Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, KG, PC, FRS was a British statesman of the late Stuart and early Georgian periods. He began his career as a Whig, before defecting to a new Tory mi
Portrait by Godfrey Kneller, 1714
Robert Harley by Jonathan Richardson, c. 1710.
Oxford (right), together with his friend and ally Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke and a portrait of Francis Atterbury. Engraving after a painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller.
Robert Harley pictured carrying the white staff of the Lord High Treasurer. Portrait by Jonathan Richardson.
The War of the Spanish Succession was a conflict between the European great powers, fought between 1701 and 1714. The death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a succession cr
Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer
…was the negotiation of the Treaty of Utrecht with France in 1713, which brought an end to twelve years of English and Scottish involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1714 Harley fell from favour following the accession of the first monarch of the House of Hanover, George I, and was for a time imprisoned in the…
Clockwise, from top left: Battle of Blenheim (13 August 1704) Battle of Ramillies (23 May 1706) Battle of Almansa (25 April 1707) Battle of Denain (24 July 1712)
Proclamation of Philip of Anjou as Philip V of Spain, Versailles, 16 November 1700
Francis Rákóczi, leader of the 1703–1711 Hungarian revolt; funded by France, this was a major distraction for Austria
Anthonie Heinsius, Grand Pensionary