The Irish Jacobite army

Harman Murtagh and Diarmuid Murtagh

"This book is hugely ambitious in its remit, and it has managed to examine its subject in both width and depth, while also supplying the wider context. It serves as a model of how military organizations can be examined in an intelligent and useful way [...] This volume has a wealth of detail on the organisation of the Irish Jacobite army, but embedded within this are higher discussions on the quality and motivation of troops, the personalities of commanders and the conduct of an army on campaign [...] The Murtaghs’ Irish Jacobite army offers us a new and definitive account of a crucially important Irish military formation, and as such it is hugely to be welcomed." David Murphy, History Ireland

“The book’s impressive range covers the peacetime armed forces period of the 1680s, followed by the Battle of the Boyne, when the army supported King James II, the exiled Stuart monarch, against the forces of William of Orange.” Paul Clements, The Irish Times, August 2025

“This is a work that embodies the lifetime’s work of the two most widely-recognised scholars of the Irish Jacobite Army; and, as such, it is a book that fulfils every expectation of being comprehensive. [...] This book is not to be the final word, for there is more to be said about the Jacobite Army, and by Harman Murtagh himself. There is to be a sequel, the publication of which in 2026 is anticipated in the publisher's programme. This will be a book of annotated lists, Regimental lineages and officer lists of the Irish Jacobite army. These lists, eagerly awaited, will complement the narrative in this volume. So, instead of speaking incautiously of final words, let it be confidently predicted that the two volumes, shelved side-by-side, will together rank as the definitive history of the Irish Jacobite Army.” Kenneth Ferguson, The Irish Sword, No. 139 (Summer 2025)