The siege of Limerick in western Ireland was a second siege of the town during the
Williamite War in Ireland
The Williamite War in Ireland (1688–1691; ga, Cogadh an Dá Rí, "war of the two kings"), was a conflict between Jacobite supporters of deposed monarch James II and Williamite supporters of his successor, William III. It is also called th ...
(1689–1691). The city, held by
Jacobite forces, was able to beat off a
Williamite
A Williamite was a follower of King William III of England (r. 1689–1702) 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.
One ...
assault in 1690. However, after a second siege in August–October 1691, it surrendered on favourable terms.
Siege
By the time of the second siege, the military situation had turned against the Jacobites; their main force had been badly defeated at the
Battle of Aughrim
The Battle of Aughrim ( ga, Cath Eachroma) 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 (old style, equivale ...
in July, with over 4,000 killed, including their commander, the Marquis de St Ruth, and thousands more either taken prisoner or deserted. The town of
Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...
capitulated in July 1691; its Jacobite garrison was accorded 'all the honours of war,' which allowed them to retain their weapons and receive a free pass to Limerick.
![Siege of Limerick 1691](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Siege_of_Limerick_1691.jpg)
However, although its defences had been considerably strengthened since 1690, morale was now much lower after a series of defeats and retreats. By now, siege warfare was an exact art, the rules of which were so well understood wagering on their outcome and duration had become a popular craze; the then enormous sum of £200,000 was alleged to have been bet on the siege.
The Williamite general
Godert de Ginkell surrounded the city and bombarded it, tearing a breach in the walls of English town. A surprise Williamite attack drove the Irish defenders from the earthworks defending
Thomond Bridge
Thomond ( Classical Irish: ; Modern Irish: ), also known as the kingdom of Limerick, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Clare and County Limerick, as well as parts of County Tipperary around Nen ...
and sent its Irish defenders reeling back towards Limerick. The French defenders of the main gate of the city refused to open it for the fleeing Irish and about 800 of them were cut down or drowned in the river Shannon.
Capitulation and treaty
After this point,
Patrick Sarsfield
Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan, ga, Pádraig Sáirseál, circa 1655 to 21 August 1693, was an Irish soldier, and leading figure in the Jacobite army during the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland.
Born into a wealthy Catholic famil ...
ousted the
Chevalier de Tessé and the Marquis d'Usson, the French commanders in Limerick, and began negotiations to surrender. He and Ginkel concluded a treaty that promised to respect the civilian population of Limerick, tolerate the Catholic religion in Ireland, guarantee against the confiscation of Catholic-owned land and allow Sarsfield and the fully-armed Jacobite army to withdraw to France. Limerick capitulated under those favourable terms in October 1691. Sarsfield left Ireland with 10,000 soldiers and 4,000 women and children to enter the French service, a journey that has become known as the
Flight of the Wild Geese
The Flight of the Wild Geese was the departure of an Irish Jacobite army under the command of Patrick Sarsfield from Ireland to France, as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on 3 October 1691, following the end of the Williamite War in Ireland. ...
.
The terms of the
Treaty of Limerick
}), signed on 3 October 1691, ended the 1689 to 1691 Williamite War in Ireland, a conflict related to the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War. It consisted of two separate agreements, one with military terms of surrender, signed by commanders of a Frenc ...
were not honoured by the 1697 Protestant-dominated
Irish Parliament, and Catholics were subjected to the continuous oppression of the
Penal Laws, which discriminated against them until the early 19th century.
Sources
* S. McGarry, ''Irish Brigades Abroad'', Dublin 2013.
* Piers Waudchope, ''Patrick Sarsfield and the Williamite War'', Dublin 1992.
* J.G. Simms, ''Jacobite Ireland'', London 1969.
References
External links
Webpage on the Williamite sieges – including good maps and photos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Limerick 1691
Sieges involving Ireland
Siege of Limerick (1691)
The siege of Limerick in western Ireland was a second siege of the town during the Williamite War in Ireland (1689–1691). The city, held by Jacobite forces, was able to beat off a Williamite assault in 1690. However, after a second siege i ...
Battles of the Williamite War in Ireland
1691 in Ireland
1691 in military history