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: Barbarina

[cahn]

(omg, you guys, I am so sorry about being so absent from Amazing Shiny Sparkly Fandom Discussion, this has all been amazing, Lehndorff is <3, and unfortunately with Christmas Stuff and travel my availability may well not going to get any better for the rest of the month... although it should get substantially better after the first week in Jan) but here I am popping up at least temporarily :) )

There's also the question as to how much Fritz noticed about Lehndorff anyway.

Heeeeee. I just really don't get the impression Fritz would notice someone like Lehndorff at all. I mean, I'm sure being EC's chamberlain didn't help, but I feel like Fritz went for the brainy and/or competent guys (and not just romantically speaking, although I was sort of thinking about that, but also in general) and... it's not that Lehndorff is incompetent, exactly, but his general cluelessness can't have helped! I bet he would have had a much better chance if he'd run EC's stuff so well that Fritz noticed... although with how much he didn't want to think about EC, that might have also been super difficult, so... Lehndorff may have just been in a no-win situation in terms of getting Fritz' notice!

Re: Barbarina

[mildred_of_midgard]

We miss you, but real life calls! Even though you are neglecting your true purpose in life, which is to encourage us in ours.

I kind of agree re Fritz noticing Lehndorff, and I'm not sure even being hyper-competent would have helped (as you say, EC), but neglecting his job to crush on Heinrich and hang out with the divine trio was not calculated to appeal to Fritz!

Although, idk, it worked out for Marwitz. :P

Only as batman, though, where "charisma + pretty face" seem to have been the main job qualifications. Seriously, Fritz, your serious affairs are solid (unlike your brother's), but your batmen that I know of are Glosow (imprisoned for either attempted assassination or unauthorized use of your seal), Marwitz (Trenck-lite), and, uh, Trenck himself.

Lehndorff does not strike me as either hyper-comptent/brainy *or* charismatic bastard enough to catch Fritz's eye. Plus what selenak said about not wanting to replace him in a dead-end job.

Re: Barbarina

[selenak]

Alas for Lehndorff, I fear you're both right here. Then again, if he had caught Fritz' eye, either professionally or otherwise, he'd have lost his relationship with Heinrich, and while the later had its frustrations and torments, I don't think Lehndorff would have wanted to miss those fifty years of it. He was really, truly, deeply, madly in love, and not the type to let reason prevail (at least not until very late in the game).

Batmen: indeed, those seem to have been the qualifications. Though we can add "quick witted" (NOT the same as smart) and "raconteur" for Trenck and "witty" for Marwitz, so I suppose Fritz also liked his batmen to be able to be able to provide some banter?

Re: Barbarina

[mildred_of_midgard]

Why is it every time I delete something, you go ahead and say it? Yes, indeed, I had originally written something about being witty/quick-witted as qualifications and given examples, but decided I was rambling.

Quick-wittedness was moreover a general qualification for Fritz being willing to give you the time of day, not just batmen, at least according to Catt (whom I have no reason to disbelieve), and Catt also reports that Fritz went by first impressions. If he decided you were quick-witted when you met, you were quick-witted forever. If not, you had little to no chance of changing his mind. So Lehndorff I think was SOL from the beginning.

If Catt's right, said line-up of batmen must have each been having a good day when they met him and got the job offer. (Catt's own job offer, as you may recall, came after a single incognito meeting. I've also been impressed just how quickly Fritz started confiding in Catt and telling him things, though it's possible the "Nobody else knows this, only you, my sole confidant" lines Fritz keeps feeding him are not strictly true? Actually, come to think of it, it wouldn't surprise me if it were paranoid Fritz testing him. Or a distortion of memory due to Catt's memoirs being written well after the fact.)

I don't think Lehndorff would have wanted to miss those fifty years of it

That's very true. Poor Lehndorff, caught between the brothers.

Re: Barbarina

[selenak]

Or a distortion of memory due to Catt's memoirs being written well after the fact.

My money is on the later. Though you mentioned diaries - do they still exist? The golden standard there is my guy Boswell, since we do have his diaries to compare with the way he used them as material in his Life of Johnson. Which was by no means arbitrary.

Anyway, when famous celebrity X tells someone "only you know this/you're my only confidant" in their memoirs, I tend to be sceptical unless there's contemporary back up material. Everyone likes to feel special. Still, as far as I know no other memoirist claims Fritz talked to him about Katte's death and Küstrin - or is there one? So maybe Henri de Catt was special.