September 9th: the King shows an extraordinary generosity towards all his officers. What pleases all decent folk especially is that Oberstleutnant Keith receives 5000 Taler. It is the very same Keith who when the King was faring badly while being Crown Prince had to escape, and lived at times in the Netherlands, at others in England, at last in Lissabon. It seemed for quite a while that His Majesty had forgotten him; but now he received, in addition to the money, a most gracious letter and the invitation to join his Majesty at the camp.
I continue to be deeply interested in who takes whose side in the great "Who was ungrateful: Fritz or Peter Keith?" debate. This is the second contemporary who not only takes Keith's side, but says everyone else did too. It seems to be later historians who are all pro-Fritz who think Keith overrated what he deserved because Fritz can do no wrong.
Curiously, this seems to be almost identical to the anecdote that Hanway gives in his travel memoirs, only he dates it to August 15, 1750. Hanway's memoirs were published in 1753, so it's not like he's looking back at the end of his life and misdating things, like Wilhelmine did. Did Fritz just periodically give Keith a lump some of money and a nice letter, which made everyone at court happy? Autumn is bonus time?
Oh, wow. Lehndorf records Keith's death (of course, does not tell me how he dies, which I really want to know; since he doesn't say anything, I'm going to assume an unremarkable illness), and--according to Google Translate--says that the reason Fritz was so ungenerous was that as an adult, he disapproved of Keith encouraging his youthful indiscretions. I...seriously hope that's not the case. Admittedly, I've seen this claim before: that old Fritz thought young Fritz had no right to attempt to escape. I'm holding out hope until I see it from the horse's mouth. Though Fritz's Stockholm Syndrome was pretty strong, so it's far from impossible. Ugh.
Anyway, while I'm here, it has come to my attention that the plethora of Keiths is confusing to people who are not just me. So here is me sorting them out.
There are five Keiths in Fritz's life! Only four are important, thank goodness. And those are two pairs of brothers.
Brotherly pair one: Peter and Robert. They are Pomeranian Keiths. Of Scottish extraction, hence the name, but they've been living in Pomerania for generations now. Nobility, but without much property by this point.
Peter's story we know. Page to FW, bf to 16-yo Fritz, sent away to Wesel near the Dutch border after his affair with Fritz was discovered, implicated in the escape attempt, the only one of the trio to make it safely out of Prussia though hanged in effigy, ten years in exile before being recalled by Fritz. Infamously not happy with his reception on return. Married a woman of a Prussian noble family, no children that I can find. Died age 45 at the start of the Seven Years' War.
Younger brother Robert: page to the King, betrays the escape attempt to FW, plea bargains, gets sent in disgrace to an infantry regiment (the same one his brother just escaped from?), disappears from the pages of history. I don't have a birth date for him, but Peter's only 19 and Robert younger, so 18 at most. Perhaps younger if he's still a page, aka high school age. Obviously the consequences of this betrayal were terrible, but he was young, and he saved his own head from these consequences, and it must have been absolutely *terrifying* being caught between Fritz and FW, so I forgive him.
Then the other, more fortunate fraternal pair. They're both from Scotland, as in born and raised there. Both Jacobites (supporters of the exiled Stuarts against the Hanovers). Both fought in the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion, were stripped of their estates by the crown after the rebellion failed, and had to flee into exile, along with lots of other Jacobites.
James: The younger. Named James Francis Edward Keith, which tells you his parents were Jacobites too. If you're wondering how this tells you that, it's because James Francis Edward Stuart is the name of the Jacobite pretender to the throne, styling himself James VIII. (He's not "king" yet when our Keith is born, only the son of exiled James VII, but he will be.)
He went to Russia, where he had a more successful experience with a coup, managing to help put Elizabeth on the throne (she who hated Fritz, joined the League of Petticoats with MT and Pompadour against him, and whose death got him out of a tight spot in the Seven Years' War). After a lot of traveling around European courts and armies, he ends up with Fritz. Fritz has a high opinion of him, and is genuinely upset when he dies bravely at the battle of Hochkirch--one of Fritz's worst defeats, and probably the one he most clearly brought on himself.
George: The elder, the heir to the title. Fortunately, he mostly goes by the name Marischal in the histories, as in, George Keith, Earl Marischal. After he, like his brother, travels around Europe a lot after 1715, he ends up becoming BFFs with Fritz. He's one of the true close friends Fritz has late in life, and when he dies (1778), it hits Fritz pretty hard. At that point, he mostly only had pen pals left, and they were dying off too (Voltaire, Maria Antonia.)
Marischal ends up with the signal honor of being BFFs with Fritz for a long time and not ever being estranged from him. They even managed to be friends at very close range: Fritz gave him a plot of land from the Sanssouci park and helped design his house, which you can see today (and which you better believe I intend to next time I'm there).
Marischal does a lot of diplomatic work during his lifetime, for Fritz and for others before him. My favorite anecdote: in 1751, Fritz sends him as diplomat to Versailles. One of Fritz's ministers asks him if maybe sending a Jacobite on such an important international mission might offend Uncle George over in Britain.
Fritz: *genuinely confused* And that's relevant how? Actual quote: "I don't give a fuck." Fritz: *displaying the diplomatic genius that's getting him into a three-and-a-half front war as we speak*
Fortunately for Fritz, international power politics were more important to England during the Seven Years' War than Fritz's latest attempt to offend every single power in Europe before breakfast.
As a result of later, more successful diplomacy, Marischal gets pardoned by George, and gets permission to return to Scotland, and even get his title and estates back, but amazingly, decides he likes Fritz better and decides to live and die with his BFF. <3
The fifth Keith is also named Robert, but fortunately only gets a cameo appearance as British envoy to Vienna around the time of the War of the Bavarian Succession, so you can't confuse him with the others too much.
The Keiths
I continue to be deeply interested in who takes whose side in the great "Who was ungrateful: Fritz or Peter Keith?" debate. This is the second contemporary who not only takes Keith's side, but says everyone else did too. It seems to be later historians who are all pro-Fritz who think Keith overrated what he deserved
because Fritz can do no wrong.Curiously, this seems to be almost identical to the anecdote that Hanway gives in his travel memoirs, only he dates it to August 15, 1750. Hanway's memoirs were published in 1753, so it's not like he's looking back at the end of his life and misdating things, like Wilhelmine did. Did Fritz just periodically give Keith a lump some of money and a nice letter, which made everyone at court happy? Autumn is bonus time?
Oh, wow. Lehndorf records Keith's death (of course, does not tell me how he dies, which I really want to know; since he doesn't say anything, I'm going to assume an unremarkable illness), and--according to Google Translate--says that the reason Fritz was so ungenerous was that as an adult, he disapproved of Keith encouraging his youthful indiscretions. I...seriously hope that's not the case. Admittedly, I've seen this claim before: that old Fritz thought young Fritz had no right to attempt to escape. I'm holding out hope until I see it from the horse's mouth. Though Fritz's Stockholm Syndrome was pretty strong, so it's far from impossible. Ugh.
Anyway, while I'm here, it has come to my attention that the plethora of Keiths is confusing to people who are not just me. So here is me sorting them out.
There are five Keiths in Fritz's life! Only four are important, thank goodness. And those are two pairs of brothers.
Brotherly pair one: Peter and Robert. They are Pomeranian Keiths. Of Scottish extraction, hence the name, but they've been living in Pomerania for generations now. Nobility, but without much property by this point.
Peter's story we know. Page to FW, bf to 16-yo Fritz, sent away to Wesel near the Dutch border after his affair with Fritz was discovered, implicated in the escape attempt, the only one of the trio to make it safely out of Prussia though hanged in effigy, ten years in exile before being recalled by Fritz. Infamously not happy with his reception on return. Married a woman of a Prussian noble family, no children that I can find. Died age 45 at the start of the Seven Years' War.
Younger brother Robert: page to the King, betrays the escape attempt to FW, plea bargains, gets sent in disgrace to an infantry regiment (the same one his brother just escaped from?), disappears from the pages of history. I don't have a birth date for him, but Peter's only 19 and Robert younger, so 18 at most. Perhaps younger if he's still a page, aka high school age. Obviously the consequences of this betrayal were terrible, but he was young, and he saved his own head from these consequences, and it must have been absolutely *terrifying* being caught between Fritz and FW, so I forgive him.
Then the other, more fortunate fraternal pair. They're both from Scotland, as in born and raised there. Both Jacobites (supporters of the exiled Stuarts against the Hanovers). Both fought in the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion, were stripped of their estates by the crown after the rebellion failed, and had to flee into exile, along with lots of other Jacobites.
James: The younger. Named James Francis Edward Keith, which tells you his parents were Jacobites too. If you're wondering how this tells you that, it's because James Francis Edward Stuart is the name of the Jacobite pretender to the throne, styling himself James VIII. (He's not "king" yet when our Keith is born, only the son of exiled James VII, but he will be.)
He went to Russia, where he had a more successful experience with a coup, managing to help put Elizabeth on the throne (she who hated Fritz, joined the League of Petticoats with MT and Pompadour against him, and whose death got him out of a tight spot in the Seven Years' War). After a lot of traveling around European courts and armies, he ends up with Fritz. Fritz has a high opinion of him, and is genuinely upset when he dies bravely at the battle of Hochkirch--one of Fritz's worst defeats, and probably the one he most clearly brought on himself.
George: The elder, the heir to the title. Fortunately, he mostly goes by the name Marischal in the histories, as in, George Keith, Earl Marischal. After he, like his brother, travels around Europe a lot after 1715, he ends up becoming BFFs with Fritz. He's one of the true close friends Fritz has late in life, and when he dies (1778), it hits Fritz pretty hard. At that point, he mostly only had pen pals left, and they were dying off too (Voltaire, Maria Antonia.)
Marischal ends up with the signal honor of being BFFs with Fritz for a long time and not ever being estranged from him. They even managed to be friends at very close range: Fritz gave him a plot of land from the Sanssouci park and helped design his house, which you can see today (and which you better believe I intend to next time I'm there).
Marischal does a lot of diplomatic work during his lifetime, for Fritz and for others before him. My favorite anecdote: in 1751, Fritz sends him as diplomat to Versailles. One of Fritz's ministers asks him if maybe sending a Jacobite on such an important international mission might offend Uncle George over in Britain.
Fritz: *genuinely confused* And that's relevant how? Actual quote: "I don't give a fuck."
Fritz: *displaying the diplomatic genius that's getting him into a three-and-a-half front war as we speak*
Fortunately for Fritz, international power politics were more important to England during the Seven Years' War than Fritz's latest attempt to offend every single power in Europe before breakfast.
As a result of later, more successful diplomacy, Marischal gets pardoned by George, and gets permission to return to Scotland, and even get his title and estates back, but amazingly, decides he likes Fritz better and decides to live and die with his BFF. <3
The fifth Keith is also named Robert, but fortunately only gets a cameo appearance as British envoy to Vienna around the time of the War of the Bavarian Succession, so you can't confuse him with the others too much.
And there we have a confusion of Keiths.