1 July 1690
Battle of the Boyne

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At the battle of the Boyne, north of Dublin, William III defeats an Irish and French army led by the exiled James II. James lands in Ireland in March 1689, trying to reassert his rule over the island. Stiff resistance from Protestants in Derry and Enniskillen impedes his progress, and in June 1690, William III arrives in the north, then marches south and destroys James's army at the Boyne. After this victory, the division of Ireland into a mainly Catholic south ruled by English Protestants and a heavily settled Protestant north is confirmed.

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William's vanguard crossed waist-deep in water, and fought a ferocious hand-to-hand battle to allow 20,000 men to follow. James, whose mind was fixated on retreat from early in the fighting, fled to Dublin and on to France. The phlegmatic William expressed, according to his physician, 'neither joy nor any sort of vanity' but he permitted himself to look 'cheerful'.

From A Century of Troubles by Stevie Davies (Channel 4 Books)

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