{ "slug": "boyne", "title": "Battle of the Boyne", "status": "draft", "era": "1600–1760", "date_text": "1 July 1690 (Old Style; 11 July New Style)", "start": "1690-07-11", "end": "1690-07-11", "war": "Williamite War in Ireland", "cdb90_war": "KING WILLIAM'S WAR", "place": { "name": "Oldbridge, on the River Boyne west of Drogheda, County Meath, Ireland", "lat": 53.7231, "lon": -6.4236, "wikidata": "Q644960" }, "lede": "On 1 July 1690 William III forced the fords of the River Boyne near Drogheda against James II's Irish and French Jacobite army. The fighting was limited, but it gave William Dublin, sent James back to France and became one of Ireland's most commemorated battles.", "result": "Williamite victory", "result_cdb90": "attacker win", "belligerents": [ { "role": "attacker", "name": "Williamite army", "commanders": [ "William III", "Frederick, Duke of Schomberg", "Count Solms", "Meinhard Schomberg", "Godert de Ginkel", "Duke of Württemberg" ], "strength": { "value": 36000, "low": 36000, "high": 37000, "source": "s2" }, "casualties": { "value": 800, "low": 500, "high": 800, "source": "s3" } }, { "role": "defender", "name": "Jacobite army, with a French contingent", "commanders": [ "James II", "Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell", "Comte de Lauzun", "James FitzJames, Duke of Berwick" ], "strength": { "value": 23500, "low": 23000, "high": 25000, "source": "s1" }, "casualties": { "value": 1500, "low": 1000, "high": 1600, "source": "s1" } } ], "sections": { "background": "The Boyne belonged to two overlapping wars. In 1688 William of Orange, Stadholder of the Dutch Republic, deposed his uncle and father-in-law James II, and William and Mary were crowned in April 1689. James, backed by his cousin Louis XIV, landed at Kinsale in March 1689, meaning to use Ireland, where most of the Catholic majority supported him, as a base to win back his thrones. Richard Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell, had already raised a Catholic army that held almost all of Ireland except Derry and Enniskillen.\n\nIn Ireland the war had a sectarian and ethnic character, rooted in a century of plantation and the land confiscations after Cromwell's conquest. It was also a front in the Nine Years' War, in which William led the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV. That alliance was not simply Protestant: Pope Alexander VIII and the Papal States shared its hostility to Louis. For William, victory in Ireland would secure his throne and keep English resources in the European war; Louis treated Ireland as a sideshow.\n\nThe Duke of Schomberg landed with about 20,000 men in August 1689 but stalled around Dundalk, where disease killed many of his troops. William landed at Carrickfergus on 14 June 1690 with reinforcements, gathered his army at Loughbrickland and marched south on Dublin. James rejected French advice to give up Dublin and hold the line of the Shannon, and marched north to stand on the Boyne, the only defensible line north of the capital, about 30 miles from Dublin. The Williamites reached the river on 29 June.", "forces": "William's army was about 36,000 strong and, by the Office of Public Works' count, drew on twelve nationalities, among them Dutch, Danes, Germans, French Huguenots, English, Scots and Irish; only about half of it was British. Its best infantry were some 7,000 Danes and about 6,000 Dutch, including the Blue Guards under Count Solms. There were also about 3,000 Huguenots, many of the English and Scottish regiments were newly raised, and Ulster Protestant 'Enniskilliner' horse provided effective irregular cavalry. Most of the foot carried flintlocks and bayonets, and Dutch units used platoon fire. The OPW lists 23 cavalry and 5 dragoon regiments, 38 infantry battalions and a train of 40 field guns and 6 howitzers.\n\nThe Jacobite army of about 23,000-25,000 was mostly Irish Catholic, with English and Scottish Jacobites and French battalions from the 6,000 troops Louis had sent. The OPW gives 9 cavalry and 7 dragoon regiments, 26 Irish and 7 French battalions, and 16 guns. Its cavalry, drawn from the Catholic gentry, was its real strength. Much of the Irish infantry was hastily trained and poorly armed: those with firearms had obsolete matchlocks, and others carried pikes or even scythes. The army was short of artillery and powder. Neither James nor Tyrconnell had handled a large field army; Lauzun commanded the French and advised James.", "course": "**The eve (30 June).** Reconnoitring the fords, William was hit in the shoulder by a Jacobite cannonball, and showed himself to his troops to quash rumours of his death. He held a council of war in the ruins of Old Mellifont Abbey. According to the National Army Museum he rejected Schomberg's proposal for a wide envelopment to the west in favour of three thrusts: a flank march upstream towards Slane and Rosnaree, the main attack across the fords at Oldbridge, and a crossing downstream at Mill Ford. The Jacobites held the south bank, with James's standard at Donore, a few miles west of Drogheda.\n\n**The flank march (early morning, 1 July).** Under cover of morning mist Meinhard Schomberg, the duke's son, led about a quarter of the army across at Roughgrange, near Rosnaree, some 4 km west of Donore. A picquet of Irish dragoons under Sir Neil O'Neill failed to stop him. William then sent more troops after him; the NAM puts the whole detachment at about a third of his army. Fearing he would be outflanked and cut off from Dublin, James, on Lauzun's orders and advice, moved much of his army west, including his best French troops and most of his guns. The OPW reckons two-thirds of the Jacobites ended up facing Rosnaree. There a deep, marshy ravine, which neither side had scouted, kept the two forces apart for the rest of the day.\n\n**Oldbridge (from about 10 a.m.).** That left roughly a third of James's army at Oldbridge, with Tyrconnell commanding the Jacobite right. After an artillery bombardment, the Dutch Blue Guards crossed at low tide and drove the Jacobite foot from the village and its hedgerows. Their commander Boisseleau wrote that 'our Irish never experienced fire before and that took them by surprise'. Further regiments, Huguenots and Danes among them, crossed downstream of the Guards.\n\n**The cavalry fight.** Berwick's Jacobite horse counter-attacked again and again. Much of the Williamite foot was scattered back into the river, but the Blue Guards formed three squares and drove the cavalry off with platoon fire. One charge shattered a Huguenot regiment. The elder Schomberg, aged 74 and without his cuirass, crossed to rally it and was killed by sword cuts to the head and a carbine shot to the neck; George Walker was also killed in this phase.\n\n**Mill Ford (around noon).** William led cavalry across at Mill Ford, downstream: the ford was unopposed but deep, and his horse bogged until one of his men helped him through. With the Danish foot under Württemberg and Ginkel's 11 or 12 squadrons advancing from the downstream crossings, the Irish cavalry gave up the fight for the river.\n\n**Donore and Platin (afternoon).** The Jacobites fell back fighting. Their cavalry held an effective rearguard around Donore Hill and Platin Castle. The mixed Williamite army suffered several friendly-fire incidents; William was nearly shot by one of his own men.\n\n**The retreat.** The Jacobite army withdrew in good order through Duleek and across the River Nanny. A rearguard stopped William trapping it at the crossing, while Meinhard Schomberg's wing, after a long detour round the ravine, came close to cutting the road at Naul. The OPW reckons the armies were engaged for about twelve hours in all.", "aftermath": "Losses were light for the size of the armies. Of some 50,000 or more men present, about 2,000 died, roughly three-quarters of them Jacobites. The OPW gives about 1,000 Jacobite and 500 Williamite dead; the NAM about 800 Williamites killed and wounded and perhaps twice as many Jacobites. The Jacobite main body escaped, though many Irish foot deserted.\n\nJames went to Dublin and on to France, never to return, to the fury of his Irish supporters. The Jacobites abandoned Dublin and William entered it two days later. He issued the Declaration of Finglas, pardoning ordinary Jacobite soldiers but not their leaders. The Jacobite army held Limerick in August; the war ended only after Aughrim in July 1691 and the Treaty of Limerick on 3 October 1691. In England the news was overshadowed by the French naval victory off Beachy Head the day before, but on the Continent the Boyne was hailed as the Grand Alliance's first real victory,.\n\nThe date needs care. The battle was fought on 1 July in the Julian (Old Style) calendar still used in Britain and Ireland, which is 11 July in the Gregorian (New Style). The Twelfth of July was first the anniversary of Aughrim; after the calendar change of 1752 and the founding of the Orange Order in 1795, the two commemorations merged on 12 July. The marches remain a source of tension in Northern Ireland. The battlefield at Oldbridge is now a heritage site with a visitor centre.", "wargaming": "The Boyne is a big battle with a small decisive zone. A large part of both armies spent the day facing each other across the Roughgrange ravine, so a full refight needs the ravine to be close to impassable, or a rule that keeps those wings apart. The fighting that mattered, at Oldbridge and the downstream fords, suits brigade or regimental scale on a table a few kilometres wide, in turns of 15 to 30 minutes. The Blue Guards' stand against Berwick's horse makes a strong small scenario at battalion level.\n\nThe key terrain is the river and its fords, whose depth changed with the tide; Oldbridge village and its hedges; Donore Hill and Platin as rearguard positions; and the Nanny at Duleek as the Jacobite way out.\n\nThe decisions are the interesting part. The Williamite player chooses how much to send west and when to commit at Oldbridge; the Jacobite player must decide how far to believe the flank threat, as James and Lauzun had to. Rules should give the Williamite foot a firepower edge (flintlock and platoon fire against matchlock), the Irish horse a real edge in shock, and much of the Irish foot poor morale and few muskets.\n\nThe 'what ifs': James keeping his French and his guns at Oldbridge; Meinhard Schomberg finding a way round the ravine early enough to cut the road at Naul; or James taking French advice and holding the Shannon instead." }, "images": [ { "file": "File:CANE(1859) p235 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF BOYNE.jpg", "kind": "map", "caption": "A Victorian plan of the battle, with south at the top: Oldbridge, Donore, Duleek, Slane and Rosnaree, and the Williamite crossing points.", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/CANE%281859%29_p235_PLAN_OF_THE_BATTLE_OF_BOYNE.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/CANE%281859%29_p235_PLAN_OF_THE_BATTLE_OF_BOYNE.jpg/960px-CANE%281859%29_p235_PLAN_OF_THE_BATTLE_OF_BOYNE.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CANE(1859)_p235_PLAN_OF_THE_BATTLE_OF_BOYNE.jpg", "licence": "Public domain", "licence_url": "", "artist": "", "credit": "This file is from the Mechanical Curator collection , a set of over 1 million images scanned from out-of-copyright books and released to Flickr Commons by the British Library in London, England. View in BL Georeferencer View image on Flickr View all images from book View catalogue entry for book .", "width": 2281 }, { "file": "File:Battle of the Boyne Plan.png", "kind": "map", "caption": "A modern sketch map: the Williamite flank march to Roughgrange, the main crossing at Oldbridge, the cavalry crossing downstream and the Jacobite retreat to Duleek.", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Battle_of_the_Boyne_Plan.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Battle_of_the_Boyne_Plan.png/960px-Battle_of_the_Boyne_Plan.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_of_the_Boyne_Plan.png", "licence": "CC0", "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en", "artist": "Lotroo", "credit": "Own work", "width": 6369 }, { "file": "File:De slag aan de Boyne (Ierland) tussen Jacobus II en Willem III, 12 juli 1690 Rijksmuseum SK-A-605.jpeg", "kind": "painting", "caption": "Jan van Huchtenburg, 'The Battle of the Boyne between James II and William III' (Rijksmuseum).", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/De_slag_aan_de_Boyne_%28Ierland%29_tussen_Jacobus_II_en_Willem_III%2C_12_juli_1690_Rijksmuseum_SK-A-605.jpeg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/De_slag_aan_de_Boyne_%28Ierland%29_tussen_Jacobus_II_en_Willem_III%2C_12_juli_1690_Rijksmuseum_SK-A-605.jpeg/960px-De_slag_aan_de_Boyne_%28Ierland%29_tussen_Jacobus_II_en_Willem_III%2C_12_juli_1690_Rijksmuseum_SK-A-605.jpeg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_slag_aan_de_Boyne_(Ierland)_tussen_Jacobus_II_en_Willem_III,_12_juli_1690_Rijksmuseum_SK-A-605.jpeg", "licence": "Public domain", "licence_url": "", "artist": "Jan van Huchtenburgh", "credit": "https://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.8785", "width": 2952 }, { "file": "File:William III at the Battle of the Boyne.jpg", "kind": "painting", "caption": "Benjamin West, 'The Battle of the Boyne', 1778.", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/William_III_at_the_Battle_of_the_Boyne.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/William_III_at_the_Battle_of_the_Boyne.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_III_at_the_Battle_of_the_Boyne.jpg", "licence": "Public domain", "licence_url": "", "artist": "Benjamin West", "credit": "www.affordablehousinginstitute.org http://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-GB/asset/198827", "width": 600 }, { "file": "File:James II (1685).jpg", "kind": "portrait", "caption": "James II as head of the army, c. 1685, attributed to Benedetto Gennari II.", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/James_II_%281685%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/James_II_%281685%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_II_(1685).jpg", "licence": "Public domain", "licence_url": "", "artist": "Attributed to Benedetto Gennari II", "credit": "nam.ac.uk", "width": 602 }, { "file": "File:William III, when Prince of Orange - Wissing 1685.jpg", "kind": "portrait", "caption": "William III, when Prince of Orange, by Willem Wissing, 1685.", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/William_III%2C_when_Prince_of_Orange_-_Wissing_1685.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/William_III%2C_when_Prince_of_Orange_-_Wissing_1685.jpg/960px-William_III%2C_when_Prince_of_Orange_-_Wissing_1685.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_III,_when_Prince_of_Orange_-_Wissing_1685.jpg", "licence": "Public domain", "licence_url": "", "artist": "Willem Wissing", "credit": "https://www.rct.uk/collection/405644/william-iii-1650-1702-when-prince-of-orange", "width": 1630 }, { "file": "File:River Boyne Oldbridge.jpg", "kind": "photo", "caption": "The River Boyne at Oldbridge, where the main Williamite crossing was made.", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/River_Boyne_Oldbridge.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "thumb": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/River_Boyne_Oldbridge.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled", "page": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:River_Boyne_Oldbridge.jpg", "licence": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0", "artist": "Rod Allday", "credit": "geograph.ie", "width": 640 } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "title": "Battle of the Boyne", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Boyne", "kind": "web" }, { "id": "s2", "title": "The Battle of the Boyne: Teachers' Notes & Resources, Secondary Level (Office of Public Works, Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre, undated; archived 2017)", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20171025133305/http://battleoftheboyne.ie/media/Secondary%20Education%20Pack.pdf", "kind": "web" }, { "id": "s3", "title": "Battle of the Boyne (National Army Museum)", "url": "https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/battle-boyne", "kind": "web" }, { "id": "s4", "title": "Battle of the Boyne Site (Meath County Council)", "url": "https://www.meath.ie/discover/heritage/heritage-sites/battle-of-the-boyne-site", "kind": "web" }, { "id": "s5", "title": "David T. Zabecki, 'Prince William and the Bloody Battle of the Boyne' (HistoryNet, 2019)", "url": "https://www.historynet.com/prince-william-and-the-bloody-battle-of-the-boyne/", "kind": "article" }, { "id": "s6", "title": "Williamite War in Ireland", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamite_War_in_Ireland", "kind": "web" }, { "id": "s7", "title": "Pádraig Lenihan, 1690: Battle of the Boyne (Tempus, 2003)", "url": null, "kind": "book" }, { "id": "s8", "title": "Olaf van Nimwegen, De Veertigjarige Oorlog 1672-1712: de strijd van de Nederlanders tegen de Zonnekoning (Prometheus, 2020)", "url": null, "kind": "book" }, { "id": "s9", "title": "David Blackmore, Destructive & Formidable: British Infantry Firepower, 1642-1756 (Frontline Books, 2014)", "url": null, "kind": "book" } ], "cdb90": [ 43 ], "order": 17, "url": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/boyne/", "oob": [], "oob_lwtv": [], "scenarios": [], "orbat": null, "orbat_lwtv": null, "reading": { "prose": [], "history": [], "fiction": [], "poetry": [ { "work_id": "ia:historicalsongso00crok", "title": "The historical songs of Ireland", "in": null, "author": "Thomas Crofton Croker", "life": "1798–1854", "year": 1841, "kind": "poem", "library": "Internet Archive", "url": "https://archive.org/details/historicalsongso00crok", "language": "en", "contemporary": false, "subject": false, "references": 14, "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/the-historical-songs-of-ireland-e9c12e/" }, { "work_id": "ia:SketchesOfWesternMethodism1854_201901", "title": "Sketches Of Western Methodism (1854)", "in": null, "author": "Victorian Vault", "life": null, "year": 1854, "kind": "poem", "library": "Internet Archive", "url": "https://archive.org/details/SketchesOfWesternMethodism1854_201901", "language": "en", "contemporary": false, "subject": false, "references": 1, "page": "https://battles.georgewyrd.com/reading/sketches-of-western-methodism-1854-291686/" } ] }, "reading_lwtv": { "prose": [], "poetry": [] }, "photos": [], "photos_kind": "photographs", "newspapers": null }