Source 5b

Etching shows the landscape with a complete view of the Battle of the Boyne. The foreground shows the cannon with William III with his officers on horseback to the left. The title is only given in French, but the description underneath is in both French and English. According to curators at the British museum this is because the print is based on the huge engravings that Louis XIV had had made to impress his victories on the rest of Europe.
View full size image

Source 5b: Panoramic view of the Battle of the Boyne, and the victory of King William III, 1691, etching. Catalogue ref: MPHH 1/34.

 

This etching was made by Dirck Maas, William III’s official Dutch battle painter, who was present with William at the Battle of the Boyne. Published by Edward Cooper, 1791.

 

© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

Transcript

[English translation of title] Victory won by King William III over the Irish at the River Boyne in Ireland on July 1, 1690

 

Key written in English: Left hand side

  1. King William at the head of his Cavalarie [cavalry] followed by Prince George, the Duke of Ormode and G. Ginchel.
  2. Count Strabane [?] with the first Battalion of Guards.
  3. The Second Battalion.
  4. The third Battalion.
  5. The Earl of Portland, Count Schomberg & M. Overkirk.
  6. Monsieur de Suylecum
  7. Monsieur Isaack.
  8. Colonel Goor [Gore]
  9. Doctor Walker killed.
  10. King William’s cannon.
  11. The places where Duke Schomberg was killed.
  12. Count Nasians Regiment.
  13. Brandenburg Regiment.
  14. Col. Hamilton’s [?] Regiment.
  15. An Irish woman

 

Key written in English: Right hand side

 

  1. King James
  2. the French and Irish Cavaliers [cavalry: soldiers on horseback]
  3. the Enemy’s cannons which wounded King William the day before the Battlaale [battle]
  4. Cannon Bullets
  5. Drogheda
  6. the River Boyne
  7. the Irish infanterie [infantry: foot soldiers]
  8. a little fort
  9. the enemy running away
  10. the xx found with Irish running away

 

« Return to Glorious Revolution
  • How is the Battle of the Boyne depicted in this image?
  • Why do you think William III commissioned this image?
  • What is the value of this document for finding out about this battle/
  • Find out more about the Battle of the Boyne from the National Army Museum.