35. Bloodless? Did I say bloodless?

That’s it: we’ve reached the great and dreadful moment of the Battle of the Boyne, an event that casts its shadow right down to the present day. Each year – on an oddly chosen anniversary date – Orangemen, called after William of Orange, march in Northern Ireland to remind everyone of their triumph over Catholic forces.

Then the episode switches its attention to Scotland, and events just as iconic, occurring in the picturesque valley of Glencoe.

The Boyne and Glencoe: they demonstrate just how little the word ‘bloodless’ applies to the Glorious Revolution. And in what a limited sense it was even glorious.

Illustration: Jan van Huchtenburgh: Battle of the Boyne. Public domain, original in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1926.

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License