Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace is a large and monumental country house situated in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the only non episcopal country house, in England, to hold the title "palace". The Palace, one of England's greatest houses in every sense of the word, was built between 1705 and circa 1722. Its construction was originally intended to be a gift to the 1st Duke of Marlborough from a grateful nation in return for military triumph against the French. However, it soon became the subject of political infighting which led to Marlborough's exile, the fall from power of his Duchess, and the irreparable damage to the reputation of the architect Sir John Vanbrugh. Designed in the rare, and short lived, English baroque style, architectural appreciation of the palace is as divided today as it was in the 1720s. {{fn|1}} It is unique in its combined usage as a family home, mausoleum and national monument.

Failing fortunes

On the death of the 1st Duke in 1722, as both his sons were dead, he was succeeded by his daughter Henrietta. This was an unusual succession and required special dispensation from the monarch, as only sons can usually succeed to a title. Henrietta too died without an heir, so the title passed to Marlborough's grandson Charles Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, whose mother was Marlborough's second daughter Anne.

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The 1st Duke as a soldier was not a rich man, and what fortune he possessed was mostly used for finishing the palace. In comparison with other British ducal families the Marlboroughs were not very wealthy. Yet they existed quite comfortably until the time of Charles, 5th Duke of Marlborough (1766–1840), a spendthrift who considerably depleted the family's remaining fortune. He was eventually forced to sell other family estates, but Blenheim was safe from him as it was entailed. This did not prevent him selling the Marlborough's Boccaccio for a mere £875, and his own library in over 4000 lots. On his death in 1840 he left the estate and family with financial problems.

Related Topics:
Charles, 5th Duke of Marlborough - Entailed - Boccaccio - 1840

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By the 1870s the Marlboroughs were in severe financial trouble, and in 1875 the 7th Duke sold the "Marriage of Cupid and Psyche", together with the famed Marlborough gems, at auction for £10,000. However this was not enough to save the family. In 1880 the 7th Duke was forced to petition Parliament to break the protective entail on the Palace and its contents. This was achieved under the Blenheim Settled Estates Act of 1880, and the door was now open for wholesale dispersal of Blenheim and its contents. The first victim was the great Sunderland Library which was sold in 1882, including such volumes as The Epistles of Horace, printed at Caen in 1480, and the works of Josephus, printed at Verona in 1648. The 18,000 volumes raised almost £60,000. The sales continued to denude the palace: Raphael?s "Ansidei Madonna" was sold for £70,000; Van Dyck?s equestrian painting of Charles I realised £17,500; and finally the "piece de resistance" of the collection, Peter Paul Rubens' "Rubens, His Wife Helena Fourment, and Their Son Peter Paul", which had been given by the city of Brussels to the 1st Duke in 1704, was also sold.

Related Topics:
1870s - 1875 - Cupid - Psyche - Marlborough gems - 1880 - Blenheim Settled Estates Act of 1880 - Sunderland Library - 1882 - Caen - 1480 - Josephus - Verona - 1648 - Raphael - Van Dyck - Charles I - Brussels - 1704

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These sums of money, vast by the standards of the day, failed to cover the debts, and the maintenance of the great palace remained beyond the resources of the family. The Marlborough's estate had always been small in relation to their ducal rank and the size of their house, and the British agricultural depression which started in the 1870s added to the family's problems. When the 9th Duke inherited in 1892, the Spencer-Churchills were almost bankrupt.

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