The Flight of the Wild Geese refers to the departure of an Irish Jacobite army under the command of Patrick Sarsfield from Ireland to France, as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on October 3, 1691, following the end of the Williamite War in Ireland. More broadly, the term "Wild Geese" is used in Irish history to refer to Irish soldiers who left to serve as mercenaries in continental European armies in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Read more about Flight Of The Wild Geese: Spanish Service, French Service, Austrian Service, Swedish and Polish Service, Italian Service, End of The Wild Geese
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—John Masefield (18741967)
“They yelleden as fiendes doon in hell;
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The geese for feare flewen over the trees;
Out of the hive came the swarm of bees.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?1400)