The Treaty Stone on which the treaty
of Limerick was signed.
The
Treaty of Limerick ended the
Williamite war in Ireland between
the
Jacobites and the supporters of
William of Orange. It
concluded the
Siege of
Limerick. The treaty really consisted of two treaties which
were signed on
3 October 1691. Reputedly they were signed on the
Treaty
Stone, an irregular block of limestone which once served as a
mounting block for horses.
This stone is now displayed on a pedestal in
Limerick
city
. Because of the treaty, Limerick is
sometimes known as the
Treaty City.
The Military Articles
These articles dealt with the treatment of the disbanded Jacobite
army.
Under the treaty, Jacobite soldiers had the
option to leave with their arms and flags for France
to continue
serving under James II in the
Irish Brigade.
Some
14,000 Jacobites chose this option and were marched south to
Cork
where they
embarked on ships for France, many of them accompanied by their
wives and children. This journey became known as the
Flight of the Wild
Geese.
The Jacobite soldiers also had the option of joining the Williamite
army. 1,000 soldiers chose this option. The Jacobite soldiers
thirdly had the option of returning home which some 2,000 soldiers
chose.
This treaty had twenty-nine articles, which were agreed upon
between Lieutenant-General
Ginkle,
Commander-in-Chief of the English army, and the Lieutenant-Generals
D'usson and de Tesse, Commanders-in-Chief of the Irish army. The
articles were signed by D'Usson, Le Chevalier de Tesse, Latour
Montfort,
Patrick Sarsfield (Earl
of Lucan), Colonel
Nicholas
Purcell of Loughmoe, Mark Talbot, and
Piers, Viscount
Galmoy.
The Civil Articles
These articles protected the rights of the defeated Jacobite
landed gentry who chose to remain in
Ireland, most of whom were Catholics. Their property was not to be
confiscated as long as they swore allegiance to
William and Mary, and
Catholic noblemen were to be allowed
to bear arms. William required peace in Ireland and was allied to
the
Papacy in 1691 within the
League of Augsburg.
This Treaty contained thirteen articles which were agreed upon
between the Right Honourable Sir Charles Porter, and Thomas
Coningsby, Esq., Lords Justices of Ireland, and his Excellency the
Baron de Ginkle, Lieutenant General and Commander-in-Chief of the
English army, and the Right Honourable
Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, Percy
Viscount Galmoy, Colonel Nicholas Purcell of Loughmoe, Colonel
Nicholas Cusack, Sir Toby Butler, Colonel Dillon, and Colonel John
Brown. The treaty was signed by Charles Porter, Thomas Coningsby,
and Baron de Ginkle, and witnessed by Scavenmoer, H. Mackay, and T.
Talmash.
The civil articles were not honoured by the victorious Williamite
government for long, as the Papacy again recognized James II as the
lawful king of Ireland from
1693. The few
Catholics who took the oath in 1691-93 remained protected,
including their descendants. Starting in
1695,
a series of harsh
penal laws
were enacted by the
Irish
parliament to make it difficult for the Irish Catholic gentry
who had not taken the oath by 1695 to remain Catholic. The laws
were extended for political reasons by the Dublin administration
during the
War of the
Spanish Succession (1701-14), and reforms did not start until
the 1770s.
It is often thought that Limerick was the only treaty between
Jacobites and Williamites.
A similar treaty had been signed on the
surrender of Galway
on 22 July
1691, but without the strict loyalty oath required under the Treaty
of Limerick. The Galway garrison had been organised by the
landed gentry of counties Galway and Mayo, who benefited from their
property guarantees in the following century. The Limerick treaty
marked the end of the war.
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