Williamite

We fought for the royal Stuarts that reneged us against the Williamites and they betrayed us.

Having weighed every thing very impartially, one ſhall find that the Order of theſe Auguſtinians was in the beginning formed of ſeveral Heremitical Congregations, which were ſpread in ſeveral places under different names, and eſpecially of the Williamites, and Zambonites. […] SOME do pretend that this William, Inſtitutor of the Williamites, was a Duke of Aquitain, Earl of Poitiers, and Diſciple of S. Bernard.

When, in 1256, Alexander IV founded the Hermits of St. Augustine many of the Williamites refused to enter the union and were permitted to exist as a separate body under the Benedictine Rule.

The body known as the canons regular of St Augustine or black canons were founded in the mid-eleventh century but became the fourth mendicant order in 1256. They are also known as Austin canons and Austin friars and were divided into a number of groups such as the Williamites; Hermits of the Holy Trinity; Bonites; and Brittianians.

Before the year 1507 was over, Bucer was consecrated as an acolyte in the Strasbourg church of the Williamites (Hermits of Saint William of Maleval), thus receiving the lowest ecclesiastical orders, a prerequisite for theological studies.

The later history of the Williamites is similar to that of the Vallombrosans. They gave up the solitary life and adopted the Benedictine Rule, still retaining the white habit and cowl which distinguish them from the majority of Benedictines.

WILLIAM (Guliélmus, i), Ab. C. June 25. R. M. 12 Cent. Vercelli, near Naples, founder of Williamites or Hermits of Monte Vergine.

Saints Romuald and William founded orders with an even more remote profile, the Camaldolese and the Williamites – the latter of which ceased to exist in the course of the 19th century.

For whether King James, or K. William prevails, all our ancient Privileges ſeem expiring; and we are threatened, on all ſides, with Military and Arbitrary Government, unleſs we make a Tender of the Crown upon the Terms of the Conſtitution, to the King we have hitherto Abdicated, and who cannot, in common Honeſty, and according to the genuine ſignification of the Word, be ſaid to have abdicated his Crown, till he refuſes it upon thoſe Terms; which if he ſhould, the Diſtinction of His and the Williamite Party would ſoon have an End, […]

For to whom ſhould I dedicate a Book of this kind, I mean ſuch a Williamite one, if I may be allowed to ſpeak ſtill in our late Dialect, if not to your Grace?

The poems reprinted here ought to enter some partial exceptions to the rule that between the reigns of James II and of Queen Anne the one poetic exception is Dryden. In these publicly crowded years he gave the world, from his retirement, or exile, the Satires of 1693, the Virgil of 1697, and the Fables of 1700. But he would not be drawn over to the King’s side, and the student of poetry must look to less familiar writers if he is to find anything of a Williamite character worth his attention.

A war which for many who supported it in England was waged in defence of the Protestant religion and against popish idolatory, had its supporters in Scotland too, primarily Revolutioners, that is Williamite whigs and presbyterians, some of whom were even more fervent in their commitment to the Protestant cause than their English brethren.

In proportions and even in origin perhaps the nearest parallel is the bedstead which stood formerly in that great storehouse of Williamite furniture, Hampton Court, Herefordshire.

Because the presumably more elaborate gardens of the Governor’s Palace, laid out between 1711 and 1720, were in place when the plate was engraved, it is surprising how little is shown there and how detailed the gardens of the College are by comparison. The latter, which are very “Williamite,” parallel closely the gardens London had recently laid out at Hampton Court (Figs. I.iib, 4.43c).

These older features have the severe simplicity typical of the 1730s. They may well have enjoyed a more Williamite fanciness in previous generations, but the tenor of the illustrated Exton landscape was exceptionally (to our eyes) abstracted, made up of very large areas of close cropped turf within, and equally severe parkland without. And these are set within a seeming limitless planar topography.

It seems to be a well-established fact that the Williamite glasses were not made and decorated primarily for Orange clubs, but for use in private houses on special days of Orange festivals—1st July, the day of the Boyne; 4th November, the King’s birthday and wedding day, etc.

No. 213 is a Williamite glass bearing the inscription—"the immortal memory;” others read, "to the glorious memory of king william”—words from the Orange toast which begins, “To the glorious, pious, and immortal memory of the great and good King William, who freed us from Pope and Popery, knavery and slavery, brass money and wooden shoes,” and concludes, after much inconsequent verbiage, with the hope that he who refuses the toast may be “damned, crammed, and rammed down the great gun of Athlone.”

Williamite glasses date from about 1750 and commemorate the victory of King William III over James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.