Siege of Derry
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For context see the Williamite war in Ireland and Jacobitism.
The Siege of Londonderry, or the Siege of Derry, took place in Ireland during 1688–1689. Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, acting as the viceroy of King James VII of Scotland and II of England in Ireland, was anxious to ensure that all strong points in the country were held by garrisons completely loyal to the Roman Catholic cause.
By November 1688, only the walled city of Londonderry still had a Protestant garrison and so the Earl of Antrim was ordered to replace it with a more reliable force. Alexander MacDonnell, 3rd Earl of Antrim, despite his age of 76, keenly responded to this command but wasted valuable time searching for men who were six feet tall or more. An army of around 1,200 men, mostly "Redshanks" (Highlanders) set out on the week William of Orange landed in England. When the army arrived on December 7 1688 the city gates were closed against them and the siege began; tradition has the apprentice boys closing the gates and saving the city. A policy of 'no surrender' was confirmed and for 105 days the city suffered appalling conditions as cannonballs and mortar-bombs rained down, and famine and disease took their terrible toll.
James was deposed by William and fled to France where King Louis XIV of France gave him support to regain his crown. On March 12 1689 James landed in Kinsale, Ireland, with 6,000 French soldiers. He took Dublin and with a Jacobite army of Catholics, Protestant Royalists and French marched north, joining the siege on April 18, 1689 and summoning the city to surrender. The King was rebuffed and actually fired at by some of the more determined defenders. The Governor of the City, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Lundy, who favoured an accommodation with King James, fled under the cover of darkness.
British warships arrived off Londonderry on June 11 but refused to risk shore guns until, ordered by Marshal Frederic Schomberg, a relief ship, the Mountjoy, sailed up the Foyle and broke the barricading boom which had been stretched across the river and relieved the siege on July 28 1689. The city had endured 105 days of siege during which some 4000 people died.
The siege is commemorated annually by the Apprentice Boys of Derry who stage the week long Maiden City Festival culminating in a parade around the walls of the city by local members, followed by a parade of the city by the full Association. Although violence has attended these parades in the past, those in recent years have been largely peaceful.
See also
External links
- [The Siege of Londonderry in Ulster Protestant Mythology]
- [BBC-History Williamite Wars]
- [Apprentice Boys of Londonderry]
- [The Maiden City Festival]
- This article is partially based on the article with the same name on http://www.irelandinformationguide.com, licensed under GFDL.
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