Williamite

Meanings

nounWilliamite (plural Williamites)

plural Williamites

historicalA follower of William III of England who deposed James II in the Glorious Revolution.
We fought for the royal Stuarts that reneged us against the Williamites and they betrayed us.
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 316
historicalA member of the Hermits of Saint William, a religious order founded by disciples of William of Maleval.
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.
1912, Raymund Webster, “Williamites”, in Charles G[eorge] Herbermann, Edward A[loysius] Pace, Condé B[enoist] Pallen, Thomas J[oseph] Shahan, John J[oseph] Wynne, editors, The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church, volume XV (Tournon–Zwirner), New York, N.Y.: Robert Appleton Company, →OCLC, page 644, column 2
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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.
1693, Gabriel d’ Emillianne [pseudonym; Antonio Gavin], A Short History of Monastical Orders, in Which the Primitive Institution of Monks, Their Tempers, Habits, Rules, and the Condition They Are in at Present, Are Treated Of, London: […] S[amuel] Roycroft, for Rob[ert] Clavell, […], →OCLC, pages 48–49 and 54
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.
1984, Janet Mayo, “The Growth of Monasticism and the Beginnings of Opus Anglicanum 1066–1250”, in A History of Ecclesiastical Dress, New York, N.Y.: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 38, column 1
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.
2004, Martin Greschat, translated by Stephen E. Buckwalter, “The Dominicans”, in Martin Bucer: A Reformer and His Times, Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, →ISBN, chapter 1 (Humble Beginnings), page 15
Synonyms: Guillelmite, Guillemin
historicalA member of the Order of Monte Vergine, a religious order founded by disciples of William of Montevergine.
WILLIAM (Guliélmus, i), Ab. C. June 25. R. M. 12 Cent. Vercelli, near Naples, founder of Williamites or Hermits of Monte Vergine.
1935 April 2, Edward F[rancis] Smith, Baptismal and Confirmation Names: Containing in Alphabetical Order the Names of Saints with Latin and Modern Language Equivalents, Nicknames, Brief Biography, Representation in Art and Pronunciation […], New York, N.Y.; […]: Benziger Brothers, Inc. […], →OCLC, page 253
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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.
1932, Peter F[rederick] Anson, “Benedictine Solitaries”, in The Quest of Solitude, London; Toronto, Ont.: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.; New York, N.Y.: E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc., →OCLC, pages 72–74
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.
2023, Joris Geldhof, “Modern Saints in the Roman Missal. An Exploration of the Proprium de Sanctis”, in Elisa Frei, Eleonora Rai, editors, Profiling Saints: Images of Modern Sanctity in a Global World (Refo500 Academic Studies; 97), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, →ISBN, section 1 (Through the Saints: Understanding the Church across the Centuries), page 85

adjectiveWilliamite (comparative more Williamite, superlative most Williamite)

comparative more Williamite · superlative most Williamite

Of or relating to the reign of William III of England from 1689 to 1702.
1. historicalOf or relating to his followers who deposed James II in the Glorious Revolution.
  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?
  1702, Robert Fleming [the younger], “To His Grace James, Duke of Queensberry, &c.”, in The Blessedness of Those Who Die in the Lord: A Practical Discourse Occasioned by the Death of King William; wherein a Character of Him is Given. […], London: […] Andrew Bell […], →OCLC, page iv
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  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, […]
  [1689?], Better Late than Never, →OCLC, signature A, recto, column 1
  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.
  1974, Earl Miner, “Introduction”, in Augustan Reprint Society, Poems on the Reign of William III (1690, 1696, 1699, 1702) (Publication Number 166), Los Angeles, Calif.: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, →OCLC, page i
  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.
  2006, Christopher A[llan] Whatley with Derek J. Patrick, “War, Trade and Tariffs”, in The Scots and the Union, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, published 2007, →ISBN, chapter 4 (The 1690s: a nation in crisis), page 157
2. historicalOf architecture or furnishings: of the style of that period.
  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.
  1950, The Burlington Magazine, numbers 562–573, London: The Burlington Magazine Publications, →OCLC, page 7, column 2
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  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).
  2002, James D. Kornwolf with Georgiana W[allis] Kornwolf, “The College of William and Mary, 1693–1699”, in Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America (Creating the North American Landscape), volume 2, Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, part II (England in North America, 1585–1867), chapter 4 (England in Virginia, 1585–1776), page 582, column 2
  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.
  2017, William Alvis Brogden, “Exton Park”, in Ichnographia Rustica: Stephen Switzer and the Designed Landscape, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, chapter 6 (Essays in the landscape style), page 209
3. historicalnot comparableOf glassware: bearing a portrait or emblem of him, as an indication of anti-Jacobite sentiments.
  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.
  1996 March 23, Christopher Proudlove, “A toast to our good friends in the north”, in Alastair Machray, editor, Daily Post, North West edition, Liverpool, Merseyside: Liverpool Daily Post & Echo Ltd, →OCLC, page 22, column 5
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  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.
  1897, Albert Hartshorne, “Irish Glases”, in Old English Glasses. An Account of Glass Drinking Vessels in England, from Early Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century. […], London; New York, N.Y.: Edward Arnold […], page 378
  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.”
  [1905], Percy Bate, “Inscribed and Historic Glasses”, in English Table Glass (Newnes’ Library of the Applied Arts), London: George Newnes Limited […]; New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 105