Sir, – Patrick Sarsfield was many things, but he was not a Jacobian ("Breakthrough in search for the remains of tragic Irish historical figure", News, February 16th). Nor was he a Jacobean, or a Jacobin. He was a Jacobite – a supporter of James VII & II, king of the kingdoms of Scotland, England and Ireland, 1685-88 (in exile, 1689-1701).
The word Jacobite, like Jacobean (relating to the reign of James VI & I, 1603-25), derives from Jacobus, the Latin for James. “Jacobian”, on the other hand, is a mathematical term related to the work of the 19th-century German mathematician, CGJ Jacobi. And, of course, Jacobin refers to a French Revolutionary grouping first established in 1789.
Nor did Sarsfield die during the Seven Years’ War, which took place from 1756 to 1763. The Battle of Landen, at which he died in 1693, was part of the Nine Years’ War (or War of the Grand Alliance), 1688-1697. – Yours, etc,
IVAR McGRATH,
Harold’s Cross,
Dublin 6W.