The General in Winter: The Marlborough–Godolphin Friendship and the Reign of Queen Anne, by Frances Harris

Abstract

Scholars have written relatively little about Sidney, first earl of Godolphin, while, in contrast, books on John Churchill, first duke of Marlborough, fill many shelves. Despite this imbalance, there has been a consensus that the relationship between the two men was a significant feature of the reign of Queen Anne, although much of their close personal relationship and even their personalities have seemed in many ways enigmatic and inscrutable. Up to now, most studies have focused on these two men regarding politics, finance, diplomacy or military affairs. Some forty years ago, Henry L. Snyder’s authoritative three-volume edition of The Marlborough–Godolphin Correspondence (1975; rev. ante, xcv [1980], 154–6) provided an invaluable source that many thought provided the ultimate understanding of the relationship between these two men. Frances Harris has now produced a remarkable scholarly study of the Marlborough–Godolphin friendship that successfully reaches far beyond any previous understanding of this relationship. Harris’s work has built on a career that led to her appointment as head of modern manuscripts at the British Library, where she developed a deep understanding of the Blenheim Papers that she reflected in her 1991 book A Passion for Government: The Life of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough (rev. ante, cx [1995], 200–01). Her thorough mastery, not only of the collection from Blenheim Palace, but also the Library’s Althorp, Trumbull, Coke, Petty and Evelyn papers, provided a basis for both breadth and depth of her documentary understanding of this period. Harris’s work for her 2003 book, Transformations of Love: The Friendship of John Evelyn and Margaret Godolphin (rev. ante, cxix [2004], 452–4), provided further key insights that led to its sequel in the present book.