The Boyne Water
Encyclopedia
"The Boyne Water" is an Ulster
Protestant
folksong by an anonymous
lyricist. The lyrics
of the song commemorate King William III of Orange
's victory over James II
at the Battle of the Boyne
. Unionists point to this battle
as decisive in achieving a constitutional monarchy
in the United Kingdom
.Modern historians also agree that this conflict, otherwise known as "The Glorious Revolution" and played out in Scotland as well, was the conclusion of the English or British Civil War of 1642 - 1651 (Trevor Royle The British Civil War, 2004). Indeed, King James II as a very young Duke of York was present with his father Charles at the Battle of Edge Hill in 1642. The song is famous, or notorious, for being played by Orange marching bands of the Orange Order
in their parades, which have been made increasingly controversial since the Troubles
in Northern Ireland
.
The lyrics of the song narrate the course of the Battle of the Boyne
. It mentions real events such as the death of the Duke of Schomberg
, William of Orange's leading the Eniskillen cavalry (Ulster Protestant settlers) across the river Boyne
, and the Williamite infantry's repulse of the Jacobite cavalry's counter-attacks. the song also expresses the view that victory in the battle saved the Ulster Protestant community from massacre by the Irish Catholics - "So praise God
, all true Protestants, and I will say no further,
But had the Papist
s gained that day, there would have been open murder". Folk memories in the 17th century when the song was most probably written,were no doubt still very fresh concerning the various retributive massacres between Irish natives and Protestant settlers in the Irish Rebellion of 1641
.
The Jacobite
song "Lady Keith's Lament" is sung to the same tune. Separately, there is also another Gaelic Irish language song, 'Rosc Catha na Mumhan' ('The Battle Cry of Munster') that is sung to the same tune, but giving the perspective of Irish Catholics warring with the settlers, attributed to Pearas Mac Gearailt (1709 -92). This version is also available translated into French; see second reference linked at end of page.
See also: Croppies Lie Down
; Lillibullero
s over the Jacobites at the Battle of the Boyne
.
's novel That Hideous Strength
, when protagonists are preparing for a dangerous fateful encounter with their enemies, the character MacPhee, an Ulster Protestant, is shown humming "The Boyne Water". Lewis gives a slightly deviant text: "King Wlliam said, be not dismayed, for the loss of one commander" (see http://www.lewisiana.nl/thsquotes).
Ulster
Ulster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the north of the island. In ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial...
Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
folksong by an anonymous
Anonymous work
Anonymous works are works, such as art or literature, that have an anonymous, undisclosed, or unknown creator or author. In the United States it is legally defined as "a work on the copies or phonorecords of which no natural person is identified as author."...
lyricist. The lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
of the song commemorate King William III of Orange
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
's victory over James II
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
at the Battle of the Boyne
Battle of the Boyne
The Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between two rival claimants of the English, Scottish and Irish thronesthe Catholic King James and the Protestant King William across the River Boyne near Drogheda on the east coast of Ireland...
. Unionists point to this battle
Battle
Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
as decisive in achieving a constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.Modern historians also agree that this conflict, otherwise known as "The Glorious Revolution" and played out in Scotland as well, was the conclusion of the English or British Civil War of 1642 - 1651 (Trevor Royle The British Civil War, 2004). Indeed, King James II as a very young Duke of York was present with his father Charles at the Battle of Edge Hill in 1642. The song is famous, or notorious, for being played by Orange marching bands of the Orange Order
Orange Institution
The Orange Institution is a Protestant fraternal organisation based mainly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, though it has lodges throughout the Commonwealth and United States. The Institution was founded in 1796 near the village of Loughgall in County Armagh, Ireland...
in their parades, which have been made increasingly controversial since the Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
.
The lyrics of the song narrate the course of the Battle of the Boyne
Battle of the Boyne
The Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between two rival claimants of the English, Scottish and Irish thronesthe Catholic King James and the Protestant King William across the River Boyne near Drogheda on the east coast of Ireland...
. It mentions real events such as the death of the Duke of Schomberg
Duke of Schomberg
Duke of Schomberg in the Peerage of England was created in 1689. The title derives from the surname of its holder .-Dukes of Schomberg :*Frederick Schomberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg , military commander in the Williamite War in Ireland*Charles Schomberg, 2nd Duke of Schomberg , younger son of the 1st...
, William of Orange's leading the Eniskillen cavalry (Ulster Protestant settlers) across the river Boyne
River Boyne
The River Boyne is a river in Leinster, Ireland, the course of which is about long. It rises at Trinity Well, Newbury Hall, near Carbury, County Kildare, and flows towards the Northeast through County Meath to reach the Irish Sea between Mornington, County Meath and Baltray, County Louth. Salmon...
, and the Williamite infantry's repulse of the Jacobite cavalry's counter-attacks. the song also expresses the view that victory in the battle saved the Ulster Protestant community from massacre by the Irish Catholics - "So praise God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, all true Protestants, and I will say no further,
But had the Papist
Papist
Papist is a term or an anti-Catholic slur, referring to the Roman Catholic Church, its teachings, practices, or adherents. The term was coined during the English Reformation to denote a person whose loyalties were to the Pope, rather than to the Church of England...
s gained that day, there would have been open murder". Folk memories in the 17th century when the song was most probably written,were no doubt still very fresh concerning the various retributive massacres between Irish natives and Protestant settlers in the Irish Rebellion of 1641
Irish Rebellion of 1641
The Irish Rebellion of 1641 began as an attempted coup d'état by Irish Catholic gentry, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for the Catholics living under English rule...
.
The Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
song "Lady Keith's Lament" is sung to the same tune. Separately, there is also another Gaelic Irish language song, 'Rosc Catha na Mumhan' ('The Battle Cry of Munster') that is sung to the same tune, but giving the perspective of Irish Catholics warring with the settlers, attributed to Pearas Mac Gearailt (1709 -92). This version is also available translated into French; see second reference linked at end of page.
See also: Croppies Lie Down
Croppies Lie Down
"Croppies Lie Down" is an anonymous Protestant loyalist anti-rebel folksong dating from the 1798 rebellion in Ireland celebrating the defeat and suppression of the rebels....
; Lillibullero
Lillibullero
Lillibullero is a march that sets the words of a satirical ballad generally said to be by Lord Thomas Wharton to music attributed to Henry Purcell. Although Purcell published Lillibullero in his compilation Music's Handmaid of 1689 as "a new Irish tune", it is probable that Purcell hijacked the...
Lyrics
The following is the oldest and most spirited version of the famous Orange song that celebrates the victory of the WilliamiteWilliamite war in Ireland
The Williamite War in Ireland—also called the Jacobite War in Ireland, the Williamite-Jacobite War in Ireland and in Irish as Cogadh an Dá Rí —was a conflict between Catholic King James II and Protestant King William of Orange over who would be King of England, Scotland and Ireland...
s over the Jacobites at the Battle of the Boyne
Battle of the Boyne
The Battle of the Boyne was fought in 1690 between two rival claimants of the English, Scottish and Irish thronesthe Catholic King James and the Protestant King William across the River Boyne near Drogheda on the east coast of Ireland...
.
July the first, of a morning clear, one thousand six hundred and ninety,
King William did his men prepare?of thousands he had thirty-
To fight King James and all his foes, encamped near the Boyne Water;
He little feared, though two to one, their multitude to scatter.
King William called his officers, saying: "Gentlemen, mind your station,
And let your valour here be shown before this Irish nation;
My brazen walls let no man break, and your subtle foes you?ll scatter,
Be sure you show them good English play as you go over the water."
Both foot and horse they marched on, intending them to batter,
But the brave Duke Schomberg he was shot as he crossed over the water.
When that King William did observe the brave Duke Schomberg falling,
He reined his horse with a heavy heart, on the EnniskillenEnniskillenEnniskillen is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,599 in the 2001 Census...
es calling:
"What will you do for me, brave boys?see yonder men retreating?
Our enemies encouraged are, and English drums are beating."
He says, "My boys feel no dismay at the losing of one commander,
For God shall be our King this day, and I'll be general under."
Within four yards of our fore-front, before a shot was fired,
A sudden snuff they got that day, which little they desired;
For horse and man fell to the ground, and some hung on their saddle:
Others turned up their forked ends, which we call coup de ladle.
Prince Eugene's regiment was the next, on our right hand advanced
Into a field of standing wheat, where Irish horses pranced;
But the brandy ran so in their heads, their senses all did scatter,
They little thought to leave their bones that day at the Boyne Water.
Both men and horse lay on the ground, and many there lay bleeding,
I saw no sickles there that day?but, sure, there was sharp shearing.
Now, praise God, all true Protestants, and heaven's and earth's Creator,
For the deliverance he sent our enemies to scatter.
The Church's foes will pine away, like churlish-hearted NabalNabalAccording to the 1st Book of Samuel Chapter 25, Nabal , was a rich Calebite who was also described as being harsh and surly. David and his band of men who had been outlawed by King Saul were living off the Wilderness of Paran and providing voluntary protection to the shepherds in the area.The...
,
For our deliverer came this day like the great Zorobabal.
So praise God, all true Protestants, and I will say no further,
But had the PapistPapistPapist is a term or an anti-Catholic slur, referring to the Roman Catholic Church, its teachings, practices, or adherents. The term was coined during the English Reformation to denote a person whose loyalties were to the Pope, rather than to the Church of England...
s gained that day, there would have been open murder.
Although King James and many more were ne'er that way inclined,
It was not in their power to stop what the rabble they designed.
Literary Reference
At the climactic scene of C. S. LewisC. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
's novel That Hideous Strength
That Hideous Strength
That Hideous Strength is a 1945 novel by C. S. Lewis, the final book in Lewis's theological science fiction Space Trilogy. The events of this novel follow those of Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra and once again feature the philologist Elwin Ransom...
, when protagonists are preparing for a dangerous fateful encounter with their enemies, the character MacPhee, an Ulster Protestant, is shown humming "The Boyne Water". Lewis gives a slightly deviant text: "King Wlliam said, be not dismayed, for the loss of one commander" (see http://www.lewisiana.nl/thsquotes).