![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnSo for anyone who is reading this and would like to learn more about Frederick the Great and his contemporaries, but who doesn't want to wade through 500k (600k?) words worth of comments and an increasingly sprawling comment section:
We now have a community,![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
rheinsberg, that has quite a lot of the interesting historical content (and more coming regularly), organized nicely with lots of lovely tags so if there's any subject you are interested in it is easy to find :D
We now have a community,
rheinsberg, that has quite a lot of the interesting historical content (and more coming regularly), organized nicely with lots of lovely tags so if there's any subject you are interested in it is easy to find :D
Henri de Catt Unplugged - II
Date: 2020-02-04 05:40 pm (UTC)Alas! as the great ones are served. We aspire to be with them, we enjoy it. If they demand something painful from us, we get disgusted. I saw this Prince who by himself, by the circumstances, where he is, deserves the most to be cherished, the most capable: and I saw a crowd of ignorant people criticizing all his steps, his camps , its maneuvers, its provisions, its particular conduct; lend him views he didn't have; complain about any preference; I have seen people incapable of acting by the third hand, making them conceive of the most advantageous ideas, pushing themselves, believing themselves to be great men, being mysterious on small objects, indiscreet on important ones.
And also:
Men are strange; they have pleasure in lowering the King, in order to raise the Prince; others vice versa; but are we reasonable? The Prince acts sparingly; but he has to answer, the army is not his. And will we condemn his brother who, master, can do more? and can we not risk a few, to hope to win a lot? By pushing people this way, they are wasted or saved, and, the troops having suffered enough, the campaign does not go so quickly.
There's a Lehndorff mention in the camp gossip!
In a masked ball Madame de Bentinck came with lots of currency and portraits. There was M. de Lehndorff, chamberlain of the Queen, in a basin of a balance, in the other a feather which carried it, with this inscription: ›Lighter than a feather;« - by M. Danckelman like Diogenes, with a lantern, with this inscription: ›Hominem quaero.‹ - Maupertuis, who had fallen out with her, said to him: ›People have a false mind and a wicked heart; you, Madame, have a wicked mind and a false heart. ‹
Once Fritz and Catt are reunited, Fritz makes it clear who's the military genius around here by a reminder of his most admired battle, that of Leuthen:
When the King left for Leuthen, he wrote to his brother what he wanted to do. ›I will march on them, I will try to get them out, I will beat them. I will besiege Breslau, I will take it. You will say to me: this design surprises you, and you may think that only despair today gives birth to it. I apologize for your mistake.
As you might recall, by the end of 1759, Fritz takes over command in Saxony again, sends Finck to entrap the Austrians against everyone's advice, including Finck's and Heinrich's, and it's a disaster.
In the evening, I was from 3 and a half until 9. He was very distressed, came back to the same idea. - "So I will have brought my misfortune to Saxony!" I tried to distract him, but this image always returned. - »See how unhappy I was: treated harshly by a father, locked up alone for three months in a room; at noon I was brought to eat by a small window, I was given a shirt at the same time, and then I returned the plates of my food. I only had Bossuet on Variants and Basnage. Misfortune has always pursued me; I was only happy at Rheinsberg. Ah, if this peace comes, can anyone blame me for living a little for myself, for withdrawing and living in peace?
He does make peace time plans. These somehow include THE WORST coming to visit again:
"If Voltaire came to see me, it would be rare, and I would prevent any bother." - He made the plan of the building he would like to have. "There would be no vanity, no stools, but each would have armchairs."
Meanwhile, someone keeps being Fritz critical:
This Kalckreuth, adjutant of the Prince, jeers with a sneer: "And here is Silesia lost!" I would punch someone who would tell me, my sister is dead, I have no homeland at all.
If it's any consolation, Catt, we don't know whether Heinrich ever hit Kalkreuth, but he will dump him for Kaphengst at a point when Kalkreuth definitely does not want to be dumped.
Prince Ferdinand here is EC's brother, Ferdinand of Brunswick. Catt doesn't say who his source for the following story is:
After Kolin's unhappy affair, which it was believed we could not recover from, Grant came to Henckel, adjutant to Prince Heinrich. The latter announced it to the Prince, who sobbed. He was dispatched to Prince Ferdinand, who was in command; all were in tears. Orders were given to assemble to consult on the retreat. Prince Ferdinand did not say a word and he only wept. - ›This won't do,‹ said the Prince (Heinrich); ›It is necessary to make a decision.‹ It is essential to make yourself known. - ›I can not.‹
›Well‹, dixit princeps, ›I will make a retirement plan.‹ - The King is announced: the Prince goes to meet him, he takes him by the hand, squeezes him; ›Ah, my frater!‹, And he continues. They then enter the room and we sob on both sides. The Prince dixit, quod optimum esset, to make a retirement plan. - "Not possum," ait Rex, "sed crastina die prope meridiem." - ›This hurries!‹ - "Well, do it, mi frater!" - Here it is. - "It will be good, no doubt," said Rex. - The next day the Prince's adjutant was announced to the King, who made the King say if, on leaving, it would not be good to have the march beat and the flags displayed. - »Yes!« - We did it. Marshal Keith was vigorously attacked, he was cannonaded in his tents; but he escaped. Prince Ferdinandus Brunsvicensis in calamitate is admodum sensitilis.
I'm leaving the Latin, btw, because it cracks me up. "Well, do it, mi frater!" and all.
And here's an FW anecdote from none other than Eichel:
The late King, said M. Eichel to me, had brought with him M. de Schumacher, private counselor. - ›I have an important secret to communicate to you, it must not be disclosed. If that happens, one of the three of us will have spoken." Two days after the adviser comes, hears grenadiers talking about this affair; he was surprised, said Mr. Schumacher. He is very worried and surprised. The King said to them: 'How could it be that the affair had transpired? ‹M. Schumacher complained. Councilor Eichel said to him: "Let Your Majesty Remember if he did not speak of it." - "Yes", he said, "I am thick in the head; I told Grumbkow, I had this weakness. ‹-
Grumbkow, not known for his discretion? Tsk.
The two MT mentions are great, and as opposed to the memoirs version, come without "at leaset she hates whores", which makes me wonder whether de Catt isn't the one who has an anti sex worker bias? To recapitulate:
It must be admitted that the Queen of Hungary has talents, that she is capable, that she applies herself; we cannot refuse her, "he said," this justice. "
and
It must be admitted that the Queen's obstinacy and mine do much harm. What a cruel war! We only wreak havoc. "- In the evening, the enemies set fire to the outskirts of Pirna.
As Mildred said, it's the way he equals them both, rather than presenting himself as the menaced party, that makes it feel both honest and poignant.
Still hankering for a "Well done, son" from FW:
He thought he was in Strasbourg with Marshal Daun, who was suddenly transplanted to Charlottenburg, where his father was. There he found old Dessan. - "Did I behave well?" - ›Yes‹, said the King, ›yes‹. - »Well, I'm happy; your approval is worth me better than that of the whole universe. "- The French are announced. - "Should I attack?" He said to Prince Anhalt - and he awoke.
Fritz, somehow I don't think your memoirs will have the wished for effect on your family. Given, you know, Heinrich's copy of it with hand written comments was supposedly so incendiary that it got disappeared from the state archives:
I composed my memories for my family. People will talk a lot about me. It can find out the reasons that made me act. Let the public say what they want! What do I care! It is important to me that my family is happy with me. If I made mistakes, it's because I know what men are like.
And lastly, one more Voltaire statement. Can't tell whether this one is meant as a diss or an endearing story:
Voltaire, on leaving, gave three copies of Louis XIV to the cook and the servants.
Louis XIV = Voltaire's "The Age of Louix XIV", one monumental work in terms of histories because it didn't just focus on the monarch and his battles but tried to draw the picture of en entire era, its culture and society. This was according to Pleschinski the first of its kind and changed the way people thought history could be written. When Fritz, years later, writes "I am content to have lived in the Age of Voltaire", he's also alluding to this work in addition to paying a compliment to his frenemy. (And coining a phrase, as this is what the Age will be called in France.)
But, like I said, I can't tell whether he tells that anecdote to -
a) make a point about writerly vanity - i.e. "Voltaire thinks so much of his work, he even hands out copies to the servants
b) reporting a slight against himself - i.e. "here I was thinking Voltaire giving me copies of his works means he thinks I'm special, but guess what, he even gave them to the staff!"
c) telling an "aw, Voltaire" type of anecdote, i.e. "Look, he's not always a meanie; he did give copies of his masterpiece to the servants as a farewell present".
Re: Henri de Catt Unplugged - II
Date: 2020-02-05 05:50 am (UTC)And how would you do that, exactly, Fritz? Do tell. :P Because your track record doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
I'm leaving the Latin, btw, because it cracks me up. "Well, do it, mi frater!" and all.
Yeah, Catt's random forays into Latin, Greek, and English in his diaries are weird and hilarious. I would totally get it if it were entire sentences, but he goes word by word, and that's just bizarre.
The two MT mentions are great, and as opposed to the memoirs version, come without "at leaset she hates whores", which makes me wonder whether de Catt isn't the one who has an anti sex worker bias?
You know, I think he might be. Check out this passage:
Before dinner I went to the King...He found that men were unjust towards women; that we allowed ourselves to be disturbed and that we did not suffer from them. - »I know that I will never make laws: but those for women are not fair. An infidelity of the husband exempts the wife from being constant. "- I denied it. "Everyone has his ideas."
So one, it sounds like Catt has way less sympathy for women having sex than Fritz. Two, I have now found yet *another* occasion on which Fritz is supposed to have said that if his father forced him to get married, he could do what he wanted, and it would be fair because he'd let her do the same. Now, as you pointed out, would he have done it if it came down to his reputation? Maybe, maybe not. But there are now four occasions, decades apart, on which he's espoused the belief that if the man cheats first, the woman is off the hook.
And here it's Catt who's got less liberal, more standard ideas. So maybe that MT backhanded compliment was more Catt than Fritz. Fritz is straightforwardly, if grudgingly, giving her her due in the diary.
Oh, speaking of Catt and women, I mentioned that the Seven Years' War is like his tour through the female population of Central Europe? If, per Paul, it's better to marry than to burn, I get the impression this guy is burning, and according to Wikipedia, he's going to marry in 1761.
Given, you know, Heinrich's copy of it with hand written comments was supposedly so incendiary that it got disappeared from the state archives:
Hahaha. Also the comment about how he had to put up an obelisk to honor the real heroes of the war, "about whom his fucking memoirs say nothing."
And lastly, one more Voltaire statement. Can't tell whether this one is meant as a diss or an endearing story:
Voltaire, on leaving, gave three copies of Louis XIV to the cook and the servants.
I'm not certain either, but reading the entire entry, Fritz seems to be talking about the importance of applying yourself to philosophy and learning things yourself, not just accepting what you're told. And he starts talking in particular about women: women who study philosophy, women who have intrigues but decently (which he seems to find acceptable). And if you put this into context with one of Fritz's writings on how society and parents let women down by not having them be educated as a matter of course, which results in them spending all their time on love affairs and their appearance...maybe he's saying, "Look, even Voltaire thinks women and/or lower class individuals should educate themselves."
Émilie, at least per Bodanis, had the same observation that the women at court who were frivolous and shallow were so only because they weren't given better options. Obviously, she was more sympathetic to the women than Fritz, but he was at least on the right track.
There's a Lehndorff mention in the camp gossip!
I noticed! Lehndorff *and* Countess Bentinck!
Re: Henri de Catt Unplugged - II
Date: 2020-02-05 11:15 am (UTC)Verily. I don't think putting Voltaire in a birdcage after dinner is a viable solution... (All kidding aside, I do find it oddly touching he still believes Voltaire will come back, post war.)
So one, it sounds like Catt has way less sympathy for women having sex than Fritz.
It does, and I'm tentatively revising my opinion on Fritz' propensity for slut-shaming as being at least partially based on Henri de Catt's unreliable memoirs. (Mind you, there are still the "three whorse of Europe" quotes which don't come from de Catt. But in terms of his general attitude towards female sexuality, it looks like a case can be made!)
Oh, speaking of Catt and women, I mentioned that the Seven Years' War is like his tour through the female population of Central Europe? If, per Paul, it's better to marry than to burn, I get the impression this guy is burning, and according to Wikipedia, he's going to marry in 1761.
Marries the sister in law of AW's private secretary, don't forget. Who suddenly finds himself singled out by Fritz together with only one other as the sole two decent people around AW who weren't "evil advisors" councelling him against Big Bro in the memoirs, without any basis of this in the diaries whatsoever.
But yes, Catt definitely does not live chaste himself in the 7 Years War.
Re: Henri de Catt Unplugged - II
Date: 2020-02-05 07:45 pm (UTC)He can keep Pöllnitz company. :P
But yes, that "can't live with you, can't live without you" is touching. Also, Fritz is kind of used to people leaving and coming back after the war is over, and of course he's also used to Voltaire specifically coming and going. So it doesn't really surprise me that he didn't know what we know, that they were never going to see each other again, despite having a quarter of a century in which to do so.
It does, and I'm tentatively revising my opinion on Fritz' propensity for slut-shaming as being at least partially based on Henri de Catt's unreliable memoirs.
Same. I'm having to tentatively revise a lot of things.
But it does seem like not having to worry about commandments about adultery or original sin and so forth helped Fritz out in this account. I'll share a quote to this effect soon, in my Lavisse write-up.
By the way, let me tweak Google Translate's "He found that men were unjust towards women; that we allowed ourselves to be disturbed and that we did not suffer from them" that I quoted above. He's saying that men permit themselves to stray from the straight-and-narrow but don't allow (suffer) women to.
(Mind you, there are still the "three whorse of Europe" quotes which don't come from de Catt.
Where do they come from, out of curiosity?
But yes, Fritz is definitely a huge misogynist, but in keeping with him being a fascinating mixed bag of good and bad, he has some surprisingly liberal ideas about women.
On the one hand, women are inferior, smell bad (Fritz, no one can even approach you without sneezing, and also, how have your nasal passages not been incapacitated already? I defy you to convince me that you can smell anything), shouldn't be allowed to be in charge of anything (unless it suits him), should never rule over men, etc., etc., *but*, they should be educated as a matter of course in a way that they're not currently, should be free to have affairs if their husbands are cheating on them, and in general can be allowed to have love affairs as long as they're conducted discreetly and motivated by passion. And it's not totally their fault that they're obsessed with looks and love affairs. (He doesn't seem to get that in a world where men have all the power, a woman's ability to attract a man become a means of survival, he seems to think it's just frivolity in the absence of being able to think about philosophy and literature, and he doesn't want women benefiting from their affairs *cough*, but okay. It's a start.)
Fair For Its Day, as TV Tropes would say.
Marries the sister in law of AW's private secretary, don't forget. Who suddenly finds himself singled out by Fritz together with only one other as the sole two decent people around AW who weren't "evil advisors" councelling him against Big Bro in the memoirs, without any basis of this in the diaries whatsoever.
Of course! Who else would he marry but the sister of a really upstanding guy who was one of Fritz's favorite people?