0:00:27 > 0:00:32Few battles are commemorated as passionately as the Boyne.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37The clash between James II and his son-in-law William of Orange
0:00:37 > 0:00:40still resounds through Irish history.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44This street, in a Protestant area of Belfast,
0:00:44 > 0:00:49is dominated by an image of William of Orange crossing the River Boyne.
0:00:49 > 0:00:57His victory over James II in 1690 became a powerful symbol of Protestant ascendancy.
0:00:57 > 0:01:03It lies at the heart of the divisions and distrust that separate Ireland's two communities.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07BAGPIPES PLAYING The anniversary of the Boyne
0:01:07 > 0:01:13features in the marching season in Northern Ireland every July.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18The parades and bands are a celebration of Protestant identity,
0:01:18 > 0:01:23as William rides triumphantly at the head of his Orange followers.
0:01:28 > 0:01:35King Billy was an unlikely hero - pockmarked, asthmatic, with a thick Dutch accent -
0:01:35 > 0:01:40a prince of the Netherlands with no real interest in Ireland.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45Even this Protestant-inspired statue shows that he was short and stooped.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49Yet he was an experienced soldier. And he was LUCKY.
0:01:49 > 0:01:56Had a Jacobite gunner been more fortunate, William would have died before the battle.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13The roots of the battle lie deep in Irish history.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18Five miles from the banks of the Boyne is Monasterboice.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21The Celtic crosses here were carved
0:02:21 > 0:02:25600 years before William and James were born.
0:02:26 > 0:02:32For Ireland, this war between two kings opened up old, old wounds.
0:02:33 > 0:02:41Ireland had been invaded in Norman times, but wasn't really conquered by the English until about 1600.
0:02:41 > 0:02:46There were Protestant settlers from England and Scotland,
0:02:46 > 0:02:51but most of the Irish were Catholic, with a proud and ancient culture.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04The tension between that ancient culture and the Protestant settlers
0:03:04 > 0:03:09is evident in the fortified houses built by the newcomers.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14Some had been lured by the prospect of land. Others had simply been sent.
0:03:21 > 0:03:29Many Protestants had arrived at the beginning of the 17th century as part of the plantation of Ulster.
0:03:29 > 0:03:36They'd taken land from the native Irish and established their own colonies with plough...and gun,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40like Protestant islands in a Catholic sea.
0:03:40 > 0:03:48In 1641, dispossessed Irish landowners and peasants rose against the settlers
0:03:48 > 0:03:53and massacred several thousand, sometimes with appalling brutality.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13The memory of the 1641 massacres lived on in Protestant nightmares.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17It helped to create a siege mentality.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24From their fortified manor houses,
0:04:24 > 0:04:31many landowners looked out with fear and suspicion at their Catholic tenants and neighbours.
0:04:33 > 0:04:40The divisions between Catholics and Protestants grew deeper still when Cromwell arrived in Ireland in 1649.
0:04:40 > 0:04:47Cromwell behaved ruthlessly towards the Catholic supporters of the executed King Charles I.
0:04:47 > 0:04:53At Drogheda, on the Boyne, he reinforced his fearsome reputation.
0:04:53 > 0:05:01Historian Sean Collins recognises that propaganda was already widening Ireland's religious divide.
0:05:01 > 0:05:07- What brought Cromwell here in 1649? - He came to suppress the Royalist rebellion -
0:05:07 > 0:05:09the work he had started in England.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14Drogheda was staunchly Royalist, with a garrison of about 3,500 men.
0:05:14 > 0:05:21- He was determined to put them down. - What happened?- He stormed the town on the southwest wall.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26Barraged them with cannon. Had a bit of a stand-off for four days.
0:05:26 > 0:05:33They breached the town wall and stormed the garrison at Millmount. It is said 3,500 men were killed.
0:05:33 > 0:05:40A number of local people were also killed. As the legend grew, the numbers of the dead grew...
0:05:40 > 0:05:43until he'd killed everybody!
0:05:43 > 0:05:51The Royalists wanted him to be seen as a baddy and he wanted to be seen as putting the Royalists down.
0:05:51 > 0:05:58It suited everybody to inflate the legend, if you like, and make him appear as bad as possible.
0:05:58 > 0:06:04In 1688, English politics again inflamed Ireland.
0:06:04 > 0:06:11King James II's largely Protestant subjects feared that he planned to reintroduce Catholicism.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16In an extraordinary move, a group of bishops and aristocrats
0:06:16 > 0:06:23invited James's son-in-law, the Protestant Prince William of Orange, to take the throne.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26James fled to France in December.
0:06:26 > 0:06:33Kicked out of England, there was one place where he could be sure of popular support.
0:06:33 > 0:06:40Irish Catholics had lost much of their land to the Protestants and hoped James would restore it.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45James landed near Cork in 1689. He was supported by Louis XIV of France,
0:06:45 > 0:06:50who saw a chance to embarrass his old enemy William of Orange.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55William HAD to challenge James. The Jacobites held the whole of Ireland
0:06:55 > 0:07:00apart from Londonderry and Enniskillen with their Protestant garrisons.
0:07:00 > 0:07:07In mid-August 1689, William sent the Duke of Schomberg to Ireland with about 10,000 men.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12Schomberg's first act was to lay siege to this castle, Carrickfergus.
0:07:19 > 0:07:26The garrison of Carrickfergus fought bravely for a week and then marched out to surrender.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30George Storey, chaplain to one of Schomberg's regiments,
0:07:30 > 0:07:35recalls that the townspeople were bitterly hostile to the garrison:
0:07:35 > 0:07:42"the Duke was forced to ride amongst them with his pistol to prevent the Irish from being murdered.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47"The poor Irish were forced to flee to the soldiers for protection
0:07:47 > 0:07:55"else the country people would have used them very severely. Yet they all live in the one country!"
0:07:55 > 0:08:00But Schomberg's campaign became bogged down in the autumn of 1689.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04Starvation and disease killed around half his troops.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07In the spring,
0:08:07 > 0:08:12William decided to take personal command of his army in Ireland.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17William landed at Carrickfergus on the 14th of June, 1690,
0:08:17 > 0:08:22a date still celebrated annually by the town's Protestant citizens.
0:08:22 > 0:08:29He brought with him another 15,000 troops and a train of artillery, giving him a clear edge over James.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34It was the first time William set foot on Irish soil...and the last.
0:08:48 > 0:08:53Local tradition has it that as soon as William landed,
0:08:53 > 0:08:58he embarked upon a round of handshaking and baby-kissing.
0:08:58 > 0:09:05In truth, he set off immediately for Belfast, anxious to finish what had become a troublesome little war.
0:09:05 > 0:09:11William's army was an extraordinary mixture of European nationalities -
0:09:11 > 0:09:18Dutch, Danish, German, French Huguenots, Scots, Irish and English troops.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23Ironically, his Protestant army had a Papal blessing.
0:09:23 > 0:09:31The Pope feared the expansionism of Louis XIV and supported William against James and his French allies.
0:09:31 > 0:09:38From Belfast, William marched south, towards Dublin, gathering Irish Protestant supporters en route.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41James decided to meet him on the Boyne.
0:09:41 > 0:09:47The Boyne was the last major natural obstacle between William and Dublin.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51In 1690, there were few bridges over it.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55One was here at Drogheda, rebuilt since Cromwell sacked it
0:09:55 > 0:09:5741 years before.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59James garrisoned his town
0:09:59 > 0:10:03to stop his enemies from using the bridge.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07So William's men would have to get their feet wet.
0:10:11 > 0:10:19Two miles west of Drogheda, the Boyne is a fast-flowing river through rough pasture and woodland.
0:10:19 > 0:10:25Today there is little sign that anything happened along its peaceful banks.
0:10:27 > 0:10:32James chose to defend the tidal reaches of the river
0:10:32 > 0:10:37and took special care to secure the ford here at Oldbridge.
0:10:37 > 0:10:42In 1690, it was a hamlet standing in rough, open pasture.
0:10:42 > 0:10:49These trees stand where the village then stood, and some of James's men used the houses for cover.
0:10:49 > 0:10:55On Sunday, the 29th of June, his army camped along the slopes leading down to the Boyne,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58sentries on watch along the bank.
0:10:58 > 0:11:04In addition to 6,000 French troops, there were 19,000 Irish Catholics.
0:11:09 > 0:11:17Irish historian Dr Harmen Murtagh believes some of James's troops were unconvinced by their English leader.
0:11:17 > 0:11:25He had, of course, suffered huge emotional setback by being kicked out of England by his subjects
0:11:25 > 0:11:27and betrayed by his own family.
0:11:27 > 0:11:35So he was a man, I would say, who was a little bit on edge as far as his self-confidence was concerned.
0:11:35 > 0:11:42He seems to have oscillated between periods of some optimism - fatalism, anyway - about the Irish situation,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45to periods of depression about it.
0:11:45 > 0:11:50Certainly, at the Boyne, he seems to have been VERY half-hearted
0:11:50 > 0:11:57about his commitment to even the battle here, never mind having any hope or confidence in victory.
0:11:57 > 0:12:06James spent the night of Sunday the 29th of June up here, at the ruined church at Donore.
0:12:06 > 0:12:13He'd shown himself a resolute commander in previous wars, and few questioned his bravery.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18But he must have been filled with foreboding about his chances.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24As James surveyed his army spread out below him,
0:12:24 > 0:12:29he knew that he was outnumbered and outgunned by William.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31He had some good French infantry,
0:12:31 > 0:12:37but many of his troops were raw recruits, poorly trained and badly equipped.
0:12:38 > 0:12:44James's army was much less well equipped than William's.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46By 1690, the matchlock musket,
0:12:46 > 0:12:51which relied on a length of smouldering fuse igniting the charge,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54was being replaced by the flintlock,
0:12:54 > 0:12:59much easier to use and less liable to misfire in wet weather.
0:13:02 > 0:13:08James's men had far fewer flintlocks. And the pike was being replaced by a new weapon.
0:13:08 > 0:13:16Early bayonets simply plugged into the musket's muzzle, converting every musketeer into a pikeman.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19James had few, if any, bayonets
0:13:19 > 0:13:24and many of his men carried medieval weapons like scythes and billhooks.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32The fortune of war can turn on a single shot.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37On Monday morning, a day he considered particularly unlucky,
0:13:37 > 0:13:42William was observing the Jacobite army down by the river,
0:13:42 > 0:13:49wearing the star and sash of the Order of the Garter, and with a mounted entourage,
0:13:49 > 0:13:54he was a prime target for an enterprising Jacobite gunner.
0:13:54 > 0:14:01The first shot killed two horses and a man about 100 yards from William. The next was an extraordinary fluke.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04The ball bounced on the riverbank,
0:14:04 > 0:14:11flew up and hit William in the shoulder, ripping his coat and tearing away the skin.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15The shot caused consternation around William,
0:14:15 > 0:14:21but with masterly coolness he said, "Ce boulet est venu bien pres. Ce n'est rien."
0:14:21 > 0:14:25"The ball came close enough, but it's nothing."
0:14:25 > 0:14:32The Jacobites disagreed. The rumour spread about the army that William had been killed.
0:14:32 > 0:14:39A few days later, in Paris, prints were circulating, showing the death of the Prince of Orange.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49William recovered quickly from his near miss
0:14:49 > 0:14:55and that night he held a council of war in Melhfont Abbey, just north of the river.
0:14:55 > 0:15:02In this tranquil 12th-century monastery, the differences between his commanders emerged.
0:15:04 > 0:15:11Schomberg wanted to send the bulk of the army across the bridge at Slane to get behind the Jacobites.
0:15:11 > 0:15:17Another general wanted to go head-on at Oldbridge, into the teeth of the enemy.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22William, ever the astute politician, compromised.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26Part of the army, under Schomberg's son Meinhardt,
0:15:26 > 0:15:29would cross by the ford at Rosnaree.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34The rest would attack at Oldbridge, head-on.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39Before the meeting broke up, it took an ironic decision.
0:15:39 > 0:15:45To distinguish between the two armies, many of whom wore the same uniforms,
0:15:45 > 0:15:50William's Protestant soldiers would wear sprigs of green in their hats.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Early on Tuesday morning,
0:15:59 > 0:16:07Jacobite sentries at Oldbridge heard the sound of thousands of men marching westwards.
0:16:07 > 0:16:14In the darkness and mist, they didn't realise it was only part of William's army, heading for Rosnaree.
0:16:19 > 0:16:2410,000 men, led by Meinhardt, marched five miles through the dark.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29It was damp and cold. They had slept little and scarcely had time to eat.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37Schomberg's men arrived at the ford at 5am,
0:16:37 > 0:16:41to meet Colonel Neill O'Neill and his 480 dragoons.
0:16:41 > 0:16:49O'Neill was an inspirational leader, dressed as an Irish chieftain and deeply respected by his men.
0:16:49 > 0:16:56Schomberg sent 100 grenadiers into the river to draw fire, then sent over a regiment of Dutch dragoons.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59O'Neill met them head-on.
0:16:59 > 0:17:07In a vicious skirmish, O'Neill was mortally wounded. Minutes later, his men gave up the unequal struggle.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11The first part of William's army was across the Boyne.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14James now made a critical mistake.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18He saw reinforcements moving west towards Rosnaree.
0:17:18 > 0:17:24Assuming that the entire Williamite army was trying to outflank him,
0:17:24 > 0:17:31he sent many of his best troops to meet the attack, including all his French infantry.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34This was all part of William's plan,
0:17:34 > 0:17:41who ordered an artillery bombardment at Oldbridge in preparation for a full-scale assault across the river.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56Powder, please.
0:17:57 > 0:18:03Martin Macaffrey is Captain of Artillery in an Irish group
0:18:03 > 0:18:07that reconstructs the battles of the Jacobite War.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10Have a care!
0:18:16 > 0:18:22- Martin, tell me about this gun of yours.- It's a three-pounder cannon -
0:18:22 > 0:18:27called so because the lump of metal that it fires weighs three pound.
0:18:27 > 0:18:34It doesn't sound like much, but a three-pound lump of metal can do a helluva lot of damage,
0:18:34 > 0:18:41- especially with the force that this fires it with. - What else could you fire?
0:18:41 > 0:18:43Anything that fit down the barrel!
0:18:43 > 0:18:49As well as shot, it fired... Canister and chain were the main things.
0:18:49 > 0:18:56Canister, in particular, went down on top of the ball, and the ball split it as it was going out.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59And it spread across the field.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04It was filled with bits and pieces of metal from all over the place -
0:19:04 > 0:19:09like a huge shotgun, shredding anything that came in front of it.
0:19:09 > 0:19:15- And the noise and smoke were very disorientating. - How lucky was William's near miss?
0:19:15 > 0:19:22Extremely lucky. The ball was bouncing, ricocheting. That was OK. That was meant to happen.
0:19:22 > 0:19:29Later in the war, a Jacobite general got his head taken off by a very similar shot.
0:19:29 > 0:19:35- His side lost the battle.- So William was lucky.- Extremely lucky.
0:19:35 > 0:19:42Ricocheting or not, it still carried a helluva lot of weight, helluva lot of force.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46William then sent some of his best troops across the river.
0:19:46 > 0:19:52The Dutch Blue Guards marched into the Boyne, which came up to their chests.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Their drums and fifes played Lillibulero,
0:19:55 > 0:20:00a popular song satirising Catholic intentions towards Irish Protestants.
0:20:00 > 0:20:08"Ho brother Teague, dost hear a decree? That we are to have a new deputy.
0:20:08 > 0:20:15"Ho, by my shoul, it is de Talbot, and he will cut de Englishman's throat."
0:20:15 > 0:20:19- #- Lillibulero bullen ar la...- #
0:20:29 > 0:20:35Just after ten o'clock, the fighting was at its most intense,
0:20:35 > 0:20:40as the Williamite troops poured across the river
0:20:40 > 0:20:45and their Jacobite opponents fired volley after volley into them.
0:20:45 > 0:20:52For the loss of only 150 men, the Dutch had pushed the Jacobites back from the riverbank.
0:20:52 > 0:21:00The cavalry, the cream of James's army, now rode into the thick of the fighting, against the Dutch infantry.
0:21:01 > 0:21:0717th-century cavalry could wreak terrible damage on disorganised infantry.
0:21:07 > 0:21:13But by the 1690s, there was a new tactic against horsemen - the hollow square.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18The square allowed the musketeers to fire in any direction,
0:21:18 > 0:21:25and pikes and bayonets prevented the horsemen from getting in amongst the infantry.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39William watched from the north bank of the river, here above Oldbridge.
0:21:39 > 0:21:46He saw the Jacobite cavalry swirling around the Dutch squares down where the corn field now is.
0:21:46 > 0:21:53The battle hung in the balance, and William was heard to say, "My poor guards, my poor guards."
0:21:53 > 0:22:00But the squares held firm, and soon other Williamite regiments followed the Dutch across the river.
0:22:00 > 0:22:08For the next two hours, the Jacobite horsemen charged the squares of Williamite infantry.
0:22:08 > 0:22:14While the battle raged at Oldbridge, James and his French troops stood idly by.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18They'd marched west to meet the threat at Rosnaree,
0:22:18 > 0:22:23but the two forces were separated by the boggy valley behind me.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28For four crucial hours, they watched one another without firing a shot.
0:22:28 > 0:22:35Three miles away, the Jacobite cavalry were breaking themselves against William's troops.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40In the dreadful melee of horseman against horseman,
0:22:40 > 0:22:45one death must have given the Jacobites grim satisfaction -
0:22:45 > 0:22:51William's commander, the Duke of Schomberg was shot in the neck, dying instantly.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56But any jubilation would have been short-lived.
0:22:56 > 0:23:02Early in the afternoon, William ordered a third assault, at Drybridge, which he would lead.
0:23:02 > 0:23:09The bank was boggy where William crossed, and the struggle through the mud brought on an asthma attack.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13He had to lie down for a few minutes before going on.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23At this stage, fate almost intervened again.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26In the confusion of the battle,
0:23:26 > 0:23:33one of William's own men, an Enniskillener, came up to him with pistol cocked.
0:23:33 > 0:23:40William had the presence of mind to say, "What - angry with your friends?" and defuse the situation.
0:23:40 > 0:23:46By now, it was clear that the battle was over for James and his army.
0:23:46 > 0:23:51William's forces were across the river in at least three places.
0:23:51 > 0:23:57The Jacobite cavalry was fighting, but many infantry were fleeing.
0:23:57 > 0:24:03A Jacobite infantry regiment was retreating in good order down a sunken lane,
0:24:03 > 0:24:08when suddenly a fleeing Jacobite cavalry regiment burst through it.
0:24:08 > 0:24:15One infantry officer admitted his men fled, no officer able to stop them once they were broken -
0:24:15 > 0:24:20casting off arms, and even coats and shoes, to run lighter.
0:24:28 > 0:24:35James's men converged on this bridge over the River Nanny, just four miles from the Boyne.
0:24:35 > 0:24:42It was the only route across the boggy river, and beyond it lay the road to Dublin and safety.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47Now, for the first time, James's French troops shot in anger.
0:24:47 > 0:24:53One regiment fired on the fugitives to prevent them clogging the bridge, and helped check the pursuit.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59The Boyne was not a bloody battle by 17th-century standards.
0:24:59 > 0:25:04The casualties on both sides were not much more than 1,000 men.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09But it persuaded James that he'd lost the war.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14There is a romance about being a great loser, going down in flames,
0:25:14 > 0:25:20which is attractive in its own way, something romantic about it.
0:25:20 > 0:25:27But apart from that, I see it as the last stand of the old Catholic civilisation of Ireland.
0:25:27 > 0:25:35And the defeat that they suffered in the Jacobite War was the culmination of setbacks and defeats.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37But they didn't just let it happen.
0:25:37 > 0:25:43They stood and fought for themselves and their faith and fatherland
0:25:43 > 0:25:50and everything that their civilisation was to them. And in the end they were defeated.
0:25:50 > 0:25:56But I think that if you have to go, it's probably better to go with courage and dignity
0:25:56 > 0:25:59than to retreat like a wimp.
0:26:03 > 0:26:10Today, the site of the battle is virtually unmarked and scarcely remembered in the south.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14In the north, the Boyne lives on in Unionist ideology
0:26:14 > 0:26:18as part of William's defence of civil and religious liberties -
0:26:18 > 0:26:25and sometimes more crudely as the victory of one religion over another.
0:26:25 > 0:26:31It's a distortion that historians on both sides of the border find hard to swallow.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40The Battle of the Boyne went from what it was as far as I'm concerned:
0:26:40 > 0:26:45Ireland being used as a chess board in a greater European war -
0:26:45 > 0:26:54it became a battle of a Protestant king to get rid of a Catholic king, which is so far from the truth!
0:26:54 > 0:26:58History has been totally twisted and thwarted and...
0:26:58 > 0:27:03The Boyne is interesting in how it has shaped Ireland's two traditions.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07But we will never have a peaceful Ireland
0:27:07 > 0:27:10until those traditions can sit down,
0:27:10 > 0:27:16and consider each other's traditions and live with each other's traditions.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26The Boyne helped set the pattern for the next 200 years of Irish history.
0:27:26 > 0:27:33Small wonder that Protestants were to revere the memory of King Billy, who won it.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38For Catholics, who fought far harder than their king ever deserved,
0:27:38 > 0:27:42James became "Seamus a chaca" - James the Shit-head.
0:27:42 > 0:27:49Some followed him into exile, but most stayed on, living through the long night of defeat.