Frederick the Great, discussion post 6

[cahn]

...I think we need another one (seriously, you guys, this is THE BEST) and I'd better make it now before I disappear into the wilds of music performance.

(also, as of this week there are two Frederician fics in the yuletide archive and eeeeeeeeeee)
(huh, only one of them is actually tagged with Frederick the Great even though two with Maria Theresia and Wilhelmine, eeeeeee this is awesome I CAN'T WAIT)

Frederick the Great masterpost

Comments

Re: Lehndorf

[selenak]

Was he thinking she was going to facilitate an escape attempt or what?

Then he just could have ordered her to go elsewhere - for example to Quedlinburg, where she was technically the abbess, after all. But no, he tells her to come to him.

I also can't help recalling the fifteen minutes siblings hand holding at the palace victory party that Lehndorff observed. If FW's way was "I have your boyfriend executed in front of you to break you, but I'm doing this all for your own good", Fritz apparantly went the "I locked up your boyfriend in an extra hard way, but it really wasn't to hurt you, so I'm giving you the extra special honor of being with me in the field instead of being forced to be near where he's tormented! Look how unlike Dad I am!"

Lehndorff: *notes for the nth time that Amalie is moody as hell and goes from "angel to fiend and back" at lightning speed* *never ever wonders why*

(Oh, and also remember Heinrich writing to Ferdinand in January 1786, after his visit to Potsdam, that Amalie told him she wants to follow Fritz into death once he's dead? Now if Amalie said that to a courtier like Lehndorff, it would be one thing and fall under "courtly pretense", but she's talking to her brother whom she knows is not a fan of her other brother, so there's really no need to pretend anything. And given her and Heinrich's big Mom argument, she has no problem venting her anger about mutual family members in his presence.)

But it's perfectly possible Fritz vented while making it clear that he didn't want comment, or that Catt was at a complete loss for anything to say. Catt's known him for almost exactly one month at this point

Also, since Fritz has a "nobody gets to diss my father but me" thing going, if I were Catt, I'd be very unsure how the obvious comment - "how cruel!" would be taken. And clearly, hugging the King is out. (Unless you're Fredersdorf?)

Re: Lehndorf

[mildred_of_midgard]

Okay, well, go Fritz, I guess? Definitely an improvement on Dad. yes. Still room for a little more improvement, but part of that is 18th century mores.

Also, since Fritz has a "nobody gets to diss my father but me" thing going, if I were Catt, I'd be very unsure how the obvious comment - "how cruel!" would be taken.

Very true, I would nod and look sympathetic and keep my mouth shut. Touchy monarch, touchy subject, one month of knowing him. (I've repeatedly been advised by other people to keep my mouth largely shut with Fritz, except when he solicits commentary, and let him do most of the talking.) But there are other, less controversial things you can say without commenting directly on FW, like, "How sad," and no.

Plus Catt is always keen to find ways to challenge Fritz's jerkery to other people, and he also adds his own commentary in the memoirs of things he didn't say to Fritz, such as that "And then I thought maybe he was in such a bad mood because of the nightmare, but god knows I didn't say this to him." But nothing on Katte. Just one sentence where Fritz is all "See how enlightened I am, I didn't punish anyone involved in 1740," and Catt says, "Only the great ones know how to forgive and forget," clearly feeding Fritz the exact sentence he wants to hear, and that's it from Catt on the subject, Back to marching itineraries.

And clearly, hugging the King is out. (Unless you're Fredersdorf?)

Yeah. I really wish Fredersdorf had been alive and present when SD, AW, and especially Wilhelmine died. You can see Catt doing the best he can, and obviously better than Fritz did with Heinrich or the other siblings, but he's floundering in a way that I can't imagine Fredersdorf would after twenty-seven years of intimacy. Also why I wish Fredersdorf had been there at Soor, and not just because he would have fought off the Pandurs singlehandedly organized the bejeezus out of the camp so it was in a defensible state when they showed up. Fritz needs a hug.

Re: Lehndorf

[cahn]

Lehndorff: *notes for the nth time that Amalie is moody as hell and goes from "angel to fiend and back" at lightning speed* *never ever wonders why*

Basically every single thing you write about Lehndorff I have this reaction of "awwwww he is really just incredibly non-socially/emotionally-perceptive and non-self-aware, it's cute." Of course, if he'd been even slightly socioemotionally perceptive/aware like Richard Burton then maybe we'd have had a lot more information about everything! It seems to me as it is that Lendorff seems to be the Mystery Source for a lot of things you guys already knew from bios and such.

Re: Lehndorf

[mildred_of_midgard]

"awwwww he is really just incredibly non-socially/emotionally-perceptive and non-self-aware, it's cute."

This!

Of course, if he'd been even slightly socioemotionally perceptive/aware like Richard Burton then maybe we'd have had a lot more information about everything!

This too!

It seems to me as it is that Lendorff seems to be the Mystery Source for a lot of things you guys already knew from bios and such.

I know; he wasn't on my radar at all (he gets quoted in biographies but not in such a way that I remembered him as a person), and I keep having these, "Oh, *he's* our source for this!" moments. Thank god for selenak, because he really doesn't seem to have been translated, and I just never would have been able to read him. And he is *such* an awesome source.