Battle for Europe

CHAPTER THREE JOHN CHURCHILL 'No one in this world could possibly have done better than Mr Churchill has done and M. de Turenne is very well pleased with all our nation.' LETTER OF LORD DURAS (LATER THE EARL OF FEVERSHAM) TO THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT, 1674 THE FRENCH ENJOYED BELITTLING William of Orange's generalship. They knew that his personal courage on the field of battle, whilst admirable, had rarely brought him victory. A contemporary joke in Paris suggests widespread disdain for a hapless foe: 'The Prince of Orange can at least boast', it was said, 'that no general of his age had raised so many sieges and lost so many battles.'1 William was bitterly aware of his limitations, blaming them on his lack of training at the side of the great generals of his youth. 'I would', he said wistfully, 'willingly give part of my provinces to have served some campaigns under the Prince of Condé.'2 At the outbreak of war in 1689, William turned to an apprentice of Turenne - Condé's brother-in-arms - to make something of his English troops. His name was John Churchill, and he had recently been promoted to lieutenant-general. John was the son of Sir Winston Churchill, a Royalist cavalry officer during the Civil War. Sir Winston had suffered financially for having supported the king: the Churchill family endured confiscation and impoverishment during Cromwell's Commonwealth. After the restoration of the Stuarts, however, Sir Winston retrieved some status, even if money continued to elude him. He became a Tory Member of Parliament, and a junior courtier. These posts left him time to write a sycophantic history of the kings of England, further testimony to his pronounced loyalty to the Crown. Eight of John's eleven siblings died young. His two surviving brothers followed him into the armed services, with success: George Churchill became an admiral, and younger brother Charles a general. The only surviving sister, Arabella, was also to enjoy prominence in adulthood. In common with other daughters of impoverished Royalists, Arabella Churchill was despatched to the Restoration Court to become a teenaged maid of honour. Her mistress was the former Anne Hyde, a commoner who had caught the eye of James, Duke of York, whilst in-waiting to his sister Mary, the mother of William of Orange. To the chagrin of James's family, the couple married. The new duchess quickly discovered that her duties included a tacit acceptance of her husband's roving eye. The duke's particular penchant was for her own female retinue, from which he drew fresh conquests at will. Sir Peter Lely's luscious portraits tell us that Charles II liked ravishing mistresses, with generous bosom and ringletted hair. James's tastes were altogether less obvious, veering towards the plain. Bemused by his brother's series of dowdy lovers, Charles concluded that they must be a penance inflicted on James by Catholic confessors. 'My brother will lose his kingdom by his bigotry, and his soul for a lot of ugly trollops,'3 was the king's opinion; and we know that he was right on one count, at least. Arabella Churchill captivated the Duke of York. Their romance started when she fell from her horse in a royal riding party. As she struggled amidst her petticoats, attempting to regain her dignity, James noticed her unexpectedly fine legs. The duke, who had already shown mild interest in Arabella, was now full of lustful resolve, and it was not long before Miss Churchill became his mistress. This was 'not one of his numerous casual affairs; it was the chief affair of his life, lasting ten or twelve years.'4 During this time Arabella bore James four illegitimate offspring. One was given the title of Duke of Berwick and was a great favourite of James's: the king later contemplated installing his natural son as the Catholic ruler of Ireland. When James lost his English throne, Berwick joined him in exile. After his father's death Berwick became one of the more successful of Louis's later marshals, thus confirming the Churchills' genetic gift for the military. Of more immediate benefit to Arabella's family was the favour that now fell on her younger brother. After studying at St Paul's, in London, John became a page of honour to the Duke of York. Hostile historians have criticised John for benefiting from his sister's courtesan status. However, impoverished gentry during the Stuart Age had few scruples about the method of their advancement. Having become a trusted servant, young Churchill took advantage of his master's favour to progress from Court life to soldiery. One day, when watching a parade of troops in London, James asked his page what he would most like in the world. 'A pair of colours' was the immediate reply, his words a euphemism for an ensign's commission. James approved of this ambition and in 1667 the seventeen-year-old Ensign Churchill was gazetted to the King's Regiment of Foot Guards. In 1668, Churchill served in the Governor's Regiment in Tangier, where Moors were the enemy. This outpost had come to Britain as part of Catharine of Braganza's dowry when she married Charles II. Although the garrison cost over £100,000 per year to maintain, the king valued Tangier highly. It was certainly a useful training ground for Charles's soldiers, toughening them up and introducing them to new methods of warfare: in 1663, the Tangier Regiment was the first English unit to employ the bayonet. Returning to London in 1671, John embarked on an affair with his cousin, Barbara Castlemaine. Almost a decade John's senior, she was one of King Charles's more promiscuous mistresses. Her passion for Churchill was intense and the king, in a surprise visit, caught the pair in a tryst. Heading a court heaving with licentious behaviour, it is strange to think of Charles as a sentimental man. However, he was reportedly hurt by Barbara's infidelity, for he had genuine feelings for the mother of five of his illegitimate tribe. The king showed magnanimity, though, dismissing the young gallant with an avuncular chiding: 'Go. You are a rascal, but I forgive you because you do it to get your bread.'5 Charles's comment showed an awareness of Churchill's precarious financial position. Perhaps a consequence of relative childhood poverty, Churchill displayed an unattractive relationship with money throughout his life. It later brought him ridicule and contempt, for the rich and powerful were expected to display their wealth magnanimously. Avarice was a character flaw that John Churchill never defeated, although with his famed meanness came astute management of his personal finances. This was an important skill for the ambitious young man: without it, the prospects for future advancement were limited, for Court positions and army ranks were bought and sold as commodities. When the infatuated Barbara Castlemaine gave her young lover the astonishing gift of £5,000 - enough, at the time, to have bought a colonelcy in the Foot Guards - most of it was squirreled away to become the foundation of Churchill's later extraordinary wealth and position. A return from Court life to soldiery brought Churchill action and advancement in the early 1670s. It was soon clear that this was an officer of the highest potential. When life was breathed into Charles II's secret Treaty of Dover, in 1672, the English joined Louis against the Dutch. The Duke of York kept his protégé close to him, on board his flagship, the Royal Prince. The vessel was involved in the bloody Battle of Sole Bay, which was fought off the Suffolk town of Southwold within sight of a huge crowd. Churchill's conduct has not been recorded, yet it was conspicuous enough to merit a rare double-promotion, to the rank of captain. Churchill was transferred at the end of the year to fight on land for France. Serving as a volunteer under the Duke of Monmouth, Churchill distinguished himself at the siege of Maastricht. Several notable men were present during this action, including Count d'Artagnan, the musketeer later immortalised by Alexandre Dumas; while Claude-Louis-Hector Villars, Churchill's most able military opponent in later life, fought alongside him here. Louis XIV, a proponent of siege warfare, was in the trenches as John joined in three French charges against the Dutch defences, the last of which was successful. Churchill is credited with raising the French standard on the captured parapet, as well as with saving Monmouth's life while countering a daring but doomed Dutch counter-attack. The taking of Maastricht was a bloody affair, the garrison of 6,000 inflicting heavy casualties on a French force that outnumbered it by eight to one. D'Artagnan was one of many attacking officers slain, shot through the head at the age of fifty-three. Churchill was among the numerous wounded. However, the capture of this fortress on the River Meuse was a significant French success, whose English participants shared the military glory. It seeems ironic in retrospect that the king singled out Churchill for congratulations, allegedly thanking him at the head of Monmouth's small force for his bravery in the cause of France. Louis wrote to Charles II recommending that he promote his brave and able captain. It was an act of patronage that Louis was later to regret.  
CHURCHILL'S NEXT POSTING WAS with Marshal Turenne. In an age that favoured the gentle pace and structured format of siege warfare over the uncertainty and expense of pitched battle, Turenne was unorthodox. His bold dictum was: 'Make few sieges and fight plenty of battles; when you are...