Fritz was an anti-anti-vaxxer. Vaccination per se hadn't been invented yet, but inoculation via variolation had, and Fritz was *all for it*, and got super mad at it getting banned in France, the same way we get mad at anti-vaxxers today. So mixed in with all the deaths, he saved some lives.
Plus the lives that he failed to take because the criminal code became less harsh (still very harsh by modern standards) in most respects under his rule.
One thing he takes a lot of modern heat for is leaving the death penalty for "sodomy" while probably committing more than his share of sodomy, and even if not technically committing it in practice, definitely all for it in theory. However, I would be super curious about whether enforcement changed at all under Friedrich II, in either direction. (Sodomy law is one of those things where enforcement has varied widely across place and time. If you read up on Renaissance Florence, for example, it's amaaaaazing.) There has to be some queer history paper or book out there where someone's looked into this.
Another fun, out-there anecdote that you can add to your peppercorns and orgasm list: he and Wilhelmine once wrote letters to each other, each pretending to be their dog writing to the other one's dog, because of course they did. The letters are a little on the misanthropic side, all "The more people I meet, the more I love my dog," but they're also adorable and more than a little weird. You can read the context and English translations of the letters here.
Would not be at all surprised if this ever happened in real life. "I'm a very busy king, total workaholic, no time to sleep, important stuff to do, don't bother me!" *closes door* "Whoooo's a good giiiirl?" Would not be surprised if it happened more than once.
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Date: 2019-08-22 08:15 pm (UTC)Fritz was an anti-anti-vaxxer. Vaccination per se hadn't been invented yet, but inoculation via variolation had, and Fritz was *all for it*, and got super mad at it getting banned in France, the same way we get mad at anti-vaxxers today. So mixed in with all the deaths, he saved some lives.
Plus the lives that he failed to take because the criminal code became less harsh (still very harsh by modern standards) in most respects under his rule.
One thing he takes a lot of modern heat for is leaving the death penalty for "sodomy" while probably committing more than his share of sodomy, and even if not technically committing it in practice, definitely all for it in theory. However, I would be super curious about whether enforcement changed at all under Friedrich II, in either direction. (Sodomy law is one of those things where enforcement has varied widely across place and time. If you read up on Renaissance Florence, for example, it's amaaaaazing.) There has to be some queer history paper or book out there where someone's looked into this.
Another fun, out-there anecdote that you can add to your peppercorns and orgasm list: he and Wilhelmine once wrote letters to each other, each pretending to be their dog writing to the other one's dog, because of course they did. The letters are a little on the misanthropic side, all "The more people I meet, the more I love my dog," but they're also adorable and more than a little weird. You can read the context and English translations of the letters here.
Would not be at all surprised if this ever happened in real life. "I'm a very busy king, total workaholic, no time to sleep, important stuff to do, don't bother me!" *closes door* "Whoooo's a good giiiirl?" Would not be surprised if it happened more than once.