cahn | Frederick the Great discussion post 9

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frederick the great

Frederick the Great discussion post 9

...I leave you guys alone for one weekend and it's time for a new Fritz post, lol!

I'm gonna reply to the previous post comments but I guess new letter-reading, etc. should go in this one :)

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Ha. Yes, I keep seeing that quote in my Fritz readings.

The thing about Valori is that my sources say Darget was his secretary during the time the poem was set, so if you're writing the poem about Darget, Valori is a logical inclusion, if not a necessary one.

The part I don't understand is why write this poem about someone you want to stay on good terms with. But I haven't read the poem nor do I have enough details about Darget's reaction to have an informed opinion. For example, was Darget's reaction "You WHAT?!" or "This is funny as long as no one else reads it and starts rumors about me, but you surely don't think you can keep this a secret forever, right?--Oh, shit, you just gave Voltaire a copy."

Darget: should have risked being Fritz's Émilie when Fredersdorf was busy having higher priorities, like not antagonizing Fritz.

So, clearly everything would be better if I read this poem, but the chances of me doing that any time soon are low. But! There does seem to be a two-volume German translation (with French original included) plus commentary from 1985. Das Palladion : ein ernsthaftes Gedicht in sechs Gesängen / Friedrich der Grosse ; Kommentarband herausgegeben und erläutert von Jürgen Ziechmann, "Text of poem in French; commentary vol. in German, incl. German translation."

If you ever wanted to see if you could grab that from a library, say. :)

Gossipy sensationalists with scholarly instincts!

See, this is why simultanously finding people willing to emotionally top and take the initiative is a bit tricky.

EXACTLY. That's why my headcanon is that aspect was missing from the Fredersdorf relationship. I'm sure that erring on the side of control issues was what accounted for his great and lasting success, but what Fritz needs and what Fritz insists on are often at crosspurposes. (I think you're quite right that Katte's ability to do some emotional topping would have come at the cost of not satisfying King Fritz's control issues nearly as well as Fredersdorf the Cautious.)

I mean, I just read the first sentence of the Preuss Magnum Opus of a biography because I really don't have the time, but good Lord. Der einzige König, natch, but also the greatest of all time, the most wonderful, the *insert hyperventilating attribute here*

AHAHAHAA, man. That's exactly what happened with me and reading the first sentence of 1926!Editor because my German + chronic pain weren't up for more. I'M ALREADY GETTING THE PETER III VIBE HERE, EDITOR!

But, I mean, would *you* put together 9 volumes (plus other volumes! He wrote other books about Fritz!) about someone you didn't think was the most wonderful of all time?

Speaking of Einzige! I found another instance. I don't have a date of composition, but the poet Gleim composed some epitaphs for Fritz after his death, so sometime 1786-1803, and one of them goes like this:

Auf Ihm die Grabschrift? — kurz und klug?—
'Hier liegt der Einzige!' das, mein' ich, ist genug!

And there weren't that many people left whom Fritz could be guaranteed to not ignore but take into account what they said (whether or not they listened).

I was exactly thinking that she must have been thinking that at least when Voltaire talks, Fritz listens, even if only to argue. (Heinrich too, but asking him for a letter would have risked: "Yes! Please! Just do it already and give the rest of us some peace, for fuck's sake." :P)

(Figures she'd pick the only shady one of the lot. She's a Hohenzollern.)

But problematic faves are the best! (Okay, I have the sense to keep mine at a safe distance, but then, I'm not a Hohenzollern.)

AW had a positive feedback loop with FW, but this being used from early days (read: toddler made to ask for soldier not to be hanged seems to have left him with the conviction it was his job and responsibility to achieve family harmony.

This is an excellent point. As you point out, the position was open!

We don't suppose Fritz had Algarotti's personal mail read, do we? (Because of the "the worst road: the road back to Prussia" remark in 1747.)

Oooh. I mean, it was quite normal for mail to be opened and read by several royal spies on its way to its recipient, is my impression of the 18th century. Voltaire complains that when he gets Fritz's poem on the Rossbach disaster, he can tell it's been opened, and he's furious at Fritz because people are going to think that he, Voltaire, had something to do with this poem.

Crackfic Fredersdorf: I can see how you might accidentally end up in bed with Voltaire thinking he was your boss. :P

But did Fritz have Algarotti's mail read? I don't know. While Fritz of course had spies at foreign courts (and I swear I read somewhere that he was spying on his own court), I never got the impression he had a particularly impressive spy network and he was often caught off guard by events. Largely, if you ask me, because his MO was always "isolate, entrench, and fight" not "take other people into account."

Maybe Ulrike had Algarotti's mail read, though, you think?

I also can't help but observe that Theseus eventually makes it out of the underworld. Pirithous remains trapped. Fritz the Galley slave again?

:-(

Oh, Fritz. (The only one enslaving you is you! Come on, you can do it. Cast off those chains!)

Am imagining Heinrich in some nice Parisian salon during his second Paris visit, in a Corner with Gertrud Mara Schmeling and Barbarina (on holidays from Silesia) going "how did he know?!?"

Love it!

(And then Barbarina makes a toast to Fritz, the bastard. He did pay handsomely, and damn but he had an eye for the bad 'uns.)

YES GOD YES. You bastard.

I like how you've got the only people here who could drink to Fritz paying handsomely. :P

Also, agree about multiple motives for everyone.

How come this particular page is even interested in Heinrich instead of being solely devoted to his King

"Haven't you heard I am der Einzige?!"

(Now I just have to figure out what Marwitz thinks he's getting out of all this.)

He read the Very Secret Manuscript on how to succeed at Fritz's court? :P Let's see, so far we're up to the following people starting family collections:

Katte (historical evidence)
Algarotti (inside joke)
Voltaire (historical evidence)
Marwitz - male (historical evidence)
Marwitz - female (inside joke*)
Trenck (historical evidence)
Glasow (inside joke)
Fredersdorf (CRACKFIC ONLY)

Am I missing anyone?

* Unless you believe "close friend" means "Wilhelmine/Marwitz action," in which case female Marwitz might be starting a collection at the Bayreuth court.

I like how you've got the only people here who could drink to Fritz paying handsomely. :P

True, everyone else would start to cough indignantly.

Apropos Money, true fax, in the annals of "Heinrich's boyfriends", subsection "Money" but also subsection "Power Play", there's this, in 1774:

Fritz: Well done you, with all the Polish partioning, and also, our recent teamwork with the Swedish relations was heartwarming. I'm thinking presents. I'm also thinking your current boyfriend Kaphengst sucks. Dump him.
Heinrich: ...What?
Fritz: Dump Kaphengst. He's no good, trust me. Also, it's not up to debate. I'm making it a royal order for you to dismiss him and to move him out of Rheinsberg. Along with 10 000 Friedrichsdor so you can pay him off.
(No really, he did make it an order. Supposedly in unprintable language.)
Heinrich:...
Heinrich: *doubles that money out of his own purse, buys Meseberg Palace (not far from Rheinsberg, today where Germany puts its longer staying state visitors in), dismisses Kaphengst officially from his services, gives him the Palace, visits as soon as Kaphengst has moved in.
Heinrich: *writes letter to Fritz* Mon cher frère, just to tell you Major Kaphengst has been dismissed from my services as ordered and has moved out of Rheinsberg. Meseberg's lovely, you should come. Cheerio, Henri.

(In non-crack-terms, he did write Fritz deliberately from Meseberg.)

(Flashforward: Kaphengst parties so hard in Meseberg that he quickly loses all Heinrich gave him, and then some, so Heinrich has to sell his paint collection to Catherine and cut down his own budget in order to cover for it, then finally calls it quits with Kaphengst.)

Fritz 'n Heinrich, simultanously: Why are you like this?

He read the Very Secret Manuscript on how to succeed at Fritz's court?

That must be it. After all, Marwitz happened in 1746, which meant both Voltaire/Ulrike (1743) and Trenck/Amalie had already happened, so the manuscript clearly was making the rounds.)

Am I missing anyone?

Not in Terms of "simultanously", but:

FW *post Ferdinand's birth*: Still has sexual urges.
SD: Post Fritz in Küstrin, no longer sleeping with FW.
FW: *hits on SD's Lady in waiting Johanna von Pannwitz via clumsy attempt to kiss her*
Johanna von Pannwitz: *slaps FW*
FW: I have been a bad Christian and will not do this again. Thank you for delivering me from temptation, God.

Johanna has a daughter named Sophie.
AW: *has many affairs*
AW: *spots new court Lady Sophie von Pannwitz and falls in love*
Sophie: I am a future diarist who will only confess to her Diary which is supposedly less fun than Lehndorff's but lasts right until the defeat of Napoleon that I do, in fact have feelings for you. More to the point, though, you're married, and I'm not intending to join your harem. Marriage or Nothing, your highness.
AW: Marriage! *asks Fritz for permission to divorce Louise*
Fritz: Nothing.
Sophie: Right. Then I'm marrying Count von Voß.
AW: *attends wedding but faints during same*
Fritz: In MY day, we only fainted when our beloved was killed in front of us, not married.

Sophie has a niece called Julie von Voß, who becomes lady-in-waiting to EC. (Which Sophie, outliving all Hohenzollern of her generation, also is at this point.)
FW2: Julie, you're hot!
Sophie: I'm seeing a possibility of saving the son of my secretly beloved AW from the claws of the commoner Wilhelmine Encke, as well as various one night stands. Julie, stay strong! Hold out for marriage!
Julie: Marriage or Nothing.
FW2: I'm kind of already married? Actually, I'm on my second wife, what with my first wife living in Stettin.

Second Mrs. FW2: Look, we've had seven kids by now. Several of which are sons. I'm seeing my royal duty as finished, plus you've grown kind of heavy. I'm giving you official permission to marry her morganatically.
Julie: Aunt Sophie, does that count?
Sophie: "Marriage at the left Hand", aka morganatic marriage is a legal finesse originally invented for royals who want to legitimize their Mistresses and kids from same without going through it officially. It means that once you die, your dead Body is a legitimate wife's Body, and your kids are all legitimate, not bastards. Otoh, while you live, you are not officially married to him and keep your old Name. The most prominent example of this was the Marquise de Maintenon, whom Louis XIV married morganatically.
Julie: So will I be morally in the clear?
Sophie: Only if you insist he stops fucking around. Literally. Especially the commoner Wilhelmine Encke.
Julie: FW2, I will be your morganatic wife if you stop fucking around!
FW2: *goes through ceremony with Julie in Charlottenburg*
Sophie: That could have been AW and me, if I'd thought of it then.

FW2: *actually stops fucking around, but keeps visiting Wilhelmine Encke; their sexual relationship had in fact already stopped pre Julie, but like Madame de Pompadour, she remained his closest confidant*
Julie: Does that count, Aunt Sophie?
Sophie: For God's sake. Try to to get pregnant, then asks him to send her away again.
Julie: *gets pregnant*
Julie: *dies of a combination of tuberculosis and childbirth*

FW2: *is heartbroken, and goes to the person who has been comforting him since he was twenty*

Wilhelmine Encke: *becomes Countess Lichtenau*

Sophie: Cruel Fate! Somehow I get the impression that morals don't pay.

That is...some family drama.

Fritz 'n Heinrich, simultanously: Why are you like this?

*spits out drink*

Break the cycle of abuse, Hohenzollerns! Anna Amalia managed it.

That must be it. After all, Marwitz happened in 1746, which meant both Voltaire/Ulrike (1743) and Trenck/Amalie had already happened, so the manuscript clearly was making the rounds.)

Exactly what I was thinking! Voltaire wouldn't waste any time on a thing like that.

SD: Post Fritz in Küstrin, no longer sleeping with FW.

Oh, man, I had missed the fact that the last kid was born a couple months before the escape attempt! I think I just went with "Wife is now 43, probably not especially fertile any more" and didn't think about how SD's all-time favorite kid has just been put through the worst abuse of his life. Wow.

FW: *hits on SD's Lady in waiting Johanna von Pannwitz via clumsy attempt

If this was after the escape attempt, I also completely missed the timing of "SD pissed off at FW; FW hits on lady-in-waiting."

I am a bad gossipy sensationalist. I can keep the Keiths and Rottembourgs straight, and that's about it. ;)

Fritz: In MY day, we only fainted when our beloved was killed in front of us, not married.

Oh, Fritz.

morganatic marriage is a legal finesse originally invented for royals who want to legitimize their Mistresses and kids from same without going through it officially. It means that once you die, your dead Body is a legitimate wife's Body, and your kids are all legitimate, not bastards. Otoh, while you live, you are not officially married to him and keep your old Name. The most prominent example of this was the Marquise de Maintenon, whom Louis XIV married morganatically.

My understanding is that one of the key points of a morganatic marriage is that the kids, while legitimate, are excluded from the succession.

Other possible example of a morganatic marriage: Elizaveta of Russia and Count Razumovsky, but I'm not sure where the most recent scholarship stands on the question of them being married. Back in my Russian history-studying days 20 years ago, my faint memories are that it was still an open question.

I see Trier also has the grave tale in totem, here.

BTW, Google also tells me that there was a recitation in Neuruppin in 2016. See, they still love you there, Fritz. To the point of reciting your poetry.

Valori shows up quite a lot in Lehndorff's diaries (unsurprisingly, since he was friends with the princes), and our diarist likes him a lot. Must check whether there are any comments about the poem.

Either Fritz had a standard account he ran through with people he either didn't want relying exclusively on the many rumors he no doubt knew were floating About

I could believe that. It's Katte's name not being in the diary that makes me so increasingly suspicious. I mean, surely if your new boss tells you, one month in, something about THE MOST TRAUMATIC EPISODE OF HIS LIFE, something that all of Europe has gosipped about and knows has happened for many years, wouldn't you have immediately jotted it down with thick letters? You can bet Lehndorff would have. (Lehndorff: I always knew I should have become the King's reader.)

Mind you: not having read the diary myself, I of course can't be sure there isn't a passage in it where Fritz does talk about Küstrin, just doesn't mention Katte by name. Maybe Catt simply did what he did with the AW and Wilhelmine conversations, moved up the time table in order to make himself look more special to Fritz but does not invent the fact they did talk about the topic at all. (That's how I understood the German language introduction - that the diary says Fritz did talk to Catt about his brother and evil advisors etc., just not immediately but four days after the news arrived, and similarly did talk to him about Wilhelmine, but not immediately, only at their regular hour and after Catt had already sent his condolence letter. Did you ask Beginner_Returner whether Fritz talks in the diary about Küstrin (without mentioning Katte by name) at a later point, maybe?

Conversely: I suppose if Catt tells the truth and nothing but the truth, the reason why he didn't immediately write it down was precisely because he had been working for Fritz for just a month. He wasn't sure whether his diary might not be read, and if so, whether he was allowed to make notes about such a deeply private conversation. Especially given that I think somewhere it's mentioned (by Fritz) thath a lot of the young officers are making notes in order to write about the war later on. And keeping a journal really was very wide spread in the era, with an eye to later publication.

So: could be I'm wronging Catt, and he was simply trying to prove himself super discreet and trustworthy with the new boss!

Yes, Trier has it, but I feel like a machine translation probably wouldn't do it justice? Plus, we're about halfway through the free API trial already. If you can get ahold of a proper German translation, we'd probably be better off with your summary.

BTW, Google also tells me that there was a recitation in Neuruppin in 2016. See, they still love you there, Fritz. To the point of reciting your poetry.

Awww. Also, wow, *that* poem. Verily, tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis.

Must check whether there are any comments about the poem.

Please do! Lehndorff's take on this would be amazing, if he has one.

if your new boss tells you, one month in, something about THE MOST TRAUMATIC EPISODE OF HIS LIFE, something that all of Europe has gosipped about and knows has happened for many years, wouldn't you have immediately jotted it down with thick letters?

My immediate thought was no, not necessarily, and if there's one thing I would trust Catt to remember years later--not accurately, mind you!--without taking notes, it would be something he'd already heard of and been wondering about. So, if he is pulling that up from memory, I wouldn't trust him on detail, but I'd trust him to remember that they talked about it and get at least some of it right (which parts are an open question).

Also, given how dicey the topic was, my immediate reaction was that I might be very, very careful about writing it down, for the reasons you mention. Especially if we trust Catt that he didn't feel safe commenting on it at all while Fritz was talking. (Of course, the alternative is that there was virtually no conversation between him and Fritz on this topic because it never happened, and Catt's just writing historical fiction based on Voltaire's memoirs.)

I of course can't be sure there isn't a passage in it where Fritz does talk about Küstrin, just doesn't mention Katte by name

That has also occurred to me. That's why Catt's diary is on my list of things to see if Google OCR + translate can handle in a useful way. But first I have a gazillion Heinrich letters to clean up. ;) Trying to work my way through the

rheinsberg backlog while I'm at it.

So yes, there are several possibilities, and only one of them is falsifiable, i.e., he put it in his diary under non-searchable language, such as, "King talks about the time he tried to escape and was imprisoned" or "King talks about the you-know-what that we've all been dying to hear about from the horse's mouth--SCORE!" ;)

Will see what I can do about making the diary more accessible someday.

Quick search: I tried "Darget", "Valori" and "Palladion". No mention the poem under that name, and Darget and Valori in connection are named only once. That one occasion, however, does include the story which it looks like Fritz used as a very loose basis for the poem.

Lehndorff on August 10th, 1753: Darget gets his dismissal from the King. He was a man of low birth who had made his name through a beautiful deed when being the secretary of the French envoy Valori. When the envoy was staying in Bohemia in a small town, he was supposed to be arrested by a troop of Austrian husars. As soon as they arrived, Darget threw himself on the bed of his master after having hidden the most important papers away, and claimed to be the envoy himself. He was duly taken prisoner, and only when he was brought in front of Prince Charles - de Lorraine, younger brother of FS - the truth came out. Valori had hidden himself away in a small room and thus escaped a long imprisonment. His Majesty the King who always rewards valiant deeds took him into his service and made him his reader. He has held this position for seven years until his bad state of health made it necessary for him to return to his country. He was a man of wit and of all the Frenchmen at our court the least impudent.

So - his majesty sometimes rewards valiant deeds by writing satiric-erotic poetry about them?

I...guess?

Fritz: What's not to like? Everyone should be so lucky as to have a satiric-erotic poem written about their valiant deeds by the King!

Fritz: Just wait until you find the manuscript that contains my take on the Heinrich/Marwitz affair!

I didn't detect any missing letters in Heinrich or AW, so this must have been a very early bug. Phew!

*spittake*

Speak of holy grails of gossipy sensationalists. :)

Re: Darget and sensationalist gossip, though, I see Trier archive has this to say about him and the Marquis D‘Argent:

D'Argens had a tense relationship with the secretary of the French ambassador, who also worked as a reader from 1749 to 1756 (in this function he followed Lamettrie and was replaced by the Abbé de Prades), secretary and literary agent of Frederick II. Mainvillers reports that Darget in Berlin frequented the house of the Cochois family of actors, which had become a popular meeting place for the theater world, and kept an eye on the third youngest daughter, Marionette (who died of smallpox in 1745). Darget took it into his head to critisize the short-lived magazine L'Observateur Hollandois and Mainvillers Plume sournoise, edited by d'Argens in Berlin. Whereupon D‘Argents responded with a replique in the anonymously published pamphlet Le Galimathias, in which he outed Darget as the author of one of Voltaire's name published Ode To Frederick II. At the same time he worked on Marionette to spoil Darget‘s chances with her. Successfull,y because she then turned to the dancer Novert, who was prettier than Darget and also wanted to marry her. Marionette's brother did his best to end the liaison between his sister and Darget and put Darget out the door. A certain competitive relationship between the two men (Darget and D’Argents) cannot be ruled out.

You think, Trier archive, you think? Also, clearly Voltaire vs Maupertuis was not a the only case of literati feuds at Fritz‘ court, though clearly without Voltaire getting involved, Fritz didn‘t get involved, either. Also, I‘m not clear on whether the implication here is that Darget writing an ode to Fritz and publishing it as supposedly written by Voltaire was a) on Darget‘s own initiative, b) on Fritz‘ orders, or c) because Voltaire was supposed to write it and turned the task over to Darget? (The last I don‘t think is likely because of authorial vanity. Voltaire had too high an opinion of his own talents to allow a ghostwriter to publish verses under his name.).

May I ask what your source is for the story of the French supposedly intending Darget to become a Fritz boytoy and spy on him only to be foiled by either Fritz keeping fondness for good looking men and work apart or Darget being loyal to the King or both? Because it‘s a bit tricky to square it the reason for his hiring as reported by Lehndorff, unless the idea is that Valori and Darget faked the incident in question? Also, what, if anything, DID Fritz think of his pal D‘Argens unmasking his personal reader as the author of an ode to him supposedly written by Voltaire? Isn‘t that, err, a bit embarrassing?

ETA: Also, while Boswell didn‘t manage to get a Fritz audience during his Grand Tour, it looks like he got this on D‘Argens from none other than Lord Marischal, aka Old And Last Surviving Keith: "In the afternoon my Lord was very chatty. He told me that the Marquis d’Argens was a good-natured, amiable man, and much liked by the King of Prussia. He is now old. He has married an actress, whom he keeps in great subjection. He has made her learn Greek, and I don’t know how many things, merely to make her of use to him in studies. He is a miserable being, for he is hypochondriac and terrified for death. He had worn a flannel under-waistcoat four years and durst not take it off for fear of catching cold. The King drove out one fear by another, and told him that if he persisted to wear that waistcoat, his perspiration would be entirely stopped, and he must inevitably die. The marquis agreed to quit his waistcoat. But it had so fixed itself upon him that pieces of his skin came away with it." (Boswell on the Grand Tour: Germany and Switzerland 1764. Edited by Frederick A. Pottle. Melbourne [u.a.]: Heinemann Ltd, S. 15-16)

...these people are all nuts.

Edited 2020-01-21 05:13 (UTC)

If this was after the escape attempt, I also completely missed the timing of "SD pissed off at FW; FW hits on lady-in-waiting."

The hitting on the Lady in Waiting wasn't in the same year; according to Wilhelmine, it happened when everyone went to Braunschweig for the Fritz and EC wedding. I just rechecked (in the German edition, the bowlderized English edition doesn't seem to have it), and it will please you to learn that in fact, FW got not slapped, but punched.

Pannewitz had followed the Queen to Braunschweig for my brother's wedding; the King met her on a small stairway leading to the Queen's room. She wanted to leave, he stopped her and wanted to embrace her by putting a hand on her breast. In her indignation, this lady punched him so violently in the face that blood streamed from his mouth and nose. He did not hold it against her afterwards and limited himself to calling her "the bad fairy".

Now, it could of course simply be that Ferdinand was the last child because SD got menopausal or just not that fertile anymore, but I think the timing for this unprecedented attempt by Mr. "No Mistresses! No Whores!" (as an opening paragraph in his political testament, no less) to break his record of marital fidelity after all would indicate a good chance that SD had ended sexuals relations for good by then, and there is an obvious reason. (Also a later less obvious one, except if you're SD. She was thrilled Fritz was out of custody and reinstated, of course, but she still hated the Braunschweig marriage for her son.)

My understanding is that one of the key points of a morganatic marriage is that the kids, while legitimate, are excluded from the succession.

Oh absolutely. (This, btw, doesn't mean some of them didn't make a play for the throne afterwards anyway. Some even succeeded. Manfred, son of Frederick II. the HRE Emperor, managed to, but to be fair he did so only after his non-morganatic brothers had died and he was the olded surviving son.) But the legitimacy itself meant a lot, given the legal stain on bastards in most countries.

So I haven’t browsed the fic at all, and am taking mildred’s comments to heart, but you would have thought that this Brilliant Damaged Paranoid Older War General/Flirty Scheming Successful Young Rough Trade Con Man pairing would be filled with crossgen kink and razor-edged snark and attempted doublecrossing and inevitable hatesex? If not, then, as you say, what’s the point of this ship? (For the record, I would read the crap out of the former!)

FW/giants is canon, and Giants Top! ought to be!

The cosplaying and less than historically accurate fan art tumblrs are charming! Even the ones in Mandarin ;) Thank you for linking to them! I am not a fan of modern AUs, at all, but I’m willing to keep an open mind for Fritz fandom. And the mystery of the misidentified Hans Heinrich portraits just strikes me as kind of sad —as you say he had a distinctive face and a distinctive look in his famous portrait, and the Katte tumblrs are interesting!

The letters to and sometimes from his unwanted wife, in which our antihero comes across as surprisingly three dimensional, i.e. only sometimes a jerk, and at other times friendly; once or twice, even endearing.

Firstly, to end on a positive note, let's get one of the Fritzian speciality condolence letters out of the way.

Madame,
I deplored the death of your brother Prince Albert; but he died as a good man, although he died reckless and without necessity. It has been a while since I warned the Duke of what could not fail to happen; I have often said this to the deceased, but he only followed his own head, and I am surprised that he was not killed a long time ago.
Prince Ferdinand has a bruised knee, but he is going out and doing well. I pity you, Madame, for the sorrow that it is natural for you to feel the death of your loved ones; but these are events for which there is no remedy. I am with esteem, etc

See, if Fritz had died earlier, then we'd have a set up for the perfect Agatha Christie murder mystery. Everyone has a motive! Heinrich is the main and obvious suspect! But really, it was EC!

Except not. I know from Lehndorff's diaries the woman could sometimes lose her temper, but in her few letters towards her husband, she comes across as amazingly sweet-natured. He, in turn, wasn't always like that. Seems they had a regular exchange of delicious fruit grown in their respective residences going, which leads to letters like this:

Madame,
I thank you for the beautiful fruits that you were kind enough to send me. I will eat them to your health, and I count on the fact that that Sans-Souci will not be outdone, and will in turn provide them for Schönhausen. I am with great esteem, etc.
My compliments to Madame Camas.

The most interesting of the not very large collection of letters are those dealing with AW's death. As a reminder, AW was EC's brother-in-law twice over, since he was married to her sister Louise. Who was pregnant at the time of his death with their fourth child.

Sire,
What a sad circumstance makes me take the pen in my hand to tell you of the death of the Prince of Prussia, which happened this morning at half past three in the morning! I offer you my condolences on the death of the prince. First after I learned it, I went here to see how to tell my sister, especially in the circumstances in which she is, so that it does not harm her, and, if it is possible, to keep the fruit she bears. She doesn't know it yet. I recommend her, until she can write herself, to the honor of your good graces and protection, having, after the great loss she has suffered, only you as her support and protector. I'll be at the palace, but my sister doesn't know it yet; the doctor and everything one needs is here. God grant you health, and keep you until the most remote age of human life, for the happiness of your subjects and in particular for that of which all happiness depends on it! I recommend myself in your good graces, and am with the most perfect attachment, complete devotion and all the tenderness imaginable, etc.

Madame,
You have done very well to hide from my sister-in-law the great loss she has just suffered, and I have no doubt that you will use all the circumspection possible to inform her. At the same time, you will say to her that one could not be more devastated by this misfortune than I am, and that I will contribute in all that will depend on me to her happiness, and that by my friendship I will try to soften the heaviness of her loss, as much as such losses can be softened; that I look to her children as my own, and that she can count on me to take the greatest care of them, keeping the image of my poor brother imprinted in the bottom of my heart, where death alone can erase it.
I am, Madame, with great esteem, etc.

As letters from Fritz apropos AW's death go, this one is the least infuriating by far, and the most helpful to the actual recipient.

Sire,
It is with perfect gratitude that I received your letter. Regarding my sister's pregnancy, it is going well, and we have taken every conceivable precaution so that the alteration does not harm her. Doctor and surgeon were there first. She is now halfway there. As my sister is in this state, and besides that in great mourning, I hope that you will allow the Duchess my mother to come to Berlin, and lodge in the castle, and that you will have the grace to give your orders on it. I sincerely promise you that we will not cause the slightest trouble; for myself, I hate it as much as we can hate it, and I have had all my life a horror of it. Surely, I will not do more than is necessary for expenses, and I believe that my mother will be able to content herself with the way I ordinarily live. I avoid all expenses, and cut myself off on everything; but the mourning and the trip never stopped costing me, although everything was done with the greatest economy in the world. You can count on me, you can be sure I will not do anything in the world which you may not like. Your graces and kindness are always too precious to me, and surely it will not be through my fault that I could have the misfortune to lose them; I would not console myself with my life for it, and my conduct is very simple and focused, as everyone can tell you and testify. God grant you health, keep your and give you happiness in all your endeavors! I recommend myself in honor to your good graces and kindness, and remain with the most perfect attachment, complete devotion and all the imaginable tenderness, etc

Madame,
I learned with pleasure the happy deliverance of my sister-in-law. May this child be happier than his uncles!

The plural is interesting here, Fritz. Anyway, he's been in amiable mode towards EC for too long. After she asks him what the newborn kid should be called, we get back to "why is this woman bothering me when I have a war to fight?"

Madame,
As long as my nephew is not called Jacques, Xavier or Joseph, what does it matter? If he was my son, I would call him Charles-Émile; but that is not important. I have the honor to be, etc.

Prince Karl-Emil is is, the only one of the Hohenzollern to be called that. Sadly, he doesn't survive the year. Incidentally, I can guess why not Joseph - MT's son, which is all Fritz knows about him at that point - nor Xavier - very Catholic South German name accociated with Jesuits - but what Fritz' beef with Jacques aka Jakob/James is, I don't know. Not wanting to piss off his one remaining ally the Hannover cousin in England?

Also, Mildred, is there a Charles-Émile/Karl Emil among the boyfriends?

EC's mother dies. Time for a Fritzian condolence letter again. Has he learned how to do it by now?

Madame,
I learned with pain of the death of your mother. I offer you my condolences. She was old and sickly; now, she is sheltered from all the misfortunes that plagues humanity, and however long we live, we take the same path, one a little earlier, the other a little more later. One day we will all be there, when everyone has finished the role they are forced to play in the world.
After all the misfortunes and bad news that have been daily for six years, it is really time that we receive more pleasant ones. I hope this time comes soon, assuring you of all the esteem with which I am, etc.

Granted, if one bears in mind how the deaths of his own loved ones are always a terrible blow that demand universal grief, it's a tad hypocritical, but still, marks for effort, Fritz. You're getting there.

Next: EC has an open leg. This offers our anti hero the chance to a) provide medical advice, and b) write a rare concerned "get well" letter that does not include "live for me!"

Madame,
I was very sorry yesterday to see you in the state you were in. As I judge your illness, I believe that the cause comes from an acrid and corrosive blood. It is imperative that the doctor gives you beverages made of vulnerable herbs and simple, to correct the blood, and then your wound will close soon, and you will be healed. But do not waste time taking this remedy; you have to eat a lot of vegetables, which are all good for the blood, and with this diet I am sure you will heal yourself. But if the doctor doesn't give you these potions, there is a risk that the inflammation will start on your leg overnight, and then the danger could become serious. The advice I give you is crucial for your recovery. Please speak to the doctor; in the meantime, I wish for your recovery, assuring you of the perfect esteem with which I am, etc.

Poor Louise, after her late florishing as the suprise most popular in-law among the entire Hohenzollern clan, dies. Now, since future FW2's first marriage ended and Elisabeth the younger was banished to Stettin, Louise had been raising Elisabeth's and FW2's only daughter Friederike. What shall become of her?

Madame,
I offer you my condolences on the death of your sister and my sister-in-law, whom we have just lost. Her virtue deserves our regrets, but we cannot resuscitate her. There is this poor child who remains of her, who can only find asylum in your home. You would give me great pleasure, if you wanted to take care of her education, as her late grandmother has done so far. You can easily guess the reasons I have for arranging this case. The apartments in the palace will not provide any difficulty, and this can be done under the pretext of your attachment to everything that remains of the late Princess.
I am with all respect, etc.

Note that Fritz does not consider sending little Friederike to her other grandmother, his sister Charlotte. And apparantly nephew FW and wife No.2 aren't an option. "My niece of Holland" is Wilhelmine Minor, AW's now married daughter, his favourite niece.

Madame,
After having carefully examined the palace, there are only the rooms that my niece from Holland occupied that can be given to the little girl; I first have them accommodated for this purpose, and the little girl will be able to move in tomorrow. Those above them would be good as well, but they are cold, and when foreigners of quality come here, we would have to dislodge the little one, which otherwise is not necessary. She can therefore enter it tomorrow. I am, Madame, etc.

Mr. Micromanagement thinking through which rooms are most suitable for a child is oddly...nice. Anyway, EC is not yet done with losing family members. Next, it's the turn of the brother of hers married to Charlotte, "the dear duchess".

Sire,
It is with a heart full of gratitude that I mark my most humble thanks for the gracious attention you have had for me in making me announce with caution the sad news of the death of my dear brother. The part which you take there can be used for my consolation. It is very sad, in the space of two and a half months, to lose a brother and a sister. The dear duchess makes me very sad, knowing the tender attachment she had for my dear brother, and this loss must be very overwhelming. God grant to preserve your days and give you a perfect health, and that you live until the most remote age of the world, for the happiness of all your country, and in particular for her who utterly depends on it, and who is sincerely attached to you, and who is with all the devotion imaginable, etc.

Okay, Fritz. Last chance to write a good consolence letter to EC about a sibling of hers!

Madame,
I rightly feared that the devastation that death has just caused in your family would affect you too deeply, especially because these fatal blows followed each other so closely. But what is left to take? We cannot raise the dead; we can only submit to the eternal order which subjects our friends, relatives and ourselves to the common law. With regard to the Duke, I am convinced that death is a kind of happiness for him, because he was only dragging out the languid remains of his existence; deprived of speech for four weeks, deprived of the action of his arms and legs for a few years, it was dependent on itself, and a spectacle of pity and tenderness for his loved ones. I wish, Madame, that this is the last domestic grief that happens to you, and that the sky watches over your days, being with all possible esteem, etc.

Edited 2020-01-21 15:11 (UTC)

If not, then, as you say, what’s the point of this ship?

Honestly, I haven't read any because the summaries and the tags already tell me it's not this. Which I would also love to read. Instead, AU Casanova seems to be a sweet natured comfort providing sub, if said summaries and tags are anything to go by. Which, for this particular pairing, I have zero interest in.

On the other hand: if you visit Sanssouci these days, there's apparantly a tour through the park where Casanova tells you all about his meeting with Fritz and adds a few stories he's heard about him to boot, which probably is more fun, and more historical, even if it's lacking them actually getting it on...

The hitting on the Lady in Waiting wasn't in the same year

Oh, yes, I didn't mean that it was an immediate reaction; just that SD was going to be probably permanently 100% Done with FW after 1730. It would not surprise me if it was 3 years later that FW cracked under the pressure of sexual frustration.

Now, it could of course simply be that Ferdinand was the last child because SD got menopausal or just not that fertile anymore, but I think the timing for this unprecedented attempt by Mr. "No Mistresses! No Whores!" (as an opening paragraph in his political testament, no less) to break his record of marital fidelity after all would indicate a good chance that SD had ended sexuals relations for good by then, and there is an obvious reason.

Yes, this does make a surprising amount of sense.

(Also a later less obvious one, except if you're SD. She was thrilled Fritz was out of custody and reinstated, of course, but she still hated the Braunschweig marriage for her son.)

And the Bayreuth marriage for her daughter! The fact that she blamed Wilhelmine for giving in wouldn't prevent her from also blaming her hated husband.

Do we know if SD ever gave Fritz a hard time about his marriage, or did the fact that he was the favorite plus in prison/house arrest at the time get him off the hook? Favorite son can do no wrong?

This, btw, doesn't mean some of them didn't make a play for the throne afterwards anyway.

If being illegitimate or even total impostors didn't stop people from making a play for the throne, being the product of a morganatic marriage sure as hell wouldn't.

But the legitimacy itself meant a lot, given the legal stain on bastards in most countries.

Definitely. Huge plus.

*spittake*

Speak of holy grails of gossipy sensationalists. :)

I mean, he did say he was going to write their love story! And his erotic poetry has disappeared before, only to turn up later! :D

Darget and D'Argens, sheesh. I don't know enough about the details to have an opinion of my own. I have more questions than answers at this point.

A certain competitive relationship between the two men (Darget and D’Argents) cannot be ruled out.

*blink*

What exactly do they think is a competitive relationship, if not this?

Also, I‘m not clear on whether the implication here is that Darget writing an ode to Fritz and publishing it as supposedly written by Voltaire was a) on Darget‘s own initiative, b) on Fritz‘ orders, or c) because Voltaire was supposed to write it and turned the task over to Darget?

It would help greatly to know what year this was. Also how complimentary vs. snarky the ode was (I trust these people not at all). Agree that (c) is the least likely, because Voltaire.

May I ask what your source is for the story of the French supposedly intending Darget to become a Fritz boytoy and spy on him only to be foiled by either Fritz keeping fondness for good looking men and work apart or Darget being loyal to the King or both? Because it‘s a bit tricky to square it the reason for his hiring as reported by Lehndorff, unless the idea is that Valori and Darget faked the incident in question?

Source is Blanning, who I think is less of an idiot than MacDonogh but I still don't trust him. But I don't think the two stories are irreconcilable, because it goes like this.

According to Blanning, the following are facts:
- Darget was the secretary of Valori.
- Darget got captured by the Austrians pretending to be Valori.
- Fritz requested the French let him have Darget as librarian.
- The French sent Darget as envoy to Fritz in late 1745.
- Darget joined Fritz's court permanently in early 1746.

According to Blanning, the following is an open question:
- Why send a mere secretary on such an important mission to a king, if you're trying not to insult him?

Blanning's headcanon:
- Fritz had already demonstrated that he was attracted to Darget by requesting his transfer to his own court. The French hoped Darget could influence him in ways a more high-ranking but less attractive-to-Fritz official couldn't.

Blanning reports that Fritz refused to stay in the war for the French but kept Darget.

So he's not claiming that the French had Darget infiltrate Fritz's court, just that they used Fritz's pre-existing interest in him. Nothing Blanning says is inconsistent with Lehndorff's story that Fritz was impressed by Darget's loyalty.

But the part about why the French sent Darget as their ambassador is the purest speculation on Blanning's part, which is why I call it a headcanon. If we weren't all gossipy sensationalists looking for homosexual relationships, you could just as easily say that they sent Darget because Fritz had already requested his transfer and the French knew Darget and Fritz were on good terms. Or, if the French political documentation didn't contradict it, that they were very ticked off at the Margrave of Brandenburg, didn't think there was much chance of getting him to not break his word yet again, and sent a secretary on purpose. I mean if Fritz can send a Jacobite envoy to piss off his British relatives...

And as for all the rest of the Darget/d'Argens/Fritz/Voltaire/Palladion madness, I need more facts and more dates before I can venture opinions.

...these people are all nuts.

Have seen this quote, had it bookmarked on my backlog of things to share! In his defense, it's the 18th century, medicine is terrible, nobody has the least idea how disease works, everyone is trying every random thing they can think of to try to stay alive. It's a very common human fallacy (and often not an unreasonable one) to not want to change something you're doing in case that's what's working and not doing it has horrendous consequences.

But as stories go, it's hilarious.

Favorite son can do no wrong?

Also, don't forget he'd make his unwillingness and lack of enthusiasm for the marriage very clear even after giving in, and the sheer awfulness of Küstrin plus preceding almost death certainly worked for her as an excuse. (With Wilhelmine, she'd convinced herself that if W had held out just a while longer, then FW would have given in, and W's life hadn't been at stake in the same way.) But yes, favorite son. And gender different treatment anyway. Fritz wasn't supposed to live the life SD should have had via marriage, Fritz was supposed to be a Wonderful King all of Europe was in awe of, and on this, he would certainly deliver.
Like I said elsehwere, I've come across exactly one remark by Fritz in the 1730s letters to Wilhelmine about SD being in a bad mood in tendem with FW and that if one made one happy, the other wasn't. Otherwise, nothing to indicate she ever gave him trouble. (It's also noticable that only the 1730s letters show him with some awareness that the SD-Wilhelmine relationship is less than stellar, because he's always giving her mood reports on both parents "The Queen loves you" or "The Queen now feels warm towards you again" as well as whatever the status quo of FW's take on Wilhelmine is. After he himself is on the throne, it's Best of All Possible Mothers all the way.

(To be fair, as stated elsewhere, she probably was her best self through the final one and a half decades of her life. No more FW, adoring oldest son to be proud of, younger sons also adoring her and making her proud, court treats her as the more important queen as per Fritz' orders, EC is so not a threat that that's ever going to change: she's living her ideal life and courtiers like Lehndorff rave about how dignified and gracious she is. It's only when you look at the daughters that there's a slight indication of maybe the SD who earlier was able to hand out "if you don't do as I say, you're dead to me" ultimatums isn't entirely gone, as on the crackier side in those arguments with Amalie where she ends up forbidding her kitchen to supply Amalie with food, and on the more serious side when she immediately goes after Wilhelmine for the MT lunch. )

Incidentally, that's another reason why it's good Fritz never got to see Wilhelmine's manuscript. It does contain the incredibly bitter sentence about SD not loving any of her children, just as much as they were of use to her in her struggle with FW. Of Course this is Wilhelmine writing in the 1740s (when she's in the outs with her mother again) about her mother in the early 1730s (remembering all those arguments and rants); it might be just as exaggarated as her trying to convince herself that Fritz gradually stopped loving her through the 30s and post Ascension to the throne had completed cutting himself off from her. But if you put it together with the big surviving siblings argument many years later and Amalie's clashes with her mother, you can make a case that SD simply was a different mother to her daughters than she was to her sons, and she was hardly unique in that regard.

How she'd have reacted to the big Fallout if she'd lived through 1757/58, God knows. Presumably she'd have sided with Fritz there, too, but maybe tried to plead for reconciliation?

Edited 2020-01-21 18:38 (UTC)

It‘s also one of the few times he (Casanova) mentions his own present day (when he‘s writing the memoirs as an old man), which is triggered by remembering something D‘Argnens tells him. Also commented on in the excerpts I‘m quoting: Fritz and Gustav!

The next day I asked about the Marquis d'Argens and found out that he was in the country with his brother, the President of the Parliament, Marquis d'Eguilles. I went there. The Marquis, who became more famous through the constant friendship of the late Frederick II than through his works that no one reads today, was already old at the time. The Marquis d'Argens lived with the actress Cochois, whom he had married and who knew how to show herself worthy of this honor. As his wife, she felt obliged to be her husband's first servant. The Marquis himself had a thorough knowledge of the Greek and the Hebrew language; he was gifted with a wonderful memory and consequently grafted with scholarship. He received me very well because he remembered what his friend, the Lord Marshal, had written to him about me. He introduced me to his wife and his rather wealthy brother, the President d'Eguilles and a member of parliament in Aix. The later was a friend of literature. He lived a strictly moral way of life, and that was more due to his character than his religious belief. That says a lot; for he was truly pious even though he was a smart man. He was very close to the Jesuits and was even one himself, one of those who were called the short-skinned Jesuits; he loved his brother tenderly and lamented him; but he still hoped that sooner or later the effect of grace would lead him back to the lap of the church. His brother encouraged him to hope and laughed at the same time. Neither could avoid annoying the other with words about religion. (...)

When I had fully regained my strength, I went to the Marquis d'Argens at the President d'Eguilles to say goodbye. After lunch I spent three hours with the learned old gentleman, who told me a hundred stories about the private life of the Prussian king, all of which could be published as anecdotes as soon as I had the time and the desire. He was a ruler with great qualities and big mistakes, like almost all important men; but the entirety and severity of his mistakes were less.
The murdered King of Sweden found pleasure in provoking and defying hatred by following his inclinations. He was born a despot and had to be a despot in order to satisfy his passions, which were dominating him: namely, to talk about himself and be considered a great man. That is why his enemies had dedicated themselves to death to rob him of life. The king should have foreseen his end, for his acts of violence had long driven the oppressed to despair. The Marquis d'Argens gave me all of his works. I asked him if I could really boast of owning all of them and he replied: "Yes, with the exception of part of my life story, which I wrote in my youth and which I printed at that time; now I regret having it written."
„Why?"
"Because I had the enthusiasm of just telling the truth and thereby made myself immortally ridiculous. If you ever feel tempted, dismiss it. I can assure you that you will regret it; because as a man of honor you could only write the truth and as a truth-loving rapporteur you would not only be obliged not to keep silent, but you should not even be cowardly indulgent with the mistakes you made, and as a true philosopher you would then have to list your good deeds as well. You would be obliged to blame and praise yourself alternately... Believe me, dear friend, if a person is not allowed to speak of himself, he is much less permitted to write about himself(. ...)Listen to me, never make the mistake and write down your memoirs. "
Convinced by his wise speeches, I promised him never to commit such foolishness; nevertheless, I have not been doing anything else for seven years, and it has gradually become a necessity for me to finish this, although I already regret starting it. But I write in the hope that my story will never be published; I am sure that during my last illness I will finally be sensible enough to have all my notebooks burned in my presence. If this should not be the case, I count on the indulgence of my readers, and they will not withhold it from me when they learn that writing down my memories was the only cure for me so as not to go mad or die angry at the inconvenience that the villains have given me in the castle of the Count of Waldstein in Dux. By writing ten or twelve hours a day, I prevented the gloomy annoyance from killing me or robbing me of my reason. We'll talk about it in due course.

I mean, he did say he was going to write their love story! And his erotic poetry has disappeared before, only to turn up later!

Truly. I see I missed a trick in my Yuletide Madness fluff - because you just know Fritz would have a pseudonymous RPF writers account. (Though the fact he uses this ID to follow Voltaire at his blog and argues in the comments kind of gives it away.)

ROFL. Neither Fritz nor Voltaire can do incognito to save their lives!

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Page 10 of 15

Frederick the Great discussion post 9

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Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine Correspondance, Trier Version IV - More Things Between Heaven and Earth...

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Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine Correspondance, Trier Version IV - More Things Between Heaven and Earth...

Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine Correspondance, Trier Version IV - More Things Between Heaven and Earth...

Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine Correspondance, Trier Version III - Three Funerals and a Wedding

Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine Correspondance, Trier Version IV - More Things Between Heaven and Earth...

Tangentially...

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D‘Argens according to Giacomo Casanova

Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine Correspondance, Trier Version IV - More Things Between Heaven and Earth...

Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine Correspondance, Trier Version IV - More Things Between Heaven and Earth...