Harrap's Mini Dictionnaire Anglais-Francais /Francais-Anglais (Mini Pocket English-French/ French-English Dictionary

the long version

"John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC (pron.: /mrlbr/, often /m?lbr/; 26 May 1650 ? 16 June 1722 O.S), was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs. Rising from a lowly page at the court of the House of Stuart, he served James, Duke of York, through the 1670s and early 1680s, earning military and political advancement through his courage and diplomatic skill. Churchill's role in defeating the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 helped secure James on the throne, yet just three years later he abandoned his Catholic patron for the Protestant Dutchman, William of Orange. Honoured for his services at William's coronation with the earldom of Marlborough, he served with further distinction in the early years of the Nine Years' War, but persistent charges of Jacobitism brought about his fall from office and temporary imprisonment in the Tower. It was not until the accession of Queen Anne in 1702 that Marlborough reached the zenith of his powers and secured his fame and fortune."--Wikipedia. "Of the many biographies of Marlborough, two deserve special mention: Sir Winston Churchill, in Marlborough: His Life and Times (4 vols., 1933-1938; abridged in one volume, by Henry Steele Commager, 1970), is intent on vindicating his ancestor from Thomas Babington Macaulay's aspersions, and the work is full of special pleading; it prints little not already found in Coxe, but it has some splendid battle pieces."--biography.yourdictionary.com.