This choice: Where the Glorious Revolution ended with a compromise. • Go Back...Chapter #4Glorious Revolution by: Hereward   James VII of Scotland, also known as James II of England, came to the throne upon the death of his brother, Charles II. As a devout Catholic he'd been at loggerheads with parliament who associated the Catholic church with Queen Mary of England and her brutal persecution of Protestant sects, apart from which the King of England was meant to be the head of the Anglican church. Nevertheless James wasn't all that much younger than his predecessor, and without any surviving sons his crown would be passed on to his eldest daughter Mary who, despite her namesake, was definitely a Protestant. The members of Parliament were prepared to wait for the Catholic king to die of old age, but then a bombshell was dropped. The queen consort became pregnant and, when she ran to term, gave birth to a healthy boy; this new prince was christened in a Catholic ceremony and Pope Innocent XI was named as his godfather. For the Protestant members of Parliament this was the last straw as it meant a Catholic succession. Swiftly they made plans to usurp the king and place his daughter on the throne, affirming that the monarch was there at the sufferance of Parliament, to that end they approached Princess Mary's husband, Duke William of Orange. William was younger than King James but he had a few niggling health issues that meant he didn't have quite the charm, but the Protestant faith had become so prevalent in Great Britain that most men had little concern about these matters.
On the 15th November 1688 William of Orange and his forces landed in Torbay, Devon. Though he'd come to aid Parliament in hastening his wife's accession to the throne there was one major condition he had, he himself must be made King of England and Scotland; fortunately there wasn't much fuss made of this among the MPs. As the Protestant forces mobilised various portions of the British Army were sent to try and halt the invasion, however many Protestant soldiers defected. As the days rolled past and William's forces moved closer to London their numbers swelled with new recruits and defectors to the point that, on the night of the 9th December, King James and Queen Mary began to evacuate to France.
On the 11th April 1689 William of Orange and Princess Mary were coronated as William III and Mary II respectively. In this year legal measures were drafted to guarantee that a Catholic would never sit upon the English throne ever again. However James was not intent on merely sulking in exile and conspired with the King of France to recover his crown. He headed a counter-invasion that landed in Ireland, the one place in the British Isles with a Catholic majority at the time. Initially James enjoyed considerable backing and success but hit a snag at Londonderry; the town was both a Protestant majority and fortified which meant that there'd be a considerable siege.
For a while James seemed to be making an impact upon the town but then reinforcements under the command of King William arrived by sea with dedicated seamen actually jumping into the water to hack away at the boom James's men had put in place to prevent Londonderry from resupplying. The siege had failed and James had to withdraw into the Catholic south of Ireland.
James again made an attempt to march north while William marched south until the two armies drew up on either side of the River Boyne. On the north bank the Williamites of Great Britain and the Netherlands, on the south bank the Jacobites of Ireland and France. This battle would be brutal, one of the last great battles of the pike-and-shot tactics. Two major crossing points had to be defended by the Jacobites with one large front along the tidal portion of the river while the two crossings were divided on the south side by a great marsh.
Historically the battle was won by William, who was a visible figure among his men in the thick of battle until he experienced what appeared to be an asthma attack, while James was hardly seen as he focused on preventing a flanking attack that was frustrated by the marsh. What happens here to make the two sides seek a truce that wouldn't be quite so favourable to William?   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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