July 12th, 1796
The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage.
The Orange Order was founded by Ulster Protestants in County Armagh in 1795, during a period of Protestant–Catholic sectarian conflict, as a fraternity sworn to maintain the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland.
It is headed by the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, established in 1798.
Its name is a tribute to the Dutch-born Protestant king William of Orange, who defeated Catholic King James II in the Williamite–Jacobite War (1688–1691).
The order is best known for its yearly marches, the biggest of which are held on or around 12 July (The Twelfth), a public holiday in Northern Ireland.
Jacobite defeat
The Battle of Aughrim was the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland. It was fought between the largely Irish Jacobite army loyal to James II and the forces of William III on 12 July 1691, near the village of Aughrim, County Galway. The battle was possibly the bloodiest ever fought in the British Isles: 5,000–7,000 people were killed.
The Jacobite defeat at Aughrim meant the effective end of James’s cause in Ireland, although the city of Limerick held out until the autumn of 1691.
