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Jacobite Wars  Jacobite was the name given to supporters of King

Summary: Jacobite Wars  Jacobite was the name given to supporters of King James VII of Scotland and II of Britain who fled from the country in 1689 to escape an invading army led by William of Orange also known as King Billy There was fearthroughout Britain that James would re instate Catholicism as the national religion so the parliaments invited his daughter Mary and her Protestant husband William to take over the throne The decisive battle of the Boyne in Ireland saw James completely defeated and he left the British Isles Bonnie Prince Charlie after landing at Glenfinnan in his bid to gain the British Throne   Lord George Murray with an army of 2 000 Jacobites marched southward where they were meet  at Prestonpans by General  Sir John Cope and a Royal army of 3 000 men  On the 21st September   The Jacobite s charged the  government troops and routed them hundreds of Government troops were killed or wounded and over 1 000 were captured with the Jacobite losses less than 150   With this victory Charles Edward Stuart and the Jacobite army marched southwards into England capturing the towns of Carlisle Penrith Lancaster and Preston and getting as far as Nottingham before lack of supplies and new recruits forced him to heads back to Scotland In 1685 when James II set out to obtain religious toleration for Catholics in Ireland he had no idea that in less than four years he would be leading an army of Catholics against William of Orange Like James Ireland was subject to the effects of European events that were wholly beyond its control When William of Orange precipitated the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and dethroned James II Ireland was the least of his concerns as he engaged in a power struggle with King Louis XIV Pressured by France James arrived in Ireland with hope of regaining his throne In many respects the Jacobite army was a French pawn to be used against William Although the war in Ireland was only a secondary front in a much larger war between the European powers the result determined the political and religious freedoms of those who would live in Ireland for the following two centuries The two sides were more evenly matched that in any other Irish war Byrne 487 Because victory was guaranteed to neither side the Jacobite war is one of the most critical points in Irish history

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