Marlborough: His Life and Times, Volume I

491 Pages·2014·4.67 MB·English

by  Winston S. Churchill

JOHN CHURCHILL, FIRST DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH
John Closterman (attributed to), ca. 1685–1690 (detail),
courtesy National Portrait Gallery, London.
Marlborough
His Life and Times
Volume One
Winston S. Churchill
Copyright
Marlborough
His Life and Times, Volume One
First published 1933–38. © Estate of Winston S. Churchill
Cover art to the electronic edition copyright © 2014 by RosettaBooks, LLC.
Image of Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, home of the Dukes of Marlborough and birthplace of Winston
Churchill, reproduced by permission of Curtis Brown, London, on behalf of The Broadwater Collection, an
archive of photographs owned by the Churchill family and held at the Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from
the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
Cover design by Alexia Garaventa.
Electronic edition published 2014 by RosettaBooks, LLC, New York.
ISBN Mobipocket edition: 9780795329890
To
The Grenadier Guards
st
The 1 Guards,
In which John Churchill,
afterwards Duke of Marlborough,
received his first commission on September 14, 1667,
of which he was Colonel from the year 1704 to 1711
and from 1714 till his death, and which served under him at the Battle of
the Schellenberg, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde,
and Malplaquet,
and in all the principal sieges and other
Great Operations
During ten victorious campaigns,
this work is dedicated by the author
in memory of
the courtesies and kindness
shown to him by the regiment in
The Great War
ABBREVIATIONS
B.M. = British Museum Library.
C. = Chancery Records in the London Record Office.
C.S.P. = Calendar of State Papers.
C.S.P. (Dom.) = Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series.
D.N.B. = Dictionary of National Biography.
H.M.C. = Report of the Royal Historical Manuscripts Commission.
P.R.O.= The Public Record Office, London.
S.P. = State Papers.
For further details as to footnote references see the Bibliography.
In quoting from old documents and letters the original text has been preserved
wherever it is significant. Letters of Marlborough and Sarah which enter directly
into the narrative have been modernized in spelling, grammar, and punctuation
so far as is convenient to the reader. But the archaic style and setting has been
preserved, and occasionally words are left in characteristic spelling.
Documents never before made public are distinguished with an asterisk (*). In
the case of unpublished letters to and from Marlborough preserved in the
Blenheim collection no further reference is given.
All italics are the Author’s, unless the contrary is stated.
In the diagrams, except where otherwise stated, fortresses held by the allies
are shown as black stars and those occupied by the French as white stars.
METHOD OF DATING
Until 1752 dates in England and on the Continent differed owing to our delay
in adopting the Reformed Calendar of Gregory XIII. The dates which prevailed
in England were known as Old Style, those abroad as New Style. In the
seventeenth century the difference was ten days, in the eighteenth century eleven
days. For example, January 1, 1601 (O.S.), was January 11, 1601 (N.S.), and
January 1, 1701 (O.S.), was January 12, 1701 (N.S.).
The method I have used is to give all dates of events that occurred in England
and documents written in England in the Old Style, and of events that occurred
abroad in New Style. In sea battles and a few other convenient cases the dates
are given in both styles.
It was also customary at this time—at any rate, in English official documents
—to date the year as beginning on Lady Day, March 25. What we should call
January 1, 1700, was then called January 1, 1699, and so on for all days up to
March 25, when 1700 began. This has been a fertile source of confusion. In this
book all dates between January 1 and March 25 have been made to conform to
the modern practice.
CONTENTS
VOLUME ONE
Preface
I. ASHE HOUSE
II. THE JOVIAL TIMES
III. BARBARA
IV. THE EUROPE OF CHARLES II
V. ARMS
VI. THE DANBY ADMINISTRATION
VII. SARAH
VIII. MARRIAGE
IX. MASTER AND SERVANT
X. THE UNSEEN RIFT
XI. THE PRINCESS ANNE
XII. SEDGEMOOR
XIII. THE ROYAL PLOT
XIV. THE NATIONAL COUNTER-PLOT
XV. DRAGONNADE
XVI. THE PROTESTANT WIND
XVII. THE INVASION
XVIII. THE REVOLUTION
XIX. MARLBOROUGH AND WILLIAM
XX. THE PERSONAL CLEAVAGE
XXI. KING JAMES’S MEMOIRS
XXII. THE JACOBITE ILLUSION
XXIII. THE FAMILY QUARREL
XXIV. THE TOWER
XXV. THE CAMARET BAY LETTER
XXVI. CAMARET BAY
XXVII. THE FENWICK TRIAL
XXVIII. AVARICE AND CHARM
XXIX. PEACE AND RECONCILIATION
XXX. MARLBOROUGH IN POLITICS