So do we believe the Münchows, and then Blockmann, subverted those orders by having Fritz supplied with food for their own kitchen?
Wilhelmine says the nobility of Küstrin was busy supplying Fritz with illicit food and linen (linen that we worked into "Counterpoint" ;) ), and it is a feature of Young Fritz's life story that people feel sorry for him and try to mitigate the abuse, so...yes, I believe it.
(I really can't wait to find out whether Hahn gave Blanning any reason for this.)
Really on tenterhooks about this one! We'll know one way or the other in a few days, thanks to your kind self.
Maybe Blainville came to the scene after the printed diaries end, i.e. post Lehndorff's resignation as chamberlain
Googling seems to think he was hired at the royal court in 1768 and died in either 1781 or 1784. Lehndorff retired in 1775 (thank you, rheinsberg chronology), so it's entirely possible Blainville wasn't special enough to register until after Lehndorff left.
(told you Catt must have been blabbing all over the place by 1790)
That, or I was always skeptical Catt was the only one who knew, as he claimed. Still, I imagine it was supposed to be a secret, and I do imagine Catt blabbed sooner or later.
Alternative possibility, since 1739 is when Münchow starts his service as page and thus is able to listen to Fritz getting up in the middle of the night to go god knows where: Algarotti! Who showed up in that same year chez Fritz, am I right?
Algarotti did occur to me, but they had many fewer opportunities for sex in a palace between 1739 and 1746. He was there for a week at Rheinsberg in 1739, then he showed up probably some time in late June or early July, in time to accompany Fritz to Königsberg and then Bayreuth+Strasbourg+Wesel, during which time they may well have had sex, but not with the specific layout Münchow describes, and not long after the return (Sep 1740), Fritz is off to Silesia (Dec 1740), and Algarotti is off to Turin (Jan 1741). They then only had a few brief meetings, of maybe a day or so, in 1741, after which disillusionment had set in. By January 1742, Algarotti was in Dresden, and he wouldn't return until 1747.
So that leaves one week in 1739 and perhaps 3 months in 1740 during which Fritz and Algarotti would have been hanging out during a palace together. So while they may have had sex during those timeframes, I'd be surprised if it was all that frequent.
On the other hand, if you're a page and you've heard your king get up maybe 5 times in the middle of the night in a 3 month period, you might extrapolate and assume there are other cases you're not aware of. So maybe Algarotti alone could account for Münchow Jr.'s sense that Fritz was getting it on all the time between 1739-1746.
He's also only trying to refute the idea that Fritz *never* had sex after 1734, for which 5 counterexamples from 1740 would suffice. But he does make it sound like Fritz was getting laid regularly for 7 years. With EC, which I highly doubt. Young, innocent page just assumed it was his wife. :P
Münchow letters: come for the Katte execution, stay for the testimony to Fritz' post Katte sex life!
HEEE! I love it.
Gutenberg Nicolai: sadly this seems to be different edition with no Fritzian goodness to report. But don't add anything, I'm still working myself through the fascinating other stuff.
Haha, who me? No, I would have added something by now if I'd been able to get my hands on it. I was hoping you had. That said, I think I was able to turn up one or two of the multi-volume set, so perhaps later on I can upload them and you can let us know if any of them contain sensationalist gossip or Very Serious Scholarship for us. ;)
Re: Stop the Presses! Münchow vs Zimmermann: It's on!
Wilhelmine says the nobility of Küstrin was busy supplying Fritz with illicit food and linen (linen that we worked into "Counterpoint" ;) ), and it is a feature of Young Fritz's life story that people feel sorry for him and try to mitigate the abuse, so...yes, I believe it.
(I really can't wait to find out whether Hahn gave Blanning any reason for this.)
Really on tenterhooks about this one! We'll know one way or the other in a few days, thanks to your kind self.
Maybe Blainville came to the scene after the printed diaries end, i.e. post Lehndorff's resignation as chamberlain
Googling seems to think he was hired at the royal court in 1768 and died in either 1781 or 1784. Lehndorff retired in 1775 (thank you,
(told you Catt must have been blabbing all over the place by 1790)
That, or I was always skeptical Catt was the only one who knew, as he claimed. Still, I imagine it was supposed to be a secret, and I do imagine Catt blabbed sooner or later.
Alternative possibility, since 1739 is when Münchow starts his service as page and thus is able to listen to Fritz getting up in the middle of the night to go god knows where: Algarotti! Who showed up in that same year chez Fritz, am I right?
Algarotti did occur to me, but they had many fewer opportunities for sex in a palace between 1739 and 1746. He was there for a week at Rheinsberg in 1739, then he showed up probably some time in late June or early July, in time to accompany Fritz to Königsberg and then Bayreuth+Strasbourg+Wesel, during which time they may well have had sex, but not with the specific layout Münchow describes, and not long after the return (Sep 1740), Fritz is off to Silesia (Dec 1740), and Algarotti is off to Turin (Jan 1741). They then only had a few brief meetings, of maybe a day or so, in 1741, after which disillusionment had set in. By January 1742, Algarotti was in Dresden, and he wouldn't return until 1747.
So that leaves one week in 1739 and perhaps 3 months in 1740 during which Fritz and Algarotti would have been hanging out during a palace together. So while they may have had sex during those timeframes, I'd be surprised if it was all that frequent.
On the other hand, if you're a page and you've heard your king get up maybe 5 times in the middle of the night in a 3 month period, you might extrapolate and assume there are other cases you're not aware of. So maybe Algarotti alone could account for Münchow Jr.'s sense that Fritz was getting it on all the time between 1739-1746.
He's also only trying to refute the idea that Fritz *never* had sex after 1734, for which 5 counterexamples from 1740 would suffice. But he does make it sound like Fritz was getting laid regularly for 7 years. With EC, which I highly doubt. Young, innocent page just assumed it was his wife. :P
Münchow letters: come for the Katte execution, stay for the testimony to Fritz' post Katte sex life!
HEEE! I love it.
Gutenberg Nicolai: sadly this seems to be different edition with no Fritzian goodness to report. But don't add anything, I'm still working myself through the fascinating other stuff.
Haha, who me? No, I would have added something by now if I'd been able to get my hands on it. I was hoping you had. That said, I think I was able to turn up one or two of the multi-volume set, so perhaps later on I can upload them and you can let us know if any of them contain sensationalist gossip or Very Serious Scholarship for us. ;)