No Irish battle is more famous than the Battle of the Boyne, in which the Protestant King William III defeated his father-in-law the Catholic King James II. The battle marked the beginning of Protestant control in Ireland and the consequences for the Catholic Irish were disastrous, still felt to this day. In this fascinating history, Antonia Fraser reveals the dramatic background and consequences of the Battle of the Boyne. She examines the complicated system of alliances which led to the battle being in effect a European struggle fought on Irish soil, with Louis XIV backing his first cousin James II and the Pope actually backing the Protestant William III. The various characters involved are all colourful: among them the Duke of Tyrconnell - '-Fighting Dick Talbot', soldiers such as the aged Field Marshal the Duke of Schomberg who was killed leading his men across the Boyne at the age of 75, and various princesses, including James's young Catholic wife Mary Beatrice of Modena, trying to direct matters from France, and his rebellious daughters, Mary, William's wife, and Anne. And at the centre of them all the two Kings, so closely connected by blood as they gazed at each other across the Boyne, yet so different. The Battle of the Boyne is still commemorated annually in the controversial summer marches in the North of Ireland. The truth of what happened then remains, therefore, extremely relevant today as well as historically fascinating in its own right.
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