed with great consistency, including Prince Charles in 1745. It envisaged a unitary state of England, Scotland and Ireland, ruled by a monarch whose authority came from God and where the role of Parliament and the church was to obey. Like Louis XIV, James claimed the right to appoint Catholic bishops and clergy in his kingdoms, an alteration to existing practice that caused conflict with Pope Innocent XI. Innocent's family bank lent William money, a fact kept secret for over three centuries, but his opposition also impacted support from other Catholic leaders. On 13 April 1689, Louis wrote to D'Avaux that "the Pope sets so bad an example to all the other Catholic princes, we can scarcely hope [for their help]".
caption: James II & VII
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