Ballyneety and the Broken Siege
In 1690 Ireland became the principal battlefield in the contest between the deposed James II and William III, the Dutch prince who, with his wife Mary, had been recognised as monarch in England, Scotland and Ireland after the Revolution of 1688–89. The conflict was never merely a private dynastic quarrel. James’s restoration depended on the military and financial support of Louis XIV of France; William’s success was essential to the wider European coalition resisting French power in the Nine Years’ War. Ireland’s ports, rivers and cities therefore mattered to decision-makers in London, Versailles, The Hague and Copenhagen as well as to people living beside the Boyne, Shannon and Lee.