Okay, so first of all, every time Voltaire and Émilie had a falling out, she had an affair with Maupertuis. Though this didn't initially cause problems between Voltaire and Maupertuis, it probably didn't help when they arose later on.
But what really doesn't help is that in 1740, immediately after Fritz becomes king, Maupertuis promptly gets invited to Berlin and offered the presidency of the academy. Voltaire does not get an offer to join the court at this time, though he visits.
Voltaire doesn't end up joining Fritz's court until 1750, after Émilie is dead, at which point Maupertuis still has the job he wants and Voltaire's not getting it.
Not long after arriving, Voltaire starts engaging in a money-making scheme that is not terribly legal and involves defrauding the Prussian state. The guy he swindles takes him to court. Voltaire is convinced, fairly or not, that Maupertuis is the one who convinced him to seek legal recourse. So he hates on Maupertuis some more. Like good academics, they squabble over things like whose friends get desired appointments at the Academy.
Fritz is not really pleased at Voltaire's behavior, either the trash-talking of everyone at his court or the way Voltaire's financial dealings hit him in his pocket. He tries to blow it off at first, but he starts confiding to people that while Maupertuis may not be as exciting as Voltaire, he's a hell of a lot easier to live with. So Fritz, who with his control issues *cannot* just leave them to fight their own battles, starts taking Maupertuis' side in their conflicts.
The more he interferes, the more things escalate. The final battle goes thusly. König is a mathematician at the academy who used to be Émilie's tutor (until she passed him).
Maupertuis: I have this awesome science idea! The principle of minimum action. König: You humbug, you stole that idea from Leibniz. Here, I have a fragment in his hand showing that he came up with it first. Maupertuis: Forgery! Academy: *votes* Academy: Forgery! König: *is kicked out* Voltaire: You mess with my friend König, you mess with me. Voltaire: *writes sarcastic pamphlets attacking Maupertuis* Future historians: You're both wrong!
Voltaire: *writes anonymous pamphlets about how gay Fritz is and has them circulated in places like London and Amsterdam*
Fritz: At my court, everyone is honest and nobody satirizes anybody that's a royal privilege. Voltaire, if you want to stay, you have to sign the following agreement:
I promise His Majesty that for all the time that he has the grace to lodge me in his palace I shall write against no man; not the government of France, against its ministers; or against other sovereigns, or against famous men of letters towards whom I shall render the respect which is due; I shall in no way abuse the letters of His Majesty; and I shall behave in a manner which is suitable for a man of letters who has the honour of being a chamberlain to His Majesty, and who lives among honest men. [mildred's note: I literally choked reading that last phrase.]
Voltaire: *signs with one hand, writes even better satirical pamphlets with the other*
The crowning glory of his satirical pamphlets is Histoire du Docteur Akakia et du Natif de St Malo, where "Doctor Akakia" is a thinly disguised Maupertuis.
Fritz gets so furious that he burns the pamphlet in front of Voltaire's window, then regrets it because enlightened monarch and all that. So then Fritz starts writing his own diatribes defending Maupertuis and attacking Voltaire, and publishing them "anonymously." You know, when the monarch writes an essay a Yuletide fic and you all pretend you don't know who wrote it.
Voltaire: *writes another pamphlet* Fritz: *writes another anonymous pamphlet* Voltaire: See, he's such a good writer he doesn't need me to instruct him anymore. [Seriously, they crack-ship themselves.] Voltaire: *writes another pamphlet refuting the one by Fritz that he had praised*
At this point, things have gotten so tense between Fritz and Voltaire and their passive aggressive pamphlet writing and praising that Voltaire isn't having fun any more, and he decides to leave Prussia forever.
But first he denies that he's responsible for that pamphlet circulating in London and Amsterdam (which has now made its way to Paris) talking about how GAY Fritz is. Fritz does not believe him, but decides not to refute the pamphlet, possibly to take the moral high ground, and more likely because no one would believe him, and it would open up the way to some really awkward questions.
But of course, Voltaire can't just claim innocence. He also has to accuse Maupertuis of writing it.
Now, the one thing Fritz and Voltaire had in common was the way they would write things attacking other people and then assign authorship to someone else. We've seen the time when Fritz wrote something offensive in Voltaire's name in hopes the French would persecute him, and he'd have to come to Prussia, and Voltaire found out (and several years later agreed to come to Prussia anyway).
On Voltaire's side, there's one hilarious anecdote in Catt's memoirs where Fritz tells Catt that Voltaire wrote some verse attacking the Marquis d'Argens, then showed it to d'Argens and said Algarotti had written it. Then Voltaire went to Algarotti and said d'Argens was saying the most terrible things about Algarotti and was really upset with Algarotti, and that Voltaire had no idea why, but he thought Algarotti should know.
Then Algarotti pretended to be upset with d'Argens, but as soon as Voltaire was gone, Algarotti went and talked to d'Argens, and d'Argens told him about the verse Voltaire had shown him, and Algarotti and d'Argens became BFFs and decided never to trust anything Voltaire said ever. Wise men that they were.
Then Voltaire leaves Prussia, and is now free to write as much as he wants against Maupertuis, and to make sure *everybody* reads his Doctor Akakia pamphlet. Which he does.
In sum, I don't for a moment believe I have the full story, but I haven't found a non-petty motive in any of the accounts of I've read for Voltaire to start attacking Maupertuis like that. From all accounts I have, it just reads like academic politics, which escalated because it started out a fight between two middleweights, König and Maupertuis, and ended up a bout between the two heavyweights, Voltaire and Fritz. Who *could not* resist getting involved.
Voltaire vs. Maupertuis
But what really doesn't help is that in 1740, immediately after Fritz becomes king, Maupertuis promptly gets invited to Berlin and offered the presidency of the academy. Voltaire does not get an offer to join the court at this time, though he visits.
Voltaire doesn't end up joining Fritz's court until 1750, after Émilie is dead, at which point Maupertuis still has the job he wants and Voltaire's not getting it.
Not long after arriving, Voltaire starts engaging in a money-making scheme that is not terribly legal and involves defrauding the Prussian state. The guy he swindles takes him to court. Voltaire is convinced, fairly or not, that Maupertuis is the one who convinced him to seek legal recourse. So he hates on Maupertuis some more. Like good academics, they squabble over things like whose friends get desired appointments at the Academy.
Fritz is not really pleased at Voltaire's behavior, either the trash-talking of everyone at his court or the way Voltaire's financial dealings hit him in his pocket. He tries to blow it off at first, but he starts confiding to people that while Maupertuis may not be as exciting as Voltaire, he's a hell of a lot easier to live with. So Fritz, who with his control issues *cannot* just leave them to fight their own battles, starts taking Maupertuis' side in their conflicts.
The more he interferes, the more things escalate. The final battle goes thusly. König is a mathematician at the academy who used to be Émilie's tutor (until she passed him).
Maupertuis: I have this awesome science idea! The principle of minimum action.
König: You humbug, you stole that idea from Leibniz. Here, I have a fragment in his hand showing that he came up with it first.
Maupertuis: Forgery!
Academy: *votes*
Academy: Forgery!
König: *is kicked out*
Voltaire: You mess with my friend König, you mess with me.
Voltaire: *writes sarcastic pamphlets attacking Maupertuis*
Future historians: You're both wrong!
Voltaire: *writes anonymous pamphlets about how gay Fritz is and has them circulated in places like London and Amsterdam*
Fritz: At my court, everyone is honest and nobody satirizes anybody
that's a royal privilege. Voltaire, if you want to stay, you have to sign the following agreement:I promise His Majesty that for all the time that he has the grace to lodge me in his palace I shall write against no man; not the government of France, against its ministers; or against other sovereigns, or against famous men of letters towards whom I shall render the respect which is due; I shall in no way abuse the letters of His Majesty; and I shall behave in a manner which is suitable for a man of letters who has the honour of being a chamberlain to His Majesty, and who lives among honest men. [mildred's note: I literally choked reading that last phrase.]
Voltaire: *signs with one hand, writes even better satirical pamphlets with the other*
The crowning glory of his satirical pamphlets is Histoire du Docteur Akakia et du Natif de St Malo, where "Doctor Akakia" is a thinly disguised Maupertuis.
Fritz gets so furious that he burns the pamphlet in front of Voltaire's window, then regrets it because enlightened monarch and all that.
So then Fritz starts writing his own diatribes defending Maupertuis and attacking Voltaire, and publishing them "anonymously." You know, when the monarch writes an essay
a Yuletide ficand you all pretend you don't know who wrote it.Voltaire: *writes another pamphlet*
Fritz: *writes another anonymous pamphlet*
Voltaire: See, he's such a good writer he doesn't need me to instruct him anymore. [Seriously, they crack-ship themselves.]
Voltaire: *writes another pamphlet refuting the one by Fritz that he had praised*
At this point, things have gotten so tense between Fritz and Voltaire and their passive aggressive pamphlet writing and praising that Voltaire isn't having fun any more, and he decides to leave Prussia forever.
But first he denies that he's responsible for that pamphlet circulating in London and Amsterdam (which has now made its way to Paris) talking about how GAY Fritz is. Fritz does not believe him, but decides not to refute the pamphlet, possibly to take the moral high ground, and more likely because no one would believe him, and it would open up the way to some really awkward questions.
But of course, Voltaire can't just claim innocence. He also has to accuse Maupertuis of writing it.
Now, the one thing Fritz and Voltaire had in common was the way they would write things attacking other people and then assign authorship to someone else. We've seen the time when Fritz wrote something offensive in Voltaire's name in hopes the French would persecute him, and he'd have to come to Prussia, and Voltaire found out (and several years later agreed to come to Prussia anyway).
On Voltaire's side, there's one hilarious anecdote in Catt's memoirs where Fritz tells Catt that Voltaire wrote some verse attacking the Marquis d'Argens, then showed it to d'Argens and said Algarotti had written it. Then Voltaire went to Algarotti and said d'Argens was saying the most terrible things about Algarotti and was really upset with Algarotti, and that Voltaire had no idea why, but he thought Algarotti should know.
Then Algarotti pretended to be upset with d'Argens, but as soon as Voltaire was gone, Algarotti went and talked to d'Argens, and d'Argens told him about the verse Voltaire had shown him, and Algarotti and d'Argens became BFFs and decided never to trust anything Voltaire said ever. Wise men that they were.
Then Voltaire leaves Prussia, and is now free to write as much as he wants against Maupertuis, and to make sure *everybody* reads his Doctor Akakia pamphlet. Which he does.
In sum, I don't for a moment believe I have the full story, but I haven't found a non-petty motive in any of the accounts of I've read for Voltaire to start attacking Maupertuis like that. From all accounts I have, it just reads like academic politics, which escalated because it started out a fight between two middleweights, König and Maupertuis, and ended up a bout between the two heavyweights, Voltaire and Fritz. Who *could not* resist getting involved.