The Battle of Blenheim tapestry at Blenheim Palace. (From the Palace website.)
Wednesday night I went to see Earl Spencer (Di's brother) give a lecture on the Battle of Blenheim. He's written a book, Blenheim: Battle for Europe, which stars his ancestor, John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough.
When I first came to London, I noticed the name Blenheim everywhere: Blenheim Gardens, Blenheim Crescent, and so on. (Thirteen Blenheim-named streets, according to London A-Zed.) I'd never before heard of Blenheim, which is interesting in itself.
We've all heard of Waterloo, and now the Battle of Trafalgar (especially this year, the 200th anniversary) but the Battle of Blenheim gets short shrift in the history books. That's a shame, since if not for the exploits of John Churchill and his sidekick Prince Eugene, there's a pretty good chance we'd all be speaking French.
Occasionally throughout history, the forces of good manage to ally against the forces of evil, in this instance Louis, the Sun King. He thought he should be emperor of Europe, and what's more, that all Europe should be Catholic, which worried the Protestants no end.
His ego was matched by the size of his army (roughly the size of the U.S. army today). He broke treaty after treaty and was determined to carve up Spain for himself. (Can anyone think of a modern parallel? Class?)
The man had to be stopped and it was up to John Churchill to do it. With unexpected cunning Churchill raced his troops 250 miles, surprised the French in Germany, and decisively defeated an army that hadn't been beaten in 60 years. What's more, he treated his troops well, seeing that they were well fed and looked after—a novelty at the time.
As Earl Spencer pointed out, history is interesting because of the people involved, not the battles and the places they fought for. John Churchill, who was made the Duke of Marlborough and given the land and funds to build Blenheim Palace, sounds like a decent chap, especially when held up to the often barbaric standards of the time. He was also handsome, and true to his wife Sarah, which doesn't hurt in a hero.
I can't wait for the movie.
