Siege Museum

Is in the Apprentice Boys Association headquarters. The Apprentice Boys are famous for shutting the gates of the Derry walls as the forces of the Catholic King James II approached. I am not certain I got the story straight--standing in museum galleries reading placard after placard, with history delivered in shorthand--is not my preferred way of learning.

It appears that when King James II converted to Catholicism, he began undoing laws that had oppressed Catholics in the British Isles. After he was deposed by Parliament and replaced by his Protestant daughter, Mary, he sought to retake the British Isles, landing in Ireland with French reinforcements. His goal was to replace the troops garrisoned in Derry (and Enniskillen and other Irish cities) with troops that would be loyal to him, not William & Mary. As his troops approached Derry, the apprentice boys closed the gates, fearing atrocities against Protestants (apparently there was a bit of fake news flying about--“the Comber letter”--saying Protestants were being slaughtered). And so began the Siege of Derry, when thousands died of starvation within the Derry walls. Eventually, English ships broke through a defensive boom on Lough Foyle, delivering supplies to feed the wasted people within the walls, and James’s troops were routed.

What got me about the museum was the complete lack of nuance or acknowledgement of the grievances of those without the walls. If thousands of people come from Scotland and take the best land and the build a fort on the highest hill, it’s not like the neighbours are happy about the situation. And Protestant fears of James’s rule were mirrored in Catholic fears of William of Orange--fears that proved well justified. The civil rights movement that kicked off in Derry in the late 60s followed hundreds of years of Catholics being denied basic rights in their own country.

During a video about the siege, I heard that the apprentice boys’ efforts “ensured civil and religious liberty for all.” Codswallop. The opposite is true. A more fair representation would be: When Catholic kings reigned, woe betide Protestants. When Protestant kings reigned, woe betide Catholics. To paint one side as the victim and the holder of virtue is just bunk. Yet 100s of years later, the Protestants march to honour their saviour, William of Orange, without a thought of what his ascension meant for the majority of Irish people.
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