The Flight of the Wild Geese was the departure of an Irish Jacobite army under the command of Patrick Sarsfield from Ireland to France, as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on 3 October 1691, following the end of the Williamite War in Ireland. More broadly, the term Wild Geese is used in Irish history to refer to Irish soldiers who left to serve in continental European armies in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Uniform and colonel's flag of the Regiment of Hibernia in Spanish service, mid-eighteenth century
Portumna castle. Wild Geese heritage museum.
Picture displaying the uniform of the Regimiento de Infantería Irlanda
Flags of the Irish regiments in French service
Jacobitism was a political movement that supported the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the British throne. The name derives from the first name of James II of England, which is rendered in Latin as Jacobus. When James went into exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, the Parliament of England decided that he had abandoned the English throne, which they offered to his Protestant daughter Mary II of England, and her husband William III. In April, the Scottish Convention held that James "forfeited" the throne of Scotland by his actions, listed in the Articles of Grievances.
James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766
'The True Law of Free Monarchies;' James VI and I's political tract formed the basis of Stuart ideology
Charles I, whose policies caused instability throughout his three kingdoms
James II, 1685, dressed in military uniform