Williamite war in Ireland: Encyclopedia II - Williamite war in Ireland - The Glorious Revolution

Williamite war in Ireland - The Glorious Revolution

The War in Ireland began as a direct consequence of the Glorious Revolution in England. James, who was a Roman Catholic attempted to introduce freedom of religion for Catholics and to bypass the English Parliament in order to introduce unpopular laws. For many in England, this was an unpleasant reminder of the rule of Charles I, whose conflict with the Parliament had ended with the outbreak of the English Civil War. The breaking point in James' relationship with the English political class came when his wife gave birth to a son - which opened the prospect of an enduring Catholic Stuart dynasty. As a result of this fear, some political figures hatched a conspiracy to invite William of Orange to invade England and to assume the Throne jointly with his wife, James' daughter Mary. William accepted the offer, primarily because the Dutch Republic was at war with France, with whom James was in alliance and William wanted England's resources of men money and arms to be put at the disposal of his League of Augsburg. William invaded England in 1688 and James fled after putting up only a token resistance.

However, whereas James II was very unpopular in England, he had widespread popular support in Ireland. The native Irish were almost all Roman Catholics and had fought en masse for the Stuart dynasty in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms that accompanied the English Civil War. Moreover, James had given them some concrete concessions, appointing an Irish Catholic, Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell as Lord Deputy of Ireland, and re-admitting Catholics into the Army, public office and the Irish Parliament. Most of the native Irish landowning class had lost their lands and property after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland to Protestant settlers from England and Scotland. They hoped to recover these under James' rule. For these reasons, when James fled England, he looked to Ireland to muster support for a re-conquest of his Three Kingdoms.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Glorious Revolution", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki