A Williamite was a follower of King
William III of England
William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic f ...
(r. 1689–1702) who deposed King
James II and VII in the
Glorious Revolution. William, the
Stadtholder of the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands ( Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiograph ...
, replaced James with the support of English
Whigs.
One of William's aims was to ensure England's entry into his
League of Augsburg
The Grand Alliance was the anti-French coalition formed on 20 December 1689 between the Dutch Republic, England and the Holy Roman Empire. It was signed by the two leading opponents of France: William III, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic and ( ...
against France in the
Nine Years' War. For Williamites in England, Scotland and Ireland, William was seen as the guarantor of civil and religious liberty and the Protestant monarchy against Catholic
absolutism
Absolutism may refer to:
Government
* Absolute monarchy, in which a monarch rules free of laws or legally organized opposition
* Absolutism (European history), period c. 1610 – c. 1789 in Europe
** Enlightened absolutism, influenced by the En ...
.
The term "Williamite" is also commonly used to refer to William's multi-national army in Ireland during the
Williamite War in Ireland, 1689–1691. In Ireland itself, William was primarily supported by Protestants and opposed by the native and Anglo-Irish Catholic
Jacobites
Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to:
Religion
* Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include:
** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometimes ...
who supported James. Once James II had come to the throne in 1685, he had his
viceroy
A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...
Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell replace Protestants with Catholics in the government. The
Royal Irish Army was purged of Protestants, who were replaced by Catholic officers and soldiers. The
Irish Militia was disarmed and its weapons issued to Catholics.
In response in 1689 Irish Protestants formed their own
Army of the North, proclaimed William of Orange to be King, and began seizing strongholds around
Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
and particularly in Ulster. However the Jacobite Irish Army was able to re-establish control,
taking Bandon and routing the Army of the North during the
Break of Dromore. Before long only
Derry and
Enniskillen
Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,823 a ...
still held out.
After these early setbacks, Williamite forces won a series of victories during the war,
defending Derry and
capturing Carrickfergus in 1689. Subsequent battles at
the Boyne and
Aughrim led to a
decisive victory at Limerick by 1691. William himself led his forces at the Boyne in 1690, which was widely commemorated in paintings such as
Benjamin West's ''
The Battle of the Boyne
The Battle of the Boyne ( ga, Cath na Bóinne ) 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 (his cousin and J ...
''. He is still depicted in the iconography of the
Orange Order, whose name comes from William's dynasty, the
House of Orange-Nassau.
"Williamite" is sometimes applied to Late Stuart
country house architecture built c. 1690–1710 in the conservative classicising English tradition that had been established under Charles II by
Hugh May
Hugh May (1621 – 21 February 1684) was an English architect in the period after the Restoration of King Charles II. He worked in the era which fell between the first introduction of Palladianism into England by Inigo Jones, and the full flower ...
and Sir
Christopher Wren, of which
Belton House
Belton House is a Grade I listed country house in the parish of Belton near Grantham in Lincolnshire, England, built between 1685 and 1688 by Sir John Brownlow, 3rd Baronet. It is surrounded by formal gardens and a series of avenues leading ...
, Lincolnshire, and, formerly
Stoke Edith
Stoke Edith is a village in the English county of Herefordshire, situated on the A438 road between Hereford and Ledbury. The population in 1801 of Stoke Edith parish was 332.
The 14th-century church of St Mary is a grade I listed building. It ...
, Herefordshire
[Stoke Edith was referred to as an example of "the standard seventeenth-century product (the ]Hugh May
Hugh May (1621 – 21 February 1684) was an English architect in the period after the Restoration of King Charles II. He worked in the era which fell between the first introduction of Palladianism into England by Inigo Jones, and the full flower ...
type)" by Sir John Summerson, ''Architecture in Britain 1530 to 1830'', 1985:192. are typical examples. Such compact houses do not fit easily within the conventions of
English baroque architecture
English Baroque is a term used to refer to modes of English architecture that paralleled Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London (1666) and roughly 1720, when the flamboyant and dramatic qualities of Baroqu ...
.
The "Williamite Purple Star" is still part of the flag of the
Orange Order in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
.
Notes
{{Reflist
Sources
*J.G. Simms, ''Jacobite Ireland'', London 1969
Williamite War in Ireland
Jacobite rising of 1689
Stuart England
Monarchism in the United Kingdom
William III of England