For the next time you're at the library (no rush!), these would be my suggestions. I've linked the catalog record in hopes of making things easier.
1) Hans Leuschner. Friedrich der Grosse: Zeit — Person — Wirkung. This one you don't need to check out, just glance at pages 79-80 (or, if the pagination is different, look for Fredersdorf) and see if there's anything about a dismissal for embezzlement. I doubt it, but we should check.
2) Peter Michael Hahn. Friedrich II von Preussen. Blanning says page 62 has the mysterious suicide of Fredersdorf's rival. Your pagination may vary.
3) Lucchesini's diary, hopefully translated into German. It appears to be only 100 pages.
4) Charlotte Pangels. Königskinder im Rokoko: die Geschwister Friedrichs des Großen. Cited by MacDonogh a lot. It may be terrible. It predates Ziebura's research, and MacDonogh has it out for the siblings, so it may be extra terrible. But since you have a particular interest in the siblings, you can flip through it in the library and see if it's worth bringing home.
Aaaaand, there are the two ridiculously difficult to acquire works on Katte. One is Martin von Katte's self-published family history, Die Katten im Stammbaum. I tried ILLing it, and my library couldn't find a lender, so they cancelled my request.
WorldCat shows 4 library copies. Ranked in order of proximity to Munich: - Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart. Apparently, you can only read this one in the library, no checking it out. - Badische Landesbibliothek, Karlsruhe. Apparently available by request the next day. - Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main and/or Leipzig. I can't quite tell if this is just a digitized copy or a digitized copy and a physical copy, and if one or both are available in either branch. It does appear that there's a digitized copy that can be viewed on a computer at this library. I'm not sure if it's downloadable. The way things usually work in the universities I'm familiar with is that if you're physically on the computer on campus (or logged in by VPN), you can legally download a copy for private use at home. Not sure how it works in Germany. - Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, Wolfenbüttel. Appears to be borrowable.
So if you should ever happen to be in any of these cities on business or pleasure, now you know where to look. :D
Hoffbauer's report on the site of Katte's execution, used by Fontane, appears to be almost equally difficult to get a hold of. Let me know if a trip to Tübingen is ever in the works, and I'll get you the citation. Fortunately, it's just an article in a journal, so presumably scannable for personal use (assuming that's legal in Germany; it is here, afaik).
Any one or more of these would be awesome and received with deep gratitude and many obeisances, with no worries about ones that might be more difficult to obtain!
The good news is that I have two ILL requests that were successfully submitted: Carl Hinrichs' Kronprinzenprozeß, which I *think* has a lot of primary sources from the trial and interrogations, and Bogdan Krieger's catalogue of Fritz's library. No idea how long it will take them to arrive, but when they do, you'll be the first to know!
ETA: Oh, and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek's website tells me that it will be closed for Shrove Tuesday, but otherwise looks like it'll be open next week? Let me know if I'm wrong.
Okay, I've ordered all the four which are in the Stabi, and I'll get them on February 28th according to the Website.
Re: Martin von Katte - I checked your links, and are you sure this is the Hans Herrmann biography? Because the title named is "Die Katten im Stammbaum - zum 75. Geburtstag des Wilhelmsthalers". Now googling "Wilhelmsthaler" doesn't get me far because Wihelmsthal Palace, favourite residence of Goethe's bff Carl August, gets in the way. But the first thing I could think of was some sort of medal, named Williamsdollar, if you like. Which could be utterly wrong. But if Martin was writing something for whatever it is' 75th anniversary, I can't quite see how this could be identical with his unpublished Hans Herrmann biography. Otoh, the Stabi has Martin's memoirs, so I've ordered them as well while I was at it. The only other work of Martin's the Stabi has is a speech for Joachim von Winterfeldt's 75th Birthday, written in 1925. (I told you: deja vue with all those Prussian nobility names, big time...
I got "Die Katten im Stammbaum" from Kloosterhuis, who cites it 10 times and says it was a "Privatdruck" from 1965, and the links were all self published in 1965. I think it's the right one! I don't know what's up with Wilhelmsthaler either (the complete title is "zum 75. Geburtstag des Wilhelmsthalers senioris familiae," if that helps), but I think this is our book.
The memoirs sound like they might be cool too, though, as consolation prizes go. You'll have to let us know. :)
(I told you: deja vue with all those Prussian nobility names, big time...
I subtracted 75 from 1965 and used 1890 as my search term, and he came up, and then I realized he was a Katte.
And he died in 1970, so he's still around in 1965 to read about his Katte family history. It's him!
ETA: Sigh. No, you're right. It's a Katte family tree of great relevance to our (my? :P) interests, but not the bio that has *all* the info. Curse my limited German. Also, curse Martin for not publishing.
I would still love to see it, though!
And I'm still pleased at figuring out who Wilhelmsthal was. ;)
Okay, so, the fact that there aren't even 4 copies of that Hans Hermann work out there leads me to the only possible conclusion: we need to improve our sleuthing. We need to get on Maria von Katte's good side! Possibly convince her that we are very Serious Business Scholars (TM) for whom Kloosterhuis's frequent references to the manuscript are not adequate for our purposes and we need access to a copy of the whole thing. :P
Now, we could definitely make a case that we have some original research going on around the execution and the documents pertaining to it, and that we're trying to produce something publishable. But I'm not sure that gets us further than her glancing at Kloosterhuis and at her manuscript and telling us, "Nope, everything relevant to the execution made it into Kloosterhuis! You're good."
Whereas I feel like somewhere in that manuscript is *something* about Hans Hermann or his family, not necessarily related to the execution, that we don't already know and would be of great interest to us, we just don't know what it is. And even if Kloosterhuis did include everything, we'll only know that if we see the manuscript!
Ooh! We could say that we're examining the many variants on Hans Hermann's last words to Fritz (which we are!), and for that we need EVERYTHING ever written by or about Hans Hermann as comparanda. :DD
:) All the kudos to you for figuring out who was meant by „Wilhelmsthaler“. Re: Maria von Katte, maybe reading her father‘s autobiography will reveal something to me that could provide a good in!
Then again, we could fare life Fritz with his various psychological warfare cunning plans he shares with Mitchell and Mitchell reports home to London. It‘s always along the same basic principle:
1:) The French and the Austrians have hated each other for centuries. How hard can it be to fan up some hostility? Just play on the French egos and tell them they‘re Austrian tools! That always works on French egomaniacs! Profit!
2:) Why don‘t we sow some discontent between the Russians and the Austrians, since my fanboy isn‘t yet on the throne? Just tell them the Austrians are totally exploiting them and their hard work and will ditch them as allies any minute now, as soon as they don‘t need them anymore! Let‘s play to the Russian ego! Profit!
(Mitchell himself has a personal variation when the war is really dire: The French can‘t really want the Habsburgs/Austria as the dominant German power after centuries of feuding, without Prussia providing a counter balance. Surely it couldn‘t hurt reminding them of this, and how HAUGHTY the House of Austria is)
3.) The French and the Russian courts are so utterly corrupt and without honor, we just have to bribe Biron/the Duke de Soubise/the Marquise de Pompadour into liking me again. With British money, of course. Profit!
Somehow, none of these cunning plans ever comes to completion...
Re: Maria von Katte, maybe reading her father‘s autobiography will reveal something to me that could provide a good in!
Ooh, true! Yes, read it with an eye toward becoming her BFF. What could go wrong?
Or perhaps we should assign someone to seduce her assistant, Zimmermann!Fritz-style. That will work!
Somehow, none of these cunning plans ever comes to completion...
I take hope from the fact that Fritz won the Seven Years' War through sheer persistence, if not through cunning. I too can be persistent. Proposed marriage to my wife once a year for seven years before she accepted! Maria von Katte, watch out. :P
(We just want a copy of a manuscript! Is that too much to ask? Pleeeeaase???)
I tried to get these through ILL, I did. I've been giving the ILL staff at my library a workout: they've had to cancel 4 of my 7 requests so far, with explanations about how they tried *everything* and couldn't get their hands on what I wanted, and a 5th is awaiting supervisor review.
However, if you have ILL privileges at the Stabi, these two are listed in the catalog as available through interlibrary loan:
These are the two guys circa 1900 who used their access to state archives (and one of whom lived at Cüstrin) to weigh on whether Fritz could see the execution or not, and came to opposite conclusions.
Okay, am sitting in the Stabi right now. Nothing in Hahn about embezzlement or any other dishonorable reason for Fredersdorf to retire. Instead:
„Friedrich liebte den schönen,, umgänglichen und klugen Mann von Anfang an bis zu dessen Tod mit immer gleichbleibender Kraft.“ And „Am 9. April 1757 schied Fredersdorff (here spelled with two f) auf eigenen Wunsch aus dem Amt.“
The entry has a couple of other useful dates. F gets officially promoted from Kammerdiener to Geheimer Kammerdiener in 1740, and gets Zernickow in that same year, not, as I had previously assumed, in the 50s. Goldmaking obsession seriously kicks in in the summer of 1753, aka the year of the Voltaire showdown. Fredersdorf gets married on 30th December that year. (We knew that.)
Fritz because he knew how embarrassing the whole alchemy thing was if he himself got connected to it demanded that the (female) Goldmaker Nothnagel should be disguised as a man when visiting Fredersdorf.
Fredersdorf visited Paris in 1751, Aachen in 1752, the later for his health (i.e. the spa).
Lucchesini: is the one 18th century intellectual to write in his mother tongue. Yes, Italian. Maledetto! The preface is in German, and btw quotes an extremely complimentary remark by Lehndorff on him, properly footnoted, which is how I learn Lehndorff‘s retirement diaries were published as well by the same editor as his chamberlain years ones, in Gotha 1921. (Apparantely WWI didn‘t stop the 1907 readers from demanding more Lehndorff, and post WWI, Schmidt-Lötzen obliged. I sympathize, early 20th century readers.)
Anyway, I‘m sorry, Italian is beyond me. The footnotes are in German, and I‘ll read them in the hope of finding something interesting, and then using my Latin and French for the sentence proper, but: argh! Oh, Fortuna!
Thank you! But anything about Fredersdorf: sudden murder suspect in Hahn? Or just the handsome hussar in general? Page number is 62 according to the oh-so-reliable Blanning.
Ugh, the Italian, I was afraid of that!
Is the Italian scannable? I'm far from being able to read 100 pages of it straight, but my Italian's about as good as my French, and it's much higher on my list of languages to learn.
Okay, I‘ve worked my way through the footnotes and have transcribed possible passages of interest. It‘s not look, after all.
Fritz‘ musical taste really is stuck at the same point where his taste in literature stops: Si e parlato della musica di Gluck, di cui il Re ha detto male.
Ha. So remember, Wilhelmine and Fritz turned out to be „Man in the Iron Mask“ geeks, and Wilhelmine reported to Fritz the „it was a woman!“ theory on her travels? Fritz also talks with Lucchesini about the matter, but his theory is the more common „it totally was a secret brother of Louis XIV“, though in his case he doesn‘t believe it was an older twin brother but a bastard of Mazarin, who looked like Louis, proving thus that Louis was Mazarin‘s bastard kid as well, Queen Anne having cheated on Louis XIII for his impotence in Fritz‘ opinion.
Catherine‘s little brother supposedly said to her: „Vous savez, Madame, que dans le gouvernement des femmes il n‘y a jamais le sens commun.“
Finally. Fritz tells Lu the old canard about MT having written to Madame de Pompadour „ma cousine“ (at least he makes it cousin and not sister, as he used to), and the goddamm editor gives us a footnote saying this claim has been disproved in 1875 by A. V. Arneth in volume 5 of his MT history, complete with publication of the entire Pompadour-Vienna correspondance. 1875. And some biographers still repeat the tale, because hey, Fritz would never lie.
(Though it‘s interesting he is so invested in that story he keeps bringing it up even after MT‘s death.)
Aha. Fritz gets to comment on nephew Gustav‘s creative solution to the heir problem.
Avutasi la nuova della cattiva salute del Re di Svezia, il Re ha detto, che teme, che il Duca di Sudermania, fratello del Re presente, non se metta alla testa dell‘ opposizione, e non faccia riconoscere per bastardo di figlio della Regina.
About a meeting between Peter the Great and Liselotte in Versailles: Ha di Pietro I detto, che aveva molta forza di spirito, ma era brutale, incivile e selvatico. Esso stesso disse assai bene a Parigi alla madre del Reggente: „Signora, io ho saputo corregere un poco la mia nazione, ma non ho saputo corregere me stesso.“
Since this visit by Charlotte and Amalie was the ultimate trigger for Fritz‘ De la Literature Alllemande pamphlete, the footnote duly points the entry out where L. Writes about said visit: E guinta la Duchessa di Brunswick e la Principessa A‘malia. Pranzuo con dame de di poca importanza. (...) Ultimo pranzo delle Principesse, che son partite il di appresso. Si è parlato assai di letteratura, della tenuità della gloria del teatro tedesco, e delle poche tragedie italiane buone, delle quasi niune inglesi, della poca impressione, che a fatto la lettura delle tragedie greche, del cattivo gusto delle tragedie latine, e della confezione del teatro francese.
Oh God. Fritz readers two cantos of the „Palladion“ to L. Out loud. And the L gets a signed copy after complimenting Fritz. Incidentally, I thought since they‘re talking sex, maybe this is when Mr. X pre 7 Years Wars comes up, but from what I can see, no. Fritz next takes credit for hashing the division of Poland out with Joseph at their meeting in Neisse. The editor of the diary, Herr Volz, whom I‘m liking more and more points out by footnote Fritz did no such thing, and didn‘t talk about Poland with Joseph during their second meeting, either, but that it was Heinrich who negotiated the first partition with Catherine, pointing to his own essay „Prinz Heinrich und die Vorgeschichte der Ersten Teilung Polens“ in the „Forschungen zur Brandenburg- und Preuß. Geschichte“, Volume 35, S.193 ff.
(Heinrich: Just you wait. That Obelisk is so going to go up.)
Oh good lord. On subsequent days, Lu gets treated to the entire rest of the Palladion. And once that‘s over with, Fritz reads him the love poetry he‘s written in the name of Catt.
Fritz the style critic: „L‘Imperatrice di Russia scrive bene. Ho apiuto in quesito giorni da altra parte, che la prima conversazione dell‘ Imperatrice di Russia col Principe Reale si piegrava a porre in ricilolo il Re, e il Principe Enrico. Pare che il Re sia molto lieto dop il ritorno del Principe Reale. Esso ha vissuto con gran prudenza a Pietroburgo.“ (Future FW2 visited St. Petersburg in September 1780, Volz‘ footnote tells me.)
On April 20th, he‘s back at the Swedish relations/ soap opera subject: IL Re ha pranzato tutto solo. La sera ho saputo, che il figlio della Regina di Sevzia ha per padre un certo Munck, scudiere del Re.
His best enemy has died, and he’s thinking back to the start: Le memorie cominciano alla morte del Re il 1740. Dice ch‘ esso lasciò una popolazion di 3 millioni, un‘ entrata di 7 millioni di telleri, e (dici egli) 8.5000.00 da parte (...) Qui fa il quadro della monarchia austriaca alla morte di Carlo VI., de‘ ministri anteriori, delle belle operazioni militari e politiche del Principe Eugenio, di Sinzendorff, e di Starhemberg. Questo quadro è degno percetti, molti debiti, e niun aiuto: ecco lo stato della Regina, di cui nel proemio è fatto un elogio imparegiabile.
ETA: NO handsome hussar on page 62 of Hahn. Instead, Barbarina. Also Buddenbrook. (Who outlived Fredersdorf.)
Son of ETA: Abort, abort - that wasn‘t Hahn, that was Hans Leuschner‘s Frederician encylopedia I was looking up! Hahn awaits me.
Daughter of ETA: here‘s what Hahn says on page 62: „When Fredersdorf unlike previously wasn‘t allowed to enter the tent of his lord who was in the field without askng for permission first, people believed his influence was coming to an end. However, the cause, an equally handsome hussar, shot himself only a few weeks into his service, and all remained as it had been.“.
And that‘s it. No citation given for Hahn‘s source for this story, or the name of the hussar, or when this was supposed to have happened. The next paragraph is about the function of the military in Fritz‘ administration. The previous text was about Eichel and Fredersdorf as Fritz‘ top two administrators, and about his relationship with each. „Equally“ handsome because Hahn had called Fredersdorf handsome in the previous text. Which is, btw, compimentary re: Fredersdorf‘s abilities beyond being good looking and says „no one else was probably as close to Friedrich as a human being“.
(Though it‘s interesting he is so invested in that story he keeps bringing it up even after MT‘s death.)
A little thing like death didn't stop him from gossiping about Émilie's sex life ten years later. MT can't expect to get off that easily. ;)
On April 20th, he‘s back at the Swedish relations/ soap opera subject:
I see Fritz is a loyal fan of the show called Rococo Dallas.
Lucchesini "Conversations with Fritz": we have it! It's a combined selection of entries from Catt's diary, Catt's memoirs, and Lucchesini's diary...auf Deutsch! It's now in the library.
Son of ETA:
Daughter of ETA:
I enjoy the ETA genealogy. ;)
And that‘s it. No citation given for Hahn‘s source for this story, or the name of the hussar, or when this was supposed to have happened.
Well, that sounds totally reliable. Thanks for checking.
Fredersdorf, yet again you need to sue someone for libel! First the unfounded embezzlement accusation, now this. Good thing you have all those mob connections. :P
According to Blanning, no, but you know how far we trust him. Also, it's hard to prove a negative.
LOL. He can't even get credit for nonmilitary stuff?
You know, before selenak came along to tell us otherwise, I had always learned that it was Fritz's idea to divvy up Poland, and he got Catherine and MT on board with it. That's some effective self-aggrandizement there, Fritz! Perpetuating misinformation throughout the ages. Tsk.
*chokes* Further evidence for mildred's theory on why Fredersdorf never learned French!
I'm telling you!
Lucchesini: Okay, so, never tell Fritz about my love interests, got it. Is it too late to pretend I only know Italian? It is, isn't it.
Title is: „Des Reichsgrafen Ernst Ahasverus Heinrich Lehndorff Tagebücher nach seiner Kammerherrenzeit“. Haven‘t checked yet whether the Stabi has them.
„Friedrich liebte den schönen,, umgänglichen und klugen Mann von Anfang an bis zu dessen Tod mit immer gleichbleibender Kraft.“ And „Am 9. April 1757 schied Fredersdorff (here spelled with two f) auf eigenen Wunsch aus dem Amt.“
YES! I just get excited every time you find another source that doesn't back up this embezzlement thing :)
Yes, Italian. Maledetto!
OK, this is not great for our sensationalist scholarly work (although you seem to be doing great judging from the downstream comments) but I have to say I laughed really hard at this.
The preface is in German, and btw quotes an extremely complimentary remark by Lehndorff on him, properly footnoted, which is how I learn Lehndorff‘s retirement diaries were published as well by the same editor as his chamberlain years ones, in Gotha 1921. (Apparantely WWI didn‘t stop the 1907 readers from demanding more Lehndorff, and post WWI, Schmidt-Lötzen obliged. I sympathize, early 20th century readers.)
:D I also sympathize, early 20th century readers!! :D (I had assumed that no one would be interested in his retirement diaries!)
I don't think we knew he had retirement diaries? But I always figured that someone who keeps constant diaries doesn't just stop because he retires and... has more free time?? :D
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Assistant librarian requests
For the next time you're at the library (no rush!), these would be my suggestions. I've linked the catalog record in hopes of making things easier.
1) Hans Leuschner. Friedrich der Grosse: Zeit — Person — Wirkung. This one you don't need to check out, just glance at pages 79-80 (or, if the pagination is different, look for Fredersdorf) and see if there's anything about a dismissal for embezzlement. I doubt it, but we should check.
2) Peter Michael Hahn. Friedrich II von Preussen. Blanning says page 62 has the mysterious suicide of Fredersdorf's rival. Your pagination may vary.
3) Lucchesini's diary, hopefully translated into German. It appears to be only 100 pages.
4) Charlotte Pangels. Königskinder im Rokoko: die Geschwister Friedrichs des Großen. Cited by MacDonogh a lot. It may be terrible. It predates Ziebura's research, and MacDonogh has it out for the siblings, so it may be extra terrible. But since you have a particular interest in the siblings, you can flip through it in the library and see if it's worth bringing home.
Aaaaand, there are the two ridiculously difficult to acquire works on Katte. One is Martin von Katte's self-published family history, Die Katten im Stammbaum. I tried ILLing it, and my library couldn't find a lender, so they cancelled my request.
WorldCat shows 4 library copies. Ranked in order of proximity to Munich:
- Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart. Apparently, you can only read this one in the library, no checking it out.
- Badische Landesbibliothek, Karlsruhe. Apparently available by request the next day.
- Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main and/or Leipzig. I can't quite tell if this is just a digitized copy or a digitized copy and a physical copy, and if one or both are available in either branch. It does appear that there's a digitized copy that can be viewed on a computer at this library. I'm not sure if it's downloadable. The way things usually work in the universities I'm familiar with is that if you're physically on the computer on campus (or logged in by VPN), you can legally download a copy for private use at home. Not sure how it works in Germany.
- Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, Wolfenbüttel. Appears to be borrowable.
So if you should ever happen to be in any of these cities on business or pleasure, now you know where to look. :D
Hoffbauer's report on the site of Katte's execution, used by Fontane, appears to be almost equally difficult to get a hold of. Let me know if a trip to Tübingen is ever in the works, and I'll get you the citation. Fortunately, it's just an article in a journal, so presumably scannable for personal use (assuming that's legal in Germany; it is here, afaik).
Any one or more of these would be awesome and received with deep gratitude and many obeisances, with no worries about ones that might be more difficult to obtain!
The good news is that I have two ILL requests that were successfully submitted: Carl Hinrichs' Kronprinzenprozeß, which I *think* has a lot of primary sources from the trial and interrogations, and Bogdan Krieger's catalogue of Fritz's library. No idea how long it will take them to arrive, but when they do, you'll be the first to know!
ETA: Oh, and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek's website tells me that it will be closed for Shrove Tuesday, but otherwise looks like it'll be open next week? Let me know if I'm wrong.
Re: Assistant librarian requests
Re: Martin von Katte - I checked your links, and are you sure this is the Hans Herrmann biography? Because the title named is "Die Katten im Stammbaum - zum 75. Geburtstag des Wilhelmsthalers". Now googling "Wilhelmsthaler" doesn't get me far because Wihelmsthal Palace, favourite residence of Goethe's bff Carl August, gets in the way. But the first thing I could think of was some sort of medal, named Williamsdollar, if you like. Which could be utterly wrong. But if Martin was writing something for whatever it is' 75th anniversary, I can't quite see how this could be identical with his unpublished Hans Herrmann biography. Otoh, the Stabi has Martin's memoirs, so I've ordered them as well while I was at it. The only other work of Martin's the Stabi has is a speech for Joachim von Winterfeldt's 75th Birthday, written in 1925. (I told you: deja vue with all those Prussian nobility names, big time...
Re: Assistant librarian requests
I got "Die Katten im Stammbaum" from Kloosterhuis, who cites it 10 times and says it was a "Privatdruck" from 1965, and the links were all self published in 1965. I think it's the right one! I don't know what's up with Wilhelmsthaler either (the complete title is "zum 75. Geburtstag des Wilhelmsthalers senioris familiae," if that helps), but I think this is our book.
The memoirs sound like they might be cool too, though, as consolation prizes go. You'll have to let us know. :)
(I told you: deja vue with all those Prussian nobility names, big time...
No kidding!
Re: Assistant librarian requests
I subtracted 75 from 1965 and used 1890 as my search term, and he came up, and then I realized he was a Katte.
And he died in 1970, so he's still around in 1965 to read about his Katte family history. It's him!
ETA: Sigh. No, you're right. It's a Katte family tree of great relevance to our (my? :P) interests, but not the bio that has *all* the info. Curse my limited German. Also, curse Martin for not publishing.
I would still love to see it, though!
And I'm still pleased at figuring out who Wilhelmsthal was. ;)
I have a cunning plan
Now, we could definitely make a case that we have some original research going on around the execution and the documents pertaining to it, and that we're trying to produce something publishable. But I'm not sure that gets us further than her glancing at Kloosterhuis and at her manuscript and telling us, "Nope, everything relevant to the execution made it into Kloosterhuis! You're good."
Whereas I feel like somewhere in that manuscript is *something* about Hans Hermann or his family, not necessarily related to the execution, that we don't already know and would be of great interest to us, we just don't know what it is. And even if Kloosterhuis did include everything, we'll only know that if we see the manuscript!
Ooh! We could say that we're examining the many variants on Hans Hermann's last words to Fritz (which we are!), and for that we need EVERYTHING ever written by or about Hans Hermann as comparanda. :DD
Step 3: Profit!
:PP
Re: I have a cunning plan
Then again, we could fare life Fritz with his various psychological warfare cunning plans he shares with Mitchell and Mitchell reports home to London. It‘s always along the same basic principle:
1:) The French and the Austrians have hated each other for centuries. How hard can it be to fan up some hostility? Just play on the French egos and tell them they‘re Austrian tools! That always works on French egomaniacs! Profit!
2:) Why don‘t we sow some discontent between the Russians and the Austrians, since my fanboy isn‘t yet on the throne? Just tell them the Austrians are totally exploiting them and their hard work and will ditch them as allies any minute now, as soon as they don‘t need them anymore! Let‘s play to the Russian ego! Profit!
(Mitchell himself has a personal variation when the war is really dire: The French can‘t really want the Habsburgs/Austria as the dominant German power after centuries of feuding, without Prussia providing a counter balance. Surely it couldn‘t hurt reminding them of this, and how HAUGHTY the House of Austria is)
3.) The French and the Russian courts are so utterly corrupt and without honor, we just have to bribe Biron/the Duke de Soubise/the Marquise de Pompadour into liking me again. With British money, of course. Profit!
Somehow, none of these cunning plans ever comes to completion...
Re: I have a cunning plan
Ooh, true! Yes, read it with an eye toward becoming her BFF. What could go wrong?
Or perhaps we should assign someone to seduce her assistant, Zimmermann!Fritz-style. That will work!
Somehow, none of these cunning plans ever comes to completion...
I take hope from the fact that Fritz won the Seven Years' War through sheer persistence, if not through cunning. I too can be persistent. Proposed marriage to my wife once a year for seven years before she accepted! Maria von Katte, watch out. :P
(We just want a copy of a manuscript! Is that too much to ask? Pleeeeaase???)
Re: Assistant librarian requests
I tried to get these through ILL, I did. I've been giving the ILL staff at my library a workout: they've had to cancel 4 of my 7 requests so far, with explanations about how they tried *everything* and couldn't get their hands on what I wanted, and a 5th is awaiting supervisor review.
However, if you have ILL privileges at the Stabi, these two are listed in the catalog as available through interlibrary loan:
Kurprinz Friedrich Wilhelm und Kronprinz Friedrich (II.) in Cüstrin, Gustav Berg.
Die Kattetragödie in Cüstrin und ihre Stätte, Theodor Hoffbauer.
These are the two guys circa 1900 who used their access to state archives (and one of whom lived at Cüstrin) to weigh on whether Fritz could see the execution or not, and came to opposite conclusions.
Re: Assistant librarian requests
Re: Assistant librarian requests
Re: Assistant librarian requests
„Friedrich liebte den schönen,, umgänglichen und klugen Mann von Anfang an bis zu dessen Tod mit immer gleichbleibender Kraft.“ And „Am 9. April 1757 schied Fredersdorff (here spelled with two f) auf eigenen Wunsch aus dem Amt.“
The entry has a couple of other useful dates. F gets officially promoted from Kammerdiener to Geheimer Kammerdiener in 1740, and gets Zernickow in that same year, not, as I had previously assumed, in the 50s. Goldmaking obsession seriously kicks in in the summer of 1753, aka the year of the Voltaire showdown. Fredersdorf gets married on 30th December that year. (We knew that.)
Fritz because he knew how embarrassing the whole alchemy thing was if he himself got connected to it demanded that the (female) Goldmaker Nothnagel should be disguised as a man when visiting Fredersdorf.
Fredersdorf visited Paris in 1751, Aachen in 1752, the later for his health (i.e. the spa).
Lucchesini: is the one 18th century intellectual to write in his mother tongue. Yes, Italian. Maledetto! The preface is in German, and btw quotes an extremely complimentary remark by Lehndorff on him, properly footnoted, which is how I learn Lehndorff‘s retirement diaries were published as well by the same editor as his chamberlain years ones, in Gotha 1921. (Apparantely WWI didn‘t stop the 1907 readers from demanding more Lehndorff, and post WWI, Schmidt-Lötzen obliged. I sympathize, early 20th century readers.)
Anyway, I‘m sorry, Italian is beyond me. The footnotes are in German, and I‘ll read them in the hope of finding something interesting, and then using my Latin and French for the sentence proper, but: argh! Oh, Fortuna!
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Ugh, the Italian, I was afraid of that!
Is the Italian scannable? I'm far from being able to read 100 pages of it straight, but my Italian's about as good as my French, and it's much higher on my list of languages to learn.
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Fritz‘ musical taste really is stuck at the same point where his taste in literature stops:
Si e parlato della musica di Gluck, di cui il Re ha detto male.
Ha. So remember, Wilhelmine and Fritz turned out to be „Man in the Iron Mask“ geeks, and Wilhelmine reported to Fritz the „it was a woman!“ theory on her travels? Fritz also talks with Lucchesini about the matter, but his theory is the more common „it totally was a secret brother of Louis XIV“, though in his case he doesn‘t believe it was an older twin brother but a bastard of Mazarin, who looked like Louis, proving thus that Louis was Mazarin‘s bastard kid as well, Queen Anne having cheated on Louis XIII for his impotence in Fritz‘ opinion.
Catherine‘s little brother supposedly said to her: „Vous savez, Madame, que dans le gouvernement des femmes il n‘y a jamais le sens commun.“
Finally. Fritz tells Lu the old canard about MT having written to Madame de Pompadour „ma cousine“ (at least he makes it cousin and not sister, as he used to), and the goddamm editor gives us a footnote saying this claim has been disproved in 1875 by A. V. Arneth in volume 5 of his MT history, complete with publication of the entire Pompadour-Vienna correspondance. 1875. And some biographers still repeat the tale, because hey, Fritz would never lie.
(Though it‘s interesting he is so invested in that story he keeps bringing it up even after MT‘s death.)
Aha. Fritz gets to comment on nephew Gustav‘s creative solution to the heir problem.
Avutasi la nuova della cattiva salute del Re di Svezia, il Re ha detto, che teme, che il Duca di Sudermania, fratello del Re presente, non se metta alla testa dell‘ opposizione, e non faccia riconoscere per bastardo di figlio della Regina.
About a meeting between Peter the Great and Liselotte in Versailles: Ha di Pietro I detto, che aveva molta forza di spirito, ma era brutale, incivile e selvatico. Esso stesso disse assai bene a Parigi alla madre del Reggente: „Signora, io ho saputo corregere un poco la mia nazione, ma non ho saputo corregere me stesso.“
Since this visit by Charlotte and Amalie was the ultimate trigger for Fritz‘ De la Literature Alllemande pamphlete, the footnote duly points the entry out where L. Writes about said visit:
E guinta la Duchessa di Brunswick e la Principessa A‘malia. Pranzuo con dame de di poca importanza. (...) Ultimo pranzo delle Principesse, che son partite il di appresso. Si è parlato assai di letteratura, della tenuità della gloria del teatro tedesco, e delle poche tragedie italiane buone, delle quasi niune inglesi, della poca impressione, che a fatto la lettura delle tragedie greche, del cattivo gusto delle tragedie latine, e della confezione del teatro francese.
Oh God. Fritz readers two cantos of the „Palladion“ to L. Out loud. And the L gets a signed copy after complimenting Fritz. Incidentally, I thought since they‘re talking sex, maybe this is when Mr. X pre 7 Years Wars comes up, but from what I can see, no. Fritz next takes credit for hashing the division of Poland out with Joseph at their meeting in Neisse. The editor of the diary, Herr Volz, whom I‘m liking more and more points out by footnote Fritz did no such thing, and didn‘t talk about Poland with Joseph during their second meeting, either, but that it was Heinrich who negotiated the first partition with Catherine, pointing to his own essay „Prinz Heinrich und die Vorgeschichte der Ersten Teilung Polens“ in the „Forschungen zur Brandenburg- und Preuß. Geschichte“, Volume 35, S.193 ff.
(Heinrich: Just you wait. That Obelisk is so going to go up.)
Oh good lord. On subsequent days, Lu gets treated to the entire rest of the Palladion. And once that‘s over with, Fritz reads him the love poetry he‘s written in the name of Catt.
Fritz the style critic: „L‘Imperatrice di Russia scrive bene. Ho apiuto in quesito giorni da altra parte, che la prima conversazione dell‘ Imperatrice di Russia col Principe Reale si piegrava a porre in ricilolo il Re, e il Principe Enrico. Pare che il Re sia molto lieto dop il ritorno del Principe Reale. Esso ha vissuto con gran prudenza a Pietroburgo.“ (Future FW2 visited St. Petersburg in September 1780, Volz‘ footnote tells me.)
On April 20th, he‘s back at the Swedish relations/ soap opera subject: IL Re ha pranzato tutto solo. La sera ho saputo, che il figlio della Regina di Sevzia ha per padre un certo Munck, scudiere del Re.
His best enemy has died, and he’s thinking back to the start: Le memorie cominciano alla morte del Re il 1740. Dice ch‘ esso lasciò una popolazion di 3 millioni, un‘ entrata di 7 millioni di telleri, e (dici egli) 8.5000.00 da parte (...) Qui fa il quadro della monarchia austriaca alla morte di Carlo VI., de‘ ministri anteriori, delle belle operazioni militari e politiche del Principe Eugenio, di Sinzendorff, e di Starhemberg. Questo quadro è degno percetti, molti debiti, e niun aiuto: ecco lo stato della Regina, di cui nel proemio è fatto un elogio imparegiabile.
ETA: NO handsome hussar on page 62 of Hahn. Instead, Barbarina. Also Buddenbrook. (Who outlived Fredersdorf.)
Son of ETA: Abort, abort - that wasn‘t Hahn, that was Hans Leuschner‘s Frederician encylopedia I was looking up! Hahn awaits me.
Daughter of ETA: here‘s what Hahn says on page 62: „When Fredersdorf unlike previously wasn‘t allowed to enter the tent of his lord who was in the field without askng for permission first, people believed his influence was coming to an end. However, the cause, an equally handsome hussar, shot himself only a few weeks into his service, and all remained as it had been.“.
And that‘s it. No citation given for Hahn‘s source for this story, or the name of the hussar, or when this was supposed to have happened. The next paragraph is about the function of the military in Fritz‘ administration. The previous text was about Eichel and Fredersdorf as Fritz‘ top two administrators, and about his relationship with each. „Equally“ handsome because Hahn had called Fredersdorf handsome in the previous text. Which is, btw, compimentary re: Fredersdorf‘s abilities beyond being good looking and says „no one else was probably as close to Friedrich as a human being“.
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A little thing like death didn't stop him from gossiping about Émilie's sex life ten years later. MT can't expect to get off that easily. ;)
On April 20th, he‘s back at the Swedish relations/ soap opera subject:
I see Fritz is a loyal fan of the show called Rococo Dallas.
Lucchesini "Conversations with Fritz": we have it! It's a combined selection of entries from Catt's diary, Catt's memoirs, and Lucchesini's diary...auf Deutsch! It's now in the library.
Son of ETA:
Daughter of ETA:
I enjoy the ETA genealogy. ;)
And that‘s it. No citation given for Hahn‘s source for this story, or the name of the hussar, or when this was supposed to have happened.
Well, that sounds totally reliable. Thanks for checking.
Fredersdorf, yet again you need to sue someone for libel! First the unfounded embezzlement accusation, now this. Good thing you have all those mob connections. :P
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Heh. (This seriously still staggers me. How can you not like Gluck?! Wonder if he ever commented on Mozart?)
(Heinrich: Just you wait. That Obelisk is so going to go up.)
LOL. He can't even get credit for nonmilitary stuff?
And once that‘s over with, Fritz reads him the love poetry he‘s written in the name of Catt.
*chokes* Further evidence for mildred's theory on why Fredersdorf never learned French!
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According to Blanning, no, but you know how far we trust him. Also, it's hard to prove a negative.
LOL. He can't even get credit for nonmilitary stuff?
You know, before
*chokes* Further evidence for mildred's theory on why Fredersdorf never learned French!
I'm telling you!
Lucchesini: Okay, so, never tell Fritz about my love interests, got it. Is it too late to pretend I only know Italian? It is, isn't it.
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Oooh! Can you get copies of them? If not, if you want to pass on the title, I can do my best as detective-cum-librarian. :)
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It says volume 1, but so far, I've only found evidence of one volume. Will dig more later.
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YES! I just get excited every time you find another source that doesn't back up this embezzlement thing :)
Yes, Italian. Maledetto!
OK, this is not great for our sensationalist scholarly work (although you seem to be doing great judging from the downstream comments) but I have to say I laughed really hard at this.
The preface is in German, and btw quotes an extremely complimentary remark by Lehndorff on him, properly footnoted, which is how I learn Lehndorff‘s retirement diaries were published as well by the same editor as his chamberlain years ones, in Gotha 1921. (Apparantely WWI didn‘t stop the 1907 readers from demanding more Lehndorff, and post WWI, Schmidt-Lötzen obliged. I sympathize, early 20th century readers.)
:D I also sympathize, early 20th century readers!! :D (I had assumed that no one would be interested in his retirement diaries!)
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Man, those early 20th century readers had at least one priority straight. I like to imagine them all chanting in unison.
"More Lehndorff! Give us more Lehndorff! Lehndorff! Lehndorff! He's our man!"
OK, this is not great for our sensationalist scholarly work (although you seem to be doing great judging from the downstream comments)
She is, and also we have selections in German now! Librarian + reader = sensational team. :D
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That's awesome that they were published. You go, 20th century readers!
(I don't even know if they have more than two things of interest to us, I just love the idea. And maybe they're full of gold, who knows!)