When was Blenheim Palace built?
Blenheim Palace
John Churchill was born in Devon. Although his family had aristocratic relations, it belonged to the minor gentry rather than the upper echelons of 17th-century society. In 1678, Churchill married Sarah Jennings,[4] and in April that year, he was sent by Charles II to The Hague to negotiate a convention on the deployment of the English army in Flanders. The mission ultimately proved abortive. In May, Churchill was appointed to the temporary rank of Brigadier-General of Foot, but the possibility of a continental campaign was eliminated with the Treaty of Nijmegen.[5] When Churchill returned to England, the Popish Plot resulted in a temporary three-year banishment for James Stuart, Duke of York. The Duke obliged Churchill to attend him, first to The Hague, then in Brussels.[6] For his services during the crisis, Churchill was made Lord Churchill of Eyemouth in the peerage of Scotland in 1682, and the following year appointed colonel of the King's Own Royal Regiment of Dragoons.[7]