The Bravest of the Brave — or, with Peterborough in Spain

A vivid portrait emerges of a remarkable yet forgotten figure from the early‑ eighteenth‑century battlefield. In just over a year of command, the Earl of Peterborough displayed a daring brilliance that rivaled the era’s great generals, while his mercurial temperament and stubborn independence left him at odds with allies and monarchs alike. The narrative weaves together his audacious tactics, his passionate loyalty to his troops, and the personal contradictions that made him both admired and reviled.

Interlaced with the larger sweep of the War of the Spanish Succession are intimate scenes from English provincial life, where a young, headstrong cousin becomes the focus of a mayor’s fury and a family’s uneasy negotiations. These episodes illuminate the social currents that surrounded the war and reveal how personal ambition and societal expectations collided. Listeners will be drawn into a world of grand strategy, fierce personality, and the fragile line between heroism and obscurity.