So, a typical French-German diary entry goes like this, on May 15th 1735:
Fréderic Wartensleben me raconte des particularités de Potsdam. Der König ist gesund, sagt er, wünscht zu sterben und hernach wieder auf zustehen, um die Veränderung mit anzuſehen Alexandre veut parier sa tête, que Junior n'a pas donné commission à Lichtenstein, de m'éloigner d'ici. Der Kronprinz hält mich vor unconversabel.
"Friedrich Wartensleben told me of the Potsdam oddities. The King is healthy, he says, wishes to die and to resurrect, in order to get to watch the changes. Alexander wants to bet his head, which Junior did not commissioned Lichtenstein to walk away from here. (? Help me out here, mes amies?) The crown prince doesn't consider me worthy of conversation."
Hence Other Seckendorff increasingly relying on Mantteuffel, I suppose. Anyway, this linguistic mix does make for an odd reading experience. Still, there are all kinds of interesting cross connections, like this one. Remember, Biberius = Grumbkow. The Countess Fuchs may be chief lady in waiting to the current empress, but more importantly, she's the governess of the archduchess Maria Theresia. Orondates = original Seckendorff? Suhm? I honestly don't know. It's not FW, that's clear from the context.)
I know from Biberius, that Pöllnitz wrote to the countess Fuchs, grand-mistress from the Empress, a twenty page letter with sharp sayings from Orondates. And the Devil will try to ingratiate himself with Pöllnit so that Pöllnitz shows him the letter, which is sure to make for an entertaining reading. "t is very good that Orondates is gone: because with his suspicions he would have ruined everything, and given all the trouble which he enjoyed stirring between the crownl prince and the king, he would soon have put everything into confusion and disunity.
More than it already is, you mean? Anyway, this also makes it look like Orondates = Original Seckendorff: Borck (the general). He told Biberius that the king according to Gotter sounds friendly towards Orondates: “It's not true that I don't like him. I deem him to be a great General and a reasonable and capable man."
The journal mentions "Katte" repeatedly, but context makes it apparant it's always Hans Heinrich. Also, in 1734, when journal writer Seckendorff arrives, FW has one of his worst dropsy attacks resulting in touching father-son scene on page 11 already:
The Crown Prince is truly touched by the king's situation; there are always tears in his eyes, he's cried his heart out, has worked to get a more comfortable bed for the King; hadn't wanted to leave Potsdam. At last the King has forced him to, and told him not to return before Saturday afternoon. "As long as the king does live, I would give an arm to extend his life by twenty years." The King has called him "Fritzchen" all the time.
In case anyone thinks Wilhelmine is exaggarating Mom's hostility towards her (and EC) in the first half of the 1730s, here's Seckendorff backing her up, on page 69, June 8th:
Olympia. She seems to be very indifferent to the subject of Vitellius' disease, so apparently is tired lying to him, and hoping well for the future; but she could be terribly wrong in her calculation: because, although she hates the crown princess and the later being liked by Junior the most, Olympia at the same time also hates the heriditary princess of Bayreuth and does her ill services with her father, telling him all kind of odious stories about her. And that's where she spoils everything with Junior, who values this Bayreuth sister beyond expression and who, according to appearances, will make make her shine in favour one day.
Well, she won't "spoil everything with Junior" but it supports that at least 1730s Fritz was aware SD was a different mother to Wilhelmine than she was to him. Now I knew via Wilhelmine's memoirs she hadn't given up her English marriage intentions but transferred them to Charlotte, only to be foiled again. Something I've also learned through Seckendorff's diary is that SD then transferred them to Ulrike, no more with the Prince of Wales - who'd tied the knot by then - but a younger brother. No dice, though as we know, Ulrike will be the only daughter to become Queen. And this, Hohenzollern boys, is why your sisters have a different impression of Mom than you do. Not that FW as a father to his daughters was anything to write home about. Voit was the Bayreuth envoy to Prussia. June 13th: Voit from Bayreuth gets an audience with the King. - "Should I congratulate or send my condolences? My daughter has to let herself be f... better."
: The news question can't have been the birth of his granddaughter, since that girl was already born in August 1732, so I'm assuming it was the death of the old Margrave? Anyway, the FW quote is in German, and either the editor or Seckendorf writes f.... Same word than in English, if you're wondering, with an i instead of an u.
Everyone distrusts everyone else on the court. Discussed is whether or not Fritz gets to join the already sadly senile Eugene at Philippsburg:
28th The king graciously refuses to permit the crown prince permission to join the campaign. Alexander Wartensleben tells me that the King's illness is just pretense, and that father and son are in good standing with each other.
29th: The King gives the Crown Prince permission to join the campaign, under the condition that the two imperials corpses join his etc.
No detail is too insignificant to be noted down for its potential political implication, as when FW orders little Ferdinand to get a Polish page so he picks up some of the language. Potential Prussian designs on Poland? Also, here's other Seckendorff on a much debated topic:
Frederic Wartensleben tells me, that crown prince sleeps with the crown princess, and that he reprimanded Count Truchsess for what the later said about my uncle and me.
On July 6th, FW is having second thoughts again about letting Fritz hang out with Eugene:
The King is afraid that Junior might become too good an Imperial if he leaves him too long with the (imperial) army. (No danger there, FW.)
So what's your opinion on chatty Pöllnitz, FW?
"Pöllnitz is a writer. A writer doesn't have a clue about soldiers. If Pöllnitz tells me about the Ansbach and Bayreuth courts, I believe him; but if he talks about complete an incomplete armies, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
When Fritz is feeling let down by Eugene who has lost most of his memory not being the legendary figure he expected, and the campaign is mostly boring, FW is gleeful:
Judge for yourself whether I shouldn't bee happy that the old guy is made fun off, especially since I can't stand the fact the Emperor and I share a Field Marshal. You may write all this in confidence to General Seckendorff.
While FW will indeed be indignant about not being told of the FS/MT marriage until after the fact, he evidently knew Franzl was a primary candidate for her hand, because in October 1735, i.e. before the marriage, the journal notes: He charged Gotter with all the demonstrations of submission imaginable for the emperor and as many for the duke of Lorraine. "He should lay himself on the feet of the Emperor and kiss his ass."
FW is also protesting again and again how much he hates the French and how he'd never desert the Emperor for them. This is why Austria trading Lorraine to the French for the Pragmatic Sanction acknowledgment (remember, FS had to give up his dukedom for marrying MT) is regarded by him as as a betrayal (though not as much as the fact MT's dad doesn't back his claim on Jülich and Berg).
In January 1736, relationships between FW and Fritz are on the downslide again:
Biberius tells me about the secrets, that Junior confided in Pöllnitz. The King encourages him to produce children, had him made a marital bed out of velvet. Biberius does not believe, that Junior will survive the father, but that pessimus Wilhelmus will succeed one day.
Pessimus Wilhelmus, the worst William, is of course AW. But mostly FW is busy getting in advance indignant about the impeding marriage and the other claims on Jülich and Berg:
The Emperor treats me and all HRE princes like pushovers, which I certainly do not deserve form the Emperor. God knows I never arlied with France. I always ask myself whether I ever went against the Emperor's interests, and I can't find anything. And now I'm pushed aside for that son of a whore Mantelsack, and I doubt they'll notify me of the Duke of Lorraine marriage!
The Emperor, soothingly, sends some tall guys. Observes Seckendorff the journal writer, in German: "If France had as many tall fellows to offer as the Emperor, Prussia might be French by now, but this wouldn't have any more real effects as the professed allegiance to the Emperor.
And finally, the entry that caused Mildred to track down the journal to begin with, in May:
The king is outraged at the ignominious manner in which the mperial court treated him to what he claims in the matter of the preliminaries of peace, as well as regarding the report of the marriage of the duke of Lorraine, and the way the court still neglects him to this very hour. The king doesn't give a f- about the tall guys that the emperor can give him; he wants to be honored and distinguished as he thinks he deserved by his past conduct, which he always seeks to justify, saying by pointing at the Crown Prince: "Here is someone who will one day avenge me". And although the king begins to moderate a lot in his passions and speeches, he cannot yet moderate anger when it comes to the negligence of the imperial court towards him,and tears come out of him in anger.
Then follows the amazing "What I really think about my family: By Fritz" entry courtesy of Mantteuffel, which I'm posted above, and that's as far as I've gotten for now. Thought? (Beyond: This has to be the biggest tantrum thrown about not getting a wedding invite in that century.)
With Liars among Liars: The Austrian Dossier (Seckendorf II)
Fréderic Wartensleben me raconte des particularités de Potsdam. Der König ist gesund, sagt er, wünscht zu sterben und hernach wieder auf zustehen, um die Veränderung mit anzuſehen Alexandre veut parier sa tête, que Junior n'a pas donné commission à Lichtenstein, de m'éloigner d'ici. Der Kronprinz hält mich vor unconversabel.
"Friedrich Wartensleben told me of the Potsdam oddities. The King is healthy, he says, wishes to die and to resurrect, in order to get to watch the changes. Alexander wants to bet his head, which Junior did not commissioned Lichtenstein to walk away from here. (? Help me out here, mes amies?) The crown prince doesn't consider me worthy of conversation."
Hence Other Seckendorff increasingly relying on Mantteuffel, I suppose. Anyway, this linguistic mix does make for an odd reading experience. Still, there are all kinds of interesting cross connections, like this one. Remember, Biberius = Grumbkow. The Countess Fuchs may be chief lady in waiting to the current empress, but more importantly, she's the governess of the archduchess Maria Theresia. Orondates = original Seckendorff? Suhm? I honestly don't know. It's not FW, that's clear from the context.)
I know from Biberius, that Pöllnitz wrote to the countess Fuchs, grand-mistress
from the Empress, a twenty page letter with sharp sayings from Orondates. And the Devil will try to ingratiate himself with Pöllnit so that Pöllnitz shows him the letter, which is sure to make for an entertaining reading. "t is very good that Orondates is gone: because with his suspicions he would have ruined everything, and given all the trouble which he enjoyed stirring between the crownl prince and the king, he would soon have put everything into confusion and disunity.
More than it already is, you mean? Anyway, this also makes it look like Orondates = Original Seckendorff:
Borck (the general). He told Biberius that the king according to Gotter sounds friendly towards Orondates: “It's not true that I don't like him. I deem him to be a great General and a reasonable and capable man."
The journal mentions "Katte" repeatedly, but context makes it apparant it's always Hans Heinrich. Also, in 1734, when journal writer Seckendorff arrives, FW has one of his worst dropsy attacks resulting in touching father-son scene on page 11 already:
The Crown Prince is truly touched by the king's situation; there are always tears in his eyes, he's cried his heart out, has worked to get a more comfortable bed for the King; hadn't wanted to leave Potsdam. At last the King has forced him to, and told him not to return before Saturday afternoon. "As long as the king does live, I would give an arm to extend his life by twenty years." The King has called him "Fritzchen" all the time.
In case anyone thinks Wilhelmine is exaggarating Mom's hostility towards her (and EC) in the first half of the 1730s, here's Seckendorff backing her up, on page 69, June 8th:
Olympia. She seems to be very indifferent to the subject of Vitellius' disease, so apparently is tired lying to him, and hoping well for the future; but she could be terribly wrong in her calculation: because, although she hates the crown princess and the later being liked by Junior the most, Olympia at the same time also hates the heriditary princess of Bayreuth and does her ill services with her father, telling him all kind of odious stories about her. And that's where she spoils everything with Junior, who values this Bayreuth sister beyond expression and who, according to appearances, will make make her shine in favour one day.
Well, she won't "spoil everything with Junior" but it supports that at least 1730s Fritz was aware SD was a different mother to Wilhelmine than she was to him. Now I knew via Wilhelmine's memoirs she hadn't given up her English marriage intentions but transferred them to Charlotte, only to be foiled again. Something I've also learned through Seckendorff's diary is that SD then transferred them to Ulrike, no more with the Prince of Wales - who'd tied the knot by then - but a younger brother. No dice, though as we know, Ulrike will be the only daughter to become Queen. And this, Hohenzollern boys, is why your sisters have a different impression of Mom than you do. Not that FW as a father to his daughters was anything to write home about. Voit was the Bayreuth envoy to Prussia.
June 13th: Voit from Bayreuth gets an audience with the King. - "Should I congratulate or send my condolences? My daughter has to let herself be f... better."
: The news question can't have been the birth of his granddaughter, since that girl was already born in August 1732, so I'm assuming it was the death of the old Margrave? Anyway, the FW quote is in German, and either the editor or Seckendorf writes f.... Same word than in English, if you're wondering, with an i instead of an u.
Everyone distrusts everyone else on the court. Discussed is whether or not Fritz gets to join the already sadly senile Eugene at Philippsburg:
28th The king graciously refuses to permit the crown prince permission to join the campaign. Alexander Wartensleben tells me that the King's illness is just pretense, and that father and son are in good standing with each other.
29th: The King gives the Crown Prince permission to join the campaign, under the condition that the two imperials corpses join his etc.
No detail is too insignificant to be noted down for its potential political implication, as when FW orders little Ferdinand to get a Polish page so he picks up some of the language. Potential Prussian designs on Poland? Also, here's other Seckendorff on a much debated topic:
Frederic Wartensleben tells me, that crown prince sleeps with the crown princess, and that he reprimanded Count Truchsess for what the later said about my uncle and me.
On July 6th, FW is having second thoughts again about letting Fritz hang out with Eugene:
The King is afraid that Junior might become too good an Imperial if he leaves him too long with the (imperial) army. (No danger there, FW.)
So what's your opinion on chatty Pöllnitz, FW?
"Pöllnitz is a writer. A writer doesn't have a clue about soldiers. If Pöllnitz tells me about the Ansbach and Bayreuth courts, I believe him; but if he talks about complete an incomplete armies, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
When Fritz is feeling let down by Eugene who has lost most of his memory not being the legendary figure he expected, and the campaign is mostly boring, FW is gleeful:
Judge for yourself whether I shouldn't bee happy that the old guy is made fun off, especially since I can't stand the fact the Emperor and I share a Field Marshal. You may write all this in confidence to General Seckendorff.
While FW will indeed be indignant about not being told of the FS/MT marriage until after the fact, he evidently knew Franzl was a primary candidate for her hand, because in October 1735, i.e. before the marriage, the journal notes:
He charged Gotter with all the demonstrations of submission imaginable for the emperor and as many for the duke of Lorraine. "He should lay himself on the feet of the Emperor and kiss his ass."
FW is also protesting again and again how much he hates the French and how he'd never desert the Emperor for them. This is why Austria trading Lorraine to the French for the Pragmatic Sanction acknowledgment (remember, FS had to give up his dukedom for marrying MT) is regarded by him as as a betrayal (though not as much as the fact MT's dad doesn't back his claim on Jülich and Berg).
In January 1736, relationships between FW and Fritz are on the downslide again:
Biberius tells me about the secrets, that Junior confided in Pöllnitz. The King encourages him to produce children, had him made a marital bed out of velvet. Biberius does not believe, that Junior will survive the father, but that pessimus Wilhelmus will succeed one day.
Pessimus Wilhelmus, the worst William, is of course AW. But mostly FW is busy getting in advance indignant about the impeding marriage and the other claims on Jülich and Berg:
The Emperor treats me and all HRE princes like pushovers, which I certainly do not deserve form the Emperor. God knows I never arlied with France. I always ask myself whether I ever went against the Emperor's interests, and I can't find anything. And now I'm pushed aside for that son of a whore Mantelsack, and I doubt they'll notify me of the Duke of Lorraine marriage!
The Emperor, soothingly, sends some tall guys. Observes Seckendorff the journal writer, in German: "If France had as many tall fellows to offer as the Emperor, Prussia might be French by now, but this wouldn't have any more real effects as the professed allegiance to the Emperor.
And finally, the entry that caused Mildred to track down the journal to begin with, in May:
The king is outraged at the ignominious manner in which the mperial court treated him to what he claims in the matter of the preliminaries of peace, as well as regarding the report of the marriage of the duke of Lorraine, and the way the court still neglects him to this very hour. The king doesn't give a f- about the tall guys that the emperor can give him; he wants to be honored and distinguished as he thinks he deserved by his past conduct, which he always seeks to justify, saying by pointing at the Crown Prince: "Here is someone who will one day avenge me". And
although the king begins to moderate a lot in his passions and speeches, he cannot yet moderate anger when it comes to the negligence of the imperial court towards him,and tears come out of him in anger.
Then follows the amazing "What I really think about my family: By Fritz" entry courtesy of Mantteuffel, which I'm posted above, and that's as far as I've gotten for now. Thought? (Beyond: This has to be the biggest tantrum thrown about not getting a wedding invite in that century.)