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Title: Hillbillies
Date: 2021-09-01
Tags: Appalachia, Hillbillies, Ulster, Scots-Irish, King William III
Category: Etymology
*[Hillbillies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly){target="_blank"}*
are so called because their
*[Ulster-Scots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Scots_people){target="_blank"}*
Ancestors supported King William III during the Williamite War.
## Ulster
You may be familiar with current events in Northern Ireland. This history goes back to
a time when Scots from Southern Scotland and Northern England colonized
*[Ulster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster){target="_blank"}*
which is Northern Ireland.
### Scottish Marches
But why did the Ulster-Scots migrate from the
*[Scottish Marches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Marches){target="_blank"}*
to Northern Ireland?
There is an oft-repeated scenario in Medievel Europe involving something called a
[March](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_(territory)){target="_blank"}.
Please click through to the Wikipedia Article to see the long list of Marches
all over Europe!
To summarize, a March is a border region or frontier
region where the Presiding Lord, often titled a
[Marquise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquess){target="_blank"}
was allowed additional fortifications and military capability above and
beyond that allowed ordinary Nobility.
And so this oft-repeated scenario was that in a border region or March,
the local Nobility would have the means to enrich themselves with repeated
cross-border raids. But this unfortunately always came at the expense of
the local population, thus the motivation to flee to Ulster.
### King William III
So let's circle back.
Hillbillies were so called because their
Ulster-Scots Ancestors supported
[King Billy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_III_of_England){target="_blank"}
during the
[Williamite War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamite_War_in_Ireland){target="_blank"}.
Also known as *William of Orange*, he was installed
as King of England during a coup known as the
[Glorious Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_Revolution){target="_blank"}
in 1688, in which
[King James II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_Revolution){target="_blank"} was deposed.
### King James II (and VII)
So what was King James' problem?
King James II was thown out of office because he
was Catholic, because his second wife
[Mary of Modena](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_of_Modena){target="_blank"}
was also Catholic, and because together they parented
[James Francis Edward](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Francis_Edward_Stuart){target="_blank"}
and raised him as a Catholic.
### Williamite War
Ok, let's circle back to the Williamite War in 1689.
It turns out that while King James II was deposed as King of England, Ireland, and Scotland,
he still had an armed force in Ireland with which he fought a war against, and
was defeated by, King William III in Northern Ireland. This is when the Ulster-Scots
became known as supporters of King Billy.
### Anglo-Dutch Wars
But why was William of Orange installed as King?
I am not going to answer this question.
But it should be noted that William of Orange was also the ruler
of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and the Dutch Republic.
And the context for this is that throughout the 17th Century,
England and the Netherlands had been fighting a series of
disastrous and expensive wars against
each other known collectively as the
[Anglo-Dutch Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Dutch_Wars){target="_blank"}.
Indeed it was just prior to the Second Anglo-Dutch War
that New Amsterdam became New York.
The purpose of the Anglo-Dutch Wars was to establish control
of International Colonial Trade, but it was believed that
having a single King and Ruler of both England and several
countries in the Lowlands would create peace.
### Principality of Orange
As an interesting aside, let's just point out that the
[Principality of Orange](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Orange){target="_blank"}
came into existence in 1163 per Holy Roman Emperor
[Frederick Barbarossa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor){target="_blank"}
in order to serve as a March in the context of his
conflict with the Papacy.
### Recommended
[Born Fighting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_Fighting){target="_blank"} is a
[Book](https://www.amazon.com/Born-Fighting-Scots-Irish-Shaped-America/dp/0767916891){target="_blank"}
written by [Senator James Webb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Webb){target="_blank"}.
While I have not read the book, the Television Series Born Fighting
from the Smithsonian Channel is also narrated by Senator James Webb
and is very fun and interesting to watch.