'For
Faith and Fame and Honour':
The Irish Brigade in the Service of France
Sarsfield: 'Would It Were for Ireland'
Ah! Why, Patrick Sarsfield, did we
let
your ship sail
Away to the French Flanders from the green Innisfail.
For far from your country you lie cold and low:
Ah? Why Patrick Sarsfield, ah, why did you go.
We prayed, Patrick Sarsfield, to see
you sail home,
Your flag waving victory across the white foam,
But still in our fetters, poor slaves we live on;
For oh, Patrick Sarsfield, for, oh! You are gone
– From "Lament for
Patrick Sarsfield" (Anonymous)
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|
Patrick Sarsfield
|
Patrick
Sarsfield was born in Lucan, County Dublin, perhaps in 1655, though it
could have been a few years later in Tully Castle, County Fermanagh.
His family name was Norman-Irish, his Sarsfield forebears coming to
Ireland in 1172. But his maternal roots were very
Gaelic, as his mother was Annie O'Moore, daughter of Rory O'Moore, one
of the organizers of the Rising in 1641. The Sarsfields had allied
themselves with the Royalists during those years and paid for it by
having their estates in the east exchanged for less valuable ones in
the
west.
Patrick, who grew to be a tall,
powerful young man, was sent to a military college in France when he
was 20. He then served with Hamilton's Irish regiment in France.
Catholics had been barred from holding officer positions in the English
army in the Test Act of 1673. It was one of the greatest periods in French
military history, with their army fighting and winning numerous
battles. Sarsfield gained more battlefield experience there than he
ever could have in the English army of the period.
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| The Treaty Stone in
Limerick, from a 1910 postcard. |
He returned to Ireland to serve in the
army of King James against William of Orange. He served well in
numerous battles there, including a raid he led on the Williamite
siege-train at Ballyneety, en route to attack the Jacobites in Limerick.
He negotiated the "Treaty of
Limerick" in 1691, a fair and equitable pact that might have transformed
Irish history, but it was not honored by the English.
Sarsfield then led "The Flight of The Wild Geese" to help form the
Irish Brigade of France before being killed at the Battle of Landen in
1693, dying with the words "Would it were for Ireland" on his lips. He
is buried in the grounds of St Martin's Church in Huy, Belgium.
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Wild
Geese in Europe's Wars
This feature
was edited by Gerry
Regan and produced by Joe Gannon.
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