In his article ‘Billy’s Boys’ in the last issue, it is a pity thatBrian Lacy does not answer the question posed in the introduction, thatis, whether William III was in fact homosexual. In researching my bookOrangeism—the making of a tradition (1999) I looked closely into thisquestion and went through as much material on William as … Read more
Sir, —When assessing Oliver Cromwell’s legacy in Ireland, we should notoverlook the religious congregations he supported in Dublin during theCommonwealth. The Protestant Dissenter congregations at Wood Street andNew Row were a source of republican ideas and pro-reform politics inthe city from their foundation through to the establishment of theUnited Irishmen in the late eighteenth century. … Read more
The month of July is named after Caius Julius Caesar—‘husband to every man’s wife, and wife to every woman’s husband’. But in Northern Ireland July is unquestionably the month of King Billy. The first half is taken up annually with the various events surrounding the commemoration of William’s victory in 1690 over his uncle and … Read more
When the lords of the Pale (as they continued to be styled in subsequent depositions) gathered at various hilltops in east Meath in October 1641, their dilemma was palpable. Should they continue to support an English state from which they were increasingly alienated in religion and in outlook, or should they make common cause with … Read more
The first edition of the Atlas of the Irish rural landscape (1997) was immediately hailed as a classic. For its time it was a ground-breaking publication, featuring a previously unsurpassed array of maps, aerial photographs and detailed explanatory text combining broad overviews of Irish rural settlement with detailed treatments of individual regions. Perhaps unavoidably, the … Read more