cahn | Frederick the Great discussion post 12

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frederick the great

Frederick the Great discussion post 12

Every time I am amazed and enchanted that this is still going on! Truly DW is the Earthly Paradise!

All the good stuff continues to be archived at

rheinsberg :)

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I too am amazed!

I'll start discussion off with a tangential question about Heinrich raiding Fritz's larder: was chocolate manufactured yet in a form that would result in fingerprints? I'm only familiar with it as a beverage in Europe at this early date, which is not to say that it didn't exist.

It wasn't yet sold as anything but a beverage, that wouldn't happen until 1828 or thereabouts, but the nobility had access to it in all forms as far as I know. When MT recommends chocolate to all her friends as ideal to lift the spirits and help with concentration, she's mostly thinking of the beverage, but Viennese cooks also used to pour it over some other pastry and use it as a cover. No idea whether Fritz knew it as anything but a beverage, I was just improvising. ;)

Oh, right, the MT/Fritz meeting! I remember being surprised at the time, but knew the super anonymous author could be trusted to know her stuff. :)

Wikipedia is telling me that the 19th century is when a lot of the processes and technology that led to the improvement of chocolate were invented, but that experiments with pressing out cocoa butter began in France as early as 1760, around the time the first chocolate company was founded. Interesting!

Should add for

cahn that we know Fritz did like drinking chocolate; he wrote in 1760 that his dinner consisted of just a cup of chocolate. (Whether or not skipping the food part of dinner lasted very long, we know he lost substantial weight after the Seven Years' War started, and to my knowledge never regained it.) Regardless, what this definitely tells us is that he did drink chocolate on at least a somewhat regular basis! I also have an unsourced statement that dinner in his old age was fruit and a cup of chocolate.

The translation selection of Catt's memoirs and diary as well as Lucchesini's diary is edited and published by one Dr. Fritz Bischof in 1885. Bischof points to Koser's epic work in this regard, especially re: Catt's truthfulness or lack of same; he, Bischof, doesn't want to present his readers with Catt's historical novel, so he has only printed those parts of the memoirs that can be traced back to the diary entries, if somewhat more fleshed out, and even then he makes a footnote every time Catt misdates something or puts different entries together. Or changes identities. I hadn't noticed before, but one difference between Fritz telling Catt in the diary about the lead up to the Voltaire-Maupertuis climax between the same story in the memoirs is that in the memoirs, Catt has him send the previous reader, de Prades, after Voltaire to give him the "now listen, no more attacks on Maupertuis, and here's the NDA to sign!", whereas in the diary, Fritz sends... Fredersdorf. Which, you know, makes sense. Fredersdorf apparantly had no trouble showing up at Voltaire's bathtube. What this doesn't tell me, though, is: in which language did Voltaire and Fredesdorf converse? Because while as I said many an entry before, I don't doubt Voltaire did pick up some every day German to order his meals or ask for the way, I doubt it was enough to have the dialogue Catt says Fritz said they had. Did Fredersdorf learn French behind Fritz' back?

Bischof points out that Luccheisini, being a Italian Marchese, was of different social rank than Catt from the get go and hence rates invitations to the fabled Sanssouci suppers in addition to hanging out with the King a deux. Reading the translation, I feel I didn't do too badly going by the footnotes in the original edition. Additional info:

- Lucchesini seems to have really liked Fritz' poetry; at first I thought he was pretending, but then he started to snark about Fritz' utter lack of scientific know how beyond the most superficial level while of course pretending to be an expert, so he has no problem writing down when he disagrees with Fritz on something or thinks Fritz is talking rubbish

- which Fritz does a lot; when Lucchesini calls him out on two stories he tells of the two Medici queens in France, Catherine and Maria, which happen to be utterly wrong (yours truly having occupied herself with both eras somewhat, I'm in a position to know), Fritz defends himself by saying he has super secret sources for both anecdotes and so he KNOWS it's true, which is typical

- contempt for German literature, check, then he adds fine, a beginning has been made, who, asks Lu, and Fritz says "Canitz", a poet in his grandmother's time. Yep, that's the author De La Literature Allemande, alright. I bet he was proud he could at least remember one writer.

- Lu also note that it shows Fritz only knows the great Latin writers like Horace and Cicero in French translations, which can't capture the sheer linguistic beauty of Horace's odes, or the wit of Cicero

- Lu, as opposed to Fritz, and like the Duc de Croy, is actually interested in contemporary exploration and mentions Georg Forster's book on travelling with James Cook (remember #saveJamesCook?) to Tahiti; Georg Forster wrote his travel reports in German, which at leat supports Zimmerman's claim that Lu could read it.

- Fritz' Gluck dislike is based on having the first act of Orphee performed on an arrangement for Cello, piano and violin. That's it. Totally qualifies him.

- lots and lots of positive Algarotti mentions, perhaps Lu reminds Fritz of the last Italian he spend a lot of time with? Anyway, Algarotti is very fondly remembered. The only vaguely critical thing Fritz says is that he tried to please everyone. Otherwise it's praise for his knowledge and memory ("he travelled with his library in his head, always accessible") and his charm all the way.

- if you're wondering how Fritz handles dead Voltaire: Voltaire was the worst! The WORST! Let me read this letter of Voltaire again, and mine to him to you out loud, because there's some fine poetry in it. Also, here's a story of Voltaire being witty. We haven't read Voltaire enough recently. Did I mention he was THE WORST?

- re: Fritz appropriating complete credit for Poland, it did occur to me that 1780/81 was when he and Heinrich had their record one and a half year of not talking or writing to each other. AW gets edited out of the trip to Strasbourg again when Fritz says he was there only with Algarotti.

(BTW, Jessen has a letter from Fritz to Heinrich when Fritz checks out his new territories (won, you know, without a drop of blood) actually containing the phrase "this land, which I received through your hand".)

- at one point they talk about vampires, I kid you not; Fritz of course calls them a total superstition and wonders that there are people who are otherwise sound sceptics who still believe in that stuff, which makes Lu think Fritz might be one of those people after all. (Basis for a vampire AU?)

- no mention of Katte, or Küstrin, even when Fritz is going there; FW mentioned only once or twice, Lu notes that Fritz talks of him with much respect and gives him all the credit for building the basis for his, Fritz' power.

- Fritz the amazingly wrong predicter: future menace ViennaJoe will conquer Rome, make the pope his patriarch and Christianity will splinter even more and decline; England is over and done with, a power on the downward slide ever since the end of the Seven Years War, when Bute, totally bribed by the Austrians (with what money?), stopped subsidizing Fritz and Holderness let himself outnegotiated by the French (this is not how the French would see it)

- seriously, Fritz has not forgiven the English for stopping the subsidies; mind you, the insistence that England is an exhausted and one with power might at least partially hail from them losing to their American colonists, but they also gained Canada from the French, and the British Empire hasn't reached its zenith yet since complete control over India is yet to come; it still shows Fritz has zero idea of non-European politics and economics, and how much Britain florishes based on all the incoming money from the colonies

- I can see why Lu never achieved Catt's popularity, though; not nearly as much personal stories (true or made up), no extreme danger and extreme glory situation as in the 7 Years War, and Lu notes down Fritz repeating anecdotes, as old people do, and holds forth on subjects he's just not informed on.

- nothing homoerotic I could spott, not even in code, aside from the Algarotti and Voltaire stuff.

Edited 2020-02-27 09:53 (UTC)

. Bischof points to Koser's epic work in this regard, especially re: Catt's truthfulness or lack of same;

Wow, SOMEBODY is paying attention to Koser! It's about time.

So did he include the whole Lucchesini diary, then? And only selections from Catt because Catt can't be trusted?

Did Fredersdorf learn French behind Fritz' back?

Of course he did. And then pretended he couldn't possibly read the Palladion because it wasn't in German. :P

Less speculatively, it probably wouldn't have been that hard to locate an interpreter?

- lots and lots of positive Algarotti mentions, perhaps Lu reminds Fritz of the last Italian he spend a lot of time with? Anyway, Algarotti is very fondly remembered. The only vaguely critical thing Fritz says is that he tried to please everyone.

Awww. Yeah, Algarotti was the master of the amicable unofficial breakup. <3

That's interesting about the people pleasing. I had, as you know, seen a comment that "contemporaries agreed that his most pronounced characteristic was his desire to please," but I hadn't seen it attributed to anyone specific. Interesting that Fritz was one!

- if you're wondering how Fritz handles dead Voltaire:

So same way he handled live Voltaire, gotcha. I could have guessed. :P

(BTW, Jessen has a letter from Fritz to Heinrich when Fritz checks out his new territories (won, you know, without a drop of blood) actually containing the phrase "this land, which I received through your hand".)

I guess when he's in a good mood, he can give credit where credit is due? 1780/1781 being when Heinrich and Fritz are on the outs, that makes sense. Thanks for the chronology reminder. (See, sometimes I need chronology reminders too,

cahn!)

AW gets edited out of the trip to Strasbourg again when Fritz says he was there only with Algarotti.

Wow. Poor AW. It's interesting to see Lucchesini verifying some of Catt's anecdotes, though.

- nothing homoerotic I could spott, not even in code, aside from the Algarotti and Voltaire stuff.

Yeah, we figured. Zimmermann says or implies that he got it from word of mouth from Fritz's favorite, right?

As always, thanks for the summary!

So did he include the whole Lucchesini diary, then? And only selections from Catt because Catt can't be trusted?

Yes and yes.

Less speculatively, it probably wouldn't have been that hard to locate an interpreter?

No, but at this point Fritz wants Voltaire intimidated into doing his bidding, not gone. The status-conscious ancien regime time being what it is, it's one thing if the King's right hand man carries the message, and another if yet another person is involved, possibly a servant. (That's why Wilhelmine isn't so much shocked that SD and Charlotte trash talk EC than that they do so in front of the servants.)

Incidentally, like you, I'm infinitely curious how Fritz imagined the post war botherfree rare Voltaire visits to go. Not that I would consider it impossible to imagine a scenario where they meet again, but no way would have that have been on Prussian soil. If Fritz came to Switzerland, I doubt Voltaire would have been able to resist. Mayyyybe neutral territory, like Brussels, though not once Fritz' niece is Queen there. Aachen then? But not Prussia. Nope.

Also, both Luchesini and Catt have Fritz recounting that Voltaire told him the realm of the mind is a republic, which is as good a summing up of one key problem there as any, to wit: Voltaire, all flattery aside, did see himself as an equal, if not a superior by virtue of being a genius.

So did he include the whole Lucchesini diary, then? And only selections from Catt because Catt can't be trusted?

Yes and yes.

Oh, good, so you did get to go through the whole Lucchesini diary, then! I was hoping that was the case. And it's good the Italian is out there too, in case we ever need to look something up. I like having access to these texts in both the original and a language at least one of us is fluent in.

The status-conscious ancien regime time being what it is, it's one thing if the King's right hand man carries the message, and another if yet another person is involved, possibly a servant.

Very true. Fredersdorf was probably holding back, then!

Btw, didn't Münchow say he understood more of what was going on than the other pages/servants because he understood French?

I'm infinitely curious how Fritz imagined the post war botherfree rare Voltaire visits to go.

One thing to consider is that the context for the "Voltaire will visit, it would be rare, and I would prevent any bother," is the hypothetical scenario in which Fritz retires voluntarily. I think that says a lot about his fantasies: "I'll give up power of my own free will! And Voltaire and I won't fight!" The likelihood of those two things being about equal.

With FW2 as king, though, and Fritz somehow the kind of person who would pull a Diocletian (maybe a head injury incurred during the war leads to a personality change?), do you think Voltaire would come to Rheinsberg to visit his no-longer-king ex?

It's kind of hard for me to reason about this AU, because it requires *such* an OOC Fritz.

Voltaire, all flattery aside, did see himself as an equal, if not a superior by virtue of being a genius.

Agreed.

Btw, didn't Münchow say he understood more of what was going on than the other pages/servants because he understood French?

I'd have to look it up again. Can't right now.

I think that says a lot about his fantasies: "I'll give up power of my own free will! And Voltaire and I won't fight!" The likelihood of those two things being about equal.

Very true. But if somehow Fritz were to give up power, couldn't he then be induced to finally travel again?

Or: here's one scenario where I can imagine Voltaire coming to Fritz. Fritz doesn't just lose power. He's taken captive. He's put on trial in front of the diet for invading Saxony and, while we're at it, Silesia! And presto! Voltaire's inner campaigner for justice and hopeless causes unites with his Fritz attraction. Not to mention the irony of being Fritz being held in Frankfurt, also irresistable. This scenario offers the chance to gloat and to help at the same time. And to piss off everyone else by writing pamphlets on how the other powers definitely were hoping Fritz would invade and were totally planning for such a scenario, and were guilty of war crimes themselves, etc. This is Voltaire we're talking about. He would NOT be able to resist.

OMG, I love it!

He would NOT be able to resist.

He would not! And it would feed into the love-hate relationship, as Fritz is never able to forgive Voltaire for rescuing him and thus getting the upper hand.

Indeed, and I would say I have my next Yuletide AU, except there's one problem for me with OOCness - not by Fritz or Voltaire, but I think MT, for all her Fritz loathing, would be too cautious to set a precedent by putting a crowned monarch on trial for wars of aggression. (For the same reason Elizabeth I. was extremely reluctant to put Mary Stuart on trial and then to have her executed. It's not the death that's the problem here, it's the legal precedent you're setting, which might be turned against you or any other monarch.

I would have to study the conditions of the Westfalian Peace Treaty (Cahn, that's the one ending the 30 Years War a century earlier, aka the most devastating war ever on European soil until the 20th century), too, because I think that actually provides already some legal basis. It was the first time a bunch of European powers agreed on the "War of aggression & invading countries = bad" principle. (Back when Bush 2 invaded Iraq, you had a bunch of newspaper columnists saying "that's it, the Westfalian Peace Treaty is broken". I mean, obviously Hitler & Co. had no problem breaking it earlier than that, but the journalist meant "by a nation priding itself on being on a lawful side of things".)

(Mind you: France was one of the powers supposed to guarantee the upholding of the Westfalian Peace Treaty, which France blithely used as a pretense to involve itself in the War of Polish Succession, the War of Austrian Succession and the 7 Years War. Gotta protect *ally of the moment* from *enemy of the moment* on HRE soil, which was where the 30 Years War had been fought.)

All this being said, I would so love a story featuring Brother Voltaire coming to the rescue of extremly loathing to be rescued Fritz by the power of the pen! At which point of the 7 Years War would you suggest Fritz to be captured?

You know, sometimes for the sake of a good fic, you have to handwave your premise. If the execution is good, it's perfectly fine by my standards! I trust you can come up with something to satisfy our scruples, and then move on to execution.

At which point of the 7 Years War would you suggest Fritz to be captured?

Ooh, interesting question. If you want to go with historical occasions on which he narrowly escaped capture, as opposed to inserting a fictional capture at a convenient point (which is also legit!), the first two candidates that come to mind are Kunersdorf, the absolute nadir of his misfortunes, when he was nearly captured in the battle (against the Russians) and had to be rescued by some of Zieten's hussars, and the plot by this guy to take advantage of the fact that Fritz wasn't heavily guarded at Prussian headquarters. I believe the latter took place in late 1761, i.e., shortly before Elizabeth of Russia died.

I believe the latter took place in late 1761, i.e., shortly before Elizabeth of Russia died.

The problem is that if it's shortly before Elizabeth dies, then as soon as Peter gets on the throne he will insist on doing the Fritz rescuing, and I can't have that. So Kunersdorf would be better!

Would we also let the Russians do what they miraculously didn't in RL, i.e progress to Berlin and unite with the Swedes there, so Regent!Heinrich has to negotiate a surrender? Or do they still not do that, since Fritz has been captured, and Heinrich still goes for a peace but from a somewhat better position?

Alternatively: how about Hochkirch? That has the advantage that he's battling Austrians, not Russians, and they could have orders for such a scenario that will end up with Fritz in Frankfurt.

Of course, we'd also have to explain why Seydlitz or Ziethen or any of the others don't try a daring rescue as long as Fritz is still nearby.

This is all wonderful and I am just watching it with awe and delight.

so Regent!Heinrich has to negotiate a surrender

I read the words "Regent!Heinrich" and got very excited. I want ALLLLLL the Regent!Heinrich and sibling Hohenzollern dynamics AU :DDDDD (I mean, I want the rest of it too!)

then as soon as Peter gets on the throne he will insist on doing the Fritz rescuing, and I can't have that.

Hahaha. Well, he'll certainly throw his weight around and attack the Austrians, but will he actually be effective in rescuing his hero before Voltaire gets there? Maybe Peter's the one who uses his leverage in a way that somehow results in a trial that nobody wants.

As for trials: one option is setting this in an AU where the trying of monarchs is a normal procedure with lots of precedent, either in general or because the Diet has more teeth. Depends on how canon-divergent you want to go (and how much you want to explore the consequences of a world where monarchs are more accountable).

how about Hochkirch? That has the advantage that he's battling Austrians, not Russians, and they could have orders for such a scenario that will end up with Fritz in Frankfurt.

I did think of Hochkirch, and for the reasons you mention. It's definitely an option. Let's keep it in mind!

I'm hoping to be able to read up more on Fritz's wars after my concentration gets fixed, hopefully in the next couple months, and since I hear you're too busy to write this month anyway *cough broccoli* :P, let me get back to you on this?

Of course, we'd also have to explain why Seydlitz or Ziethen or any of the others don't try a daring rescue as long as Fritz is still nearby.

Oh, they can try anything they want; failure is always an option (for the writer)!

Oh, selenak is talking about Yuletide here! I am totally sitting here putting it on my list of Frederician AUs and making plans to ask for this :P :D

Yes! I support you requesting this and selenak writing it! And I will do my best as 7 Years' War consultant, especially once I can read books again (I've got 3-4 military history books next up on my Fritzian wishlist). :D

And it would feed into the love-hate relationship, as Fritz is never able to forgive Voltaire for rescuing him and thus getting the upper hand.

...I didn't think about this, but this just makes it all the better :D

IKR? The indignity! I mean, some part of him would also be gratified that Voltaire cared enough to to ride, err, write to his rescue, as opposed to just pointing and laughing, but the far greater part would be furious to be in this position and suspect Voltaire didn't care at all, he just wanted to collect glowing coals on Fritz' head!

Meanwhile in Prussia:

Mitchell: Your Royal Highness, forgive a Scot the blunt speaking, but if you don't do someting to rescue your brother, he'll end up being seen as a martyr and you'll be seen as Judas Iscariot. Trust me, we have Mary Stuart in our history, I know whereof I speak. She was totally unpopular right until she was a martyred prisoner. You have a country to rebuild, you don't want to start by everyone hating your guts.

Heinrich: You want me to rescue my brother. Who started the war and got himself captured all by his own decisions.

Mitchell: You know I'm right.

Heinrich:...I guess. Besides, they might want to put me on trial next, given I co-lead the army in that war. DAMMIT. Seydlitz, we're starting Operation Damsel.

Mitchell: Damsel? If he finds out you codenamed it that...

Heinrich: Precisely. Also, he's not the only damsel I have in mind. Seydlitz, attend.

Seydlitz a few hours later: leaves on mysterious ways in the general direction of Vienna with a very small company of experienced soldiers. His mission: Kidnap Joseph for an inofficial prisoner's exchange, while officially Prussia will claim that Fritz-curious Joseph asked for a stint in the Prussian army to learn all about it on his own initiative.

some part of him would also be gratified that Voltaire cared enough to to ride, err, write to his rescue, as opposed to just pointing and laughing, but the far greater part would be furious to be in this position and suspect Voltaire didn't care at all, he just wanted to collect glowing coals on Fritz' head!

Yup, yup. It'll be mixed feelings all the way, just like Schwerin winning Mollwitz.

Mitchell: Damsel? If he finds out you codenamed it that...

TOO GOOD. Speaking of indignity! I'm now totally prepared to see an anonymous Yuletide featuring Operation Damsel!

This is so great.

officially Prussia will claim that Fritz-curious Joseph asked for a stint in the Prussian army to learn all about it on his own initiative.

HAHAHA. Heinrich the schemer strikes again!

I also love how minor characters Mitchell and Seydlitz are making it in. This is gonna be so great.

TOO GOOD. Speaking of indignity! I'm now totally prepared to see an anonymous Yuletide featuring Operation Damsel!

So what would Fritz hate more? Being rescued by Heinrich or being rescued by Voltaire? And would it be plausible that he starts an argument when the secret prisoner exchange is on, which is why it doesn't work out, which is why Voltaire can still do the rescue via publicity campaign?

So what would Fritz hate more? Being rescued by Heinrich or being rescued by Voltaire?

Oh, man. Probably Voltaire, although Heinrich is going to get the rough side of his tongue too. I feel like "getting captured because you fought in the front lines/ventured past enemy lines on your reconnaissance/displayed more personal courage than sense" is a possibility Fritz has entertained before. He's got a narrative for it, and it's a politico-military narrative with a heavy dose of Stoicism.

But getting put on trial--again! let's not forget the first trial!--in front of all Europe and getting rescued by the guy he hero-worships as an intellectual and has been sparring with and trying to impress and trying to get the upper hand over (impress ~~the French~~ Voltaire, mock Voltaire, beat Voltaire)--is just so outside anything that he has a narrative for that he's going to be totally at the mercy of his emotions.

Now as to how Fritz behaves in captivity, that's an interesting question. We have a lot of his *discourse* on captivity, which is related to but not identical to how he would behave. Captivity itself is humiliating but not necessary shameful, not if you got it by displaying courage and determination and refusing to yield. See also, his reaction to Fouqué's defeat and capture at Landeshut ("Fouqué behaved like a Roman") vs. Finck laying down his arms at Maxen (he scapegoats Finck so badly even Eichel supposedly disapproves).

Is it different when one of your generals is captured and when you are? Of course. Fritz is going to be super defensive about getting captured. Which means, 1) it's someone else's fault, not his, and 2) he's a Roman, a total Roman, a PERFECT ULTIMATE ROMAN.

Looking at Fritz's discourse, it seems that defeat--in the war--is the thing that he's most willing to consider committing suicide over. If Prussia is partitioned by his many enemies, Fritz at least says he doesn't want to survive that. If Fritz is captured and the war is still on with a good general (Heinrich) at the head of the army, Fritz might take that in stride as much as he takes anything in stride. (I.e. like a terrier, not like a master of chill.)

Fritz not actually committing suicide when captured: extremely likely in my view. Stoic or not, his survival instincts are first-rate. We've seen him capitulate and live to fight another day, at Küstrin. And his control instincts are just as strong; he might respect Heinrich's competence as a second-in-command, but he does *not* want him calling the shots. I think he'd stick around just to get back in command. (He might insist to everyone that the state doesn't need him and will survive him just fine, but while there's breath in his body, I think he fights to get control back.)

And would it be plausible that he starts an argument when the secret prisoner exchange is on, which is why it doesn't work out

I find that plausible, especially since Fritz needs to 1) defend getting captured as not something he did wrong, and 2) make it clear that someone else is at fault here.

I wish I could find the source, and I will keep an eye out because I feel like it's a letter and not just a novel, I mean biography, but I have a memory of Fritz saying something like, "If I'm captured, you're not to make any concessions to get me back; the welfare of the state comes first." And even if that's not a real quote, you could get the gist of it out of other things he said.

So if they come to rescue him, on the one hand he badly wants back in power, but on the other, he needs to be in control of the current situation. So if they say they want to trade him for Joseph, Fritz can go, "Trade Joseph for Silesia, you idiots!" Which would allow him to feel like he's calling the shots even while in prison, justify his capture, and present a picture of himself as all noble and Roman and such. And he still believes that as long as there's breath in his body, he can get out of here and back into power (he's survived capture and humiliation before, and he wrote to Wilhelmine from capture, chi ha tempo, ha vita), and if they hang onto Silesia, it justifies his entire reign.

It would be a very complex picture of a guy who has survival instincts, control issues, the personality of a terrier, the willingness to sacrifice his own life and freedom for his goals, the ability to hit rock bottom and keep going, the ability to reconcile Stoic philosophy with his innate refusal to die, and the ability to make you want to strangle him while you're trying to save his life.

Meanwhile in Vienna:

FS: ...the Archduke Joseph has been what?

MT: That entire family belongs in a prison. Clearly.

Isabella: *looks suspiciously undistressed*

Maria Christina: Mom, I think you need to be strong now. I mean, that's what you always say, right? Country before family?

FS: We're still not letting your brother rot in Berlin. I've been there. The beds alone are a trial. Besides, it's not like we could have kept the King of Prussia a prisoner for any length of time in any regard, and an exchange as the ending of this war...

MT: I'll remind you that an ancestor of mine kept Richard Coeur de Lion prisoner for two and a half years and got enough money out of it to finance the entire city wall around Vienna.

FS: But Mitz, you're not seriously intending to leave our boy with the Prussians?

MT: Of course not! I have a plan.

Maria Christina: *disappointed* You do?

MT: A very secret plan.

*refuses to say more, but beckons onen of her new ladies in waiting to her*

*later that night*

MT to the Chevalier d'Eon, famous transgender aventurer who currently is the secret go between between her, Elisaveta and Madame de Pompadour: I need you to rescue my son from the Prussians.

!!!!! omg I laughed so hard!
Also, hoooooow have I not heard about the Chevalier d'Eon before now?!

Isabella: *looks suspiciously undistressed*

Maria Christina: Mom, I think you need to be strong now. I mean, that's what you always say, right? Country before family?

LOLOLOLOL! Missing scene:

Isabella, woken from sleep: Whaa--?

Seydlitz: DAMMIT! Wrong bedroom, we thought Joseph was in here. Ugh, now she's going to call the guards and we're toast.

Isabella: No, wait! You're here to... kidnap Joseph?

Seydlitz: Well, that was the plan --

Isabella: His bedroom's over there. Let me draw you a map.

Also, hoooooow have I not heard about the Chevalier d'Eon before now?!

Because you haven't read the mob boss AU fic! I mean to say, that's where I know him/her/them from,

selenak probably has all sorts of serious business sources. *cough*

I have to run for a bit, but you can be sure one of us will give you a rundown in the near future. [ETA: Oh, I see she linked to Wikipedia. That works!]

Isabella: His bedroom's over there. Let me draw you a map.

*dies* This whole thing is too good.

Edited 2020-03-03 14:54 (UTC)

Isabella so would, and I love your missing scene!

This is awesome and I was delighted to see the Chevalier appear!

Isabella: *looks suspiciously undistressed*

Maria Christina: Mom, I think you need to be strong now. I mean, that's what you always say, right? Country before family?

This is great, and I love how we have the context to appreciate this, which I definitely did not before joining the earthly paradise of our salon!

FS: We're still not letting your brother rot in Berlin. I've been there. The beds alone are a trial.

HAHAHA. Too good.

I was delighted to see the Chevalier appear!

When I wondered which swashbuckling secret agent type figure MT could task with rescueing her son, the Chevalier immediately came to mind! (Especially since he/she/they definitely knew Elisaveta and Pompadour, and was on the allied against Fritz side of the 7 Years War.)

BTW, the Duc de Croy has an entry about the Chevalier - whom he met repeatedly over the years - in which he's certain d'Eon was a biological woman, which, as wiki tells me, later was disproved upon their death. But that was years later, when D'Eon was so well known that he couldn't have been a good secret agent/Joseph rescuer anymore.

Meanwhile, on the road:

Hussar: Boss, the kid is talking my ear off. Can you ride with him for a while?
Seydlitz: He's complaining this much?
Hussar: Nah, he wants to know all about the King, and I'm fresh out of non treasonous anecdotes.

*later*

Seydlitz: So, just in theory, your highness, if I asked you to give me your word not to try and escape before we reach the border, seeing as there's so much more you could still learn about us Prussians...

Joseph: Sorry, no can do. I mean, I think you're cool, and that your monarch rocks, but as long as I'm your prisoner, you're having leverage on my mother and my Empire. Honor and common sense demands I should try to escape the moment you're not looking. Tell you what, though: have you ever considered that I'm your future Emperor? If you changed sides and returned with me to Vienna, it wouldn't be treason, it would be obeying a higher loyalty, and also, we pay better. And have better food.

Seydlitz: And a chastity commission, or so I hear. Nope, sorry. I love the ladies too much. Also my King. I suppose.

Joseph: I get that, but you could love him from an Austrian distance. There's precedent, is all I'm saying.

Edited 2020-03-04 09:02 (UTC)

Seydlitz: And a chastity commission, or so I hear. Nope, sorry. I love the ladies too much. Also my King. I suppose.

LOLOL. Seydlitz, I'm sex-positive as they come, but since you don't seem to be practicing *safe* sex, you might want to take a break from the ladies. For your own health, and that of your partners.

Joseph: I get that, but you could love him from an Austrian distance. There's precedent, is all I'm saying.

Too good!

Chronology note for

cahn, Joseph is anywhere from 16 to 21, depending on when during the Seven Years' War this is set (presumably not during the first few months, otherwise he might be 15).

Did we tell

cahn about Seydlitz' syphilis yet? If we didn't, Cahn, Seydlitz really would have benefited from a break. He had contracted syphilis at a young age, and eventually died in the tertiary stage. There was a period of enstrangement from Fritz but also a reconciliation, and a very sad final meeting,. To quote Wiki: In August 1773, in his last illness, Frederick and Seydlitz met again at Seydlitz's home at Minkovsky near Ohlau (now Oława, Poland). The King sat beside his sickbed, horrified at Seydlitz's condition, and even persuaded him to take some of his medications, but Seydlitz would not look at him; the illness had already deformed his face.

I mentioned it once, but not in this much detail, and I'm sure it got lost in the flood of information. This fandom is like drinking from a firehose!

Seydlitz, btw, is the one who got wounded in battle, recovered from his wound, and right before he returned to active duty, wrote to Fritz asking if he could marry someone who could act as his nurse in the hypothetical event that he got injured again someday.

Fritz: Sure! I'm all about marrying for the distant prospect of future medical care. I know you would never get married because you *wanted* to...right?

Seydlitz: Nope, not a bit of it. I mean, what about my entire life history would make you think I'm attracted to women? I'm as pure a Potsdamite as you and your brother! Just like your chamberlain boyfriend, who also married a nurse.

Fritz: I find this argument totally convincing. Permission granted!

Seydlitz, sotto voce: Fritz will let you marry a prospective nurse, spread the word!

ETA: Seydlitz also the one about whom Fritz wrote to Heinrich that his death could have been avoided if only he had listened his doctors ~~like Fritz notoriously never does~~.

Edited 2020-03-04 17:12 (UTC)

And the one on the Obelisk ("this rare man, surviving all dangers, died in the arms of peace"). Lehndorff who socialized a bit with him when Seydlitz was recovering found him very dashing and attractive indeed.

Definitely not at the start. Fritz has to win some and lose some first! Also, if it's after Joseph has married Isabella, it's after October 1760. (Though crack fic of course allows for dates to be mixed and mingled. Given that it's an AU anyway and Fritz got captured.)

Incidentally, whom you don't ask to rescue anyone, or to go on any kind of secret mission: Trenck.

Definitely not at the start. Fritz has to win some and lose some first!

Agreed! The stakes have to be high.

(Though crack fic of course allows for dates to be mixed and mingled. Given that it's an AU anyway and Fritz got captured.)

Yeah, we might have to mix and mingle some dates here.

Incidentally, whom you don't ask to rescue anyone, or to go on any kind of secret mission: Trenck.

Or entrust with anything ever, including his own head (like you said, it's a wonder he didn't lose it sooner!).

but the far greater part would be furious to be in this position and suspect Voltaire didn't care at all, he just wanted to collect glowing coals on Fritz' head!

Ha! And he wouldn't be entirely wrong, either!

Heinrich: Precisely. Also, he's not the only damsel I have in mind.

OMG. OMG. THIS IS THE BEST.

Heinrich would totally do this, too! This is why I love Heinrich, he hits all my buttons, "will rescue brother even though he considers him the worst" and "super competent" and "can be super cold = problematic fave" buttons. <3

OMG. He would not be able to resist. :D

The status-conscious ancien regime time being what it is, it's one thing if the King's right hand man carries the message, and another if yet another person is involved, possibly a servant.

Zero evidence for this, but: is there anything you can think of preventing him from having actually sent AW?

1) AW is the natural mediator.
2) He's plenty high-ranking enough for it not to be an insult.
3) He speaks French.
4) He isn't on Fritz's bad side yet.
5) Fritz likes editing AW out of stories later in life.

Profit?

Could be, and it could equally be that Catt, like Luchesini later, hears these stories more than once during his time with Fritz, with Fritz himself changinge the identity of whom he's sent various times.

AW would actually have been a good choice, though maybe Fritz thought he was too nice and Voltaire would totally be able to talk circles around him and not sign the damn pledge after all? (Given, you know, the 1749 "you blindly believe anything Heinrich tells you!" argument.) Heinrich, btw, would have been an even better choice, between on the one hand a Voltairian Francophile himself and on the other definitely not too nice when he needs something done. Alas, though, he's also Fritz' least favourite brother in 1752/1753, and hasn't proven yet he's the other big military (and negotiating) talent in the family. (A few skirmishes in Silesia 2 don't count.) Fritz probably would suspect Heinrich would instead want to subscribe to Voltaire's newsletter.

it could equally be that Catt, like Luchesini later, hears these stories more than once during his time with Fritz, with Fritz himself changinge the identity of whom he's sent various times.

Exactly what I was thinking. If you're editing AW out, you might forget who you edited *in* last time.

though maybe Fritz thought he was too nice and Voltaire would totally be able to talk circles around him and not sign the damn pledge after all?

Hmm, true. Agree that he's not sending 1752/1753 Heinrich, though!

Fritz probably would suspect Heinrich would instead want to subscribe to Voltaire's newsletter.

Hahahaha. Fritz, we all want to subscribe to the Voltaire newsletter. Even you, admit it. :P

Fritz probably would suspect Heinrich would instead want to subscribe to Voltaire's newsletter.

HEE. Heinrich probably is subscribed to Voltaire's twitter, in fact. (

charmingchamberlain thinks, what has he got that I haven't got?! My nose seems nicer than his...)

What this doesn't tell me, though, is: in which language did Voltaire and Fredesdorf converse? Because while as I said many an entry before, I don't doubt Voltaire did pick up some every day German to order his meals or ask for the way, I doubt it was enough to have the dialogue Catt says Fritz said they had. Did Fredersdorf learn French behind Fritz' back?

I've been wanting to respond to this for a while, but my access to E-Enlightenment was messed up - Oxford University Press was having problems or something.

So this is a bit of a puzzle! Strap in because it's going to be a long analysis.

We have two possibilities: that Voltaire knew enough German to speak to Fredersdorf in the latter's native language, or that Fredersdorf knew enough French to speak to Voltaire in the latter's native language. Of course, the extent of one's conversational grasp of a language can't be gleaned entirely from looking at their written correspondence; it is often easier for early learners to write and understand language in written form than to understand it spoken aloud and spontaneously converse. But correspondences do give us some clues. So let's Enlighten ourselves.

Assessing the extent to which Fredersdorf can understand French:

Voltaire wrote a single letter to Fredersdorf on the 1st of January 1753 (the same day he wrote to Friedrich and a few others announcing his resignation from the Prussian court) entirely in French. Clearly, Voltaire thought that Fredersdorf would be able to understand it. Either Fredersdorf actually knows enough French to read this rather long, complex letter, or it's just an assumption on Voltaire's part that Fredersdorf knows enough to do so; Voltaire does not know Fredersdorf personally, and could be assuming that his command of French is similar to most in the King's company (that is, good enough to read the letter unassisted), or alternatively that he could have somebody read and translate it to him, if he in fact only knows German and Voltaire is aware of this.

There are no letters from Fredersdorf to Voltaire surviving, if he wrote any at all (and there's no indication that he did). All of Fredersdorf's surviving correspondence to Freytag etc in 1753 about the Voltaire Incident in Frankfurt is in German. I'll emphasise here that ALL of Fredersdorf's surviving correspondence is in German, and from here onwards, we're talking about letters that do not survive but are mentioned in others that do by French speakers.

We know that Fredersdorf sent two letters to Madame Denis: once on the 3rd of July 1753, in response to a letter sent to him by her on the 23rd of June, and once, apparently unprompted, on the 12th of August from Potsdam. As I said before, the manuscripts for these letters, including the one from Madame Denis, do not survive. Their original language is unknown, or even whether they were personally written or dictated to somebody else to write.

First, for the July 1753 response letter; he sent this letter to Voltaire and not to Denis directly. We only know about the response because Voltaire quotes from it in a surviving letter to Denis, since of course he needs to relay the message to her somehow. Voltaire's writing on the matter was dictated to a secretary and not written in his own hand. I'll be using the original text for all of these letters:

'Ma chère enfant, Je soufre en paix mes maux, et mes disgrâces, toujours dans le même endroit, et attendant de vos nouvelles. J'ai reçu, il y a trois jours, une lettre de Fredersdorff, premier valet de chambre du Roi de Prusse, qui vous était adressée; elle est du 3 juillet; en voici les propres mots:

‘Madame, J'ai eu l'honneur de recevoir vôtre lettre du 23 juin. J'ai aussi connu le triste sort dont vous étiez tout à fait fâchée. J'espère que tout sera redressé à votre satisfaction; mais il me faut avoüer que je suis étonné d'aprendre que Mr. de Voltaire est mon ennemi, et cela pour les civilités que je lui ai faites, ce qu'il reconnaitra aisément quand il lui plaira éxercer son esprit au sujet de moi; avec cela je ne cesserai de vous éstimer, étant, avec beaucoup de considération, etc.’

Ce stile (et je ne parle pas de la pureté du stile) est aussi vandale que votre avanture.'

Here's an interesting question - why include a quotation and not just enclose Fredersdorf's letter alongside Voltaire's own, if it was addressed directly to Denis in legible French? The answer is that the quote is, of course, in clear French, but that does not necessarily mean that Fredersdorf's original letter was. Tellingly, Voltaire snarks about the 'pureté du stile' of the original letter (note: 'stile' is not deliberately misspelled to make fun of Fredersdorf's own spelling - Voltaire always spelt 'style' that way). If it was written in German, then Voltaire's secretary could be translating for the sake of Denis. If it was written in French, it was evidently in a quite poor style. Based on Voltaire's comment about the 'pureté du stile', with my knowledge of French being very limited, I'm going to tentatively suggest that Fredersdorf wrote in poor French that has been cleaned up for the sake of clarity. Or somebody wrote in French on his behalf, and it was translated from Fredersdorf's German, hence the awkward style.

We know much less about the August letter. This one was actually addressed directly to Denis. She quotes an extract from it (not the whole letter this time) in a letter to Voltaire written on the 26th of August:

'Mais voici ce que le sieur Federsdorff m'écrit de Potsdam, le 12 août: Je déclare que j'ai toujours honoré m. de Voltaire comme un père, toujours prêt à lui servir. Tout ce qui vous est arrivé à Francfort a été fait par ordre du roi; finalement je souhaite que vous jouissiez toujours d'une prospérité sans pareille, étant avec respect &c.'

Voltaire's response to this on the 1st of October is: 'Fredersdorff vous a écrit une drôle de lettre. C'est un plaisant que cet homme là.'

Again, we have no way of knowing whether this quote was verbatim (very unlikely), cleaned up, or translated from a German letter. If he is writing in French, then he's not trying to keep his knowledge of French a secret from Friedrich. Many letters, especially letters in the volatile time of 1753 addressed to either Voltaire or Denis, will be unsealed and checked before they are sent off by anybody affiliated with the King.

Conclusion: His only surviving correspondence is in German. Letters addressed to Madame Denis could possibly have been written in French; if they were, it would point to Fredersdorf being able to write (not necessarily speak) some at least passable French, and that he's not keeping this a secret from Friedrich. But without the manuscripts surviving, it's impossible to tell the original language or syntax.

Assessing the extent to which Voltaire can understand German:

This is significantly easier to analyse since there are actually surviving letters featuring Voltaire's literally transcribed written German from around 1750 to 1753. His writing indicates that he knew more than how to order meals or ask for directions, albeit in a grammatically incorrect way and not with the same level of familiarity as with his English or Italian, but that his professions to 'not understand a word of German' are an exaggeration.

I'll go through his German chronologically in the three years he was at Friedrich's court.

He sends a letter to Friedrich written in German (he probably wasn't pleased about this!) on the 13th of February 1751:

'Allerdurchlauchtigster Grossmächtigster König
Allergnädigster König und Herr,

Es hat zwar der Gegner seiner Schluss Schrift verschiedene nova eingerücket, ja sogar neue Beylagen annectiret, ich will aber um die Sache nicht noch länger aufzuhalten darauf (jedoch ohne alles præjudicirliche Einräumen) nicht weiter antworten, sondern nur Ew. Königl: May: allerunterthänigst bitten auf dasjenige was ex adverso wieder die Ordnung neuerlich angebracht ist in Sententionando nicht zu reflectiren und nunmehro ad Publicationem Sententiæ einen baldigen Terminum allergerechtest præfigiren zu lassen

wofür ersterbe

Ew. Königl. Majestæt

allerunterthänigster

de Voltaire'

From here on he very occasionally likes to include some German in his mostly French correspondence to random Germans, depending on the context.

He thanks Johann Christof Gottsched for sending him a German grammar book for French people on the 25th of April 1753, but he doesn't intend to learn it further: 'Er habt mir mit ein geschench wereheret, welches ich nicht werth bin. Ich bin zu alt um zu lern eine sprache welche si so gut lehren.'

He signs off a letter in April 1753 to Christoph Otto von Schönaich: 'Ich bin ohne Umstand sein gehorsamer Diener - Voltaire.'

Actual correspondence between Voltaire and his temporary jailer Freytag in Frankfurt:

Voltaire on the 22nd of June 1753 (in French): I can't have said anything unpleasant to your lackey, since I don't know German.

Voltaire, literally two days later: 'Messieurs!

Ich habe befolget was Sie vor eine Commission von Ihrem König an mich gehabt. Sie haben mich auch die Wache bis auf 2 Mann abgehen lassen, da mir nun diese noch ein embaras sind, so ersuche ich die Herrn, Sie wollen mir diese 2 Mann auch noch abgehen lassen, damit ich wegen meinen Schwächlichen Umständen die frische Luft geniessen möge. Ich verspreche nebst den allschon auf-gesetzten Billet mich annoch hierdurch zu engagiren das wann ich über kurtz oder lang noch einige pieces welche Seiner Majestaet zustehen finden solte als ein honnet homme an allerhöchst dieselben geträulich ausliefern, ich versehe mich dessen, und bin

Messieurs.'

Would Voltaire have been able to carry a conversation in German with this knowledge...?

Conclusion: Voltaire is not confident in his use of German, but shows some familiarity with the language by 1751. His knowledge of German is much easier to establish than Fredersdorf's potential use of French. How well could he speak it? Not a clue, but his pronunciation would be rather terrible. His written English is far better than his written German, but he was still noted to have a thick French accent by English visitors at Ferney.

My own speculations: If Voltaire and Fredersdorf were to have a conversation, it would probably have taken place in German, but if Voltaire started substituting French words when he didn't know the corresponding German word, it's possible that Fredersdorf would be able to understand.

Masterful analysis! I love the attention to detail. Also, I knew this salon needed E-Enlightenment access!

My own speculations: If Voltaire and Fredersdorf were to have a conversation, it would probably have taken place in German, but if Voltaire started substituting French words when he didn't know the corresponding German word, it's possible that Fredersdorf would be able to understand.

Makes sense to me. Also, his own command of French aside, Fredersdorf might have been used to this kind of code-switching from Fritz already?

Tellingly, Voltaire snarks about the 'pureté du stile' of the original letter

Fredersdorf, I would have avoided venturing into French in this unforgiving environment as well.

selenak, you were spot on.

(note: 'stile' is not deliberately misspelled to make fun of Fredersdorf's own spelling - Voltaire always spelt 'style' that way)

Linguistic note: it's not misspelled at all. It's the historically correct spelling in both English and French, since it comes from Latin stilus. The 'y' spelling is more recent, and is a "misspelling" due to a folk etymology: the belief that it's somehow related to the Greek word στῦλος.

Linguistic note: it's not misspelled at all. It's the historically correct spelling in both English and French, since it comes from Latin stilus. The 'y' spelling is more recent, and is a "misspelling" due to a folk etymology: the belief that it's somehow related to the Greek word στῦλος.

My bad. I had at first assumed that Voltaire's use of 'stile' was similar to his (apocryphal) use of 'poëshie' to make fun of Freytag's French, but checked by search and it's in lots of his letters. That's an interesting linguistic history!

The PhD in historical linguistics comes in handy once in a blue moon. :D

This is another bit of fantastic scholarly analysis! I agree with your conclusions, though I would say that if what Catt has Fritz tell him did indeed happen this way, Fritz would have had to know that either Fredesdorf or Voltaire were holding out on him re: their linguistic knowledge. Behold the scene from the memoirs, in which the messenger is the Abbé de Prades:

Annoyed at this bad faith, and carried away by a movement of anger, I had this diatribe burned. After the burning, I was sorry for it, as I was sorry in what followed for having mixed myself up with the literary and academic disputes of these two madmen. To repair a little of the evil done and to appease Voltaire, I sent the Abbé de Prades to him. I commanded the abbé to say pleasant things to him, and to report to me how he had taken them. The abbé arrived; Voltaire came up to him with a furious expression, which became still more furious when the abbé gave him my compliments. ‘ What, burn me! What, prefer to me that rogue and that Laplander, aupertuis,
to me who was on such good terms with the King of France, my master, and who so stupidly preferred to him this vandal King who sends you! Ah, the b——, the b——, the Archduke Joseph will avenge me!’

The abbé, who came to me immediately after this ﬁne scene, described it to me without missing anything; and I laughed with my whole soul. On the following day, I sent the abbé to ask news of the health of my faithless poet, who knew or suspected that the abbé would come again. What did the author of Mérope then do ? He ordered a bath, had put in it the potherbs destined for his soup, and when the abbé arrived : ‘ Come here, sir, come; see what this man has reduced me to! He is killing me, M. l’Abbé, and I loved him, was faithful to him, corrected his insipid prose and his prosy verses, but he will not escape me, the wretch.’

This second scene, which was rendered to me exactly, made me laugh still more, as you may imagine. There is nothing more comical, my dear sir, than this Voltaire before an illness or the idea of death. My imbecile is then the plaything of panic terrors. He paints for himself a thousand devils waiting ready to seize him. You will certainly hear said, when he is on the point of death, that he had all the confessors and all the priests come to him. He will dishonour us all; never was there a man less consistent than he.

Leaving aside the conculdung Fritzian obsession with Voltaire caving at death's door (which did not happen, but, as Mildred has pointed out, might owe something to the example(s) in Fritz' life who did give into religion at death's door), I can see why de Catt substituted de Prades here. Fritz sending his reader to Voltaire to make nice while getting the message across? Sure. Good choice. Sending his right hand man who supposedly doesn't speak French and at any rate is bound to be seen as an enforcer of the royal will rather than a diplomat? Not so much, if Fritz really did want to make nice at this point. So without Bischoff pointing out the substitution, I wouldn't have guessed, but he's right, for lo and behold, the Catt diary entry this long scene is apparantly mainly based on:

Frédéricdorf (sic) heard: ›Ah, the bugger, the Archduke Joseph will avenge me.‹ He answered: ›There is no ointment for the burn.‹

Quite. (And that's it with this particular entry.) BTW, if that's Fredersdorf answering "there's no ointment to the burn", in whichever language, he apparantly is up to making snarky comments himself.

Edited 2020-03-04 09:25 (UTC)

BTW, if that's Fredersdorf answering "there's no ointment to the burn", in whichever language, he apparantly is up to making snarky comments himself.

I would expect nothing less from Mike!

Fritz would have had to know that either Fredesdorf or Voltaire were holding out on him re: their linguistic knowledge.

I don't think Voltaire was holding out on him necessarily, because he sent that German language letter directly to him early in 1751, I'm assuming to demonstrate his knowledge so soon after coming to Prussia...?

Sending his right hand man who supposedly doesn't speak French and at any rate is bound to be seen as an enforcer of the royal will rather than a diplomat? Not so much, if Fritz really did want to make nice at this point.

Yeah, Fritz was definitely counting on Fredersdorf's presence impressing on Voltaire to act in whatever way. Expanding a bit on Fred's role in the resignation business -

From the resignation letter Voltaire sent to Friedrich on January 1st:

"Mr. Federsdoff [sic] who comes to console me in my disgrace makes me hope that your majesty would deign to listen to the goodness of your character towards me, and that it could repair by its benevolence (if possible) the stigma with which it showered me.

He sent this resignation letter at half past 3, then Fredersdorf is sent to his room at 4. From Voltaire's letter later on the 1st of Jan to Charles Nicolas de La Touche, who he had apparently made his advocate:

"He sent me Federsdoff at four to tell me to do nothing, that he would fix everything, that I write him another letter. I wrote to him, but without denying the first, and I will take no resolution without your kindness and without your advice. As I had the honor of taking you to witness my feelings in my first letter, and as the king knows that according to my duty I have entrusted my procedures to you, it will be up to you to be an arbitrator. You are currently a Minister of Peace, we are proposing it, dictate the conditions."

Fredersdorf had returned the chamberlain's key and Pour le Mérite to Voltaire after he had first tried to give them back to Friedrich, enclosed with his resignation letter, so he could leave Prussia. Voltaire recounts on the 13th of January 1753 to Denis:

"I sent back to the Solomon of the North his New Year's gifts, the bells and the hobby horse that he had given me, and that you reproached me for so much. I wrote him a very respectful letter, and I asked him for my leave. Do you know what he did? He sent me his large/tall/great [could be any of these for grand] Federsdoff factotum, who brought back my brimborions. He wrote to me that he preferred to live with me, than with Maupertuis. What is certain is that I do not want to live with one or the other. I know it is difficult to get out of here, but there are still hippogriffs to escape from Madame Alcine. I absolutely want to leave, that's all I can tell you, my dear child. I have been saying it for three years now, and I should have done it. I told Federsdoff that my health did not allow me to live in such a dangerous climate any longer."

Friedrich seems accustomed to using Fredersdorf's presence as "encouragement" by March 1753, though whether the following event happened is noted by the E-Enlightenment editor as dubious ("was this a verbal message? or is the text of [Fritz letter] incomplete? or is this merely a little flourish?"):

"The King of Prussia sent me cinchona during my illness; that is not what I need: it is my leave. He wanted me to go back to Potsdam. I asked for his permission to go to Plombières: I give you a hundred to guess the answer. He made me write by his factotum that there were excellent waters at Glatz, towards Moravia."

Not sure if Fredersdorf was a physically imposing person, but his position certainly was.

Thank you for this! I've been meaning to ask you: How many letters between Fritz and Fredersdorff are there in the database? We've gotten our hands on a couple volumes published a hundred or more years ago, and we know we're missing some of the correspondence, but we don't know how much. Of course, we also don't know how much was censored from individual letters, but we'll start with "are there entire missing letters?"

cinchona

For

cahn: the bark was used to treat malaria. And possibly other things, but malaria's what I associate it with. We know Fritz had malaria in 1740--he was having a flare-up when Voltaire reports first meeting him and taking his pulse in his sickbed (god knows if this story is true, I'm so cynical about memoirs now, and never more than Voltaire with an agenda). So if Fritz is sending him cinchona and Voltaire is telling the truth at all in his memoirs, there's a haunting symmetry to their first and last meeting. (Fritz having malaria that week is canon and externally attested; Voltaire meeting him at his sickbed may be made up. But something to consider for fiction, at the very least.)

Not sure if Fredersdorf was a physically imposing person

We've always seen him described as tall. Our headcanon is that he was just short enough not to be recruited by FW as a Potsdam giant, but much taller and he would have been.

His height is a plot point in the absolutely delightful excerpt from his secret diary crackfic that

cahn wrote. (

cahn, ILU!) It's based largely on Wilhelmine's account of her visit to Berlin for Christmas of 1732.

re: sickbed first meeting, true or not, it occurs to me that Fritz or Algarotti (if he was still around for the meeting) might have mentioned how that went down in their letters to third parties, ditto for Voltaire writing home to Émilie or Parisian friends, since this was a big event in their mutual lives and advertised to all and sundry.

Mind you, given their rethoric at the time, the descriptions could just say "I met the Apollo from Prussia, the Salomon of the North" and "The Sage of the Ages, the Greatest Star of the Enlightenment, I met him at last!" with no useful details like sick bed and pulse taking mentioned.

On the side of "at least plausible": Voltaire in 1740 is already a tried and true hypochondriac knowing all the illnesses. He meets the guy who spent the last four years courting him via letter in the most glowing terms, and whom he thinks might be the philosopher king he's hoping for, with him in the flattering role of pacifist Aristoteles. At any rate, he's a potentially very useful royal patron and protector. And the man is sick. Pulse checking would be a psychologically plausible gesture for Voltaire.

Good thinking. I was looking through the Wilhelmine letters, and I haven't found a mention of Voltaire, but I did find this reference to his fever:

No, my dear sister, I don't take cinchona nor febrifuge; I only use the most innocent remedies.

But he has no problem advising Voltaire to take it in the 1750s, interesting.

Also, lol, his "I'm going to Strasbourg" letter goes like this: "An essential business trip takes me to Strasbourg." Uh huh. Well, in 300 years, Fritz, no one's been able to figure out any business besides sightseeing that I'm aware of.

Pulse checking would be a psychologically plausible gesture for Voltaire.

It's definitely plausible, in much the same way that Trenck being locked up three months later than he was was plausible, but Voltaire might not have met Fritz until Fritz was capable of sitting up and receiving him.

Will keep my eye out for other mentions in correspondence. Anyone with access to E-Enlightenment is encouraged to do so as well (as time permits), hint hint! :)

Will keep my eye out for other mentions in correspondence. Anyone with access to E-Enlightenment is encouraged to do so as well (as time permits), hint hint! :)

Friedrich writes to Jordan about Voltaire's visit. No useful descriptions here, but lots of Jordan worship, on the 24th of September 1740:

Very respectable inspector of the poor, disabled, orphans, madmen, and small houses, I read with ripe meditation, the very deep Jordanian letter which I have just received, and I resolved to bring in [Google Translate is struggling here] your scholar stuffed with Greek, Syriac and Hebrew. Write to Voltaire that although I had refused, I changed my mind, and that I wanted his little Fourmont [referring to Etienne Fourmont, a librarian/reader Voltaire had recommended to Fritz during his stay]. I saw this Voltaire whom I was so curious to know, but I saw him having a quartan fever and my mind was as confused as my body was weakened. Finally with people of his kind you must not be sick, you must even be very well, and be better than usual if you can. He has the eloquence of Cicero, the sweetness of Pliny, and the wisdom of Agrippa. In a word, he brings together what it takes to combine the virtues and talents of three of the greatest men of antiquity. His mind is constantly working, each drop of ink is a stroke of esprit from his pen.

He proclaimed Muhammad I to us, an admirable tragedy he did. He transported us out of ourselves, and I could only admire him and remain silent.

La du Châtelet is very happy to have him, because of the good things which escape him, a person who does not think, and who has only memory, could compose a brilliant work of [his table talks].

[He snarks about Emile's writing and then...]

I'm waiting for my fever tomorrow. I am a little exhausted from the trip, without having lost the desire to chat. You will find me very talkative on my return, but remember that I saw two things that have always been very close to my heart, namely Voltaire, and French troops. If I had not had a fever, I would have been in Antwerp & in Brussels, I would have seen Brabant, this Emilie so amiable and so learned. We spoke highly of her, and what I say, not looking at her book, which she could have spared.

Write the time of my arrival. Friend, I appreciate it, because I worked, and I will still work as a Turk, or as a Jordan.

Farewell, very educated, very learned, very deep Jordan, or rather very gallant, very kind & very jovial Jordan. I greet you by assuring you of all these old feelings that you know how to inspire in all those who know you like me. Vale.

Voltaire mentions that he's seen the King of Prussia to Nicolas Claude Thieriot, and laments that his recommended librarian lad wasn't accepted (but Fritz changed his mind), but that's pretty much it.

Voltaire briefly mentions the first visit to Wilhelmine, after having visited Friedrich another time, in a letter dated the 26th of September 1742:

The King, your most august and most amusing brother, ordered me not long ago to pay him court in Aachen. I saw him, madame, carrying himself like a hero, making fun of the doctors and taking baths for his amusement. I found nothing changed in him except his face which I had seen, two years ago, made thinner by the quartan fever, and which has now grown quite round, which well becomes a crown of laurels; two more victories have made him neither less human nor less affable.

Those are the only mentions I can find. No info, except Friedrich was thinner in 1740 than he was in 1742.

These are great quotes, no matter the lack of pulse feeling, also, they definitely establish Fritz was visibly sick when Voltaire saw first saw him, which is why I think that gesture would have in ic.

Finally with people of his kind you must not be sick, you must even be very well, and be better than usual if you can. He has the eloquence of Cicero, the sweetness of Pliny, and the wisdom of Agrippa. In a word, he brings together what it takes to combine the virtues and talents of three of the greatest men of antiquity. His mind is constantly working, each drop of ink is a stroke of esprit from his pen.

Fritz feeling he’s been at less than his best on that longed for occasion: how much of that is true, and how much a preemptive disclaimer just in case Voltaire was less than impressed, I wonder? Also: „sweetness of Pliny“? Pliny the elder, the naturalist who died while evacuating people from Pompeji, never struck me as „sweet“ in any fashion (I haven‘t read all, but I did read some; very informative, very matter of factly, utterly unsentimental). Pliny the younger, the nephew, I know only via some of his letters - one about how his uncle died, which is famous for its description of Pompeiji, and one about his country villa, which is also famous because it‘s one of the most detailed descriptions of how a Roman villa looked that we have. But „sweet“, he‘s also not. I dare say Fritz is a) employing a popular figure of speech, same way as „the eloquence of Cicero“ is an established trope , and b) getting his Romans confused. The one referred to as „sweet“ is usually Ovid. (Wouldn‘t call Ovid that, either, but it is a popular description among the humanists.)

I saw two things that have always been very close to my heart, namely Voltaire, and French troops.

LOL. I‘m reminded again of Voltaire‘s Roßbach-caused „now he‘s fulfilled his life goals: impress the French, mock the French, beat the French“ oneliner.

The Émilie snark: and he won‘t be over this jealousy even years after she‘s dead....

How many letters between Fritz and Fredersdorff are there in the database?

Literally none. Fritz' correspondence on E-Enlightenment is not comprehensive at all. Right now, it is mostly focused around Voltaire; as in, the letters he sent directly to Voltaire, the letters to his friends concerning Voltaire, etc. Because Project Voltaire is all about making the most comprehensive collection of correspondence for Voltaire, straight from the manuscripts where possible. There's never been any large-scale effort like that for Fritz. Katrin Kohl, Fellow and Tutor in German and Professor of German Literature at Oxford, notes that there are probably loads of his letters in libraries across Europe that have never been digitized. And that's not including the letters that have been digitized but possibly censored, and that MULTITUDES of letters that have not been transcribed, but have had all spelling and grammar corrected (aka all of Preuss). She started a Frederick the Great E-Enlightenment project to compliment the Voltaire Project on the 300th anniversary of his birth (2012), but only the first half(?) of the beginnings of the project was completed. Which included this letter from 1732 that had never been published before cause it was stuck in the Bodelian library:

My very dear Brother,

I was most sorry to learn from your ensign Full that you were ill my very dear Brother, I fear it may be some kind of venereal disease and as you can count on my friendship and on my discretion I beg you to let me know I will make sure you have all the necessary medicine from Dr Miraux of Potsdam no-one will know a word, and I assure you that you can confide your secret to me, I am going to Potsdam on Tuesday, and to Berlin on Wednesday if you have some order to give to the Whores of Berlin you have only to let me know I am keeping ful until tomorrow I hope you will not take it amiss in consideration of the esteem and of the perfect friendship with which I am,

My very dear Brother
Your most faithful
brother and servant
Frederick [in French]

I have received a recruit from your garrison. Just ask Fuhl about this. [in German]

Context: a fellow officer in Fritz' regiment has venereal disease from a brothel - editor's note: "Frederick’s concern to provide medical advice is characteristic of a lifelong interest in diseases and their cures". He spells the name of the ensign three different ways in the same letter (Full, ful, Fuhl) :/

Of course the project is pretty much dead at this point.

I do wish there was a bit of funding or interest to go through and digitize at least the correspondence to and between his siblings.

I could have sworn that I read in a biography or something that after Fredersdorf died, Friedrich sent a letter to his widow asking for their correspondence to be returned. His widow returned most of the letters, which were burned, but secretly kept some for herself, which now survive in the archives. I can't remember where that information comes from or if it's accurate? Any ideas?

Maybe there's more correspondence in here? Or not?

Literally none. Fritz' correspondence on E-Enlightenment is not comprehensive at all. Right now, it is mostly focused around Voltaire

Ah, okay, didn't realize it was so Voltaire-focused.

have had all spelling and grammar corrected (aka all of Preuss)

You know, I should have guessed this. It's too regular. Well, thanks, I guess, Preuss? On principle, I prefer diplomatic editions, but seeing as how we're relying on Google translate, silent corrections have probably been a godsend.

I do wish there was a bit of funding or interest to go through and digitize at least the correspondence to and between his siblings.

So say we all!

I could have sworn that I read in a biography or something that after Fredersdorf died, Friedrich sent a letter to his widow asking for their correspondence to be returned. His widow returned most of the letters, which were burned, but secretly kept some for herself, which now survive in the archives. I can't remember where that information comes from or if it's accurate? Any ideas?

Yep, that came up in our discussion here!

We've obtained the Richter correspondence from 1926, which was "lightly censored", and an additional letter in Burchardt, and that's all. Too bad E-Enlightenment doesn't have more.

Maybe there's more correspondence in here? Or not?

I've actually been meaning to ask

selenak to check that out and tell us whether it's any good or not. It's at Stabi. The only reason I haven't asked is that I've been requesting she read about 1000 books per day, so I have this backlog of things I haven't requested yet. ;) But might as well do it now!

selenak, there's this 2016 book on Fritz and Fredersdorf that may be terrible or gold or consist only of things we already know, only one way to find out!

Next question for your gracious self,

gambitten: does E-Enlightenment have the complete Lady Mary Wortley Montagu correspondence as recently published in 3 volumes?

does E-Enlightenment have the complete Lady Mary Wortley Montagu correspondence as recently published in 3 volumes?

It does not - it has about 20 letters from her. You can find her complete correspondence on Oxford Scholarly Editions Online here. Well, to be more exact, here. I can access it! Are there any particular letters you're interested in?

Sigh. That makes E-Enlightenment less interesting to me. So that's good to know.

Thank you kindly for your offer, but sadly, I don't have particular letters in mind (I've already scanned the Algarotti ones), and was just hoping to be able to read, because from what I saw when skimming through the volumes at the time I had them checked out (for Algarotti), she looked pretty interesting. But alas, it looks like I'm waiting until I can spend $150 on physical copies and then scan them so I can read them.

Thank you for all these quotes. In addition to what Mildred said:

I know it is difficult to get out of here, but there are still hippogriffs to escape from Madame Alcine

That's the Orlando-Furioso (or Händel's opera based on Orlando) referring comparison Voltaire also employs in his memoirs, i.e. Fritz as the bewitching sorceress Alcina.

He made me write by his factotum that there were excellent waters at Glatz, towards Moravia

Glatz is a fortress where Prussian prisoners are locked up. As, for example, Trenck, the first time around.

This is amazing! :D Thank you for this awesome analysis.

Voltaire on the 22nd of June 1753 (in French): I can't have said anything unpleasant to your lackey, since I don't know German.

Voltaire, literally two days later: Ich habe...

HEE. Oh, Voltaire.

Heinrich: German? No, I don't speak German. Not a word.

Heinrich, after a glass of wine that evening: Das will ich Ihnen noch sagen...

Wilhelmine: Brother Voltaire!

She knows them when she sees them!

I somehow forgot to comment on this! (I seem to have gotten a little lost, oops.)

Fritz defends himself by saying he has super secret sources for both anecdotes and so he KNOWS it's true, which is typical

LOL

then he adds fine, a beginning has been made, who, asks Lu, and Fritz says "Canitz", a poet in his grandmother's time.

HAHAHAHAHA oh Fritz, never change.

- Fritz' Gluck dislike is based on having the first act of Orphee performed on an arrangement for Cello, piano and violin. That's it. Totally qualifies him.

This is the bit where I just kind of choked. I... what? Fritz! You're a musician! I expected better of you! I could also totally see Gluck's charm not coming through at all in a trio arrangement, omg.

- if you're wondering how Fritz handles dead Voltaire: Voltaire was the worst! The WORST! Let me read this letter of Voltaire again, and mine to him to you out loud, because there's some fine poetry in it. Also, here's a story of Voltaire being witty. We haven't read Voltaire enough recently. Did I mention he was THE WORST?

...speaking of Fritz never changing!

- at one point they talk about vampires, I kid you not; Fritz of course calls them a total superstition and wonders that there are people who are otherwise sound sceptics who still believe in that stuff, which makes Lu think Fritz might be one of those people after all. (Basis for a vampire AU?)

So I think you meant "those people" to mean the people who still believe in that stuff, but the first time I read it I parsed it as "Fritz might be a vampire." Which I guess doesn't exactly fit (he goes out in the daytime, he probably liked garlic) but would definitely make for a hilarious AU.

MT: All right, generals, prepare to move out. Everyone got their standard-issue silver bullets?

So I think you meant "those people" to mean the people who still believe in that stuff, but the first time I read it I parsed it as "Fritz might be a vampire." Which I guess doesn't exactly fit (he goes out in the daytime, he probably liked garlic) but would definitely make for a hilarious AU.

That is absolutely how I parsed it on the first two reads. That's still how I prefer to parse it, let's be real.

MT: All right, generals, prepare to move out. Everyone got their standard-issue silver bullets?

ROFL. Maria Theresia, Vampire Hunter!

In every generation, there is a slayer. She was Maria Theresia...

There is actually a story out there, in the fandom of the BBC's Merlin series and a historical Merlin/Arthur AU, in which young Maria Theresia sends reincarnated now an Austria officer Arthur vampire hunting in Transylvania. Sadly, Fritz isn't involved, either as Dracula or in another capacity. That AU is still to be written.

So now that the February busyness is over, you're totally writing a broccoli 5 things, right,

selenak? Or

cahn, you're co-authoring with me? I outlined a plot (I hear that's the hard part!), but haven't been able to produce readable scenes.

It occurred to me that instead of being beaten to death for smuggling in outside produce, we could make this less tragic and more realistic by having Katte decide to sneak into the back of the store to look for unshelved broccoli, and of course get caught, and Fritz could watch him get manhandled and dragged out of the store and banned from setting foot in it, so no broccoli for them.

Who's with me? :D

You have my pen, but not this next month, either. I really can't! Though that's definitely the scenario to go for with Katte.

Barring any new developments, you shall hear from me in a month, then! :D

Though that's definitely the scenario to go for with Katte.

I like utterly devoted Katte with terrible judgment. ;)

LOL. Hmm. I can't promise to have a lot of free time, but contact me and we'll work something out. ~~make me an offer I can't refuse~~ /oops, too much channeling Mike F.

Yeah, I like that MUCH better. Geez. The store guards would of course all be very tall!

~~make me an offer I can't refuse~~ /oops, too much channeling Mike F.

Hee! It involves MT and Wilhelmine having lunch. You can hardly refuse that, can you? :D

Mike F is the best of all possible consiglieri. <3

The store guards would of course all be very tall!

Goliaths, in fact!

Okay, more Pangels, i.e. "Königskinder im Rokoko", because I figured she might actually have some quotes etc. we're not yet familiar with. Which she did. But it's still bizarro world, one to rival Zimmermann's.

Since I summed up Straight!Heinrich and Heinrich/Bentinck!shipper Lehndorff already, it won't surprise you that Fritz himself is of course also utterly heterosexual. The sole person who ever said otherwise, and I mean EVER, was Voltaire. What started Voltaire's grudge against Fritz, we may ask? Well, his scorned love for Ulrike, of course. You see, Voltaire truly fell in love with her, and Fritz firmly in his replying poem rejected this love. In no uncertain terms. And thus Voltaire took the petty, petty revenge of accusing Fritz of gayness and slandering his name ever since.

(Émilie is Madame Not Appearing Or Existing in this volume on Fritz' siblings.) (This despite the fact she shows up in the replying poem written by Fritz.)

The preface already tells us Fritz was the bestest brother ever. He indulged and spoiled his siblings like you wouldn't believe, only beeing firm when the state was at stake (AW) or the other party was being a brat (Heinrich).

Wilhelmine: her section is basically a summary with ample quotes form her memoirs and the correspondance, plus some ambassadorial reports (as from Guy Dickens about the infamous FW beating her up), so not much new there, except two poetry quotes. One is from the poem Fritz wrote to her before her death, and it is touching, and very Rokoko, and very Fritzian. It's basically: "Gods, don't take my sister from me, take my life instead! Preferably, I want us to die on the same day, and buried in the same tomb, so our dust can intermingle and we're never ever separated again." The quote from Voltaire's poem (final version) wants the inscription on her tomb to be "she has loved".

Friederike Luise & Sophie: aka the two with the horrible marriages and sinking into depression. Yeah, that. Depressing and short chapters.

Charlotte: our author's favourite. Equipped with a cheerful temper (one can see why Fritz called her a Harlequin who is great at making people laugh when talking to Mantteuffel), solid head-of-Hohenzollern loyalties (first to Dad, then to Fritz), but enough of a mind of her own to become the first family member interested in German literature; she employs one of our all time great writers, Lessing (he of "Minna von Barnhelm", "Emilia Galotti" and "Nathan the Wise" plays) as a librarian in Wolfensbüttel and does her own translation of Wolff into French. The downside of Charlotte, not counting whether or not she flirted with future Margrave as Wilhelmine accused her of having during the early 30s, is of course her ruthlessness towards her kids. Pangels admires her for sending her sons out like a Spartan mother (they're supposed to be heroic as befits a Hohenzollern or not come back at all), sympathizes with her for disowning Elisabeth, first wife of FWII, and chides Anna Amalia, who apparantly described her Hohenzollern style upbringing in her own memoirs (which I haven't read) as "loveless", hence her determination to raise Carl August (Goethe's bff) differently, as having had no sense of humor.

Ulrike: I mentioned Voltaire the scorned lover, avenging his broken heart by ruining Fritz' reputation. Otherwise, Ulrike is just too honest for own good, hence the sad fallout with son Gustav much later. Otoh, this chapter had some neat and amusing info - Ulrike and Amalie grew up in the same rooms, and Amalie who was probably the most musically gifted other than Fritz & Wilhelmine - though they all liked music - started to hammer on the piano, err, cembalo from toddlerdom onwards which drove Ulrike crazy, and even once Amalie could play, she insisted on practicising endlessly. This had the result that Ulrike became the one sib with an aversion to hearing music until well into her queendom, when listening to a cembalo made her nostalgic. Citation is letters from Ulrike to Amalie, ruefully reflecting on this.

Amalie: Pangels thinks Trenck's is probably a fantasist (remember, this book appeared in the 1970s, so before the letter from Trenck to Amalie was found), though she notes one of Trenck's daughters ended up as lady-in-waiting to Amalie. If Trenck wasn't a fantasist, Pangels thinks he was disgusting because he mentions Amalie helped him out financially in their young days right after saying they wer eeach other's first loves. Also Pangels thinks Trenck was guilty of treason, so had anything coming Fritz was dishing out.

Again, there's a new quote, to wit, one of those things Amalie said that made SD hit the roof in the final year. According to the French envoy (not Valory, his successor), Amalie's comment on the Prussia/Britain treaty in February 1756 was: "Another stroke of genius by my brother which will set the rest of Europe against us." Bearing in mind that the French envoy isn't unbiased, this still sounds like Amalie was a clever woman to me.

AW: gets off better than I had assumed from the Heinrich chapter until the 7 Years War starts. Pangels grants him a good disposition and sincere love of his older brother. If also a regrettable weakness for younger brother Heinrich. Also, new to me fact - AW was the recipient of a dog letter as well! When Biche was pregnant, Fritz wrote in her name to AW, offering him to be the godfather of the pub. What's more, he wrote this letter in German. (!!)Pangels quotes from it. I don't recall it from the Trier archive, btw - victim of algorithm? Or of Preuss' selection?

Starting with the war, the AW characterisation goes as you'd expect from the Heinrich chapter. He makes mistakes, is too proud to admit it was his fault entirely, despite the entire family urging him to reconcile with Fritz, and basically commits suicide by fighting against his doctors and having no more will to live. ("The entire family" is rich. I mean, the sisters did urge him to make the first step because Fritz is King, true. But Heinrich and Ferdinand had a decidedly different opinion.) Pangels, btw, does the same editing/distorting thing Andrew Hamilton did when quoting from Fritz' condolence letters on the subject, picking here a sentence and there a sentence to provide us with loving Fritz and incomprehensible hostile Heinrich.

Ferdinand: "knew his limits", which, I guess, yes. Came this close to being a schemer in his incomprehensible hate-on post AW's death he shared with Heinrich, but, knowing his limits, didn't do anything about other than writing bitchy letters about Big Bro in reply to Heinrich's. Pangels is again full of regret about poor, poor, Fritz, surrounded by such completely unearned vileness when all he ever did for Ferdinand was be nice to him. But probably his early opinion as voiced to Manteuffel was true after all, it's just that Ferdinand didn't have enough initiative to act on his hate. Still, seeing as he was the sole brother with a successful marriage, he must have done something right, she admits.

Extra bonus: Pangels' explanation for the "enstrangement" between EC and Fritz, to be found in the Wilhelmine chapter. Drum roll: EC was taller than Fritz. This couldn't be hid, and thus caused subconscious resentment and aversion. If not for that, they could have been happy. Because Fritz was straight, and good. As opposed to Heinrich, who was straight and bad.

...I feel like sending Eva Ziebura flowers right now. And incidentally, I do judge Pangels in a way I'm not judging Zimmermann, who just amused me. Not least because it takes more than het bias to read the Lehndorff diaries and come up with heterosexual Heinrich and exclusively heterosexual Lehndorff. It takes deliberate, intentional falsification. Good grief, woman, what possessed you - the ghost of Henri de Catt?

Dear lord. Please send Ziebura flowers from all of us.

I guess Pangels was worth it just for the cembalo anecdote, that was *so* adorable.

it won't surprise you that Fritz himself is of course also utterly heterosexual.

I expect nothing less!

Fritz firmly in his replying poem rejected this love. In no uncertain terms.

The best part of this, having read the poem exchange in question, is that Fritz rejected this love in the no uncertain terms of "Forget about my sister! What's she got that I don't? Write me more love poetry, Voltaire! Freaking Émilie."

It's basically: "Gods, don't take my sister from me, take my life instead! Preferably, I want us to die on the same day, and buried in the same tomb, so our dust can intermingle and we're never ever separated again."

Oh, wow. Definitely worth a whole Fritz boot-licking sibling-hating book.

When Biche was pregnant, Fritz wrote in her name to AW, offering him to be the godfather of the pub. What's more, he wrote this letter in German. (!!)Pangels quotes from it. I don't recall it from the Trier archive, btw - victim of algorithm? Or of Preuss' selection?

Preuss, as far as I can tell. Does Pangels give a date? I can double check.

chides Anna Amalia, who apparantly described her Hohenzollern style upbringing in her own memoirs (which I haven't read) as "loveless", hence her determination to raise Carl August (Goethe's bff) differently, as having had no sense of humor.

Ms. Pangels, I feel sorry for your kids, if you have any.

he must have done something right, she admits.

Like be taller than his wife?

Drum roll: EC was taller than Fritz.

*spittake*

Good grief, woman, what possessed you - the ghost of Henri de Catt?

HAHAHA. Well, we hear Catt may have had it in for Heinrich, so maybe! Catt is infinitely more critical of Fritz in the memoirs, though, and "endlessly chill and forgiving" does not describe his Fritz. Ghost of Wilhelmine would have done some of this, but hardly all of it...ghost of SD? Who probably knew all about being taller than her husband? (Was she? Please tell me she was, that would be so awesome.)

Tangentially, I read a few more pages of Asprey, and I spoke too soon in my last write-up. Now that Fritz is king, it's time to talk about how important it was to make Prussia a great European power, because the alternative was continuing to wallow in Austrian humiliation, and how great it was that Fritz learned all these important lessons from Machiavelli so he could live up to his awesome destiny of making Prussia great (for the first time) that his dad had failed so badly at.

Look, Asprey, I'm willing to read about Fritz the great military and even political genius. I realize that this was the dominant narrative of your day. But when you start getting on board with his *program* rather than just his skill, in 1986, I start to ask myself...if you can't do facts (Koser, Preuss) and you can't do opinions (Blanning), what can you do? Lively similes about backward worms and demented insurance salesmen? Okay, I will keep dipping my toes in for that, but don't expect a glowing report in that annotated bibliography that

selenak and I should put together someday.

Cembalo anecdote - wasn't it just?

The best part of this, having read the poem exchange in question, is that Fritz rejected this love in the no uncertain terms of "Forget about my sister! What's she got that I don't? Write me more love poetry, Voltaire! Freaking Émilie."

I know. But then, she who can read entries like "January 7th: Grand cour at the Queen's. I stay but a moment and then withdraw with my dear H. How much I enjoy being alone with him! What little reason I have leaves me entirely as soon as this dear creature captivates me. Why is man so weak! Without this passion, I could live as a philosopher. I spend a charming evening with him. We read. This pleasure gets interrupted by the arrival of young Lb (Lamberg?). But as I come with my dear H, I manage to be alone with him again" as translating into "Lehndorff really ships Heinrich/Bentinck and is into Heinrich confiding in him about that affair" can easily turn that poem into, well, what she did.

Preuss, as far as I can tell. Does Pangels give a date? I can double check.

Yes. Fritz' letter: May 1749. AW's letter of reply is dated Spandau, 27th May 1749.

Ferdinand has given me the letter in which Biche invites me to be godfather to her pub. I accept this offer gladly. I do not dare to say "Who loves the master, loves the dog" in order not to look like Sancho Pansa, who talks in sayings. But you can guess that I'm regarding it as an honor to become a family member to Biche. Loyalty and affection, so rare with humans, are so much shared among her kind that it shames all who do not have these qualities. Yes, there is nothing in this world from which one can't draw a useful moral! Biche alone would provide material for several volumes of it. May her descendants inherit all her good qualities, and may she, after rising from her puerperium, continue to give you examples of her loyalty. Having thus sung Biche's praise, I remain....

The poem to Wilhelmine

If fortune which rules us without bending
demands a bloody sacrifice - then, you gods,
illuminate its judgment thus
that its choice falls solely on me.
Then I will be obedient and without complaint
await the inevitable death
turning his steps from my sister
using his scythe on me.
But if the favor I am asking for
is too high to be granted to a mortal,
oh my gods! Then grant me this
that we both on the same day
descend to those plains which are surrounded by laurels
and cypresses, to that stay of eternal peace
with one grave enclosing our intermingling dust.

That's the poem he's showing Catt in the diary and memoirs both and sending to Voltaire when demanding immortal poetry in return.

ghost of SD? Who probably knew all about being taller than her husband? (Was she? Please tell me she was, that would be so awesome.)

I honestly have no idea. It would be great! The sole problem with the ghost of SD is that SD herself doesn't come across too well in the Wilhelmine section of the book. Not just via quotes from the memoirs, Pangels also gives us SD's letters after the fateful lunch with MT happened. (Told you about that.) You do have a point about Catt's Fritz not being eternally chill, though. How about Zimmermann's ghost then?

Asprey: if I read Pangels for the occasional good quote, you can read Asprey for the occasional good simile, I suppose, but... yeah.

Edited 2020-02-27 14:57 (UTC)

Yes. Fritz' letter: May 1749. AW's letter of reply is dated Spandau, 27th May 1749.

Preuss has nothing from May 1749 at all. Phew, it's not the algorithm!

ghost of SD? Who probably knew all about being taller than her husband? (Was she? Please tell me she was, that would be so awesome.)

I honestly have no idea. It would be great!

Headcanon until proven otherwise! She was Olympia, after all...

The sole problem with the ghost of SD is that SD herself doesn't come across too well in the Wilhelmine section of the book.

Hmm, that is a problem. Zimmermann it is!

Fritz wrote in her name to AW, offering him to be the godfather of the pub.

As I recall, one of his dogs, Diane, later wrote a poem to FW2's wife, asking her to be the godmother and also suggesting she follow the doggy example by kicking out some pups of her own soon.

Fritz: Look, I don't have kids for my family to stand as godparents to, I have dogs. It's an even bigger honor, I promise. :P

But the real question is: who gets the puppies? AW in 49 already has kids (one of which he's not allowed to raise), and Louise probably would love to have one for company, too. Since it's a godpuppy of her husband's and all. :)

Pangels also offers a great new Elisabeth factoid: when one of Ferdinand's daughters saw her later in life and was ultra embarassed what to say, Elisabeth cheerfully said to said daughter's companion, a Schulenburg, that the last time she'd seen him was when he was escorting her to Küstrin, and how was he? Absolutely no remorse or shame displayed. Good for her.

Good question. What did happen to the royal puppies, I wonder?

Absolutely no remorse or shame displayed. Good for her.

Good for her!

What did happen to the royal puppies, I wonder?

I suspect favored courtiers and/or military types and/or the younger generations of Hohenzollerns were given them - AW's kids, Ferdinand's kids, Madame Camas whom Fritz and his siblings venerated, young Adelaide Keyserlingk as a wedding present - those kind of accasions. And then later also the great nieces and nephews.

Fritz: There's still one puppy which needs a good home and above all a royal staff ready to care for it. Hm, whom to choose?
Podewils: Rather than sending your portrait to Vienna, maybe your majesty should consider presenting her Austrian majesty with a dog?
Fritz: NO.

Hahaha. Not after Biche got captured at Soor, nooo.

He should have presented Joseph with a puppy at Neisse, though. That would have been a nice touch.

What started Voltaire's grudge against Fritz, we may ask? Well, his scorned love for Ulrike, of course.

*chokes*

" Preferably, I want us to die on the same day, and buried in the same tomb, so our dust can intermingle and we're never ever separated again."

That is touching and rococo and Fritzian, and one of the Fritzian things about it is that I'm as usual like "...that was one orientation and two sex drives away from being a terrible scandal, wasn't it."

"Another stroke of genius by my brother which will set the rest of Europe against us."

Yeah, that sounds pretty clever to me too. Poor Amalie. (Poor women in 18thC, including Everyone In Your Comment.)

OK, remind me, is Charlotte the one who had the daughter who was shockingly actually a good mom?

AW was the recipient of a dog letter as well!

Awwww!

his incomprehensible hate-on post AW's death he shared with Heinrich

*headdesk*

Drum roll: EC was taller than Fritz.

I... wow... I am sort of inarticulately flailing with wrongness over here :P

...I feel like sending Eva Ziebura flowers right now.

Can we send her fan mail, at least? Although I suppose fanmail from mildred and me might not be wholly appreciated -- "we can't actually read your writing but we LOVE IT AND YOU ARE AWESOME!!"

Edited 2020-03-02 16:57 (UTC)

one of the Fritzian things about it is that I'm as usual like "...that was one orientation and two sex drives away from being a terrible scandal, wasn't it."

Yup. Every time I imagine a het Fritz and two people who enjoy sex, I'm like..."I see almost no way to a non-incestuous scenario here."

Although I suppose fanmail from mildred and me might not be wholly appreciated -- "we can't actually read your writing but we LOVE IT AND YOU ARE AWESOME!!"

I don't know, that might be extra appreciated! :P After all, it's the content, not the style that we're all appreciating.

Certainly

selenak's role as intermediary is appreciated by all and sundry. :D

Jessen, as I've found out, may have been published in 1972 in paberback - which is what the ebook version shows - but the original book was published in 1965, which makes the Prussian bias more understandable. I should add that it's more a bias that shows itself by letting out stuff - for example, we get documents about civilians fleeing in the 7 Years War, but solely ones that experience distress from non-Prussian soldiers. No quotes like that from Mitchell's reports about Prussian plunderings in Saxony. And Fritz' histories are always taken at their word.

Otoh, there really excellent original documents on the MT side of things provided as well. Like these letters to Joseph, getting across her personality, the mixture of mother and sharp minded sovereign, and the relationship really well.

From September 14th, 1766, in a letter which obviously isn't just about Joseph:

My dear Son -
(..) be careful to enjoy yourself by making malicious quips. Your heart isn't yet evil, but it will become so. It's high time not to indulge yourself in all the puns, all the witty sayings which only aim at humiliating other people, to make them look ridiculous; this is how you estrange yourself from all decent people and make them believe that humankind doesn't deserve to be respected, even while one has distanced through one's own actions everything which is good until only villains, imitators and flattering admirers of one's own talents are left, and only they are still getting entrance in one's heart.

After this long sermon which you will forgive my heart for - I do love you and my countries all too much - I will draw a comparison for you regarding your gifts and indulgences. You are a coquette of the mind, and wherever you think you can find ésprit, you run after it without applying judgment. A pun, a particularly adroit phrase occupies you, you may read it in a book or hear someone say it. Then you use that phrase at the next opportunity, without considering wether or not it really fits, perhaps like your sister Elisabeth with her beauty. She may please the Swiss guard or a prince, she doesn't care and is content and does not want anything else.

As I am closing this letter, I am taking your head with both hands, embrace you tenderly and wish you will forgive me for boring you with such long speeches; only look at the heart which has produced them - I want only for the world to love and esteem you as you deserve. I always remain
your good old mother

This is is one way of saying "Don't be like Fritz, you don't want to pay the human price" without ever mentioning his name. Fast forward to more than a decade later, and Joseph is like Fritz in the worst way, i.e. by invading Bavaria. Here's Mom trying to argue him out of it, on March 14th, 1778, very much belying son Leopold's claim that she was half senile:

The obstacles and dangers which were predictable from the moment things were set in march to Bavaria have now happened and keep piling up. Consequently, I would be unworthy to bear the name of Princess and Mother if I would not act according to circumstance - without considering how far my own existence could be affected. Nothing less than the loss of our House and Empire, perhaps even an upcoming revolt in Europe could be at stake. No sacrifice is too much to prevent this misfortune in time. I'll gladly play the scapegoat, even at the risk of my reputation. May people call me crazy, weak and cowardly - nothing will stop me from tear Europe away from this dangerous position. I don't know a better way of spending the rest of my miserable life. (...)

I must draw a picture of our military and political situation, and I am all the more obliged to do so as anything further will be the consequence of the step I am about to make, which I owe to my conscience, my duty and my love. The King of Prussia's army outnumbers ours by thirty to fortythousand men, especially in the cavalry. His position is far more advantagous, we have to march twice that far in order to get where we would need to get to. He has fortresses, we don't have a single one. We have to protect far stretched countries but we would have to withdraw all the troops form them and leave them unprotected to any invasion or uprising. This is the case with Galizia, in which less than two hundred horses and seven bataillons of old invalids remain. The province is open to anyone, after we hardly got it; it is anything but secured. The spirit of freedom there hasn't been soothed, and the nation has proven that it is determined if anyone fans the flame. The King of Prussia and for that matter the King of Poland and the en tire nation won't hesitate to use their advantage at the first given opportunity, especially since now the law of the strong prevails, and no one will feel it harder than we will.

Hungary, too, is free of troops, and in its close neighbourhood, the war between Russians and Turks will start anew. The Prussian dealings with Constantinople are known, and the latest letter of the King of Prussia don't leave any doubt that he won't leave any method untried in order to put this particular enemy in our backyard, too, who could take whatever he wanted in Hungary, since it is free of troops and fortresses. If our armies stood in Saxony, or even Silesia - which I doubt they would - or in the Upper Palatinate, it would be impossible to bring help to the two large kingdoms of Galizia and Hungary. We would have to leave them to their sad fate, to the whim of a barbaric enemy and to all the devastation which would be the consequence, and would destroy those countries for a generation. I won't even mention our provinces in Italy, the Netherlands and our new possessions in Bavaria. All of these would have to be given up, and where on earth should we take the means from to conduct this horrible war if we have to give up five countries right at the start? Where should the trust come from which would give us allies and financial resources? And why should our own countries trust us any longer if they see they are getting taxed heavily in peacetime for their defense, but are getting given up in the first danger of a war? Of a war which, once we've started it, would now end with our utter ruin, and this downfall would even be the only method to save Europe, and it would be our own fault. It is this which I will never agree to and never give my blessing to, for everything is at stake. Let's not indulge in delusions. Once the sword is out of its sheath, there won't be any time for reconciliation. The well being of thousands and thousands of human beings, the survival of our empire depend on this. After all which I have said I must tell you that I cannot permit myself to act against my conscience and my conviction; this is neither a mood nor cowardice.

Let's just say that after this letter, Joseph should not have been surprised that she went behind his back and reached out to Fritz when he didn't listen. Not, mind you, that she had softened on Fritz as a person. Here's MT, revealing herself to be either a secret Voltaire reader or just by sheer coincidence hitting up on a suspiciously familiar Voltairian phrase. Context: Joseph has sent her a letter from Fritz. Which is handwritten by Fritz, and thus really terribly spelled. Says Maria Theresia, educated by Jesuits:

I confess my weakness: this writing in his own hand when he's surrounded by 40 000 men, (...) sounding like a theatre king or theatre despot has amused me. So this villain is not as versatile as that, and he would, on this occasion, have been in dire need of someone to clean his dirty laundry again.

Edited 2020-02-27 16:21 (UTC)

That big a difference between 1965 and 1972, huh? Interesting. (My post-1815 history is about as strong as Fritz's spelling.)

This is is one way of saying "Don't be like Fritz, you don't want to pay the human price"

Yes. Yes, it is. I didn't know that Joseph was going down that road, though it makes perfect sense.

Which is handwritten by Fritz, and thus really terribly spelled.

Haha, an unreliable (but plausible) secondary source tells me that his ministers had to read his orders out loud to figure out what on earth he was trying to say.

he would, on this occasion, have been in dire need of someone to clean his dirty laundry again.

Ha! Go MT.

That big a difference between 1965 and 1972, huh?

The Auschwitz trials in Frankfurt start in 1965. (As opposed to the Nuremberg Trials, these aren't conducted by the former Allies but by German courts. Big difference in terms of what they say about and to the population.) In 1967, student demonstrations explode all over Germany. Well, they do that everywhere, but in Germany it comes with a specific rejection of not just the previous generation but the entire mentality that went into it. Also, Vietnam happens, and changes the perception of the Americans among the younger Germans from "nation of democracy, showing us how it's done, and they have rock'n roll, too" to "imperialists". Then young activist Beate Klarsfeld slaps Chancellor Kiesinger (former NSDAP member) in public. Then Germany votes for the first time since the Weimar Republic a Social Democrat Chancellor into office, who governs in a coalition with a small party of moderates, which means this is the first German goverment ever where no coalition member is a conservative of any calibre. And that's when the 70s start. So yes. Big, big social changes and mentality changes and challenging of previous certainties.

Yes. Yes, it is. I didn't know that Joseph was going down that road, though it makes perfect sense.

When your role model is, among so many other things, a famous wit who doesn't care whose feelings he hurts, and you think he's the coolest....

Ha! Go MT.

My reaction precisely. So do we think she did read Voltaire's trashy tell all in her spare time, did one of the Austrian enovys or spies report the quip in the early 1750s, or was that just coincidence?

Aaahhh, thank you for the 1960s German history rundown. Everything I know about the 1960s comes from one US history course in junior year of high school. ;)

When your role model is, among so many other things, a famous wit who doesn't care whose feelings he hurts, and you think he's the coolest....

Yup. And yeah, we've seen people complaining about this trait of Fritz's since at least the 1730s, maybe the 1720s.

So do we think she did read Voltaire's trashy tell all in her spare time

Well, the memoirs weren't published until 1784 (

cahn, MT died in 1780), so if she was reading anything, it was that anonymous 1752 pamphlet. But I don't believe the laundry line is in the memoirs, and it's probably not in the pamphlet. For reasons of anonymity if nothing else. Since my source says Voltaire was bruiting it about Potsdam at the time, I'm betting on an envoy or spy.

Edited 2020-02-27 21:22 (UTC)

Yup. And yeah, we've seen people complaining about this trait of Fritz's since at least the 1730s, maybe the 1720s.

I meant to say when in the other post you reported young Fritz having a go at Gundling as well instead of seeing him as a fellow victim: I think what happened is a classic case of Fritz (and for that matter, Wilhelmine, in a slightly lesser degree but still) developing sarcasm and humor as a defense mechanism. And also because they enjoy it, of course, but it's still something that happened under pressure and became a weapon.

Now, on the one hand they grew up in an abuse situation. (Several of them.) But on the other, they're also near the top of the social order in their world, and once Fritz gets to the top, he never, ever seems to grasp there's a difference between punching up and punching down as far as humor is concerned. Not least because if you're King and you're not talking about your fellow monarchs, you're always punching down. Voltaire is a bit of an exception in that Fritz certainly sees him as the superior writer and wit, and Voltaire himself certainly doesn't see himself as lower in any type of hierarchy, but when things go from bad to worse, it's still Fritz who has the power to burn Voltaire's writings (twice) and get him arrested in neutral territory. After that, I doubt any intellectual would have dared to seriously argue with Fritz.

(Gottsched excepted. You were a brave man, Gottsched.)

But to go back to Crown Prince Fritz: it would have been great if he'd felt some empathy with the non family member who'd become his father's other favourite punching bag. But I didn't really expect it. The odds were too much staked against poor Gundling here: German scholar, FW made him President of the Academy precisely to mock it, not to encourage the arts, FW keeps him around all the time, and lastly, he's the one person FW will even approve young Fritz mocking. I'm so sorry, Gundling. Having a street named after you in Potsdam these days is no compensation for what must have been a hellish life, though I hope Stade and the others were right and you managed to carve out some safe private space with your wife.

What was true for King Fritz is of course doubly true for Archduke and then Emperor Joseph, who outranks even other monarchs at least in theory: any joke at someone else's expense is by necessity punching down. Relieving pressure via humor is something that's understandable on the one hand, but on the other given his social situation just not possible in a way that doesn't end up in him hurting people who can't talk back. And I think that's why visitors like De Lyunes put such an emphasis on MT being "gracious to everyone" however she feels about them in their reports. It sounds like a pretty meaningless social courtesy but in this kind of world, it's really not.

I think what happened is a classic case of Fritz (and for that matter, Wilhelmine, in a slightly lesser degree but still) developing sarcasm and humor as a defense mechanism. And also because they enjoy it, of course, but it's still something that happened under pressure and became a weapon.

once Fritz gets to the top, he never, ever seems to grasp there's a difference between punching up and punching down as far as humor is concerned.

I agree completely. The humor/sarcasm, like so many other things Fritz does, is quite clearly a defense mechanism that he never got rid of. And no, I wouldn't expect it either, not from him.

One thing that I'm pretty sure of about Fritz is that he continued feeling threatened and in need of weapons long after the reason for feeling so threatened was gone. This is basic trauma psychology. And that's part of why he kept breaking out the weapons he'd developed in childhood for the rest of his life. Yes, part of it is because being witty is fun, and partly it's just a knee-jerk habit at this point, and he was unable to grasp that this is not a good thing to do, but people in general have an incredibly difficult time letting go of whatever got them through a crisis, even when they have self-awareness that this is hurting more than helping in the current situation, far more self-awareness than he had. And it so happens that what got Fritz through his crisis was attacking. And he remains a pro-active and reactive attacker for the rest of his life, in every domain of his life.

I'm so sorry, Gundling. Having a street named after you in Potsdam these days is no compensation for what must have been a hellish life, though I hope Stade and the others were right and you managed to carve out some safe private space with your wife.

This.

It sounds like a pretty meaningless social courtesy but in this kind of world, it's really not.

Yes. When I moved from student to instructor, there was a bit of a lag before I discovered that I *could not* engage in the same kind of banter with my own students that I could with my fellow students. And I still wish I could track down the students who fell into that lag and apologize! Had I been an absolute monarch at the very top of the hierarchy, there's a good chance I never would have figured this out.

OK, remind me, who was Gottsched?

Voltaire is a bit of an exception in that Fritz certainly sees him as the superior writer and wit, and Voltaire himself certainly doesn't see himself as lower in any type of hierarchy, but when things go from bad to worse, it's still Fritz who has the power to burn Voltaire's writings (twice) and get him arrested in neutral territory.

Voltaire: Eh, Fritz may be able to get me arrested, but I'm still superior to him, because I am ~Voltaire~ and he is only Fritz. The only person who I might concede might be above me is Émilie, and even she didn't work as ~hard~ as I did, clearly, because my stuff is much more interesting than hers. Like, who really cares about fire, anyway? Not me!

Poor Gundling :(

It sounds like a pretty meaningless social courtesy but in this kind of world, it's really not.

MT <3333333 (And the fact that she grew up relatively un-traumatized!)

Johann Christoph Gottsched, had the temerity to argue with Fritz about German vs French to hilarious effect.

*facepalm* I can't keep up with this fandom! :) Getting there :)

It's high time not to indulge yourself in all the puns, all the witty sayings which only aim at humiliating other people, to make them look ridiculous

Ahahahaha, of course you don't know anyone like that who might be a bad example to your son and you're just, you know, talking about this as a general character flaw, MT!

I imagine ViennaJoe squirmed to get it -- but aside from the corrections it's kind of a lovely mother-son letter, though <3

It is this which I will never agree to and never give my blessing to, for everything is at stake.

Man, this whole letter! <3 MT is as sharp as a tack, isn't she.

I confess my weakness: this writing in his own hand when he's surrounded by 40 000 men, (...) sounding like a theatre king or theatre despot has amused me.

HAHAHAHA I love MT soooo much. I think the most hilarious and lovely part to me is that she calls it a weakness -- anyone less gracious *cough*Fritz*cough* would just be pointing and laughing.

*refreshes page about Stollberg-Rilinger*
*MT bio still not published in translation*

You mentioned you were starting to like Volz (editor of Lucchesini diary),

selenak, so I decided to do my part as librarian for the salon and look into what else he published. And it was quite a bit! A few struck me as of possible interest to us:

German translation of the Fritz-Wilhelmine correspondence, with bonus letters between Wilhelmine and her parents and one of her sisters. Volume 1, up to 1740, is available online and volume 2 is not, but is at Stabi. I'm not sure how many, if any, Fritz/Wilhelmine letters there are that aren't in Preuss on Trier, but at least they're in German, and like I said, there are some bonus letters. I put volume 1 in the library, but the scan quality is kind of terrible, in that it keeps chopping off the bottom of the page, so Trier might be better.

German translation of the Fritz-AW correspondence, which may have Biche letters, I don't know. Not available online. Stabi.

Sourcebook on Fritz & Trenck to supplement Trenck's memoirs! Not available online. Please to be obtaining. ;) Obviously will not contain the 2008 letter, but who knows what goodies it has.

3-volume bio of Fritz that I've seen cited in various modern bios. Curious if he manages to do better than any of the other 1920s biographers and editors. If we decide we like Volz, I can get this one into the library, but I will need our royal patron's help. I'll let you decide if you think it's worth it, after checking out his other work.

Conversations with Fritz, which looks potentially interesting and is now in the Fritzian library. (Different conversations with Fritz than the Catt+Lucchesini ones!)

Volz is also the guy responsible for all? much? of the political correspondence, which I hadn't noticed.

Not Fritz related, he also apparently put together previously unpublished documents on the Comte de Saint-Germain, who is at least not a boring person!

I obviously can't vouch for any of these, but am curious.

Edited 2020-02-27 17:49 (UTC)

Thank you so much! Even a first glance at the first few pages shows me there are letters not in Trier right from the start, some of which I recognize from my audio ut haven't in in written form, and some at least in part new, including one praising Franzl after FS had left, which is a great contrast to Fritz telling Lucchesini decades later he hadn't been impressed back then because FS struck him as avarage right from the start. More about this in a moment, but first, looks like Preuss for all his Fritz adoration edited out some poetry from the early Wihelmine letters. Yes, naturally Fritz rhymes in his Küstrin letters as well. Including the one where he's just heard Wilhelmine has gotten engaged, which Volz dates middle of June 1731. Wheras in the prose text of the letter - which already was known to me - Fritz says he hopes the Heriditary Prince of Bayreuth is amiable, his verses sound a bit differently on the subject of Wilhelmine's impending marriage:

I'd easy bear all fate throws at me
if only I could save you from this marriage!
But now I accept it with bravery
because your friendship gives me the power to.
But you, my dearest, you are willing
to offer your life to the blind devastation of fate
out of love for my foolish self
whom misfortune is using as a monument.
You sacrificed your peace, your heart and your hand,
as proof for the friendship you feel for me.
Oh, I'll never doubt your loyalty, never!
My life would otherwise be bitter remorse. (*cough* *cough*)
Oh doomed madness! You know, for me,
you are the only happiness on earth!
But will you be happy in this marriage?

(Grumbkow: shows up about a month later with BOUNDARIES! advice.)

Also, there's a letter direclty after their awkward and brief reunion during her wedding in December, which he wrote when back in Küstrin:

Most beloved Sister! When the heriditary prince visited me on Tuesday, I unfortunately could not write a farewell letter to you. But, my dearest liberator, there really was no time? I was very sad to have to leave you so soon after our brief reunion without knowing whether we would see each other again. I very well did notice that you were doubting my love, but I swear to you, it has not lessened. Unfortunately, I was lacking any opportunity to prove this to you. But be assured that I feel no less than you do. How could I, and should I not gratefully recognize how good you were to me after I made my entire family miserable through my foolish action and especially you? You should have despised my foolish unfortunate self as the origin of your pains and instead, you sacrificed yourself in order to allow me to escape this labyrinth. No, my dearest sister, I will never be worth the kindness which you have shown to me! (...)No, incomparable sister, don't do me the insult of doubting me! My heart is yours, yours and the Queen's alone. (...) I worship you and love you a thousand times more than I love myself, but never as much as you deserve, for no one can. Farewell! I am, until my death, utterly and completely yours. (...) P.S. Principessa lies at your feet and kisses the hands of her Principe.

(Remember, they had named their flute and lute Principessa and Principe respectively, and according to Wilhelmine's memoirs Fritz had said "I will never love another princess" and she "Then this (prince) shall be your only rival".)

(Volz: the early letters of the Crown Prince sound like those of a troubadour writing to his lady. This is in the Rokoko style.)

And now we come to the following fascinating characterisation of FS. Looks like Franzl wasn't the only one charmed, and I don't see why Fritz would pretend to be to Wilhelmine, who is living in Bayreuth and thus out of parental control re: the letters. (Given he never pretends to be charmed by EC in those same letters, and instead is still growsing about the impending marriage, it can't be that he still fears his own outgoing mail gets read.)

Berlin, March 15th 1732. (...) The Duke of Lorraine has departed today. He is the most charming prince I ever met. He has so much wit, and a noble, free bearing. We have become very good friends, and when people see us together, they must believe us to be idiots because we can't stop laughing and joking with each other. The Duke shows so much ésprit that it is impossible to ever tire of him. He is a wonderful raconteur, and always high spirited. He is very vivacious and yet knows how to control his vivacity in a way that enable him to charm both more sedate people and those like him and me, the foolish ones. I'll tell you some of his zingers when we meet; they will delight you! (...)
The Duchess as Bevern will leave soon with her daughter. We're spending our time making presents to each other. THe King is very satisfied with his daughter-in-law, and gracious towards me. I have hinted to her she should tell me to reccommend herself to you, but she has left her mind and capacity to talk in Braunschweig.
I'm enclosing a little souvenir which I hope will be useful to you in your current situation. At least you can see from it that I love my dearest Mine still faithfully and and truly, and that one could hack me to pieces before claiming I don't adore you. Farewell. P.S. My regards to your husband. If you love me, send me a ribbon you have worn for fourteen days. Don't forget my best to Sonsine. Lolotte (Charlotte) has grown very pretty, and so has Sophie.

Grumbkow: Oh for God's sake.

Edited 2020-02-28 08:24 (UTC)

Oh, wow, this is good! Looks like it's worth getting a hold of the other letters from Stabi, then!

I agree, Fritz doesn't fork over the cost of an expensive salmon to send to just anyone. :P (I'm still laughing at "Look, you really liked the salmon, right?")

The Duke shows so much ésprit that it is impossible to ever tire of him.

See, I don't think Fritz ever said someone had ésprit when they didn't, and we all know that's the #1 most important thing to him. So yes, the charming was mutual.

Fritz telling Lucchesini decades later he hadn't been impressed back then because FS struck him as avarage right from the start.

Lol. Fritz the great editor of history. :P (I can't talk, I have massively edited anything too embarrassing out of my own personal history.)

Yes, naturally Fritz rhymes in his Küstrin letters as well.

Of course he does! We should have guessed something was missing. :P

If you love me, send me a ribbon you have worn for fourteen days.

I remember you telling us about this one! And yes, my first thought was a medieval knight (or troubadour works too) to his lady.

Grumbkow, leave them alone! FW, leave them alone! All they've got is each other. THANKS TO YOU, FW. (And SD.)

I agree, Fritz doesn't fork over the cost of an expensive salmon to send to just anyone.

Heinrich, being locked out from Fritz' larder after the first successful raid: No kidding!

Heinrich: *avenges himself by writing to Mom and telling her to send Ferdinand from Berlin as well, Fritz would gladly babysit him, too*

Ferdinand: *arrives with self made bow and arrow and promptly manages to hit one of Fritz' dogs (not dangerously, it's a self made arrow, but still)*

Dog: *whines indignantly*

Fritz: You are the vilest creature our parents ever produced!

Ferdinand: *not up for this, has trembling lips and teary eyes+

Heinrich *definitely up for this*: No, that's you!

Fritz: *switches tactics and puts two freshly grown fruits into both their mouths* Now will you two shut up and leave me read in peace?

Ferdinand: *munches*

Heinrich: *munches but simultanously moves towards the latest letter from Voltaire*

Fredersdorf: To be continued!

So yes, the charming was mutual. (...). Fritz the great editor of history.

I suspect he was retrospectively embarassed to have actually liked a) his arch nemesis' nearest and dearest, and b) someone who by his own (and his century's) definition of manliness was a complete failure as a man and prince, yet c) somehow for all that for the most part leading a happy life as the nominal first and de facto second highest ranking person of their world, with a spouse who loved him and children who did as well.

I remember you telling us about this one! And yes, my first thought was a medieval knight (or troubadour works too) to his lady.

I had been familiar with the later part of the letter (about EC and the ribbon request), but not with the earlier part about FS. Presumably the audio version thought no one would know or care who the Duke of Lorraine was.

*dies laughing*

Heinrich is a plotter from an early age! I love the throwback to Ferdinand's bad aim. And poor doggy!

Ferdinand: *not up for this, has trembling lips and teary eyes

Chronology note for

cahn: he's just about to have his sixth birthday in a a couple weeks. Yeah, I bet his handmade arrow was non-lethal.

Heinrich *definitely up for this*: No, that's you!

Heinrich will always be up for this! In fact, he'll miss it twelve years after it's gone, much to his own surprise.

Fredersdorf: To be continued!

Lol, is this yet another excerpt from his very secret diary? That's awesome.

Heinrich is a plotter from an early age!

Well, given his lack of brother-toppling conspiracies, his reputation as a schemer has to come from somewhere!

(When I looked up Paul and saw the manner of his death, which, yikes, even for royal assassinatons, that was extra, with son Alexander nearby, and considering Cousin Philppe voted for Louis XVI. beheading in the National Assembly, I was reminded again this really was a century where relations taking that step to actual conspiracy and murder was not confined to the realm of fiction.

Chronology note for [personal profile] cahn: he's just about to have his sixth birthday in a a couple weeks. Yeah, I bet his handmade arrow was non-lethal.

Ferdinand's age during that Mantteufel by way of Seckendorf Jr. conversation is why I was stumped for a while to come up with an explanation causing Fritz to predict he'll be the vilest spawn FW ever sired once he's grown up. But him inadvertently hitting a dog would totally do it!

If I ever discover the semblance of a plot thread to hang this up on, I might make something of this crack fic and call it "Adventures in Babysitting", Rokoko style.

Also, reading Lucchesini and Pangels in short order was a neat illustration of the following double standard:

Fritz, years after Voltaire's death:

Person: So, Voltaire...
Fritz: The worst! The absolute worst! I'm not budging from this. Hand me my Voltaire volume, Lucchesini.

Posteriy: Aw. Poor Fritz. How terribly disillusioned must he have been. Or, as Richter of Fredersdorf letters fame puts it, when summing up Fritz/Voltaire: "Laßt uns den König eine Weile auf seinem Leidensweg begleiten." ("Let us join the king for a while on his path of suffering.")

(Also Fritz: trashtalks Pompadour decades after she's died, complete with revisionings of how she wanted money and titles from him in order to stop the war which he refused to give. Posterity: Well, she did greatly contribute to France not budging from the new Austrian alliance, and also, Fritz just tells it like it is, a maitresse en titre is a whore regardless of glamour.)

Heinrich, yeas after Fritz' death:

Person: So, your brother, der einzige, the genius, the best, right?
Heinrich: The worst. The absolute worst. I'm not budging from this. Now excuse me while I move some of my stuff to Wusterhausen and pretend the last twelve Fritzless years haven't happened.

Person and posterity: OMG. How low can you go, hating on the poor man even after death! Such hatred! How twisted, how warped! That obelisk is "the revolting portrait of a twisted personality" (tm early 20th century US biographer).

Mind you, this is not true for the more recent stuff, but as Pangels, published in the 70s ilustrates, "more recent" really is the last 20 years or so. (Ziebura's Heinrich biography was published in 1999. BTW, think that was the first one to use the Marwitz letters. At least I haven't found any earlier examples so far. It may just be no one before Ziebura bothered to check out the unplublished by Preuss Fritz-Heinrich correspondance in the state archive, but even so, Lehndorff's diaries were published from 1907 onwards, and they already contain the tale.

Ferdinand's age during that Mantteufel by way of Seckendorf Jr. conversation is why I was stumped for a while to come up with an explanation causing Fritz to predict he'll be the vilest spawn FW ever sired once he's grown up. But him inadvertently hitting a dog would totally do it!

Hee! Babysitting five-year-olds is not for the faint of heart!

If I ever discover the semblance of a plot thread to hang this up on, I might make something of this crack fic and call it "Adventures in Babysitting", Rokoko style.

Yes! Who needs a plot, anyway? Also, I totally want to see him babysit Ulrike and Amalie and conclude that Amalie is the nice one (because she shares his passion for music) and music-hating Ulrike is a troublemaker you don't want as your queen, because she broke the cembalo so Amalie couldn't bang on it any more. :P

Fritz: The worst! The absolute worst! I'm not budging from this. Hand me my Voltaire volume, Lucchesini.

Heinrich: The worst. The absolute worst. I'm not budging from this. Now excuse me while I move some of my stuff to Wusterhausen and pretend the last twelve Fritzless years haven't happened.

Lol, and don't forget being inspired to reread the Fritzian correspondence in the throes of the dysfunctional nostalgia inspired by Wilhelmine's memoirs!

I love the other-self parallels here. THESE TWO.

Person and posterity: OMG. How low can you go, hating on the poor man even after death! Such hatred! How twisted, how warped! That obelisk is "the revolting portrait of a twisted personality"

There is a lot of Fritzian double standards. I enjoyed the "temerity" of asking Fritz to pay off your debts. FRITZ! Master collector of sugar daddies for the last twelve or so years! Debts sky high!

as Pangels, published in the 70s ilustrates, "more recent" really is the last 20 years or so.

MacDonogh, following Pangels closely: 1999!

It may just be no one before Ziebura bothered to check out the unplublished by Preuss Fritz-Heinrich correspondance in the state archive, but even so, Lehndorff's diaries were published from 1907 onwards, and they already contain the tale.

Selective reading has definitely been a thing. I am deeply grateful to have had you to share the latest German-language research with us. Who knows what I would still be believing if not for you!

Also, I totally want to see him babysit Ulrike and Amalie and conclude that Amalie is the nice one (because she shares his passion for music) and music-hating Ulrike is a troublemaker you don't want as your queen, because she broke the cembalo so Amalie couldn't bang on it any more. :P

This is perfect. Btw, when I went through the original Italian Lucchesini I thought I spotted Fritz telling Lu that he should have married Ulrike to Peter (III) and Catherine to the Swedes, but when I checked the relevant German passage, alas that's not what he was saying, he just says that Peter wanted to marry Urike. (Which isn't even true, as the footnote diligently tells us; what this is based on was that the Holsteins were offering for Amalie for a while, but Fritz: "I don't want to throw my sisters at people." (Unless I get something out of it.) Apparantly at this point little Peter didn't rate a daughter of the House of Brandenburg and Anhalt Sophie was good enough for him.

Volz "Gespräche mit Friedrich dem Großen" does include the description of the teenage Catherine and Fritz encounter by Catherine herself. It says it's from her memoirs. But the memoirs that are up at Gutenberg start with her arrival in Russia. Now I know Catherine, like Wilhelmine, never finished her memoirs, and also son Paul got the manuscript into his hands after her death so who knows what he censored, but it looks like she's another case of Thiébault and Trenck where some editor cuts out passages of later editions. If so: why the Fritz encounter`?! That's a great story!

Meanwhile, in Volz, one of the later French visitors talks with Fritz about Catherine, in a conversation that starts with Voltaire.

Fritz: Miraculously does not say "The worst!", but instead opens with: Total genius of the ages, Voltaire.

French visitor: Gotta admit, am glad to hear you say that. He'd have deserved to lose your favour, of course, but he's my intellectual hero and our national treasure even after his death, so I'm glad you're still keen on him.

Fritz: Always will be. I'm a calm and generous mind and totally forgave him for the many wrongs he did me. Even when he started to cheat on me with CATHERINE, whom he never said a single mean thing about just because she always kept praising him.

French visitor: Speaking of Catherine: that woman does have some genius, what with ruling a nation of cuththroats with her throat uncut and her on top of things for decades now after starting out as a foreign import loathed by her husband. Something of a problematic start, though, what with the, err, uncertain causes of death of the husband.

Fritz: That guy was a let down, he let himself be dethroned like a child. As for Catherine, she doesn't deserve either blame or credit for getting into power. She was a helpless uncertain woman totally dominated by the Orlovs at that point who had no idea what was going on. They were the ones orchestrating the coup and killing Peter. She didn't realise until after the fact, and then she had no choice but to promote the Orlovs if she didn't want to be killed as well.

French Visitor: Phew. Now I can admire her without rooting for a husband murderess.

Fritz: I don't think you've gotten my point, which is that I'm cooler than Catherine. Who is such a flighty woman that ONE VISIT by Joseph was enough for her to ally with him as well. Prussia/Russia was supposed to be exclusive, dammit! ~~Maybe I should have sent Heinrich a third time.~~

Fritz: Always will be. I'm a calm and generous mind

Oh, Fritz. Never stop making me laugh.

it looks like she's another case of Thiébault and Trenck where some editor cuts out passages of later editions. If so: why the Fritz encounter`?! That's a great story!

Good news: I can get a 2-volume German translation that has the encounter into the library, I'll just need our royal patron's help.

French Visitor: Phew. Now I can admire her without rooting for a husband murderess.

Fritz: I don't think you've gotten my point, which is that I'm cooler than Catherine.

Hahahaha. *pats Fritz on the head*

Prussia/Russia was supposed to be exclusive, dammit!

I guess she didn't get the "Der einzige" memo. :P

This is such a great encounter. Who's the French visitor and what's Volz's source?

The visitor was the Comte Louis Philippe de Ségur, and the excerpt originally hails from "Memoires ou 8ouvenirs et Anecdotes", Vol. 2. S. 126 ff. (Paris 1827).(Volz is good with his footnotes.) Ségur was a French diplomat and writer, on his way to become the French envoy at Catherine's court and making a stop in Berlin to meet Europe's most famous fan of French literature.

Oh, Ségur's memoirs! I feel like I see them get cited a lot, possibly for Catherine material.

Volz is good with his footnotes.

Go Volz! Volz was a good find.

Fritz: Always will be. I'm a calm and generous mind

HAHAHAHAHA um, ok Fritz!

Fritz: I don't think you've gotten my point, which is that I'm cooler than Catherine.

FRIIIITZ! *dies laughing*

Fritz: The worst! The absolute worst! I'm not budging from this. Hand me my Voltaire volume, Lucchesini.
Heinrich: The worst. The absolute worst. I'm not budging from this. Now excuse me while I move some of my stuff to Wusterhausen and pretend the last twelve Fritzless years haven't happened.

Awwww, these two, they're so dysfunctional in all the same ways <3

HAHAHAHA ok Fredersdorf give us more! :D

Oh, I'll never doubt your loyalty, never!
My life would otherwise be bitter remorse. (*cough* *cough*)

Man, I am the most unironic reader in the world, which is my other problem with ingesting history (and biographers, I suppose). I was reading this and thinking, awwww, it's really sweet, and -- why is selenak coughing? -- OH. YEAH. THAT. (And it's not like I'll ever forget about That Lunch, my fave!)

(Grumbkow: shows up about a month later with BOUNDARIES! advice.)

If you love me, send me a ribbon you have worn for fourteen days. (...)
Grumbkow: Oh for God's sake.

HAHAHAHA omg I mean I know this is all very tragic but Grumbkow, I have a lot of sympathy for your position.

The Duke shows so much ésprit that it is impossible to ever tire of him. He is a wonderful raconteur, and always high spirited. He is very vivacious and yet knows how to control his vivacity in a way that enable him to charm both more sedate people and those like him and me, the foolish ones. I'll tell you some of his zingers when we meet; they will delight you!

This is totally fascinating! Also kind of hilarious to read right after reading MT's warnings to Joseph not to be taken in by ésprit Not Like Other People She Might Know :) I wonder if she and Franzl had talks about Fritz's reaction to him :D

I wonder if she and Franzl had talks about Fritz's reaction to him

Well, Franzl had been charmed as well, and undoubtedly he told her right up to her own ascension to the throne they'd have a good ally in this likeable Crown Prince of Prussia. Who even send them a tasty wedding present, don't forget! No matter how much his father complained about not getting an invite.

Post- "Hi, how about you and your girl give me Silesia and I protect you selflessly from the French with my army!" letter that arrived once MT's father had died, I doubt they discussed that youthful meeting again.

I can't believe I left out the most important Volz finding: he was part of a project to translate Fritz's works into German, which means you can now read Das Palladion! It's not the same effect as having Fritz read it aloud to you, and I wonder how much they bowdlerized, but at least it's a start. :D

Wow! And...thanks?

If there's one thing we learned from Lucchesini's diary, it's that part of the royal reader's job duties is reading satirical porn! Just take comfort that you're not starring in said satirical porn. ;) (As will I, as royal librarian, a job title I share with Darget.)

*gets popcorn for this one*

Okay, I’ve alloted myself just two hours per day to spend at the Stabi with Lehndorff, since I need to be doing other tihngs as well, and of course the Stabi is closed at the weekend, but I have to give you now the first installment of the Lehndorff Volume 4 report.

LOL. Our Editor, Dr. K.Ed. Schmidt-Lötzen, says in his preface that while Lehndorff’s diaries post retirement are mainly about his life in the countryside and his estate, our Lehndorff also keeps up an intense correspondence with all the obvious suspects. Editor thanks G. Volz - the very same - for helping him because the excentric ortography of some of those letters, and of the diaries themselves, are a trial, and Volz has gone through the hardcore school of decyphering Fritz letters. Also, our editor doesn’t know whether he’ll live long enough to publish all of Lehndorff’s journals, because looking at all those volumes still ahead, he doubts it. Aw. Editor, some of this material will go up in flames in 1945, so we’re grateful for anything you publish, you’re doing an intense public service, believe me.

Our editor by now is firmly attached to Lehndorff and tells us furtherly in the preface that he thinks Lehndorff would have made a great diplomat if Fritz had chosen to put him into the service (whether in England or elsewhere), and he, editor, can’t understand why Fritz didn’t, unless it was a bias against Lehndorff for being lame. The diaries as preserved in the year 1921 run from April 1st 1750 to October 8th 1806, just a few days before Prussia lost to Napoleon, big time, at Jena.

Now, onwards to what our Lehndorff wrote. Remember, when last we left him, he retired from EC‘s service, said goodbye to Heinrich and went home to Eastern Prussia to his estate Steinort. Which, btw, is in Poland today, along with most other locations I‘ve seen mentioned so far.

In the summer of 1775, there’s gossip in the provinces Fritz is at death’s door and gets wrapped in paper and lead for treatment. Lehndorff, who is corresponding with the capital, thinks it‘s all nonsense and probably inspired by Fritz suffering through a particularly painful attack of gout. Then there‘s this entry. The greatest princess is of course Catherine. The Count of St. Germain is one of the 18th century‘s most successful con men and adventurer‘s, pretending to be immortal. „Mariamme“ is a tragedy by Voltaire about Herod‘s wife.

February 1776: In this time, I make the aquaintance of the famous prince Orlov, the lover of the greatest princess of the world. He arrives in Königsberg under the alias of a Russian major, lodges in the inn „Prince of Prussia“ and remains unrecognized for the entire evening. The next morning, rumor of his arrival spreads, and I meet him at Countess Keyserlingk’s. I liked him a lot. He doesn’t show pride, but a natural behavior, still remembers his old friends and talks about his good fortune with modesty. He shows me the empress’ portrait which is uniquely precious; the painting itself is covered by a flat diamond the size of a dollar. I dine with him, and he shows himself so delighted at finding his old acquaintances again that he’d have liked to stay longer with us, if Prince Lobkovitz, the Viennese envoy at the court of St. Petersburg, hadn’t arrived at the same time. This disturbs him, since he’d wanted to arrive at St. Petersburg before Lobkovitz did, without the Empress knowing about it. He also meets Count Schwerin, colonel in the Regiment Krockow, who has been the cause of his good fortune, and talks with him without restraint.

Staying at Königsberg also allows me to make a charming aquaintance, with the famous Chevalier Sagramoso, the Maltese envoy in Warsaw. (...) He is a polymath with whom I‘ve spent ten agreeable days. He has known the infamous Count of St. Germain pretty well, the one who claims to be eternal and of whom he has told me the following anecdote: At a performance of the tragedy „Mariamme“, he declared he was doubly touched since he had known the amiable princess very well. A lady present who wanted to embarass him adressed him by saying: „Then you probably knew our Lord Jesus Christ as well?“. „Whether I knew him?“ he replied. „Why, so well that I told him after that business in the Temple had happened: My dear friend, this can‘t end well!“ (...)

And we‘re only a few pages into the start of this journal, when guess whose name makes a return appearance:

We talk most of all about the arrival of Prince Heinrich, who will stop in Königsberg on his way to Russia. He has written to me several times, and I could come with him on the journey if I wasn’t worried about leaving my wife, who is pregnant. My dear prince arrives on March 26th. I am endlessly glad to see him again and am always with him. He tells me a great deal strange and extremely interesting things, and I see him part from Königsberg with great regret. A few days later I travel to Steinort, but as I am disturbed by the news that my wife might give birth earlier than supposed, I return to Königsberg on April 28th. My wife immediately takes lodging at my house there, and we await her giving birth until the end of June.

In the meantime, I have made my preparations in order to follow Prince Heinrich to St. Petersburg, my clothes have arrived, and June 9th has been named as the day of my departure. I have received several letters by the Prince which promise me the most pleasing reception, and wherein he tells me there has already been an apartment prepared for me in Zarkoje Selo. But just as I enter the carriage and want to leave, a terrible fever attacks me, and I am -
(This is where the diary book ends, and Lehndorff starts a new volume thusly)

On June 21st at 3 am, my wife gives birth to a daughter in Königsberg most happily. At the same time, I receive a letter from Prince Heinrich announcing he will arrive at Königsberg in the company of the Grand Duke on July 10th. Thus I see myself forced to abandon the plan of a journey to St. Petersburg which I had carried with me through the entire summer. I must admit this is rather painful for me, for I will never have the chance again to get know this country under such pleasant circumstances as they would have been in the company of Prince Heinrich for me. But one cannot fight destiny!

Lehndorff, I dare say your wife would have had something to say about you leaving her just after she’s given birth to go holidaying in Russia with the crush of your life! Though at least she fares better than the other pregnant woman mentioned in these pages. The Grand Duke is Catherine‘s son Paul. Nominally also the late Peter IIII‘s son. Paul is very touchy about the question mark on his paternity and thus is making a point of being as much like (P)Russian Pete as he possibly can, including being a Fritz fan. Prussia cultivates him, of course, since no one has forgotten what it‘s like to be at war with Russians. The following passage also illustrates Heinrich‘s own streak of political ruthlessness, less bloody than that of Fritz but no less cold if needs must. (The need in case being keeping the next Czar in the family.) „We both have the same coldness“, as Fritz would put it.

At July 6th, the serene Prince Heinrich arrives. He shows himself so pleased to see me that I am delighted. We think about a thousand preparations to receive the Grand Duke in the entire country. I am spending the entire day in the company of my adored prince, who tells me a thousand anecdotes about Russia, about the Empress and her entire court which I have to write down at once. The prince was in a very strange situation there. Just after his arrival, he found the Empress full of attitude against us, because the Polish General Branicki has helped Potjemkin to influence her against us. Additionally, he found the Grand Duchess, the sister of our Princess of Prussia, to be dying due to a pregnancy which took a fateful course. For this reason, the Prince spent several days alone without getting to see the Empress. The envoys of other courts were already triumphant and flattered themselves that the prince would not be as successful this time as during his first journey. But then, Prince Heinrich used an opportune moment to get a message through the Empress via General Kaskin to tell her that nothing was more of concern to him than her distress, and that he asked her to use him as she saw fit if he could be of any service to her. Very pleased about the offer, the Empress replies that she appreciates his sincere friendship in her sad situation, and that she asks him to come to her as soon as possible and to take the Grand Duke under his wing, who was wrecked with pain over his dying wife. At once, the Prince follows suit, and he manages to talk the Grand Duke out of the room of the dying woman. He behaves so well that (...) this misfortune is an occasion to win the trust of the Empress and the Grand Duke so thoroughly that even before the later’s wife has expired, there has already been a new spouse arranged, the charming princess of Würtemberg, the great niece of our King and daughter of the most estimable parents of the world. (...) At last after ten days of the most terrible suffering, the unfortunate princess dies without having given birth as the child, a boy, was still attached to her. She bore all the operations with the greatest endurance and died in the same way. (...)
So this entire day passes very agreeable for me; the joy of the prince at my company is so sincere and his conversation is so interesting that the hours pass as in flight. In the evening, he has the kindness to ask me to come with him to meet the Grand Duke the next morning.

So Lehndorff might not have had the chance to travel with Heinrich to Russia, but he gets to travel with him and Grand Duke Paul through the newly aquired Poland, err, even Easterner Prussia. This, btw, is of additional political importance since the inhabitants of Danzig - Gdansk - used to be HRE subjects, Danzig having been a Free City, and are less than thrilled that they‘re now Prussians. Extra bonus for Lehndorff: he gets to lord it over one of Heinrich‘s exes, to wit, Kalckreuth.

(...) On the 9th, we drive through the most beautiful area of the world to Insterburg, always through arches of honor. (...) About a mile away from Isenburg, I see Lieutenant Colonel Kalckreuth whose anger I can spot on his face, as this is the first time that he, who had once been Prince Heinrich‘s big favourite, will see the later after his disgrace. He has written to the Prince and his royal highness has asked me to tell him that he would not treat him badly, but also that there was nothing left between them in his favor. At last, I arrive in Insterburg, where I enjoy meeting Madame General Platen again. She entertains me with all types of outbursts Kalckreuth has made in her presence.

Life is sweet for Lehndorff. (One hopes also for Mrs. Lehndorff and the baby, still at Königsberg.)

On to Danzig, aka Gdansk:

The way to the town Danzig is beautiful, the view of the gigantic crowd splended; all the public stairs, all windows are full of women wearing their most beautiful dresses who greet us in the most amiable way. This is true in all the suburbs of Danzig as well. One has put up tents and prepared a great picknick for the Prince; but the Grand Duke didn‘t want to have anything to do with this, since he declared he does not want to be polite to people who are unkind to the King of Prussia. He really seems to be that attached to our royal house. As he is greeted by the city council with a speech, he only replies with a bow, while Prince Heinrich takes care to speak with such friendliness with them that they are delighted.

That would be why Paul, once he‘s Czar, will end up just about as popular as his legal Dad. He won‘t end much more happily, too. But for now, all is smiles.

18th July. At 8 am, the entire noble company leaves Oliva, and I have to take leave of my amiable prince who has asked me urgently to come with him till Berlin. But I remain firm! Prince Heinrich now gives me a beautiful gift; he presents me with a box of gold, decorated with emeralds and diamonds. Once all the carriages have left, I am amazed to find myself alone at a place which I had seen overcrowded with people just a moment earlier. Since I had spent the night rather badly in a tiny room, I go to the suit where the Grand Duke has been lodging, lie down on a comfortable chaiselongue and sleep there for three or four hours. Then I take my dinner with the Chamberlain Keyslerlingk and the abbot of Oliva.

Bless. After a few more days in Danzig, he goes back to Königsberg to reunite with Mrs. Lehndorff and the baby. Scheming Kalkreuth continues to be a thing, btw, since he‘s in a mini war with the Platens, and Lehndorff, of course, is Team Platen. (And also Team Muwahaa, Whom Is Heinrich Still Fond of Now, Kalkreuth?) And there I must leave him for the weekend.

The Return of Lehndorff! :D :D :D Yay, thanks for the write-up and the two hours of your time in the Stabi. Fortunately, the Fritzian library is open 24/7, so there's no lack of reading material, should you find any time this weekend. ;)

Volz has gone through the hardcore school of decyphering Fritz letters.

"If you can decipher those, you can decipher anything!"
--Fritz's ministers, probably. #InaccurateHistoryQuotes

Also, our editor doesn’t know whether he’ll live long enough to publish all of Lehndorff’s journals, because looking at all those volumes still ahead, he doubts it.

Wow. So can you tell if this is the last volume of the published journals? It was the last one I could find, but admittedly I haven't done a deep dive.

Our editor by now is firmly attached to Lehndorff

After three volumes, who wouldn't be?

he, editor, can’t understand why Fritz didn’t, unless it was a bias against Lehndorff for being lame.

Ha. I think you were right about Fritz not wanting to have to replace a chamberlain doing an adequate (even if he does spend most of his time with the Divine Trio) job in a dead-end position. Also, I don't think there was anything about Lehndorff's personality or association with EC and Heinrich calculated to make Fritz think of him as a candidate for important jobs.

„Why, so well that I told him after that business in the Temple had happened: My dear friend, this can‘t end well!“ (...)

LOL, St. Germain! I should read up on him more at some point. He's definitely full of gossipy sensationalism.

At last after ten days of the most terrible suffering, the unfortunate princess dies without having given birth as the child, a boy, was still attached to her.

Yikes, poor girl.

(And also Team Muwahaa, Whom Is Heinrich Still Fond of Now, Kalkreuth?)

Heee! This is awesome. I'm Team Lehndorff. <3

Looking forward to the next installment from our sparkly hearts hero.

So can you tell if this is the last volume of the published journals?

No. It's titled "Volume I" (of the retirement journals), but then if Schmidt-Lötzen died of a stroke in 1922, it still would be titled this, because he had intended to publish more. A quick googling doesn't tell me when he died, btw, but it did reveal to me where Lehndorff's original manuscripts, both the still preserved diaries and the still saved correspondance and notes, are kept these days. Not in the Prussian State Archive in Berlin, but in the Saxon state archive in Leipzig, along with all the Lehndorff family papers (i.e. including the globetrotter who named himself after the Wandering Jew and thus brought the moniker "Ahasverus" in the family). A quick look in the subsection of our Lehndorf shows me that in the subdepartment "notes, exercise books and diaries", which is here, shows me that in addition to being an avid diary writer, Lehndorff did what we do - he excerpted interesting quotes from historical letters and diaries in notebooks (what with not having the internet at his disposal). And evidently filled two notebooks with quotes from letters by Liselotte (of the Palatinate, d'Orleans, the Liselotte), which were already published in his day. Lehndorff, your taste in whose quotes to be fascinated by can't be faulted. You're one of us! There's also one item titled Brautwerbung Ernst Ahasverus Heinrich von Lehndorffs bei der Oberburggräfin von Tettau um ihre Enkelin Catharine du Rosey from the year 1749, i.e. young Lehndorff asking the Countess von Tettau for the hand of her granddaughter Catharine du Rosey (later to become Frau von Katte instead). Summary description "contains among other things description of intrigues", presumably why the match faltered and the family handed her over to the Kattes instead. The dating of 1749 - as opposed to Lehndorff later mention of it as 1751 - is interesting; either he proposed in 1749 and they were an item until 1751, which is unlikely, I mean, one year between proposal and engagement is the done thing, but not two unless you're a royal and there are endless negotiations -, or he's just misremembering. If the later, it might be because his mother quickly proposed an alternate match in 1751 which he rejected.

If all of this sounds like a quick to the Leipzig State Archive would be great: yeah, if one were able to read unorthodox spelling in Rokoko era French hand written letters and note books with the occasional German sentence! As it is, I am really profoundly grateful for Schmidt-Lötzen's translations and editions.

I don't think there was anything about Lehndorff's personality or association with EC and Heinrich calculated to make Fritz think of him as a candidate for important jobs.

Depressingly, the few times Lehndorff rates messages from the King - via third parties like Eichel or some post 7 Years War official - are rebuffs, as when Eichel told him the King wouldn't grant his request to be allowed to travel with Hotham, or when he's told in 1764 just after the Borck firing the King doesn't want him to hang out so much with young future FW2, either. (1964: remember, also a fraternal year of silence because Heinrich has refused the saluting at the head of his regiment business at the Spandau revue. Being Heinrich's long term friend with benefits and also hanging out with Crown Prince Junior = not a way to endear yourself to Fritz that year!)

Re: would Lehndorff been able to do the job, I'll put my thoughts on this in my reply to Cahn.

I loved the St. Germain quip, too. He was definitely one of the most colourful people of the era.

Edited 2020-02-29 06:16 (UTC)

If all of this sounds like a quick to the Leipzig State Archive would be great: yeah, if one were able to read unorthodox spelling in Rokoko era French hand written letters and note books with the occasional German sentence!

Clearly, we need to attract someone with this skill set into our salon!

As it is, I am really profoundly grateful for Schmidt-Lötzen's translations and editions.

As am I, as well as profoundly grateful to you for translating the translation for us!

Lehndorff did what we do - he excerpted interesting quotes from historical letters and diaries in notebooks (what with not having the internet at his disposal)

Alas, no earthly paradise of DW for him. But he's definitely one of us!

The dating of 1749 - as opposed to Lehndorff later mention of it as 1751 - is interesting; either he proposed in 1749 and they were an item until 1751,

The whole dating is interesting, because it's in late 1748 that the Hans Heinrich male line goes extinct. And Kloosterhuis doesn't have du Rosey cousin marrying Ludolf August von Katte until 1755. If Lehndorff had the misfortune of proposing to her in 1749, just as Fritz was getting interested in finding the Katte cousins an heiress, and then she remained unmarried for 6 more years...that's interesting. Any thoughts on what took so long? I know there were "intrigues," but that's a long intrigue.

I see two possibilities, not mutually exclusive.

a) Kloosterhuis - or Martin von Katte, whom he's after all using as a main source - is simply wrong about the marriage date. As far as I know, marriages are not easy to track down to in that era because unlike deaths and births, they aren't usually entered in the church registry. Either Martin or Kloosterhuis could be basing this simply on the birth date of the first child. (BTW, one reason why I think Lehndorff isn't just talking out of his own bias when saying his cousin is unhappily married is that he writes down that one of her two children dies, she's in despair and doubly so because she despises her husband too much to have another child with him. And Ludolf von K. indeed had only two children, which Lehndorff, writing this in the middle of the 7 Years War, can't have known.

b) Or: Lehndorff was quite young (for the era, and his station) to propose in 1749, 22. He was also a youngest son without land of his own. Yes, he had a job that sounded great - chamberlain of the Queen's is nothing to sneeze at if you're provincial nobility - but it hardly paid huge sums. (By comparison, when he does marry almost a decade later, he's 30, and his older brother has died, which means he's inherited the family estate. It could be that Grandma fron Trettau said he was too young for a marriage, and maybe so was Catharine (since I'm assuming she's definitely younger than him, perhaps only 16 or 17), and they should wait some years until Lehndorff has secured another source of income and has become somewhat older. And then, ca. 1751-ish at the latest and probably earlier, the Katte clan strikes.

(I'm again Fontane the novelist influenced here, not by the Wanderungen. Effi's husband Geert von Innstetten in Effie Briest first proposed to her mother when they were both 20 and was declined in favour of Herr von Briest who is way older and the owner of an estate. When Innstetten is proposing to Effi - who is 16 - 17 yars later, in his late 30s and working in the Prussian administration, he's considered an excellent match.)

Both of those make sense!

BTW, one reason why I think Lehndorff isn't just talking out of his own bias when saying his cousin is unhappily married is that he writes down that one of her two children dies, she's in despair and doubly so because she despises her husband too much to have another child with him. And Ludolf von K. indeed had only two children, which Lehndorff, writing this in the middle of the 7 Years War, can't have known.

If you had mentioned this before, I'd forgotten it. That's really interesting.

Speaking of Ludolf, I was looking up the marriage date, and found that Kloosterhuis says Ludolf "sich an den Eskapaden Hans Hermanns fleißig beteiligte." Took part diligently in Hans Hermann's escapades? This is coming in a footnote to a passage that talks about that intriguing-sounding initiation rite thing involving horses, champagne, the female gender, and the number 3, which I had seen cited around the internet before we got our hands on the volume itself, and also that apocryphal tale about him riding his horse into cousin Sophie Charlotte's parlor. So I guess Ludolf, five years younger than Cool Older Cousin Hans Hermann, took part in all these antics. Which was news to me.

I'm sorry about the bad marriage and the one who got away, but Lehndorff and cousin du Rosey, you missed your chance for so many Hans Hermann anecdotes! Apparently your husband was along for the ride when all the crazy stuff happened.

Unpublished Lehndorff retirement journal: Lehndorff gets all these anecdotes from Ludolf and du Rosey's surviving kid, who takes after his mom and thus bonds with Lehndorff. The anecdotes languish in the Saxon archives to this day, waiting to be read. :P

Took part diligently in Hans Hermann's escapades?

Yes.

Unpublished Lehndorff retirement journal: Lehndorff gets all these anecdotes from Ludolf and du Rosey's surviving kid, who takes after his mom and thus bonds with Lehndorff. The anecdotes languish in the Saxon archives to this day, waiting to be read. :P

LOL. I hope so, for otherwise we're reduced to hoping for time travel body switch with Fontane again. :) Don't forget, though, Lehndorff would have been entirely capable of asking that kid: Ah, but did your Dad know the real hero of 1730, Peter Keith?

Don't forget, though, Lehndorff would have been entirely capable of asking that kid: Ah, but did your Dad know the real hero of 1730, Peter Keith?

LOL. I would LOVE Keith anecdotes, but I would advise against saying "real hero" to a von Katte. :P Body switch with Fontane it is!

Speaking of Kattes (as I usually am), a new development to which

selenak alerted me, was that this painting has been confirmed by Martin von Katte to be of Hans Hermann and his half-sister Elisabeth Katharina. But what struck me was that Martin captioned it as set in the gardens at Wust (the family seat of Hans Heinrich's line).

Now, I could be wrong, but even if Hans Heinrich is currently stationed outside of Wust, which he usually is, it probably would be difficult to have outdoor concerts in the gardens in this small village of Wust and get your portrait painted if you were trying to keep your flute-playing secret from your father, the lord of Wust.

Which means, I think it's reasonable to conclude Hans Heinrich knew about his son's flute playing and was, at the very least, okay with it. Now that I know that Grandpa Wartensleben was the old-school Baroque guy who was responsible for most of Hans Hermann's raising, he may have bankrolled the university attendance and Grand Tour, so that doesn't necessarily reflect on Hans Hermann one way or the other. But if two of Hans Heinrich's children, one of whom isn't even descended from Hans Hermann's maternal grandfather Wartensleben, are getting painted in Hans Heinrich territory, that suggests to me that Roes is probably way off the mark in making Hans Heinrich opposed to flute-playing in Zeithain. I mean, aside from the question of whether it's narratively a good idea to work out your own issues with your father by giving every character a Bad Dad.

I'm with you. Hans Heinrich was cool with his children (male and female) playing musical instruments - like basically EVERY ARISTOCRATIC FATHER EXCEPT FW in the whole era! (Sheesh, Roes, channel your issues differently.)

RIGHT? That was practically how you advertised your membership in the upper classes, by showing *some* interest in the arts, whether it was patronizing or participating or at least consuming. FW was just a lone Spartan out of his time and place.

Sheesh, Roes, channel your issues differently.

+1

so that doesn't necessarily reflect on Hans Hermann

I meant to say Hans Heinrich. Curse the unoriginality of 18th century nobles!

Edited 2020-03-03 22:01 (UTC)

So, talking about Lehndorff's One Who Got Away made me check volume 1 and 2 of the Chamberlain years for Katte mentions again, just in case I missed anything, which I didn't, but I have to give you a day in the life because it's so very Lehndorffian. May 1757:

„I participate in a dinner at the Queen’s. At first, it proceeds smoothly. But when supper is finished, her majesty approaches Count Wartensleben in order to tell him that she’ll take a couple of additional pages into her household. Wartensleben explains to her that this is impossible since he doesn’t have the budget to support them. The queen replies heatedly. Wartensleben gets even noisier, and thus a complete spectacle proceeds. The queen hits him with her fan, her fan breaks into a hundred pieces, she throws them into his face and stalks off angrily. He calls after her that he can’t hold any marshal’s staff without having any wine. (?) In short, the scandal is complete. As far as I’m concerned: I’m playing the amazed spectator, withdraw into a corner with the honored and highly esteemed Countess Camas and talk to her about a new book which has just been published under the title of „Candide“ and supposedly was written by Voltaire. In it, he makes fun oft he people who claim we live in the best of all possible worlds, lists the many sufferings which oppress us, but does so in such a funny and unexpected way that one has to laugh heartily about it.
I throw a ball for the Wreech family on the occasion of one of their daughters to Herr v. Schack. The amiable Frau v. Katt attends. She seems in despair about her marriage which forces her to withdraw to the countryside. Every time I meet this woman, mournful thoughts about our destiny plague me. We would have been happy together. Bad people have torn us apart, after the impossibility of our marriage became clear. We keep meeting and sense clearly we have been meant for each other. This, too, proves we don’t live in the best of all possible worlds! (…)
We bring poor Katt to her carriage which will bring her to Wust and her despicable husband, and return to Berlin, sad about losing the company of this charming woman. On my way back, I have a funny encounter. On the bridge leading to my apartment, I meet my mother. I immediately tell my driver to stop, and so does she. I address her with an innocent face, but then she becomes furious, tells me that she won’t be at home today, despite the fact she had invited me to dinner, and tells her driver to drive. I am thunderstruck and return home slowly, and tell myself that one has to approach the weaknesses of one’s parents with respect. Doubtlessly, she is angry because I socialize with the Wreech family despite them being in extreme disfavour with her because the Dönhoff mentioned her age the other day. That same evening, I attend the Queen where the ladies V. Morien and v. Bredow sing an aria of a wonderful opera.

The queen hits him with her fan, her fan breaks into a hundred pieces, she throws them into his face and stalks off angrily.

EC? Saint EC??

We keep meeting and sense clearly we have been meant for each other. This, too, proves we don’t live in the best of all possible worlds!

You definitely don't. None of you.

. I am thunderstruck and return home slowly, and tell myself that one has to approach the weaknesses of one’s parents with respect. Doubtlessly, she is angry because I socialize with the Wreech family despite them being in extreme disfavour with her because the Dönhoff mentioned her age the other day.

LOL. So Lehndorffian.

EC: I quoted this partly before, but Lehndorff's assessment in that same year of SD's death, after which he had an argument with EC, remember, was:

At her heart, the Queen is a good woman, but she doesn't fit at all as the spouse of the greatest, most estimable and most charming of Kings. (The what of Kings, Lehndorff?) She possesses no dignity, no gift to entertain people, despite being far more talkative than she needs to be. She is touchy beyond measure and so often embarassed when with people of high rank. Now she imagines she'll play a more meaningful role and will come first but doesn't realise one was in awe towards the deceased - i.e. SD - due to her benevolence and graciousness towards everyone. It is a pity that this princess who does have a great many good qualities often gets provoked into a touchiness that one would call brutality in an ordinary person and which estranges a great many people from her which otherwise would be devoted to her.

Lehndorff isn't the only one to call EC touchy towards her courtiers in this period of her life. Sophie von Voß, née von Pannwitz (daughter of the FW puncher, AW's One Who Got Away) writes 1760 in her diary: "At court in the evening. The Queen is in a terrible mood and keeps saying desperate things. This moodiness is a terrible flaw of hers. She always wants everyone to tell her she's right in all things; and that makes every conversation with her so embarassing.

And Lehndorff again: "I know no one who has so few social graces as the Queen does. When one watches her, one would think that fate has put her on the throne by accident. She would have been far happier as the wife of a mayor, since she's happiest when she can talk nonsense in her hiding hole at Schönhausen."

I've said this before to Cahn, but it's pretty clear where the problem is. Two decades into Fritz' rule, it's pretty clear to EC that things with Fritz and his family will never change, no matter how hard she tries. (And that during the war he keeps asking for Amalie whe he wants visits from home, and never from her, just continues to rub it in.) If she's too shy to talk, her in-laws ridicule her; if she tries to make conversation, her own courtiers roll their eyes because they find her so dull. If she takes ridicule from Fritz without complaint, she's a doormat; if she tries to behave like he does, demand everyone's approval in her court, she's a trial. So she does what everyone else does in this system. She takes it out on those in the hacking order below her. Now, Lehndorff also records she apologizes for these bursts of temper (to him, to Wartensleben) a day or two later, but that makes it even worse, because it just furtherly proves her lack of royal dignity. It really doesn't get much better until her sister's star rises with Fritz after the war, and Louise makes everyone be nicer to EC, who of course promptly behaves far less moodily to her court. (I wonder why, head, desk.)

Best of all possible worlds for Lehndorff: at a guess, would consist of three main aspects:

- married to cousin Catharine du Rosey
- Heinrich's favourite (no competing charismatic bastards)
- given an interesting job by Fritz, trusted by the King and graced by the King's attention and conversation

And well, I really really don't see how he could have had all three. I suppose being married and still Heinrich's favourite would have been managable, since actually all of Heinrich's favourites were either already married or married during their relationship with him, and the only time this coincided with the end of the relationship was with Mara. But whether his ideal wife would have been happy in that arrangement - we just don't know enough about Cousin von Katt to say.

But there's no way he could have been both a trusted Fritz protegé and Heinrich's favourite at the same time.

BTW, re: Candide, I don't know whether you've spotted Fritz critisizing Candide to de Catt - he says "what a terrible idea that we're happy when we're being abused" (this is how Bischof's edition translates it - your algorithm says "raped". Now, this actually isn't what Candide the novel says, but I find it fascinating that Fritz would jump on this interpretation - and refute it, even while simultanously telling Catt and Mitchell what a great ruler FW was and that his own behaviour when young had been somewhat blameworthy. It's basically saying in a literary discussion what he can't bring himself to say about his own father and himself, not anymore.

Incidentally: Voltaire seems never to have been tempted to internalize his father's abuse, i.e. you don't get Voltaire saying "you know, looking back, I can see Dad's point, even if he was somewhat over the top about it" at any point in his life. Doesn't mean he wasn't also scarred - I suspect his life long inability to resist pissing off any given authority, his own need for admiration and his need to be financially independent by all legal and illegal means - have a lot to do with that - but being a private citizen NOT going into your father's profession and not getting absolute power apparantly provides you with a key bit of more emotional health.

Edited 2020-03-02 09:05 (UTC)

I don't know whether you've spotted Fritz critisizing Candide to de Catt - he says "what a terrible idea that we're happy when we're being abused"

This is what the diaries say? Huuuuuh. That's surprising to me --

It's basically saying in a literary discussion what he can't bring himself to say about his own father and himself, not anymore.

--oh! I guess this explains it, because if Lehndorff the oft-clueless can figure out what the book is about and not seize on that aspect (which like you say isn't quite accurate, either, although I can kind of see how one could misread to that conclusion) then it's shocking to me that Fritz is doing this, but it makes a lot more sense if he's, well, actually talking about something else entirely.

Incidentally: Voltaire seems never to have been tempted to internalize his father's abuse

Also, I suppose that fact that his actual day job involved writing all kinds of things that mocked everything, especially anyone in power, helped a lot. Like Wilhelmine's therapy-by-opera :)

Touchy, yes, but if you reported that EC hit people, I'd forgotten!

BTW, re: Candide, I don't know whether you've spotted Fritz critisizing Candide to de Catt - he says "what a terrible idea that we're happy when we're being abused" (this is how Bischof's edition translates it - your algorithm says "raped".

Machine translation is a work in progress... ;)

but I find it fascinating that Fritz would jump on this interpretation

Yeah, that's the interesting part to me. Refuting it I find less surprising, especially since he may not be talking only about his father, but about his life as a whole, and especially about the ongoing Seven Years' War.

but being a private citizen NOT going into your father's profession and not getting absolute power apparantly provides you with a key bit of more emotional health.

It definitely helps! I don't know enough about Voltaire to do a thorough compare-and-contrast, but I'm pretty sure "needing to justify why the king should be obeyed at all costs" and "catching myself acting just like dear old Dad" of the Year did Fritz no good at all, even beyond the normal tendency of people to downplay abuse.

As far as I’m concerned: I’m playing the amazed spectator, withdraw into a corner with the honored and highly esteemed Countess Camas and talk to her about a new book which has just been published under the title of „Candide“ and supposedly was written by Voltaire.

HAHAHAHAHA reading this after we had agreed Lehndorff would make a terrible diplomat was awesome. Lehndorff as a diplomat: would ignore the scandals and go in a corner to talk about books!

This, too, proves we don’t live in the best of all possible worlds!

Aww, Lehndorff! <3

I am thunderstruck and return home slowly, and tell myself that one has to approach the weaknesses of one’s parents with respect. Doubtlessly, she is angry because I socialize with the Wreech family despite them being in extreme disfavour with her because the Dönhoff mentioned her age the other day.

OMG. I mean, I know we're getting it from his perspective, but still, total respect to Lehndorff for being nice to his mom here. (I just really get the impression he was *nice*. I wonder how much of that was because he *couldn't* go in the army and so didn't get all the manliness stuff drummed into him. I mean, probably not all of his niceness is due to that! But maybe some of it?)

Lehndorff as a diplomat: would ignore the scandals and go in a corner to talk about books!

Well, to be fair, he'd also talk about the scandals - otherwise no diary entry about Marwitz years after the fact, among others - , but not while they were happening!

I wonder how much of that was because he *couldn't* go in the army and so didn't get all the manliness stuff drummed into him. I mean, probably not all of his niceness is due to that! But maybe some of it?)

I do think there's a connection. No drilling from early youth onwards makes for a very different socialization. Re: his mother, let's not forget he was keenly aware he was the unfavourite among his siblings there - he'd been born after his father died, she couldn't cope and handed him over to his grandmother at first, and then he got crippled and she couldn't cope with that, either, hence various painful treatments to put his leg and foot straight again until that was given up - and so her approval and love was doubly important to him. (When she's in Berlin while it's occupied, he's incredibly worried and very grateful to Peter Keith's widow for taking his mother in.) The rare occasion where he does argue with her: when she tells his (first) wife that her bloodline is inferior to the Lehndorff clan's.

Oh yaaaaaay more of our favorite shiny sparkly diarist!! *sparkles*

Our editor by now is firmly attached to Lehndorff

As are we all :D

and tells us furtherly in the preface that he thinks Lehndorff would have made a great diplomat

LOL. I gotta say that as much as I adore Lehndorff, I don't think he would have made a good diplomat at all. He doesn't strike me as the type to be able to on the fly come up with a good way to tell various people that Fritz didn't really mean that obnoxious thing he said about Franzl! (Or whomever.)

„Why, so well that I told him after that business in the Temple had happened: My dear friend, this can‘t end well!“

I laughed pretty hard at this!

Thus I see myself forced to abandon the plan of a journey to St. Petersburg

You know, I like that he did abandon his plan. I mean, he could have gone and I dare say no one would have thought much about it except his wife (and least of all Heinrich himself) but he didn't, even though it was something he really wanted to do. I mean, maybe my 18th C standards are terribly low at this point, but still :)

„We both have the same coldness“, as Fritz would put it.

This is going in a Fritz/Heinrich dysfunctional siblings fic, right??

He behaves so well that (...) this misfortune is an occasion to win the trust of the Empress and the Grand Duke so thoroughly that even before the later’s wife has expired, there has already been a new spouse arranged, the charming princess of Würtemberg, the great niece of our King and daughter of the most estimable parents of the world. (...) At last after ten days of the most terrible suffering, the unfortunate princess dies without having given birth as the child, a boy, was still attached to her. She bore all the operations with the greatest endurance and died in the same way.

Holy cow. Yeah, Heinrich is cold. Also, that poor princess :(

(And also Team Muwahaa, Whom Is Heinrich Still Fond of Now, Kalkreuth?)

Aww, I'm so glad Lehndorff and Heinrich are still buddies (with benefits??), I have all the sparkly hearts feelings for them <3

Thank you for this!!

(And, seriously, if you do not have hours to spend reading about sparkly hearts, we totally understand. RL is RL! But thank you for doing this!)

I gotta say that as much as I adore Lehndorff, I don't think he would have made a good diplomat at all. He doesn't strike me as the type to be able to on the fly come up with a good way to tell various people that Fritz didn't really mean that obnoxious thing he said about Franzl! (Or whomever.)

I think what he'd been able to do is what we'd more likely call a "cultural attaché" these days. Befriending the locals, with genuine interest in their cultural pursuits, while also advertising what's great about Prussia. (Lehndorff: "We have the best princes in the world!") Now, while serving with EC for decades while finding her very boring - and being present on those rare occasions when Fritz shows up and is rude, like the infamous "Madame has grown corpulent", but also a pre war occasion when Fritz said that all the pretty women had already left the court and what was left were stupid ugly geese - has schooled him in pretense and making a bland face, but on those occasions he wasn't required to say anything. I agree that issueing convincing denials when being put to the spot by some foreign court official, let alone the foreign monarchs themselves, doesn't strike me as something Lehndorff would have been good at. As for hardcore treaty negotiations, trying to get the best deal for your country, good lord. Nope.

I laughed pretty hard at this!

So did I, hence me sharing it. :)

You know, I like that he did abandon his plan. I mean, he could have gone and I dare say no one would have thought much about it except his wife (and least of all Heinrich himself) but he didn't, even though it was something he really wanted to do. I mean, maybe my 18th C standards are terribly low at this point, but still :)

I know what you mean, though I have to point out he was already in the carriage when a fever struck the first time around.

This is going in a Fritz/Heinrich dysfunctional siblings fic, right??

Probably, though it's already in "Promises to Keep". It's something Fritz wrote to 19 years old Heinrich after Heinrich had given him the silent treatment for six months post Marwitz.

But yes, Heinrich being able to talk the husband of a dying woman into an alternate match that keeps young Paul tied to Prussia before she's exhaled her last breath is a pretty good illustration for that. I mean, the original marriage hadn't been a love match, it had been arranged, too, but still. As I told you: just because he was a different type of general than Fritz and was into sparing lives when he could doesn't mean he didn't have that kind of ruthlessness and capacity for inner ice in him as well.

(In conclusion: marriage and childbirth in the 18th century = life threatening and often life ruining enterprise for the women. Hence my letting MT explode when Fritz says to her "what do you know of death?" in AU No.3.)

ETA: I'm also reminded of Heinrich, when Catherine dies, writing to Ferdinand, a letter in wich on the one hand he's sincerely sorry for her death, mourns for her, talks about how amazing she was and isn't too impressed by son Paul, for that matter - "what remains now is very small" -, but on the other hand also notes "Politically, her death is a stroke of luck for us", since Catherine never let being born Prussian herself get in the way of prioritizing a led-by-her-Russia. (Whereas Paul thinks starting where legal Dad left off is just the ticket. Including making the army switch from Russian uniforms to Prussian uniforms. Paul: dead four years later.) Heinrich, like Catherine herself, was quite capable of differentiating between personal relationships and political use of same. Which makes the Hamilton-Pangels "he had no politics beyond "Yay, France!" and only liked the French Revoluton because it was French" such a dumb thing to say. /end of ETA

Aww, I'm so glad Lehndorff and Heinrich are still buddies (with benefits??)

Your guess is as good as mine. They're now in their 50s, which hardly makes them impotent, but more restrained, one would imagine. Also, Lehndorff is married. Whether that translates to marital physical fidelity in this 18th century nobleman - I honestly can't say. There's no mention of having sex with anyone else, but then, he doesn't explicitly write "and then I had sex with Heinrich" in those stormy infatuated 1752 entries, either, it's just that I find it hard to interpret "what little reason I have leaves me when he touches me" and similar phrasings otherwise.

On Heinrich's side, 1776 is two years after Fritz told him "in unprintable language" to dump Kaphengst and Heinrich responded by indeed dismissing Kaphengst officially from his services but also by buying him a palace close to Rheinsberg and writing Fritz his "I hereby report I did dismiss Kaphengst" annoucement from said palace. This means Kaphengst is still sort of there, but only sort of, and he's at any rate not along for the second Russia trip. (Would you bring a good looking hard-partying skilled at sex boytoy along when visiting Catherine the Great? Only at the risk of her keeping him.) And I don't think Tauentzien (son of Fritzian general, will come along on Heinrich's second Paris trip and play that theatre "prank" on Heinrich) is on the horizon yet. So chances are Heinrich travels as a single man on that occasion. "I was with him all day" might or might not mean more than talking happened, but then again, Lehndorff doesn't write "I was alone with him all day", and he does make that distinction in his diaries. This wasn't a private pleasure trip on Heinrich's part, but a political journey, and he wasn't travelling even nominally incognito, as Wilhelmine had done or as Joseph did on his marriage counselling in Paris did. Which meant lots of constant visits by every town official ever.

All of which goes to say: a reunion kiss or several was probably in the cards, but I doubt more happened. Then again: we just don't know!

Edited 2020-02-29 12:09 (UTC)

The cultural attache thing does sound like something Lehndorff would be very good at -- one of the delightful things about him is that he sounds just very interested in everybody <3 Oh man, I hadn't even thought of hardcore treaty negotiations. Nope, nope, nope.

(I recently watched The Merry Widow (in English translation, hence the English title) -- I swear I have opera posts in the queue, someday -- and Lehndorff might make a good Pontevedran ambassador along the lines of Count Danilo's job? :P :) )

Ah, yes, it's in "Promises to Keep," though it didn't immediately ping to me because it's between Wilhelmine and Heinrich -- I would love a Fritz/Heinrich fic where they both got to be cold :D

but also by buying him a palace close to Rheinsberg and writing Fritz his "I hereby report I did dismiss Kaphengst" annoucement from said palace

lolololol, I'm sure you told me about this before but I didn't have the context to remember it then, this is HILARIOUS, Heinrich I <3 your dedication to upsetting your brother!

I'm just glad Lendorff got to hang out with his prince <3

lolololol, I'm sure you told me about this before but I didn't have the context to remember it then, this is HILARIOUS, Heinrich I <3 your dedication to upsetting your brother!

Oh,

cahn, you need to reread the original! Context is Fritz being oddly good at detecting relationships that are doomed to fail, as long as they don't involve him and Voltaire (or possibly Glasow).

Edited 2020-03-02 18:12 (UTC)

the newly aquired Poland, err, even Easterner Prussia

This made me laugh, but just to clarify for

cahn, the part of Poland acquired in the First Partition of Poland was actually West Prussia, which is--logically enough--west of East Prussia.

It's a little bit confusing, because there's the historic region of Prussia, which is in modern Poland, and there's the kingdom of Prussia, which is everything ruled by the Hohenzollerns after Grandpa F1 got permission to call himself a king. And F1, FW, and Fritz, as part of their Kingdom of Prussia, rule only part of historic Prussia and a lot of stuff that isn't Prussia.

Okay, you know what, it's extremely confusing. Let me begin at the beginning. I'll give territories speaking parts, just to keep things readable.

Middle Ages
Brandenburg: I'm the area around Berlin! I'm part of the Holy Roman Empire.
Hohenzollerns: I'm the family that rules Brandenburg. We're electors, which means we get to vote on who gets to be the Holy Roman Emperor.
Prussia: I'm a territory in Poland! I'm not part of the Holy Roman Empire. Oops, now it's 1466 and I'm two territories.

Early Modern period
Duchy of Prussia: I'm the eastern half of Prussia. Check out approximately where I live on this map.
Royal Prussia: I'm the western half. I didn't like how Prussia was being run, so I seceded! I'm an autonomous Polish dependency, which means my Facebook relationship status is "in a relationship with Poland" and also "it's complicated." Check out approximately where I live on this map.
Hohenzollerns: Still here, still in charge of Brandenburg, and busy inheriting, purchasing, and conquering new territories wherever I can. Oh, what's this? It's 1618 and I just inherited the Duchy of Prussia? Sweet.
Royal Prussia: But you still have to pass through me in order to get from one of your territories to another, which means you'd better stay on the good side of the Poles. Which may mean the Saxons, when the Elector of Saxony is King of Poland.

1701
Grandpa F1: Being an elector is nice and all, but I just can't wait to be king! After all, the elector of Hanover is set to inherit England in a few years, and Saxony's got Poland, and I've got to keep up with the Joneses.
Holy Roman Emperor: No kings in the Holy Roman Empire on my watch. You have any territory you inherited outside the HRE, like the Hanovers?
F1: Yup, I got East Prussia right here. Is it okay if I'm Elector of Brandenburg and King of Prussia?
Royal Prussia: King of what?
F1: Okay, King "in" Prussia. Everyone down with that?
Prince Eugene of Savoy: No!
HRE: Yes.
Eugene: Boss!
HRE: Sssh. What could go wrong?
F1: *goes to Königsberg, capital of East Prussia, to get crowned King in Prussia*
Everything owned by F1: *is now called the Kingdom of Prussia*

1713
FW: Coronations are expensive.
East Prussia: You want want the title or not?
FW: Fine. I will go to East Prussia, where I'm technically king, and have an HOMAGE CEREMONY, which is much cheaper, and then I'm coming back to Berlin, where I live, and I will continue to act like a king here.
FW: Also, have you noticed that the Kingdom of Prussia looks like this? How the fuck are you supposed to defend that? With no natural borders, the only way to do it is with a ~~really tall~~ army.
Europe: Are you implying if you had a single cohesive territory, you'd be less militaristic?
FW: Well, no. The whole thing just kind of gives me a hard-on. But it's also politically necessary!

1731
Fritz: Fine. If I'm going to be stuck in Küstrin while you force me to learn boring things like whether my ancestors acquired Magdeburg in a game of cards or whatever, instead of useful things like Aristotle's rules of poetics, lemme have a look at this map here.
Fritz: Oh, holy fuck that map. We need to fill in some gaps! See that big gap between Brandenburg and East Prussia. We need that for so many reasons.
Royal Prussia: *stinkeye*
Fritz: Don't you stinkeye me. You think I'm an effeminate poetry-writing peacenik now, just you wait.

1740
Fritz: *goes to Königsberg, capital of East Prussia, to get an homage ceremony recognizing him as King in Prussia*
Algarotti: *rides in the carriage and trades poems about orgasms and bums*
Hans Heinrich: *rides in a different carriage*
Europe: Hmm, lotta military preparations there, Fritz! You thinking about grabbing the rest of Prussia? Juliers and Berg? Silesia? Something else?
Fritz: Can you keep a secret?
Europe: Yes!
Fritz: Well, so can I!
Fritz: *invades Silesia*
Reader: Wait a minute! That doesn't fill in any gaps! I thought you were an expansionist because of your scattered territory.
Fritz: Also because it gives me a hard-on. And Silesia is so much wealthier and at least as strategically important as Polish Prussia.
Ghost of Eugene: THAT. THAT could go wrong!

1742, 1745, 1748
MT: *signs over control of Silesia*
Fritz: I'm Frederick the Great, and I'm King OF Prussia. Deal with it.
Royal Prussia: Still here? Still not yours?
Fritz: THE GREAT HAS SPOKEN.

1763
MT: FINE. You get to keep Silesia. But the rest is mine.
Fritz: I get to keep Silesia? Wow, was that harder than I thought. I'd like to not do that again.
Europe: HARD SAME.

Early 1770s
Trouble: *is brewing*
Europe: *does not want war*
Fritz: Even I don't want war! And I won the last one. By which I mean my map looks the same as it did before the war started.
Heinrich: Interested in changing that? I hear you've been eyeing the rest of Prussia since I was 5 years old.
Fritz: Does it lead to getting involved in a land war in Asia?
Heinrich: Nah, my BFF Catherine says as long as she gets a share of Poland, she's on board with it. We'll have to let Austria get a share, of course.
MT: The poor Poles! What did they ever do to deserve this?
MT: Also, which part is mine?
Fritz: *snark*

1772
First Polish Partition: *takes place*
Fritz to Royal Prussia: Come to papa!
West Prussia: I used to be Royal Prussia, but now I'm part of the Kingdom of Prussia. Old Fritz made me into a province called West Prussia, because I'm west of East Prussia. That last bit is the only non-confusing part of the whole deal.
Kingdom of Prussia: I now look like this.
Hohenzollerns: We no longer have to make nice to the King of Poland to get from one part of our kingdom to the other!
Danzig: Go look carefully at West Prussia on that map. See that little white piece along the Baltic coast that *didn't* make it into the partition? That's me! I'm a major port city, I'm super important, and I used to be part of the Hanseatic League, a commercial trading alliance among economically important cities during the Middle Ages. Twenty-first century readers may know me as Gdansk. I'm one of the cool kids.
Fritz: *scowl* I wanted to get you as part of my deal, but everyone else said noooo.
Danzig: Can't touch this! Ha.

1793
Second Polish Partition: *takes place*
Danzig: I'm part of Prussia now.
Ghost of Fritz: Ha!
Danzig: :-(

1795
Third Polish Partition: *takes place*
Poland: I'm Sir-Not-Appearing-On-This-Map any more.
East Prussia: I'm the white spot on that map that didn't get divvied up, because I already belonged to the Hohenzollerns.
FW2: Technically, Uncle who always said I was a good-for-nothing, have you noticed I acquired more territory than you and your brother put together? Including Danzig?
Ghost of Fritz: THE GREAT HAS SPOKEN.

Coda
Pomerania: This is all blatant Pomeranian erasure!

mildred_of_midgard: Sorry! You're just as confusing with your several parts and several meanings of your name, and the overlap of various Pomeranian regions with various Prussian regions. There's only so much I can cover in one write-up before everyone is totally lost. Maybe next time.

This, btw, is of additional political importance since the inhabitants of Danzig - Gdansk - used to be HRE subjects, Danzig having been a Free City

Is that what Lehndorff and/or the editor says? I was under the impression that although it was a Hanseatic League city, it was a Royal Free City of Poland, not an Imperial Free City, and Wikipedia agrees with my memory. I'm seeing no evidence that it was ever part of the HRE. But I'm open to new evidence.

are less than thrilled that they‘re now Prussians.

In 1776? My memory and every source I've checked tell me that it wasn't acquired by Prussia until the 1790s. (My memory said second or third partition; internet is telling me second, 1793.)

Edited (George not elector yet) 2020-02-29 04:39 (UTC)

*applauds*

Splendid Prussian historical-geographical run down!

re: Danzig - what the footnote (to Paul not wanting to talk to any Danzigers because they're not nice to Fritz) said was "Friedrich was unhappy with Danzig not wanting to be part of Prussia", and I, typing and translating during my two hours, didn't look up when Danzig actually came under official Prussian control and just made an assumption. Ditto for Hanse city vs free city of the HRE, I just recalled that it had special city status while typing without looking it up. Hanse city makes much more sense, though.

Pomerania: LOL.

cahn, you might or might not recall that Lehndorff in his entry on Fredersdorf marvels that a guy "from the most backward Pomerania" made it to the top. Also, Gustav when having it out with Mom about her calling his heir a bastard threatened to send Ulrike to the Swedish part of Pomerania, because that's a thing, too. Today's Germany has a state called "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern", but most of formerly Prussian Pomerania is in Poland. There's one creepy German song for children which people date either originating the 30 Years War or to the 7 Years War, which goes thusly:

Maikäfer flieg/dein Vater ist im Krieg/ die Mutter ist in Pommerland/Pommerland ist abgebrannt/ Maikäfer flieg

(Maybug fly/ your father is in the war/ your mother is in Pomerania/Pomerania has been burned down/ Maybug fly)

(The first recorded instant of someone writing that down is in 1800, but whether it came into being in the 30 Years War or in the 7 Years War has been debated ever since. Pomerania got scorched in both wars. (And then again in WWII.) I sang that song as a child, too, without knowing where the hell Pomerania was, since even Vorpommern was in East Germany behind the Iron Curtain.

I, typing and translating during my two hours, didn't look up when Danzig actually came under official Prussian control and just made an assumption.

Aha, that makes sense. I would not have looked it up in my two hours in the library either! But you've surprised me with things like "chocolate: not just a beverage!" before, so I have to ask. Also, I did make a couple chronological mistakes during the initial write-up that I fortunately had time to catch and edit myself before you woke up and caught them. ;)

Maikäfer flieg/dein Vater ist im Krieg/ die Mutter ist in Pommerland/Pommerland ist abgebrannt/ Maikäfer flieg

(Maybug fly/ your father is in the war/ your mother is in Pomerania/Pomerania has been burned down/ Maybug fly)

Oh, wow, that *is* a creepy song. A surprising number of children's songs are, actually.

I sang that song as a child, too, without knowing where the hell Pomerania was, since even Vorpommern was in East Germany behind the Iron Curtain.

Lol!

By the way, this does mean Trenck was definitely not in Prussian territory when he was captured by Fritz in Danzig. It's also quite possible that he traveled around East Prussia to get to Danzig, by land or by sea. It was still a hell of a risk, coming that close to Fritz's territory, but it's not quite as stupid as actually returning to Prussia.

Oh, ha! I just refreshed myself on the date of Trenck's capture, and it's 1753. Year of Fritz arresting people in free cities outside his territory, I guess! (The other one being Voltaire in Frankfurt, for those who may benefit from the chronology reminder.)

Geneaology-wise, I also spotted that Trenck's mother was a Derschau, and I've now found that he and the guy who interrogated Crown Prince Fritz and generally made him miserable before the interrogation, were first cousins once removed. Interrogator being of an older generation, of course.

Well spotted! Btw, Wilhelmine mentions Derschau the despised as being "of the Austrian party, and well suited to them" in the 1720s court. I assume FW made him interrogator to have someone he was certain would not be sympathizing with Fritz.

re: Trenck, though: what I'm curious about - how did the Prussians know he'd come to Danzig to be arrested? Someone kept an eye on his mother just in case all those years? Trenck being Trenck, his whereabouts were known due to flamboyant scandals? (If he did get it on with someone at the Russian court in the meantime as claimed.)

I do find it interesting that no one writing in the 1750s of those testimonies I've read mentions Trenck's arrest and subsequent imprisonment sans trial. I don't just mean Lehndorff but the various foreign enovys. You'd think at the very least the Austrians would be interested, whether in a "thank God, now he's someone else's problem" or a "zomg, person who is actually now one of our citizens got arrested on neutral territory!" manner, but: crickets. Now if Voltaire got arrested that same year, it explains some of it, because the Fritz/Voltaire showdown by the very nature of the people involved is going to grab the most of everyone's attention, but it's still interesting that only memoirists writing well after Trenck's own memoirs were published, like Thiébault, bring him up.

Conclusion: as opposed to Voltaire in Frankfurt, or for that matter Glasow three years later when Lehndorff hears not only about the arrest but the accusations/suspicions because everyone gossips about them at Easter, this must have been handled in an absolutely hush-hush manner.

Well spotted!

Now that we're getting to know all the minor characters, we can figure out how they're all related via those intra-nobility marriages! Even

cahn is spotting minor characters from the same family and wanting to know how they're related. ;)

how did the Prussians know he'd come to Danzig to be arrested?

That is an excellent question. Perhaps the Volz sourcebook on Trenck+Fritz that you're going to get from Stabi when it's open (right?) will tell us!

I do find it interesting that no one writing in the 1750s of those testimonies I've read mentions Trenck's arrest and subsequent imprisonment sans trial. I don't just mean Lehndorff but the various foreign enovys.

That's really interesting. Not having read the reports, I hadn't noticed that was missing. Is it possible our Fritz-sympathetic editors like Jessen have just edited those documents out? But you're right that Lehndorff doesn't seem to know, which means it must be less of a scandal than Glasow.

Conclusion: as opposed to Voltaire in Frankfurt... this must have been handled in an absolutely hush-hush manner.

Lol, now I'm trying to imagine handling Voltaire in a hush-hush manner. Even if you managed to lock him up in a place where he couldn't smuggle out polemics about how you are the ABSOLUTE WORST, I feel like the sudden silence in and of itself would be suspicious.

Europe: Hmm, it's been awfully peaceful on the Voltaire front lately. Only foul play could explain this.
Europe: *eyes swivel toward Fritz*
Europe: We're curious about all those visits to Magdeburg you've been making lately. Care to explain?
Fritz: What? Wha-yes, yes, I have lots of troops there. It's very important that I review them at least twice a month. Yes, this is a new practice I'm experimenting with. You say Voltaire's gone missing? I hadn't even noticed, frankly. Why would I pay attention to that SCUM OF THE EARTH?
Fritz: *publishes anonymous pamphlet in hopes people will attribute it to Voltaire*
Fritz: *fools no one*

It's indeed possible that Trenck-mentioning envoy reports simply haven't made it ito publication. However, the Trenck/Amalie romance was really popular among late 19th and early 20th century novelists, and the debate on how much or little truthful Trenck was raged on, so I would assume if, say, an Austrian report that mentions him did exist, this would have made it into print a long time ago. Especially since the archives in Vienna were far less censored than the ones in Berlin (not just to historians; by the 20th century, novelist Stefan Zweig can look up Joseph's letter to Leopold about their sister's marital sex life or lack of same), and even in the 19th century, Austrian historians would probably have downright enjoyed publishing anything embarassing to the Prussians. Especially since the majority of German historians swallowed the Hohenzollern version of history so completely that when stuff like Arneth documenting that the "MT wrote a dear sister/dear cousin letter" tale was pure Prussian propaganda and not fact happened, it took eons to sink in (with some laudable exceptions).

(We don't have all those Seckendorf reports to Eugene about Junior's marriage plans that destroyed the legend of the evil Catholic plot thanks to Prussian archives, I don't think.)

Lol, now I'm trying to imagine handling Voltaire in a hush-hush manner.

Agreed that this would have been impossible, even if they were no witnesses to the abduction and Voltaire didn't manage any message smuggling, by the very nature of his silence.

(Voltaire: I've been locked up in the Bastille itself and used the opportunity for publicity. You think some second rate Saxon prison is going to shut me up... Luc? Do you?)

However, the Trenck/Amalie romance was really popular among late 19th and early 20th century novelists, and the debate on how much or little truthful Trenck was raged on

I eagerly await your report on the source book. :D

(Voltaire: I've been locked up in the Bastille itself and used the opportunity for publicity. You think some second rate Saxon prison is going to shut me up... Luc? Do you?)

Luc: I just wanted to put you in a birdcage and come visit you regularly so you could talk to meeeee, and only me, Der Einzige. Is that too much to ask?
Voltaire: At least in the Bastille, I didn't have to listen to your verses!

you might or might not recall that Lehndorff in his entry on Fredersdorf marvels that a guy "from the most backward Pomerania" made it to the top.

Ohhhhh! I forgot it was Pomerania, but I remember the backward part :)

Man, creepy songs for children are creepy. (I sang somewhat creepy songs too as a kid, but as far as I know they didn't have any historical basis.)

This is hilarious, but more to the point extremely informative and clear about something which I probably should have asked about ages ago, thank you!! (I am also terrible at geography, unsurprisingly.) This is characterization by geography! :) It was kind of amazing looking at all those gaps in the map and then how they got filled in (but not by Silesia :P )

Prince Eugene of Savoy: No!

Ha!

MT: The poor Poles! What did they ever do to deserve this?
MT: Also, which part is mine?

LOL MT! My problematic fave! :D

It's so complicated I would have given it to you ages ago if I'd been able to figure out how! First person for the regions was a breakthrough. It also probably helped that by now you have enough context for some of these things to be meaningful.

This is characterization by geography! :)

Hee hee, yes it is. Also characterization *of* geography.

And I learned that Fritz did not do the snark that I thought he did! (Although let's be real, he probably snarked inside his own head, if nowhere else.)

To round off Jessen: he has of course the MT to Joseph quote I worked into my Fritz & MT fanfiction, from 14th Sepember 1766 ("But has this hero who won himself such fame, has this conqueror a single friend? Doesn't he have to distrust the entire world? What kind of life is this, that has humanity banished out of it?").

It also has Joseph's report on his encounter with Fritz in Neisse, wherein he tries to demonstrate to Mom how he's kept his cool, because he's the rational fanboy. The letter is dated August 29th, 1769:

Dear Mother, at last you shall have some disconnected news about my strange journey to Neisse. (...) The King has overwhelmed us with politeness and friendliness. He's a genius and a man who talks wonderfully well, but he doesn't say a word which does not betray the rascal in him. I do believe he wants peace, not out of the goodness of his heart but because he recognizes that he can't win anything by going to war. I've asked him about all kind of things. (...) But I can't possibly tell you all, since we were in conversation for at least sixteen hours per day with each other. (...) Anyway, everything showed his fear of Russia's power, which he also wants to transmit to us. Regarding religion, he was very restrained, even with malicious zingers. He talked with the greatest respect about you, and with much respect of Kaunitz.

(Kaunitz is MT's and later Joseph's first minister.)

Volz, bw, has a more thorough version of Joseph's letter in his "Gespräche mit Friedrich dem Großen", but the Jessen edition is fairly representative for what he says. I must say, all the "I totally saw through Fritz, Mom!...during the sixteen hours per day we talked to each other" cracks me up to no end. (I mean. 16 hours? Per day?)

Incidentally, Fritz had brought Heinrich along on this first trip, but Joseph, unsurprisingly, had only eyes for Fritz. Something else the original documents in Jessen and Volz tell me is that in order to be polite, Fritz and his entourage wore the Austrian white uniforms "to spare the Austrians the sight of the Prussian blue (they) have encountered on the field so often", as one of the Austrian delegation was told, who in his letter snarked, you know, we could have born the sight, and also it wouldn't have showcased the King's tobacco snuff as much as the white uniform did.

BTW, MT also took some tobacco, though not as much as Fritz did. She does, however, mention it in a letter to a female friend as something good for keeping you awake and alert and sends snuff box with the stuff in it. Considering her working schedule had similar hours to Fritz' schedule, this is not surprising. It's a drug for sleepless workoholics, alright. (Neither of them considered smoking it, though.)

And here's the letter I already mentioned to Heinrich. The treaty of the First Partitioning of Poland is dated to March 4th, 1772. On June 12th, Fritz is on a tour through his newly aquired territories to inspect them and writes to Heinrich (sorry about the one somewhat antisemitic crack):

I have seen this Prussia which I basically received from your hand. It is a very good and advantageous aquisition, both for the political position of the state and for our finances. However, in order not to awake too much jealousy I'm telling everyone who wants to hear it that I have only observed sand, fir trees, bracken and Jews on my journey. In any case, this land will cause me a lot of work, too, for I believe Canada to be as civilized as Pommerellen; no order, no districts. The towns are in a pitiable state. Kulm, for example, is supposed to have eighthundred houses, but there are only a hundred standing. (...) As far as the army is concerned, I've found the entire cavalry of this area to be as good as hours. Regarding the infanty, the garnison regiments of the province equal the field regiments. The field regiments here are larger than those of Berlin. But there will have to be some personnel changes for the staff offficers and the subaltern officers. The great mistake in the drilling of the troops consists in them loading badly, don't fall into step easily and don't aim too well. But that can be practiced during the following year, and God willing, the entire army will be on the same level and equally organized next year.

"This Prussia which I basically received from your hand" becomes of course "my property, which I negotiated because I'm just that awesome" later on.

(Fritz: You don't think Heinrich would have gotten anything from anyone if I weren't awesome, do you?
Heinrich: You don't think you'd have gotten anything other than pissing everone else off AGAIN if you' been the one to negotiate, do you?)

Something Mildred alluded to is that MT on the one hand thought this entire Poland partitioning was shameless robbery, which it was, but on the other wanted/accepted her share, which she did. There is a famous but apocryphal quip by Fritz which gets quoted on this a lot, but no one has ever been able to find it in any of his letters or even in his described conversations in other people's memoirs, so biographers were reluctantly forced to admit that it was probably invented after the fact by other people but sounded so much like something he would have said that it stuck. In several variations, this apocryphal quote goes "she cried, and the more she cried, the more she took".

Jessen does have a letter from MT on the subject to one of her younger sons, Ferdinand (yes, she had a Ferdinand, too), dated September 12th 1772:

You will see the entire miserable development of this matter. I have refused it for a long time! Only the blows after blows in the forms of the Turks attacking, the lack of a prospect of getting support from France or England in this, the likelihood of having to conduct a war against both Russia and Prussia otherwise, misery, famine and sickness in my countries forced me to accept these bloody proposals, which throw a shadow over my entire rule. God will make me face my responsibility for this in the other world. I must admit to you that I cannot get over this matter, it lies heavily on my heart, haunts me and poisons my already sad days. I must stop writing about this in order not to get even more upset and not to sink into the blackest melancholia.

I.e. she did rationalize and excuse herself for participating, but it never really worked for her. I already quoted her letter to Joseph on the War of the Bavarian Succession by the time this decade ended, but what Jessen's collection of documents also tell me is that the official peace between Prussia and Austria was made on May 13th 1779, which was MT's birthday.

Jessen also quotes not one but two poems by Matthias Claudius. One is the "Sie machte Frieden" poem I already quoted and translated to you many a post ago after MT's death. The other was written after the war had ended instead of evolving into another 7 Years War, which was what everyone, including MT had been afraid of, and this one was new to me. It goes thusly:

Die Kaiserin und Friederich
Nach manchem Kampf und Siege
Entzweiten endlich aber sich
Und rüsteten zum Kriege

Und zogen mutig aus ins Feld
Und hatten stolze Heere,
Schier zu erfechten eine Welt
Und » Heldenruhm und Ehre « .

Da fühlten beide groß und gut
Die Menschenvater -Würde,
Und wieviel Elend , wieviel Blut
Der Krieg noch kosten würde,

Und dachten , wie doch alles gar
Vergänglich sei hienieden ,
Und sahen an ihr graues Haar . . .
Und machten wieder Frieden .

(The Empress and Friedrich/After many a fight and victory/were at odds again/and armed themselves for war/ They bravely went into the field/and had proud armies/to fight for a world/ and for 'heroic courage and honor'./ Then, both felt good and great/the dignity of being a parent to human kind/and how much misery, how much blood/this war would cost,/ and thought of how everything/was mortal on this plain/and looked at each their own grey hair.../and made peace again.)

Fritz not reading any German literature, I doubt he ever saw it, but MT might have. To repeat the Claudius poem after her death again, since it's very short:

Sie machte Frieden ! Das ist mein Gedicht.
War ihres Volkes Lust und ihres Volkes Segen
Und ging getrost und voller Zuversicht
Dem Tod als ihrem Freund entgegen .
Ein Welteroberer kann das nicht.
Sie machte Frieden !Dasist mein Gedicht.

ETA: And I have made my own rhyming, not prose translation! *shares wit pride*

This is my poem: she made peace!
She was her people's blessing and delight,
went confident, comforted and at ease
To face her death. Her death, and not a fight.
No conqueror of the world can have such release.
This is my poem: she made peace!

Jessen has also the letter from Fritz - to D'Alembert, as it turns out, dated January 6th 1781 (MT having died in November 1780) which has the famous "I was never her enemy" quote in it. Writes he:

And yet, I have regretted the death of the Empress-Queen: she brought honor to her throne and sex; I have gone to war with her, but I was never her enemy. Regarding the Emperor, the son of this great woman: I know him personally; he seemed too enlightened to me to me to make overhasty steps; I esteem him and do not fear him. (...) To give you a proof of just how calmly minded I am, I include a little brochure which aims at showing the flaws of German literature and to explain the means by which it can improve. You will mock the care I'm taking to teach a people which until now has been good at nothing but eat, drink, make love and make war to have at least a little understanding of taste and Attic salt. But a man wants to be useful; often a word falls on fertile soil and bears unexpected fruit.

Yep, he announces his trashing of (unread by him) German literature in the same letter. (Also, Fritz, I thought Joseph "the son of this great woman" was the coming menace of Europe? That's what you've told all your other correspondants, at least.) And Jessen, bless, has the passage in "De La Literature Allemande" which is specifically aimed at Goethe (and Shakespeare, while he's at it). ("Götz von Berlichingen" had been Goethe's first play, and it's indeed blatantly Shakespeare-inspired. It's also to this day fun for 12 years old pupils for containing the line "kiss my ass!") ("Und er sage seinem Herren, er könne mich am Arsche lecken!")

Behold this glorious proof of just how calmly minded Fritz is:

To convince yourself of the utter lack of taste that to this day rules in Germany, you only have to go to the theatre. That's where you see the despicable plays by Shakespeare produced in the German language, see the entire audience swoon at hearing these ridiculous farces which are worthy of a Canadian savage. I call them thus because they go against every rule of theatre. These rules are not random! They are to be found in Aristotle's poetics. There, the unity of time, place and action are prescribed. But the English plays provide an action which takes place through years. Where's the plausibility there? Baggage carriers and grave diggers show up and hold speeches that suit their stations; and then, princes and Queens appear. This strange brewery of the elevated and the low, of slapstick and tragedy is supposed to please and touch people? One may forgive Shakespare such odd abberations; for the birth of the arts was never the time of their maturity. But now, a "Götz von Berlichingen" appears on the stage, a disgusting imitation of those terrible English plays, and the audience applauds and demands with enthusiasm more of these tasteless rubbish. I know, you can't argue about taste. But allow me to tell you one thing: who enjoys acrobats and puppets just as much as the tragedies of Racine just wants to pass time. He prefers something which appeals to his eyes to something which appeals to the mind and to the heart!

German writers of the day: *headdesk, as described in another entry*

(Herder: Go polish your rusty armor, old man. Si tacuisses, philosphus mansisses.)

Jessen also quotes a letter from Goethe to a buddy of his, Merck, like him and most Germans that age a (in Merck's case now former) Fritz fanboy, who asked "OMG, have read what Fritz wrote):

No one should have been surprised by the pamplet of the old King if one knew him for who he actually is. If the audience hears of a hero who has done great deeds, it forms him convenient to the common idea, subtle, high-minded and well educated; in the same way, one assumes a man who otherwise has done much to posses clarity and precision of the mind. One imagines him without bias and actually well informed and educated. This is what has happened with the King; but just as he has done great deeds in his shabby blue uniform and his humpbacked figure, he has forced the events of history by his stubborn, prejudiced and unteachable imagination.

I.e. he could not have done so with with a balanced and fair mindset. Elaborating further on the argument that the very thing which made Fritz great was his imperfection, Goethe replies to yet another correspondant asking him "OMG, have you read that?!?".

There's nothing strange to me about the King mentioning my play unfavourably. A powerful man who rules over thousands with a sceptre of iron, has to find the creation of a free and cheeky youth unbearable. Besides, a tolerant taste can't be the distinguishing characteristic of a King, and would not, had he possessed it, have allowed him to make a great name for himself; I rather think that the great and noble live by exclusivity.

Edited 2020-02-29 12:30 (UTC)

I must say, all the "I totally saw through Fritz, Mom!...during the sixteen hours per day we talked to each other" cracks me up to no end. (I mean. 16 hours? Per day?)

That jumped out at me too! Haha, Joseph.

MT: You realize any mother would see right through this?

ViennaJoe: Mooom! You should know all about being a sleepless workaholic. Of course we talked for sixteen hours per day! It was very important for, um, foreign affairs, and the well-being of our countries, and stuff. Look, I'm very dedicated to my job!

Volz, bw, has a more thorough version of Joseph's letter in his "Gespräche mit Friedrich dem Großen"

Oh, nice, I'm glad that turned out to have useful material.

in order to be polite, Fritz and his entourage wore the Austrian white uniforms "to spare the Austrians the sight of the Prussian blue (they) have encountered on the field so often", as one of the Austrian delegation was told, who in his letter snarked, you know, we could have born the sight, and also it wouldn't have showcased the King's tobacco snuff as much as the white uniform did.

Everything about this makes me laugh so hard, from Fritz's arrogance to the Austrian snark. I kind of suspect the Austrian might be underestimating the extent to which the snuff is impossible to miss on any uniform, given the sheer number of other reports we have throughout the decades that read "I saw the King for five minutes from a distance, and the number one thing I noticed was that he was covered in snuff from head to toe." Maybe it's *more* visible on white, I don't know how dark 18C Spanish snuff was, but I suspect trying not to showcase it was a lost cause. Definitely not worth giving up that amazingly arrogant move, either way. ILU, problematic fave. :P

(Fritz: You don't think Heinrich would have gotten anything from anyone if I weren't awesome, do you?
Heinrich: You don't think you'd have gotten anything other than pissing everone else off AGAIN if you' been the one to negotiate, do you?)

LOL. They both have a point, I think? But far be it from either of them to acknowledge this.

There is a famous but apocryphal quip by Fritz which gets quoted on this a lot, but no one has ever been able to find it in any of his letters or even in his described conversations in other people's memoirs, so biographers were reluctantly forced to admit that it was probably invented after the fact by other people but sounded so much like something he would have said that it stuck.

Aww, I didn't know it was apocryphal! That's too bad. I guess when you're known for wit, you accumulate quotes that sound witty. Churchill, Wilde, and Twain know all about this.

ETA: And I have made my own rhyming, not prose translation! *shares wit pride*

*applauds*

Elaborating further on the argument that the very thing which made Fritz great was his imperfection

I definitely think Goethe's onto something there. Fritz's inability to back down was his single most salient trait, and it manifested in good, bad, and making-a-name-for-himself ways. His whole life is a very interesting intersection of innate personality, environment, and trauma. And while I think he might have been expansionist without the trauma, and he always would have preferred French, I do suspect some of his need to attack German while never ever reading it came from FW bludgeoning him with German for so long. (

cahn, as one small example, he was only allowed to speak German and people were only allowed to speak German to him at Küstrin.) I think hating German, as opposed to loving French, became part of his fight for his identity, long after FW was gone and he'd lost sight of the reason for the fight.

Oh absolutely. (I'm also reminded of Fontane's needling in FW's direction when he reports Heinrich pretending not to speak German at all in his Rheinsberg chapter and adds snarkily this was undoubtedly the result of an education "which put all the emphasis on the German and vilified the French".) If FW - whose own German was clumsy, it being a second language to him as well - hadn't made such a point of ramming it down the throat of his oldest son (and of the entire family, but especially Fritz) - it wouldn't have become such an identity question. BTW, Volz' "Conversations" contain an amusing passage about one of several encounters between Fritz and Gottsched: about the German language, as told by Nicolai, who was present:

Among other things they talked about the qualities of the German language. The King described it as rough, clusmy, etc., and Gottsched of course defended the language he'd written in praise of, and this with many exclamations. The King disregarded this and took more and more from the German language until he finally said: it had so many dislikeable sounds which made it ill suited to eloquence and poetry. For example, said the King, a rival was called "Nebenbuhler", what a fatal sound "buhler" has! This hre repeated a couple of times, and emphasized the "uh".

Gottsched: But your majesty, it sounds exactly like "Boule"! (Which it does, btw.)

The King who was disconcerted by this reply ignored it and continued: "And the German consonsants! My ears always hurt whenever I listen to German names; there's so much Kah and Peh all the time! (He put the emphasis on K and P.) Knap - Knip - Klotz - Krock! His own name, how hard! Gottsched! Five consonants - tsscchhh - what a sound! The German language is simply rough, and what is soft and pleasing can't be pronounced as agreeable in it as it can in other languages!

Gottsched: Begging your majesty's pardon. The most beautiful and most tender passion humanity has to offer we Germans all "Liebe", whereas the French call it - "Amour!" Now you can imagine that he, too, put the emphasis on the "our". And if you know how rough and screaming Gottsched's voice could get, you can imagine how awful he managed to make the u and the r sound in his mouth.

(Fritz seems to have carried a grudge for not winning that argument, since he calls Gottsched pedantic and a couple of other unflattering things to Catt.)

All this is always worth keeping in mind when realising how big a concession on Fritz' part it was to keep talking and corresponding in German with Fredersdorf instead of demanding that Fredersdorf had to learn French. Liebe indeed.

White uniforms: I only regret I didn't know this detail when writing my Yuletide AU section 4! Because of course MT would have noticed at once.

If FW - whose own German was clumsy, it being a second language to him as well - hadn't made such a point of ramming it down the throat of his oldest son (and of the entire family, but especially Fritz) - it wouldn't have become such an identity question.

To paraphrase a very witty person, "You broke it, FW, you bought it."

Thank you for sharing that anecdote. Fritz is just amazingly incapable of reason on this subject.

All this is always worth keeping in mind when realising how big a concession on Fritz' part it was to keep talking and corresponding in German with Fredersdorf instead of demanding that Fredersdorf had to learn French. Liebe indeed.

Indeed. <3 It is surprising on both Fritz's and Fredersdorf's side that the latter never picked up enough French for them to communicate in (or that he hid it really well :P).

White uniforms: I only regret I didn't know this detail when writing my Yuletide AU section 4! Because of course MT would have noticed at once.

I regret that too! It's amazing how far we progress each month.

(Next Yuletide is going to be so much more informed. :D)

Indeed. <3 It is surprising on both Fritz's and Fredersdorf's side that the latter never picked up enough French for them to communicate in (or that he hid it really well :P).

As to what motivated Fredersdorf to either not learn French or pretend he didn't: my current guess it had to do with a) maintaining his identity, his sense of self, and b) was a smart move not to look inferior vis a vis the Algarottis of Fritz' circle.

re: b) no matter how well he was or would have been able to learn French as an adult (who had a lot of other things to do which he couldn't delegate!), he would never have been able to speak and write French on a level approaching that of Fritz' intellectual friends. He'd have sounded clumsy and foolish next to them, and he knew this meant volunteering for humiliation and ridicule at worst and silent disappointment at best. I mean, look at Fritz going on about AW's educational deficits in the late 30s, and Voltaire making that "didn't learn to read or write" crack. And AW might have been lagging behind in his education, but he did get one as a prince from early childhood onwards. Frederdorf would just not have been able to catch up on any Fritz satisfying level. Meanwhile, he could be extremely competent at the things he did do, and Fritz respected that.

and a) So much of his life was about Fritz that I think insisting on German as their language was something like insisting on alchemy, and his own medication, despite Fritz constantly telling him otherwise. It was a way of of saying "This is me, not you; I love you, but I exist apart from you". Maintaining that core of self probably allowed him to remain sane and have no nervous breakdowns. (As opposed to ruining his physical health.)

And again, that Fritz accepted the language instead of doing a "my way or no way" here remains as powerful a testimony as the open tenderness of those letters.

Frederdorf would just not have been able to catch up on any Fritz satisfying level.

This is all very true. He was never going to be a native speaker, and while he might well get up to enough proficiency to equal or surpass Fritz's awkward German, the process of getting there in that environment would have been painful, good point, and the end result wasn't going to be worth walking across those coals.

So much of his life was about Fritz that I think insisting on German as their language was something like insisting on alchemy, and his own medication, despite Fritz constantly telling him otherwise. It was a way of of saying "This is me, not you; I love you, but I exist apart from you". Maintaining that core of self probably allowed him to remain sane and have no nervous breakdowns.

I like this a lot. Like that quote

cahn found,

Good counterpoint requires two qualities: (1) a meaningful or harmonious relationship between the lines, and (2) some degree of independence or individuality within the lines themselves.

And not only asserting his identity, but knowing that Fritz loved him enough to accept communicating in German with him, not just to conduct business like the rest of his German communications, but to carry on a close personal relationship.

And again, that Fritz accepted the language instead of doing a "my way or no way" here remains as powerful a testimony as the open tenderness of those letters.

Indeed. They're such a good ship. <3 I share

cahn's joy that we've found no evidence for that unsourced embezzlement allegation.

Hard same! Which is why I also am doubtful - unless someone finally gives us a direct citation like "see letter of Prussian official X/foreign envoy Y" - re: the handsome hussar story. On various levels and both sides. I mean, Fritz writes some of the most tender letters not in the first flush of infatuation (which we have zilch documents on, because Küstrin and Neuruppin), but years, even decades later. This does not sound like someone who'd have considered exchanging Fredersdorf for a random handsome guy at some point in the Silesian Wars. (And it would have had to be the Silesian wars, given when Fredersdorf died.) Also, since some of the earliest Fredersdorf letters are from the Silesian wars, I took this to mean Federsdorf wasn't with Fritz in the field to begin with, he was in Berlin keeping an eye on things from there, so how could he have been refused entry to the royal tent?

Now, of course, jealousy doesn't have to be rational and triggered by an actual cause. More often than not, it probably isn't. So it's entirely possible Fredersdorf thought he might get replaced by Mr. Handsome (if there is any basis to the story). At least replaced in the emotional sense, not in the professional, given the sheer number of tasks Fritz kept giving him. But somehow I can't equate someone this insecure about his status in Fritz' life with someone who has the confidence to stick with the German, keep alchemy as a hobby and keeps consulting non-Fritz approved doctors.

In conclusion: contemporary source, please, or I don't buy it.

) Also, since some of the earliest Fredersdorf letters are from the Silesian wars, I took this to mean Federsdorf wasn't with Fritz in the field to begin with, he was in Berlin keeping an eye on things from there, so how could he have been refused entry to the royal tent?

I have been wondering the same thing. We don't have a thorough enough correspondence to be certain that Fredersdorf was *never* in the field with him, but I'm not aware of any evidence to corroborate the claim that he was, whereas we do have letters from Fritz in the field to Fredersdorf in Berlin, so it's quite likely Fredersdorf was doing civilian stuff there the whole time.

So it's entirely possible Fredersdorf thought he might get replaced by Mr. Handsome (if there is any basis to the story).

I mean, IF there's any basis to this at all, this entire story might have grown out of Fritz wanting casual sex with random hussar and wanting some privacy for it. (If he was into having sex with Fredersdorf, I doubt it was entirely an exclusive relationship on his side.) Gossip could take it from there. But I don't see Fredersdorf murdering or driving someone to suicide over it, for the reasons you mention as well as others. I'm willing to bet he knows Fritz well enough to know how to keep himself indispensable over some pretty face.

And again; I question whether Fredersdorf was in the field or Fritz was into casual sex with his men. Post-Fredersdorf Glasow maybe? But there is a distinct lack of evidence for Handsome Hussar. (I also don't buy Lehndorff's story that Fredersdorf stepped down out of jealousy over Glasow, seriously.)

~~Pics~~ Documents or it didn't happen. :P

I also don't buy Lehndorff's story that Fredersdorf stepped down out of jealousy over Glasow, seriously.

I think our Lehndorff made the same mistake many people do, to use their own emotional spectrum and likely reactions as a basis to draw conclusions from. Don't forget, as he admits in his annotation to his youthful entries which he made decades later, he was ragingly jealous of anyone Heinrich favoured as a young man. So he was likely to assume this was how Fredersdorf must have felt about someone like Glasow.

Agree 100%. And Fredersdorf wasn't in Lehndorff's position: he *was* the secure favorite and always had been. I think he was in a position to be chill about any wandering eye Fritz might have had. And after years of bad health (we've seen their letters) and his impending death, which Lehndorff couldn't have known about when he wrote that entry, I don't think Fredersdorf *needed* a reason to step down beyond "I literally cannot do this job any more, no matter how hard I try. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

I agree with all this too!

That makes so much sense. <3

Fritz/Fredersdorf is my Fritz OTP, and I think in a lot of ways it's because Fredersdorf could maintain his sense of self but still be what Fritz needed. And as you and mildred have said in the past, it makes sense that a lot of this worked because he was not nobility.

You know, Fritz/Fredersdorf absolutely fits the pattern of what's normally my OTP and totally should be my OTP in this fandom. Fritz/Katte fits the pattern of my usual NOTPs. And yet!

I try very hard to get more excited about Fritz/Fredersdorf, because it should be right up my alley, but so far, I like it but don't love it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

it's because Fredersdorf could maintain his sense of self but still be what Fritz needed.

I still think your counterpoint quote was THE BEST.

Edited 2020-03-03 23:02 (UTC)

Gottsched: But your majesty, it sounds exactly like "Boule"! (Which it does, btw.)

HAHAHAHAHA

And if you know how rough and screaming Gottsched's voice could get, you can imagine how awful he managed to make the u and the r sound in his mouth.

Heeeee. Gottsched, you are my hero.

White uniforms: I only regret I didn't know this detail when writing my Yuletide AU section 4! Because of course MT would have noticed at once.

I mean, if you wanted to sneak over and put it in, I wouldn't mind :P :) But yeah, she would have definitely noticed and either thought or said something snarky :D

If I can come up with a suitably snarky thought or dialogue, I shall insert it, then.

Gottsched would be gratified to be anyone's hero.Like Fritz, he had the misfortune to outlive his glory days. He was essential as a reformer of German theatre and as a promoter of the German language for artistic uses, but he was also totally married to the idea of the Aristotelian three unities and the French drama as the highest form of art. When duking it out with the slightly younger Lessing (currently employed by Fritz' sister Charlotte as librarian) who thought that these rules were constraining and strangling the life out of drama, had to go, and hooray for the British model to follow instead, he lost as far as the new crop of writers was concerned, and he never reconciled himself to the fact. Since the next crop of writers were the highlights of German literature, this meant he had the reputation of a dusty old pedant for at least a century before it swung back to "modern for his time, he just outlived it".

There is a famous but apocryphal quip by Fritz which gets quoted on this a lot, but no one has ever been able to find it in any of his letters or even in his described conversations in other people's memoirs, so biographers were reluctantly forced to admit that it was probably invented after the fact by other people but sounded so much like something he would have said that it stuck.

Just dropping in to note that the origins of this quote were investigated by Jürgen Luh here. To sum it up, "she cried but she took" or variations thereof are basically a summary of what French Ambassador Prince Louis de Rohan wrote about MT in a 1772 dispatch. Many years later a certain Maletzki, an editorial secretary of the "Communist International" newspaper and fabricator of various Fritz related quotes, published in 1922 that "Friedrich II once said(...) 'she cried but she took'". And this was picked up by Egon Friedell in 1928 in his extremely successful "Cultural History of Modern Times" book series, and was accepted by historians for many years from then on.

All hail

gambitten!

Thank you so much for linking that article! It was new to me, and not only does it provide us with a great summary of how that quote came into existence, but Luh actually provides me at last with the source for another, actual Fritz quote about MT, "Das apostolische Rabenaas". (It's from a letter to the Marquis D'Argens, and Luh provides a proper citation ( Friedrich der Große: Mein lieber Marquis! Sein Briefwechsel mit Jean-Baptiste d’Argens während des Siebenjährigen Krieges, hrsg. v. Hans Schumann, Zürich 1985, S. 134.).

Aha! The longer this salon continues, the more we uncover. I'm loving it.

That is really cool, thank you for the story behind that!

But I can't possibly tell you all, since we were in conversation for at least sixteen hours per day with each other.

Oh Joseph. :D
So curious as to what MT thought of this.

gambitten, do you have access to MT's letters?

for I believe Canada to be as civilized as Pommerellen

LOL!

"This Prussia which I basically received from your hand" becomes of course "my property, which I negotiated because I'm just that awesome" later on.

FRITZ! Poor Heinrich :P

And I have made my own rhyming, not prose translation!

This is really cool. I feel like translations that try to retain meter and rhyme and other language features really help me get what someone would feel reading it in the original, in a way that's hard for me when it's a straight translation made purely for word accuracy. Like this one, the way you preserve the alliteration with "confident, comforted," whereas I would never have noticed it in "ging getrost" otherwise.

(I've tried to make rhyming translations before and they are horribly difficult! So I really appreciate this and know it's not easy.) Thank you! <3

To give you a proof of just how calmly minded I am, I include a little brochure which aims at showing the flaws of German literature

OMG. You are so calmly minded, Fritz. Yeah, whatever you say.

see the entire audience swoon at hearing these ridiculous farces which are worthy of a Canadian savage.

Man, Fritz, you really have it in for Canada, don't you? LOL.

Besides, a tolerant taste can't be the distinguishing characteristic of a King, and would not, had he possessed it, have allowed him to make a great name for himself; I rather think that the great and noble live by exclusivity.

That's really a neat thing for Goethe to have said, especially as a reply to just having gotten his entire discipline trashed, hee.

Man, Fritz, you really have it in for Canada, don't you? LOL.

He does. Canada and the Iroquois are his go-to throughout his life for "the epitome of uncivilized." Much like we say "Timbuktu" to mean "so far away idek where it is or if it even exists" (which apparently Malians, understandably, don't appreciate).

That's really a neat thing for Goethe to have said, especially as a reply to just having gotten his entire discipline trashed, hee.

I can see why Goethe is BFFs with Carl August, Master of Chill (and son of good mom).

Man, Fritz, you really have it in for Canada, don't you? LOL.

What I thought. Not sure why Canada in particular, other than that the French and the Brits duking it out there was the overseas front of the 7 Years War, so he probably got some reports on that via Mitchell. But there was no tobacco imported from Canada, so I doubt he had much interest.

Thank you for the poetry translation appreciation, I am bit proud of it, I must confess, for those reasons.

What I thought. Not sure why Canada in particular, other than that the French and the Brits duking it out there was the overseas front of the 7 Years War, so he probably got some reports on that via Mitchell.

So Fritz was insulting people by comparing them to Iroquois at least as early as 1740, but in 1760, d'Argens sent him a French officer who had served in Canada (and couldn't go back to France because he's been kicked out for fighting a duel, which is why he went to Canada in the first place), and Fritz and d'Argens talk about how savage everything is in Canada, the Iroquois being cannibals, etc. So depending on how closely Fritz interacted with this officer, he may have had extra Eurocentric input on that terrible place called Canada. And either way, the exchange with d'Argens probably brought it front and center. Plus he is occasionally in his correspondence mentioning its fate in the 7 Years' War, so it's on his radar at least a little bit (despite being tobacco-less).

But there was no tobacco imported from Canada, so I doubt he had much interest.

LOL.

Thank you for the poetry translation appreciation, I am bit proud of it, I must confess, for those reasons.

I appreciate it in much the same way that you appreciate my OCR+translation interface: poetry is indistinguishable from magic to me!

About halfway through Blanning, so it's time for another update. Less by way of quotes and more comments here, especially since

cahn is thinking of reading it.

There's a good chapter full of information on the artistic and musical sphere. I'm not the least bit qualified to comment on the music parts, either to spot errors or to spot the interesting parts. But it's the chapter I excerpted heavily from for our "Counterpoint" collaboration, so I highly recommend reading it and letting us know what is interesting or obviously wrong. :)

The section on politics leading up to the Diplomatic Revolution is...interesting. By which I mean certain parts match Fritzian propaganda pretty closely. Which is surprising, from a guy who's pretty damn critical of Fritz's expansionism, foreign policy, tactics, strategy, treatment of civilians, treatment of allies, treatment of friends, treatment of family, treatment of subjects, treatment of employees, inadequate military or political intelligence*, misogyny, anti-Semitism, various hypocrisies, tastes in art, literature, and music, and tendency to hold forth on subjects about which he knows nothing. And probably a bunch of other things I'm forgetting.

* By intelligence I mean "gathering of information about what other people are up to," not "brainpower."

Blanning's not "Fritz never loved anyone except maybe Fredersdorf" deconstructionist guy, certainly, and he has some positive things to say and gives credit where credit is due. I would say he's more demythologizing than deconstructionist. Of all biographers I've seen or that

selenak has reported on, Blanning is probably closest to our salon in terms of both positive and negative opinions. (I'm a little bit more forgiving of Fritz's desire not to attend parties with a wife he was forced to marry in the first place.)

But he's bad about facts, as we've seen, and rereading him, I've spotted a few things that made me raise my eyebrows about the early 1750s.

1) Elizabeth of Russia doesn't control foreign policy, Prussophobe Count Bestushev does (and he controls her completely), and the reason she hates Fritz is that Bestushev makes sure she hears all the misogynistic things Fritz says and none of the good stuff about Fritz.

2) Madame de Pompadour may or may not have any input into foreign policy, as opposed to just being popularly believed to be influential in this domain. (I didn't realize there was any question about this, but Blanning says it's highly debated, and I used to believe that the partition of Poland was totally Fritz's idea, so...maybe? French politics is not something I have any deep knowledge on.)

3) MT totally addresses Pompadour as both "my sister" and "my cousin"! Because Preuss says so! (Blanning has about 50 citations of Arneth in his book, but apparently he missed the memo about this claim being disproved.)

All of these would be totally unremarkable in a "Fritz is the greatest!" bio, but they jumped out at me in Blanning's "Fritz is SO overrated, Heinrich was WAY more awesome" bio. He actually presents (3) in a positive light, evidence that MT was a much better politician than Fritz, but...if it's not true, it's not true.

Oh, he states as fact that Elizabeth married Razumovsky morganatically and had children by him. Like I've said elsewhere, I'm not up on the latest research and where the communis opinio stands on this issue. Not highlighting it as at all questionable jumps out at me, but maybe unfairly. Blanning also describes Razumovsky as an intellectual weakling but a "Hercules of Cythera," citation being the Prussian envoy. I would like a less biased source, Blanning?

Now for some quotes. Take everything with a grain of salt!

Apparently Europe has no clue about Russia in the 17th century:

It was not so long ago that Louis XIV had addressed a letter to Tsar Michael unaware that he had been dead for twelve years.

That would be 1657, per Wikipedia. Citation for this is Anderson, Europe in the Eighteenth Century, 1961. Considering Blanning is the guy who trustingly cites Norman Davies for the "she wept and took" MT quote, this citation doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. But MacDonogh's uncited "There stands one who will avenge me" turned out to be legit, so these things can go either way!

Fritz's prognostication skills are even weaker than usual:

By the beginning of January 1741 Frederick had reached the Silesian capital, Breslau; by 17 January he could claim in a letter to Algarotti that the entire province was his. Only the fortresses of Glogau, Glatz, Neisse and Brieg remained in Austrian hands. The whole affair, he boasted, had cost the lives of just twenty soldiers and two officers.

Final death toll will be in the hundreds of thousands. Blanning uses the very appropriate word "hubris".

This is why I think he would have gone to war without the childhood abuse; the glorification of conquest just has too long and too pervasive a history for someone as ambitious as Fritz, in the environment he grew up in, to resist:

he wrote to Voltaire to describe the privations of campaigning, adding that he would gladly pass them on to someone else “if that phantom called glory did not appear to me so often. In truth, it is a great lunacy, but a lunacy that is very difficult to shed once one is infatuated with it.” Two months later he confessed to his friend Charles-Étienne Jordan: “I love war for the glory.” Even when he wrote his history of the war for public consumption, he acknowledged more than once that the pursuit of glory had been a prime aim.

All FW had to do was glorify military pursuits and hand his army over to Fritz, and I think Fritz would have done the rest. There was no need to go trying to break his will. All you got out of that was an ill-informed anti-German tirade, FW. :P

In a rare moment of defending rather than attacking Fritz, Blanning challenges the traditional view by claiming that it wasn't personal cowardice but poor judgment that led Fritz to leave the field at Mollwitz:

All accounts agree that Frederick himself showed great personal courage in trying to rescue the situation, so much so in fact that his second-in-command, Schwerin, feared for his life and pleaded with him to leave the battlefield for a place of safety. Whether his consent amounted to a flight, as the Austrians— and their historians— claimed afterwards, is doubtful.

I haven't read "all accounts," but given his earlier and later behavior, I actually buy it. Fritz is just too much of a terrier. Just like his escape attempt was more a fight than a flight, I think getting talked into leaving Mollwitz very much went against the grain.

Vaguely misogynistic remark about MT not in Catt, this one from his Histoire de mon temps, which I'm reproducing without checking for context or accuracy:

“An ambitious and vindictive enemy, who was the more dangerous because she was a woman, headlong in her opinions, and implacable… devoured by ambition.”

We still don't envy ambassadors:

So close did Frederick keep his cards to his chest that foreign diplomats could find nothing beyond gossip and idle speculation to send back to their courts. The Austrian ambassador lamented in 1749 that not even the notional foreign minister, Podewils, had any idea as to what his master’s intentions were. Frederick himself was reported to have said that, if he discovered that his own skin knew what he was going to do, he would have it peeled off and thrown away. A royal interview was not only pointless, it also exposed the unwelcome guest to Frederick’s notoriously acid tongue. According to the French envoy, the Duc de Guînes, very few of his intimidated colleagues were brave enough even to ask for an audience at Potsdam.

Fritz has opinions and isn't shy about expressing them:

Although so often described as a Francophile, Frederick in fact had a generally low opinion of contemporary French culture. During the golden age of the mid-seventeenth century, he believed, French writers, led by Corneille and Racine, had produced dramatic works of unsurpassable quality, but since then their star had waned. Dismissing their music as “puerile,” he told Graun to stop composing overtures in the French style. Modern Italian music was mellifluous when sung properly but essentially “stupid.” What Frederick demanded was music in the Italian style but written by Germans. Ascribed to him was the dictum: “The French only know how to write drama and the Italians only know how to sing; the Germans alone understand how to write music.”

Neat little detail if true:

According to the soprano Elizabeth Mara, when the weather was cold, soldiers were drafted into the theater to warm up the auditorium with their body heat.

Fritz is a troll:

More frivolously, the new gallery also gave him the opportunity to indulge his contempt for Christianity, by juxtaposing Carlo Maratta’s Madonna with Guido Reni’s Toilet of Venus. (He played the same sort of trick in the Potsdam Town Palace, where Correggio’s The Repentant Mary Magdalene was placed among a group of erotic fête galante pictures, including Watteau’s Cythera.)

I feel like one of these explanations dates to a different century than the other:

On the eastern side was Mercury, a classical statue inherited from Frederick’s sister Wilhelmine. He was chosen perhaps because he was the god of commerce (among other things) and so implied that the Prussian economy was in good shape, or more likely because he was a beautiful naked youth awaiting the attention of Mars opposite. On Frederick’s death, his heir had the statue removed and it has never returned.

What, thanks to

selenak's write-up, we know to be an oversimplification of the history of the Antinous statue:

It was only after his death that the statue was renamed The Praying Boy and hastily removed to a museum.

He does think it might have been a Katte tribute, though, so props for that.

1734 is the Siege of Phillipsburg, when Fritz met Eugene, famous general and famous open-secret homosexual, whom he admired. Also, other Seckendorff is a gossipy sensationalist:

Christoph Ludwig von Seckendorf wrote in his secret diary for 1734 that Frederick was imitating Eugene’s laconic manner. He also recorded the following conversation: “The Prince of Anhalt-Dessau: ‘Does Your Highness still get an erection?’ Prince Eugene, taking a pinch of snuff: ‘No, I do not get an erection.’

Fritz ships my ship:

The same homoerotic theme could also be found in the two most important paintings commissioned for the New Palace nearby. The first was Pompeo Batoni’s The Family of Darius, which depicts another celebrated pair of male lovers, Alexander the Great and Hephaestion...In Batoni’s version, the intimacy of the relationship between the two men is emphasized by Hephaestion placing his hand on Alexander’s wrist. Commissioned in 1763, it was not delivered until 1775, but such was the importance Frederick attached to it that the allocated space was kept vacant. This was in the Blue Antechamber, which led to Frederick’s apartments.

Supposedly FW used the word "sodomite" of Fritz, but no citation given.

Just me finding the wording amusing here:

Louis XV may have thought that the invasion of Silesia was the act of a lunatic, but Frederick had shown that when madness succeeds, it has to be renamed audacity. Of all those who wanted to see Frederick back where he belonged, in the asylum, Maria Theresa was the most implacable.

I don't even know what to make of the "sleaze" line. Like, whose perspective is that? Not Blanning's, surely. Kaunitz? Fritz? Contemporary French opinion?

In 1750 Kaunitz was sent off to Versailles as Austrian ambassador. There he found a once dominant power whose feet of clay were beginning to crumble. The Peace of Aachen, which handed back all the conquests in India and the Low Countries, had been greeted by French public opinion with consternation and anger: “bête comme la paix” (as stupid as the peace) became a popular simile. As it was believed that the chief minister de facto was the royal mistress, Madame de Pompadour, sleaze was added to incompetence. Just how much influence on policy (as opposed to patronage) she actually exercised has been much debated. In any event, she was a useful whipping girl for all who opposed the apparent incoherence and indecision of royal policy.

Blanning links to this painting of the tobacco parliament, which I hadn't known about. The description underneath the painting is pretty interesting as well.

Note that it's 1737, and Fritz is glad to be well away from the hated tobacco parliament. According to Asprey, Fritz commented that year to Grumbkow that a fitting epitaph for him would be "Here lies one who lived for a year." He moved into Rheinsberg in mid 1736.

I had meant to include this in the last write-up, when I talked about the sensationalist love triangle, but I missed it because it was in an end note. Anyway, Blanning shares our views on gossipy sensationalism and attitudes toward it:

A recent study of Algarotti and Frederick by Norbert Schmitz blithely ignores all the evidence relating to Algarotti’s bisexuality, referring to Hervey only once and then only as a “friend” of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Schmitz also primly observes: “The voyeuristic looking under the bedcovers of prominent people belongs to the province of the tabloid press”

And yet *nobody* seems to hesitate when talking about, say, the mistresses of Charles II.

Elizabeth of Russia doesn't control foreign policy, Prussophobe Count Bestushev does (and he controls her completely), and the reason she hates Fritz is that Bestushev makes sure she hears all the misogynistic things Fritz says and none of the good stuff about Fritz.

This is straight out of Preuss. Now not having read a single Elizabeth biography in my life, I wouldn't know how wrong or right it was, but I did just read my way through two volume of Mitchell, where Fritz keeps harping on "Bestushev liked Prussia once, just put up enough bribery money, and he'll make the Czarina like me again". I also recall the French MT biography (by Balantier) which went into another direction entirely by claiming that Fritz at first downright pretended to "woo" Elisaveta" and it was her realising all these written compliments weren't worth the paper they were written on that made her start to listen to the Austrians. Now, Balantier is the MT biographer who doesn't speak German (which all of MT's inner administrative correspondance is written in, though her foreign policy letters and most of her private correspondance is in French), and she's relying on other people translating letters etc. for her, so take it with a lot of salt as well.

All FW had to do was glorify military pursuits and hand his army over to Fritz, and I think Fritz would have done the rest. There was no need to go trying to break his will. All you got out of that was an ill-informed anti-German tirade, FW. :P

Agreed. "Gloire" was just in the air, and Fritz was the product of a society where winning it through military means was still the ultimate. Not to mention that FW had militarized Prussia so thoroughly, and put the idea of service = military service, and without service = male life is pointless so completely in everyone's mindset that even less energetic and ambitious young men than Fritz were caught up; I'm thinking of your point that Peter Keith, returning to Prussia,did not see being treated as a civilian as a sign of favor.

Vaguely misogynistic remark about MT not in Catt, this one from his Histoire de mon temps, which I'm reproducing without checking for context or accuracy:

“An ambitious and vindictive enemy, who was the more dangerous because she was a woman, headlong in her opinions, and implacable… devoured by ambition.”

Reminds me of something that's in a letter to Algarotti (I think) where he writes that it's easier to fight brave men than a malicious woman. "Devoured by ambtion" when coming from Fritz is priceless.

Antinous statue: hastily nothing. Boo, Blanning. Do you have it in for FW2 that you keep accusing him from immediately removing male nudes when he did no such thing? (Look, male nude statues were not actually a scandalon in late 18th and early 19th century Germany. This was our age of classicism. They were, in fact, all over the place(s). One of Kleist's most famous aesthetic essays is about a male nude in a Berlin museum (not Antinous, btw.). Good old Winckelmann might have started in Fritzian times but didn't reach his apogee of influence and fame until FW2 times, for God's sake.

Also, Mercury/Mars? That's a new mythological ship.

I don't even know what to make of the "sleaze" line. Like, whose perspective is that? Not Blanning's, surely. Kaunitz? Fritz? Contemporary French opinion?

Presumably the last, but Madame de Pompadour was hardly the first mistress, nor was she the first seen as politically influential. I mean, Madame de Maintenon and the revocatoin of the Edict of Nantes, anyone? While it's true that blaming the mistress was the usual thing for unpopular policies (right until Louis XVI, who didn't have one, so it was "blaming the wife" instead), the fact that there were mistresses to begin with, and one who was a maitresse en titre, wasn't treated as sleazy, it was the norm. Louis XVI being the first French king since, actually, I guess Louis the Saint (VII) to not have one. And this wasn't just true for royalty. Something Bodanis wasn't wrong about was that Émilie's marriage was fairly typical in this regard; it was a contract, she fulflilled her part by delivering heirs, thereafter she was free to do as she pleased, and her and her husband getting along while each had lovers was nobility standard.

What was regarded as scandalous about Madame de Pompadour was that she was born Jeanne Poisson, even if she'd married into nobility. And then the fact that she kept her position years and years past the end of her sexual relatonship with the King. But I'm not sure their contemporaries in France would have regarded either fact as "sleaze". That really smacks of a 20th/21st century Anglosaxon or US perspective.

I had known about the painting, because it's in several of the biographies I've read, including Christian von Krockow's double portrait of Fritz and Heinrich. He uses it to point out the children being depicted as mini adults to illustrate that the whole concept of childhood as we think of it today did not exist, something expressing itself in the non existence of seperate clothing for children as well. (Think also of the robes little Wilhelmine wears in those paintings. Those robes have a decollté even though she won't have breasts for years and years. And thus FW's schedule for how his sons were to be raised (or for that matter a generation later MT's schedule for how her children should be taught) isn't something we'd think of as tailored for children. It's for mini adults supposed to grow up as quickly as possible.

In fairness to Blanning accepting popular quotes like "she took and she took" unchecked - I keep seeing this happening in all areas. There's a John Lennon quote about Ringo not being the world's best drummer and not even the best drummier within the Beatles, for example, which to this day couldn't be traced to a single interview, and yet it keeps coming up. And again: "let them eat cake". The power of meme.

(No excuse for not reading Arneth thoroughly if you have him in your bibliography anyway.)

(BTW, Fritz, as the German translation tells me, didn't just sell the "Dear cousin/sister" letter as authentic to Lucchesini all those years later still, but even the supposed Pompadour reply which Catt in his diary and memoirs notes down Fritz composing as a satire. (It contains the petition to lift the sanctions against whores in Vienna.) Lucchesini ,to his credit, isn't quite gullible enough to swallow that one and notes down his suspicion that Fritz has been trolling him with the Pompadour reply and that that one was really written by his majesty.)

This is straight out of Preuss.

Yes, I forgot to mention his citation is Preuss, which is interesting considering their completely different takes on Fritz. Again, if Blanning were pro-Fritz, this wouldn't be remarkable, but trustingly accepting Preuss's interpretation of Russian politics after what you've told me about Preuss's attitude toward Fritz is striking. Can we maybe get a source with some kind of Russian provenance to countercheck? Or at least state that this is the pro-Prussian perspective and may or may not represent the whole picture?

Not to mention that FW had militarized Prussia so thoroughly, and put the idea of service = military service, and without service = male life is pointless so completely in everyone's mindset that even less energetic and ambitious young men than Fritz were caught up

Yep, that's really all you had to do.

I'm thinking of your point that Peter Keith, returning to Prussia,did not see being treated as a civilian as a sign of favor.

Agreed, and while the part where it might have been a sign of favor is my hypothesis, the part where Keith is upset about it is straight out of Jordan's letter saying that he can't swallow the humiliation of staying home when all the other young men are going off to war. And as you point out, Peter Keith was no Frederick the Great!

Antinous statue: hastily nothing. Boo, Blanning. Do you have it in for FW2 that you keep accusing him from immediately removing male nudes when he did no such thing?

Seriously! If he's got this many mistakes I can spot of the top of my head, I don't know how many things I'm not spotting. Good at opinions, bad at facts.

Also, Mercury/Mars? That's a new mythological ship.
Heee.

Louis the Saint (VII)

Typo or minor chronological error: IX. VII was Eleanor of Aquitaine's husband. Who was pretty pious himself, and if he had a mistress, I'm not aware of it. There are definitely too many Louis, and I have to look them up every time.

But I'm not sure their contemporaries in France would have regarded either fact as "sleaze". That really smacks of a 20th/21st century Anglosaxon or US perspective.

That's exactly what I'm thinking. I really don't see where the sleaze comes in.

There's a John Lennon quote about Ringo not being the world's best drummer and not even the best drummier within the Beatles, for example, which to this day couldn't be traced to a single interview, and yet it keeps coming up. And again: "let them eat cake". The power of meme.

To be fair, I obviously did it myself in this write-up! But I wasn't writing for publication. Just as I imagine you would have looked up the Danzig acquisition date before you published a book.

He uses it to point out the children being depicted as mini adults to illustrate that the whole concept of childhood as we think of it today did not exist, something expressing itself in the non existence of seperate clothing for children as well.

I've seen this claim, and I've also seen it challenged: that while there's certainly a difference between modern childhood and the childhood of the past, the idea that children were supposed to be mini-adults was an ideal that got so much press precisely because it was so rarely observed. Rather like Israel in the Old Testament: the reason our authors keep harping on monotheism is because polytheism is so widespread all around them.

So for example, assuming the Seckendorff quote hasn't been grossly misrepresented, one of FW's contemporaries is dismayed that Fritz is being held to his father's schedule despite being only 13, and that it's making him old before his time. Even without that, I've seen enough quotes from the last millennium from moralists berating parents for indulging their children, giving them toys, playing games with them, that I find it plausible that there must have been some concept of childhood as a separate time where you went easy on your kids, even if their concept of "easy" would look like appalling child labor to us.

(No excuse for not reading Arneth thoroughly if you have him in your bibliography anyway.)

If you're going to cite him almost 50 times, might as well read him!

Lucchesini ,to his credit, isn't quite gullible enough to swallow that one and notes down his suspicion that Fritz has been trolling him with the Pompadour reply and that that one was really written by his majesty.)

Ha. Good for him. Also, Catt is still around at this date, I think? I've seen 1780 and 1782 for his dismissal. But I haven't seen it in any contemporary source, so I don't know.

Wanted: one historically interested Russian to give us the current state of opinions on Elisaveta summed up.

Re: why Blanning just accepts Preuss on Elizabeth when he doesn't accept Preuss' take on Fritz: I suspect laziness, pure and simple. He doesn't have to do extra research that way. (See also Burgdorf, who even has "Frederick the Gay" written on his agenda, still not bothering to go to the state archive himself, or read Lehndorff's diaries, and instead provides no other citation than Ziebura while presenting his summary of her research. And at least he does provide a citation there. Unlike for Grigorii the suicidal hussar - btw, I looked up anyone with a similar sounding name in the Frederician dictionary Leuschner put together, and no luck - or the statement that Wilhelmine was in love with Katte.) Blanning from what you say doesn't strike me as all that interested in the minor supporting cast, and Elisaveta shows up solely during the 7 Years War. So no extra research for her.

Was thinking of Louis 9 the Saint, yes, not Louis 7 Eleanor's husband (who did not have mistresses, either, true).

Blanning's "FW2 hastily removed all the male nudes" and Blannings "people thought Pompadour in politics = sleaze" strikes me as both committing the cardinal sin of assigning present day attitudes to the past. FW2 had a bad relationship with Fritz and was flamboyantly heterosexual, ergo, he must have been a homophobe censoring all the gay. A head of goverment's mistress believed to be in charge of politics - so sleazy! This just isn't how you should write biography.

Speaking of mistresses, behold this bit from the later conversations with Fritz:

Fritz: *spends a lifetime mocking Louis XV. for being run by his dick and allowing his mistresses, especially but not exclusively Pompadour, to influence him*

Fritz: *very annoyed that Louis XVI, married to daughter of MT, still won't budge from the France/Austria alliance*

Fritz to French visitors of the early 1780s: Your king should totally take a mistresss!

ETA: Also, Catt is still around at this date, I think? I've seen 1780 and 1782 for his dismissal. But I haven't seen it in any contemporary source, so I don't know.

Haven't seen any mention of Catt in Lucchesini's diary, so if he was around and/or talked about, it's not there, or I overlooked it. (But I tried running the name through the search machine, and it doesn't find any Catt in the German translation of Lucchesini at least.)

(BTW: we know why Louis and MA didn't have kids during the first seven years until Joseph became the world's least likely marriage counsellor before Munck the Finnish sex machine in Sweden, because we have Joseph's letters on the subject. But it says something about how discreetly this was handled that Fritz, with all his claimed "secret sources" at Versailles, had zero idea about this spicy bit of gossip.) And all the later revolutionaries who ascribed all sorts of things to MA's sex life and questioned the paternity of her kids never seem to have heard of it, either.)

Edited 2020-03-01 13:35 (UTC)

Wanted: one historically interested Russian to give us the current state of opinions on Elisaveta summed up.

taelle, come back!

Re: why Blanning just accepts Preuss on Elizabeth when he doesn't accept Preuss' take on Fritz: I suspect laziness, pure and simple. He doesn't have to do extra research that way.

Yep, exactly. When writing about Fritz, stick to the sources that are about Fritz. I mean, I myself am not an expert on French, Austrian, or Russian politics, but at least I'm aware that I'm looking at everything through a Prussian lens! And I would not pass personal judgment, in a published book, on Elizaveta or her ministers or her lover/morganatic husband by quoting exclusively Prussian sources.

Fritz to French visitors of the early 1780s: Your king should totally take a mistresss!

Wasn't he trying to get his niece into power in the Netherlands? Women shouldn't have power unless it benefits him!

Fritz to French visitors of the early 1780s: Your king should totally take a mistresss!

LOL, Fritz! Mistresses are fine if he supplies them!

Don't forget that according to good Dr. Zimmermann, he had "Adonisses", i.e. handsome young Prussian men sent to Vienna so they'd seduce the chamber maids of MT's favourite ladies in waiting and thus always learned all about her plans.

(Yes, Zimmermann, I'm sure that was the true purpose of any handsome young male sighted in either Potsdam or Vienna.)

(Yes, Zimmermann, I'm sure that was the true purpose of any handsome young male sighted in either Potsdam or Vienna.)

*choke*

Re: why Blanning just accepts Preuss on Elizabeth when he doesn't accept Preuss' take on Fritz: I suspect laziness, pure and simple. He doesn't have to do extra research that way.

I meant to add, if you don't want to do extra research, fair enough! But you can still do responsible scholarship by refraining from saying things that your sources might not be the most reliable on. If you're talking about the Seven Years' War from a Fritzian perspective, it suffices to say that Elizaveta was Empress and Bestushev was foreign minister, and attempts to bribe and persuade them out of attacking Prussia were unsuccessful. It is not necessary to start commenting on internal Russian politics, or the intelligence of Elizaveta's boyfriend/husband, as though the Prussian envoy had the final word on that subject.

So, while even a Closer look doesn't tell me where Hahn got the Story of the handsome hussar, rival of Fredersdorf from, or when this was supposed to have happened, his slim book was worth checking out. For example, re: developing image of Fritz in German historiography. With the occasional look abroad. Should have figured Lavisse wrote after the 1870/1871 Prussian/French War, for example. Hahn plausibly points out that the very positive contemporary image Fritz enjoyed in France among the writers and historians and would continue to enjoy for a quite a while until, see above, had to do first of all with the massive unpopularity of the France/Austria alliance, which was directly blamed for the military defeats (not just the ones in Europe, but those in Canada, the idea being that France could have beaten the British there if it didn’t have to fight Fritz due to the Austrian alliance), and secondly with Fritz‘ cultural and linguistic Francophilia, which, as opposed to his criticism of contemporary France, was published in France a lot. But really the Austria bashing was key, which went in a vicious circle with Marie Antoinette’s rising unpopularity as Queen and her being made responsible for all that was wrong with the French monarchy. Not for nothing was „L’Autrichienne“ meant as a derogatory term.

What Hahn says about Fritz developing from Hero of the Protestant Cause in the 18th to Hero of the German Cause in the 19th, with the rising nationalism adopting him wholeheartedly and filing away anything that didn’t fit (not just the language, but also things like the Saxony invading, the brutal recruitment methods and the coin debasing and forgeries to finance the 7 Years War) was ignored. Hahn points out that when Raumer published the various foreign envoy reports on FW’s court in the 1830s, you’d think people would have eaten it up, but no, hardly a sound, instead, Raumer’s work was almost ignored by historians, because all the entaglements with foreign ambassadors and the descriptions of FW did not fit the 19th century idea of Fritz – and of FW, because the two reconciling and FW having been maybe a tad too strict but really good – was instrumental in any presentation of the story.

All historians until 1918 (obvious date is obvious) using the Prussian state archive had to present their work for censorship before being allowed to publish. Which means anything that does use those archives before 1918 is censored.

Preuß was a teacher, the first to be allowed unlimited access, was not a historian. Historian Leopold von Ranke (grandfather, btw, of Robert (von Ranke-)Graves of „I, Claudius“, „The White Goddess“ and „Goodbye to all thata“ fame) wanted to do the mid century magnum opus, but nope, partly because Preuß was seen as ideologically more reliable. („More patriotic“ being the contemporary term.) So in Preuß, you have for the first time clearly the following narrative which would dominate until the end of WWII

- It’s Prussia’s mission to unify and lead the German nation
- Fritz was instrumental for this by making Prussia a superpower
- For which he had to attack some fellow Germans like the Saxons, and, um, the Habsburgs* but
- The Habsburgs have lost their right to lead the Germans through the 30 Years War and by being Catholic
- As for the Saxons, well, okay, that wasn’t really cooll, but those early sins of Prussian greatness were completely atoned for by the ordeal of getting beaten by Napoleon before beating him
- Seriously, the years of Napoleonic dominance and subjugation are Prussia’s atonment for Saxony and for having fallen into decadence again post Fritz; after this trial by fire, Prussia is reborn, can lead the effort to beat Napoleon (Wellington is thought of by 19th century German historians like Blücher is thought of by to this day British popular historians, i.e., as an afterthought) and continue on its German history mission
- For Prussia = Germany. Or it will be. And for that laudable aim, anything Fritz did was justified.

Preuss when publishing Fritz‘ correspondance and literary works in the original French language wasn’t just driven by authenticity. He also thought it was better if the knowledge of these letters and works remained limited, because the population at large would totally get the wrong impression of father-of-the-nation Fritz otherwise. (And while the wealthier educated classes still had French as their first foreign language, the market, the new market for books included all the modestly living or poor or working class citizens who could read, write, count, but certainly not speak French anymore and would misunderstand.)

Hahn says the German translations of said works by Volz et all in the 1880s were severely toned down and censored, both in the blasphemous and the sexual aspects.

Oh, and while there was a translation of Voltaire’s, excuse me, some guys pamphlet and later the memoirs in the year after they first appeared (this was hot stuff) in non-Prussian German states, Voltaire’s memoirs weren’t published again in German until 1921 thereafter.

Every now and then some brave soul published stuff either based on external sources – like the the diary of a Saxon prince – or focusing on aspects of Fritz not fitting with the general image, like Fritz as an art collector (this did not fit because the image was that he lived modestly in a single uniform or two like a common soldier, as opposed to spending a lot of money collecting art even during the 7 Years War), and it always sank with hardly a trace.

Hahn says the Richter edition of the Fredersdorf letters was slightly censored, but he doesn’t say whether he’s basing this on the Burchardt edition (like I said, my quick once over gave me only one letter that I thought was new to me, the one joking about male powers of love being affected by all the wrong medicine), or because he’s read the originals.

Hahn also quotes the MT („would have needed someone to wash his dirtly laundry again“) snark about Fritz‘ hand written letter to say that of course she’s biased as hell re: Fritz, but she’s also a fellow royal of the same era and age, also conducting her (foreign) political correspondance in French, so if she finds Fritz‘ French (and not just the spelling) which on that occasion didn’t get a smoothing by his lectors and secretaries, not up to corresponding standard, she might not be making it up and knows whereof she speaks, so he positions that Fritz‘ elegant French from the Voltaire correspondance as praised by Pleschisnki (he’s read the older translations, too, but prefers Pleschinski’s) really does owe a huge debt to Henri de Catt and successors.
Lehndorff’s diaries (the three volumes of the chamberlain years) are listed in his bibliography as a top source, and Lehndorff described as „EC’s chamberlain and intimate friend of Prince Heinrich“. (Which I note because one odd thing to me when I looked up reviews of the first volume’s republication in 2007 was that not a single review mentions the Heinrich aspect.)

The backlash to all the hero and Prussia worship post 45 is duly covered, though Hahn says East Germany more quickly bounced back than West Germany to something more of a balance, because, well, what remains of Prussia is there.

Hahn’s vote for best general of the 7 Years War goes to EC’s brother Ferd(inand) of Braunschweig.

Hahn points out that the difference in perception of the 7 Years War vs the Silesian Wars within Prussia wasn’t just the length and the number of enemies, it was that Prussia itself hadn’t been touched by the Silesian wars. (Forcible recruitment of Saxons went on there already.) Instant hero worship was far easier if your own territory doesn’t get scorched.

Hahn repeatedly points out Fritz was short sighted (literally, not metaphorically), increasingly so. Valory notices it as early as 1740. There are bills for glasses sold to him in 1747 for the proud sum of 344 Reichstaler, and the glasses preserved go from -2 (the early years) to -7 Dioptrien. (As someone who has -5 and -5,5 herself, I can tell what that means in terms of what Fritz could and couldn’t see.) By 1766, when Fritz was introduced to various Austrian nobles from Joseph’s entourage, he couldn’t tell one from the other when they were standing just two metres or so in front of him.

Since a King whose public image traded on his martial prowess could not wear glasses in public, this was a genuine problem, but on the lighter side, the intense gaze so many visitors describe of Fritz was probably at least partly owed to him trying to see them clearly at all. For fanfiction: Fritz out of public sight needs to wear glasses.

Speaking of Fritz as an art collector: for all that the Pompadour bashing went on till his death, he seems to have been aware of her as a top notch famously exquisite art collector, because when Reinette’s inheritance was eventually sold, his people got instructed to buy it discreetly, and it ended up in his palaces.

Hahn quotes Voltaire re: why Fritz bashes Grandpa F1 so much in the „History of the House of Brandenburg“ - to create the illusion of being an impartial historian.

Poniatowski’s memoirs really bear checking out. Hahn quotes him explaining Fritz‘ survival in the 7 Years War mainly by the plundering of Saxony and the English subsidies, for they, quote Poniatowski in 1771, „made it possible what seemed to be impossible: that a prince elector of Brandenburg could resist for seven years the united countries Russia, Austria, France and Sweden.“ (Love the „Elector of Brandenburg“, elected by Catherine King of Poland.)

And lastly, Hahn on Fritz‘ presentation of his post war alliance with Catherine in the Histoire de mon temps, with subsequent German historians following suit:

„It was typical of him that he emphasized the advantages of the alliance with Catherine, but keeps silent about the burdens of the agreement, especially the pledge of military assistance or the paying of subsidies in the case of war. These mark more than anything else the (im)balance of power between them. His role as a the junior partner of the Czarina remains unmentioned."

This is one of those write-ups where every line was fascinating.

Should have figured Lavisse wrote after the 1870/1871 Prussian/French War, for example.

I thought I had mentioned that, although maybe I didn't call out the Franco-Prussian war. I definitely had it on my mind when pointing out the year in which he published. His perception of Fritz is, yes, exactly what you'd expect from a Frenchman from that date.

Seriously, the years of Napoleonic dominance and subjugation are Prussia’s atonment for Saxony and for having fallen into decadence again post Fritz; after this trial by fire, Prussia is reborn

Wow.

Prussia is reborn, can lead the effort to beat Napoleon (Wellington is thought of by 19th century German historians like Blücher is thought of by to this day British popular historians, i.e., as an afterthought

Wow.

Hahn says the German translations of said works by Volz et all in the 1880s were severely toned down and censored, both in the blasphemous and the sexual aspects.

Does not surprise me in the slightest (ever since Preuss, I assume everything is censored), but dammit.

Hahn says the Richter edition of the Fredersdorf letters was slightly censored, but he doesn’t say whether he’s basing this on the Burchardt edition (like I said, my quick once over gave me only one letter that I thought was new to me, the one joking about male powers of love being affected by all the wrong medicine), or because he’s read the originals.

The letters are still out there in some archives, right? And they're in German, so you can read them for us. :P Good luck with the handwriting!

Fritz wearing glasses: that was one well-kept secret! If neither you nor I had any idea, this far into our salon. And yes, he'd absolutely have to not let on about it, ever. So either Catt didn't know, or Catt kept the secret better than he kept the suicide box secret. Or I'm forgetting something, but we've both read his memoirs, and I'd think one of us would have caught it.

And that means

gambitten was right, that famed memory for faces was him asking--he didn't have a choice. (Nobody ever tells me what my prescription is, for some reason, they just hand me the glasses, but I think one time I got told and it was about the same as yours.)

And that's a good point about the intense gaze.

For fanfiction: Fritz out of public sight needs to wear glasses.

Noted!

His role as a the junior partner of the Czarina remains unmentioned."

Naturally.

Wow, this whole thing was amazing, thank you so much. I wish he were not the kind of author who would include a dramatic episode that's not common knowledge without so much as a citation, but other stuff sounds golden. This belongs in

rheinsberg!

Somehow I knew you'd ask me to check out the Fredersdorf letters sooner or later. ;) Maaaybe, but in the far, far future, if they are available somewhere. I mean, given that the worst fanboy had them during WWII.

Glasses: Hahn doesn't pretend this was an original discovery of his, he points out the various sources, but as he says: it usually does not get mentioned, even in deconstructing biographies, because it just doesn't fit with anyone's mental image of Fritz, love him or hate him or deconstruct him. (Hahn discusses it on page 144 ff in his book, after Fritz' various other physical handicaps (illnesses, gout). Now some of his conclusions I don't agree with - that Fritz might simply have disliked the hunt because he could never have been able to hit anything (without wearing his glasses) - but I do think he's onto somethin that even modern biographers refused to think all the every day implications of (increasing) short sightedness through, including another reason for Fritz avoiding public occasions and court life more and more the older he got.

(BTW, I'm trying to think who was the first royal to wear spectacles in public, not monocles, real spectacles, and am currently failing to come up with a pre 20th century example, but I might be misremembering...)

As for Catt not bringing it up in his memoirs: no matter how hurt his feelings were by his dismissal, I suspect a) this was too personal, and too painful because he himself was rapidly losing his sight, he knew how that felt, and b) it also did not fit with the mythical hero people wanted to read about.

Re: diary: he might not have noticed it during his first two years with Fritz. When Fritz read to him from his poetry or Racine, short sightedness would not have been a problem. And as Hahn says, in the field Fritz had all the excuse in the world to keep using a spy glass to trace the enemy's position and the like, and he had people reporting to him movements etc.

ETA: also worth pointing out - Amalie increasingly lost her sight in her last years; Mina lived long enough to go completely blind. So did cousin George III. Of people not related to Fritz by either blood or marriage, Bach famously went blind, so did Händel. Both had doctors who made it worse with attempted operations, infamously so. The doctor first getting glasses for Fritz was Dr. Lieberkühn in 1747, but given how Bach fared, I don't think Fritz ever considered anything but very secret glasses.

Edited 2020-03-01 19:16 (UTC)

Somehow I knew you'd ask me to check out the Fredersdorf letters sooner or later. ;)

You're only surprised I waited this long! ;)

Glasses: Hahn doesn't pretend this was an original discovery of his

Oh, I didn't think it was. I'm just saying, if nobody is commenting on it, it's probably because half the biographers don't know. (We've seen how hard it is to get people to question Catt, just because nobody else is doing it, even though it was known to people like Koser and Volz over a hundred years ago.)

What are his sources, btw?

Now some of his conclusions I don't agree with - that Fritz might simply have disliked the hunt because he could never have been able to hit anything

I agree with you, I think he disliked the hunt because 1) it's boring like sitting in the tobacco parliament is boring, 2) Dad is ramming it down his throat, 3) distant third, it's cruelty to animals. Not being able to hit anything is probably a feature rather than a bug at this point. :P

As for Catt not bringing it up in his memoirs: no matter how hurt his feelings were by his dismissal, I suspect a) this was too personal, and too painful because he himself was rapidly losing his sight, he knew how that felt

True, I guess we know neither when he lost his sight (I still don't have a source for this beyond Wikipedia, though maybe you do) and when he started composing the memoirs?

When Fritz read to him from his poetry or Racine, short sightedness would not have been a problem.

You mean because he knew the text almost by heart and only needed a bit of prompting? Because if I'm reading from a book without my glasses, you're going to notice me holding it very close to my nose and moving the page and/or my head around every few lines to home in on the next bit of text. (I tried it just now to confirm.)

And as Hahn says, in the field Fritz had all the excuse in the world to keep using a spy glass to trace the enemy's position and the like, and he had people reporting to him movements etc.

Yes, I've been trying to think through the implications, and when I thought about his famous coup d'œil (

cahn, that's a military history term for "ability to figure out the best way to deploy troops by looking at the terrain"), and all the troop reviews, etc. I realized that of course he'd be using a spyglass.

Man, I would not live in the 18th century for anything.

What are his sources, btw?

Valory for noticing in 1740 that Fritz might be short sighted, the Prince de Ligne for Fritz mistaking one Austrian noble for another when Joseph's entourage is being presented to him during the Neisse meeting, letters from Fritz from 1780 saying "my eyes have become stupid", and the receipts for the glasses from the royal household papers starting with 1747. Also those spectacles and for that matter spyglasses still existing, which is presumably how they could be investigated for their varying strengths.

Catt: I only have wiki as a source, too, re: his own eyesight.

You mean because he knew the text almost by heart and only needed a bit of prompting?

That, and when you're in a tent in the later afternoon, evening or night - i.e. the times when Catt usually was called for - in an era where electricity isn't a thing, gas light isn't yet, either, and you're stuck with candles and oil lamps for illuniation, then the light situation isn't too well. Even if your eyesight is reasonably good, it would be natural to hold any book or letter close to read it.

Thank you for the sources!

Catt: I only have wiki as a source, too, re: his own eyesight.

Yeah, what I'm thinking is that if he went totally blind, it might have been cataracts or glaucoma or something, and it might have started very late in life, and he might have had perfectly fine vision before that, i.e. when he started writing his memoirs. (Though as you point out, he might have been prevented from editing in those final years.) But seeing as we have no dates for either, this is all speculation.

Even if your eyesight is reasonably good, it would be natural to hold any book or letter close to read it.

That is an excellent point and just highlights how spoiled a denizen of the modern age I am. ;)

I'll also link to this interview with Hahn, conducted in 2012.

Are there really no population statistics from Brandenburg-Prussia in Friedrich's lifetime? I had always assumed that there were statistics, but that they were inevitably unreliable as most population statistics were at that time.

His remarks about the relationship between Fritz/Wilhelmine and FW remind me a lot of Nancy Mitford. Actual quote from her book: "If he [Fritz] was beaten, starved, humiliated and generally ill-treated it was to a large extent his own fault and his mother's." Yikes.

Our discussion on Mitford, where that line was why I stopped reading.

Population statistics: got me.

Are there really no population statistics from Brandenburg-Prussia in Friedrich's lifetime?

Beats me, I honestly don't know.

His remarks about the relationship between Fritz/Wilhelmine and FW

Mildred, Cahn, the relevant passage:

One thing is sure, though: Friedrich had a hard childhood. The conflict his father went to physical and mental limits.

Hahn: It wasn't an existential conflict, since he couldn't have lost in this conflict with his father. According to the Golden Bull, the basic law of the HRE, Friedrich was the successor to the throne. His father could never have gone up against the the law of the Empire in this. Which is why Friedrich couldn't have lost this conflict. The only loser here was his father, because he behaved impossibly, unlike any other monarch of his era. His court was a madhouse and he was a barbarian.

He beat his children...

Hahn: ... and occasionally his wife, Queen Sophia Dorothea. Friedrich Wilhelm I., the so-called soldier king, was suffering terribly through severe illnesses and was a small, fat man who was hardly able to move. His oldest children, Wilhelmine and Friedrich, enjoyed provoking him, to cause him behaving without retraint, uncivilised, unroyal. And the King was suffering terribly through this. Here you can already see some characteristic traits of Friedrich's: he was proud, he endured all; he was unbreakable, sly and malicious, throughout his entire life. And he had learned to act with this slyness, not to open up to anyone, to take his own path consistently. His behaviour towards his father was vicious, for he knew exactly how that man would respond. But one has to blame some of it on the mother, who wasn't able to run interference in any calming way. On the contrary; she poured gasoline into fire.

Sophia Dorothea was obsessed with the hoped for English double marriage for Friedrich and Wilhelmine.

Hahn: This was her pride. She had the idea: my children will be Kings and will be married royally. Friedrich Wilhelm had no sense of that at all. He married off his children far below their station. All of Friedrich's siblings were married cheaply and humiliatingly from an aristocratic point of view. Which was already true for the marriages of the Great Elector and his children. The one exception: Friedrich I, the first King in Prussia. His second wife was the the Hannover princess Sophie Charlotte, who was on an equal level. But she probably was quite clear on the fact she thought of the House of Hannover as superior. In my opinion, the marriage politics of the Hohenzollern express the mentality of a parvenu family. They probably always felt their social mediocrity. Which they compensated by ambition and political determination while leaving a lot of devastation in their wake. If you like: the Hohenzollern are a parable of German history.

I shall restraint on any comment on the victim blaming - seriously, how hard is it not to go the "but the kids provoked him!" route? -, and limit myself to saying that while FW could indeed not have changed the order of succession without either the Emperor's permission or his son's voluntary resignation (which he did ty to get), I think attempting his level best to break his son by methods all against the Geneva conventions and thus in today's terms qualifying as torture doesn't qualify this particular conflict as one Fritz couldn't have lost. For contemporary comparison of how a crown prince of Prussia without Fritz' hardcore sense of self preservation responds to a King dealing out humiliation and verbal abuse for a far shorter time, just ask AW. I don't think being secure that his right to the succession could not have been overturned by Fritz comforted AW one bit, and as godawful as that year was, it was only a smidgeon of the treatment Fritz had gotten from FW.

I'm also a bit stunned to see a qualified historian blithely saying of FW "because he behaved impossibly, unlike any other monarch of his era". Unless you mean just FW's excentricities re: tall soldiers and personal life style. Because when it comes to FW as a father and other monarchs of his time, well:

1.) Peter I. still wins by sheer virtue of torturing his son to death. Literally, not metaphorically. Considering he and FW were of a generation, he certainly counts as a monarch of the era.

2.) George I. didn't do that (he killed his wife's lover instead), but his relationship with George II was as terrible as that of George II's with his son Frederick, and George III's with his sons, which included public shouting matches and the respective crown princes siding with the opposition, see also here.

3.) And then there's Regent of France Philippe d'Orleans (son of gay Philippe D'Orleans and Liselotte) getting accused of incest with his favourite daughter by young Voltaire, which might or might not have been true, but what he did doin public was attend orgies with her. We're still in FW's generation and talking about royal fathers behaving scandalously.

4.) Speaking of royal fathers accused of incest by gossip: hello there, August the Strong! Also a FW contemporary.

Yeah, I skimmed the interview, went, "uh huh," and closed the tab. Between these opinions and that unsourced Fredersdorf anecdote, he is a very mixed bag.

I shall restraint on any comment on the victim blaming - seriously, how hard is it not to go the "but the kids provoked him!" route?

It's extremely hard! Nigh impossible, it would seem.

I think attempting his level best to break his son by methods all against the Geneva conventions and thus in today's terms qualifying as torture doesn't qualify this particular conflict as one Fritz couldn't have lost.

I'm sure it would have been a great comfort to Fritz after his father ran him through with a sword, or decided to ignore all good advice and have his son executed, to know that it was illegal and his father would get a slap on the wrist.

In many ways Fritz did lose. Leaving psychic scars aside, for at least twenty-four years he lost day after day in terms of not being able to live the kind of life he quite reasonably wanted to live and could easily have lived if his father hadn't been out to crush his will. He also lost in terms of having person after person that he loved taken away from him.

What does Hahn count as winning, exactly? Becoming king...eventually...is not exactly a resounding victory. Imagine if Fritz had died in 1739 of his own brain tumor. WTF, Hahn.

I'm also a bit stunned to see a qualified historian blithely saying of FW "because he behaved impossibly, unlike any other monarch of his era". Unless you mean just FW's excentricities re: tall soldiers and personal life style.

I also couldn't tell what he meant. Or in what sense FW was the loser here. He was miserable? He didn't get what he wanted out of Fritz? He didn't get to disinherit Fritz? (Poor baby.) He missed out on the comforts of civilization?

Because yes to all your examples.

What does Hahn count as winning, exactly?

Good question. At a guess, not just becoming King but having the majority of the sympathy then and later, at least in this particular matter. I mean, even Voltaire when writing a Fritz-attacking pamphlet loaths FW as a father. Also, I suspect half the reason why the occasional historian goes the "but hang on, Fritz (& Wilhelmine) (& SD) provoked FW!" route is to be edgy and legend deconstructing, as this is a definite minority opinion. (It's also one that never shows up in fiction. Jochen Klepper's Der Vater - which Der Thronfolger is somewhat based on - is written with sympathy for FW as a tragic figure, but Klepper is crystal clear on the fact it was abuse and that Fritz and Wilhelmine were the victims of same. (The only one Klepper has zilch sympathy for is SD.) Because "this child/youth provoked the all powerful adult into abusing him!" is not a storyline you can sell.

Or in what sense FW was the loser here. He was miserable? He didn't get what he wanted out of Fritz?

In the sense of forming Fritz into a successor he was satisfied with, he did, though, eventually. You could say - which was Klepper's argument, and why the novel is titled "Der Vater", not "Der Soldatenkönig" - that FW lost in that what he wanted as a young man and father when it all started - to have a "bürgerliche Familie" with a loving wife and children, based on a Christian ideal, as opposed to the distant royal family he came from - failed spectacularly, with the "but I don't want you to fear me, I want you to love me!" (while going after them with a cane) anecdote transferred from random unfortunate subject to his family members to make the point in one fitting image. Which you can absolutely make a case for, what with young FW's instructions to Madame de Rououlles and the other teachers that they should only ever threaten little Fritz with his mother, never with him, because he wants his son to love him. But whereas Klepper the novelist is writing this as a tragedy FW, good original intentions not withstanding, brought on himself (with some aid from SD, true, but still, "Der Vater"'s FW is an Aristitolean hero of a tragedy brought down by his own flaws), Hahn basically reversing the cause and effect - i.e. Fritz and Wilhelmine are lying to and mocking their father behind his back because they're terrified by their father vs FW terrorizes Fritz and Wilhelmine because they're mocking him and lying to him is baffling. (Argue that it became a circle and a vicious loop for everyone, absolutely. But be clear, be absolutely clear on who started it. And who had the power, vs who did not.)

The other "FW as loser" thing I could see this particular section of the interview going for is that FW becomes a ridiculous horror figure mocked and scorned on every European court as the result of this behaviour. Which, yes. But in addition to who's to blame for this (i.e. FW, the one who does it), I dispute this was somehow something unique to FW. Gossipping about foreign monarchs and telling scandalous tales about their behavior was what everyone did, in every country, at every court. And several of FW's fellow monarchs offered more than enough food for said gossip and mockery, see my earlier list. Anyone interested in the era beyond a superficial level should and would know that. Hell, everyone studying Fritz should and would know that, given such gems like Fritz talking to Mitchell, i.e. an English envoy of all the people, about how dysfunctional the Hannover cousins are in their father/son relationships, as opposed to the harmony in his own family. (And I bet the Hannover cousins gladly returned the favor by gossipping about the godawful Hohenzollerns and comparing them with the sanity of their own situation.) God knows I haven't yet read anyone in the 18th century bringing up Peter the Great without an "impressive guy, but OMG, murderous temper!" disclaimer. Etc.

In conclusion: it happened to every monarch. They were the celebrity superstars of their day. They got gossipped about and mocked. Even those who got simultanously admired and feared, like Louis XIV in the previous century, or for that matter Fritz himself later. And while FW's tall guys obsession, his radical Spartan life style and his hellish family life certainly got amply mocked and talked about, that army of 40 000 men certainly got him simultanously courted by various powers.

Lastly, to return to a deceased equine of mine, I keep getting stumped by the editing out of the abusive pattern whenever someone tries to reverse cause and effect in the negative loop Fritz and FW were in. I suppose random subject who actually did screamed at "But you're supposed to love me, not fear me!" also provoked FW? Gundling provoked him from 1713 to 1731 (and after his death, given the awful funeral as a final kick)? Doris Ritter provoked him into every one of those floggings? Hapless Bayreuth Friedrich had it coming when FW gave him the enforced drinking and verbal abuse treatment as well? They were all employing cunning tactics to provoke FW into being his worst self?

*Throws up hands* Historians wanting to be edgy, I swear.

In the sense of forming Fritz into a successor he was satisfied with, he did, though, eventually.

He got some of what he wanted. He never did get the full capitulation, and toward the end of his life, he kept going back and forth on whether Fritz was going to do well or fuck everything up. And as we've discussed, it's an open question how he would have felt about those wars of aggression.

that FW lost in that what he wanted as a young man and father when it all started - to have a "bürgerliche Familie" with a loving wife and children

Oh, yeah, he was definitely miserable. But Fritz also lost in what *he wanted* for a very long time (and to a certain extent, forever, because trauma), so defining FW as the *only* loser here just requires an astonishing amount of special pleading.

I suppose random subject who actually did screamed at "But you're supposed to love me, not fear me!" also provoked FW?

Well, yeah! They were insulting him by cowering in front of him! Naturally that would provoke you into yelling at them and walloping them with your cane. If they had just loved him like they were supposed to, he would have been the most chill and benevolent monarch ever.

Doris Ritter provoked him into every one of those floggings?

Of course! Also, remember, FW executing Katte and flogging Doris and pardoning Fritz is the only one in the kingdom with a conscience! Who always goes by the law, and never his emotions. And also going by the law is the most important thing, as we learned from the period leading up to 1945 in Germany and 1865 in the US and various other examples I could enumerate. The law is all!

*Throws up hands* Historians wanting to be edgy, I swear.

I only wish it were more edgy. And I'm not just talking about Fritz here, but this take I keep running into of "but you provoked him/her/them!"

With you on the vicious cycle, of course, and that it's not the children's job to break out of it or to not start it in the first place.

Btw, speaking of Hahn, I notice he talks about Fritz's self-conscious correspondence that can't be trusted. Is he with Luh on Fritz never loving anyone except maybe Fredersdorf?

No, he doesn't make such definite claims about Fritz' emotional life. He does treat some things as given - Wilhelmine as the closest sibling, for example, which comes up when he discusses Fritz the art collector and the influence of Wilhelmine's Italian journey - , and thinks Fredersdorf and Eichel were probably the two people Fritz trusted most, while he thinks of the intellectual friends, D'Argens came closest to his ideal for tht type of relationship - clever and gifted and great to talk to and read letters from, but not as brilliant (and thus not needing Fritz' support) as Voltaire, not to mention an easier person to live with, and willing to stay, unlike Algarotti.

He also treats Fritz' homosexuality in general as given (and agrees with the Antinous = Katte theory), without bothering with a "did he or didn't he?" discussion. In the interview, he's asked about this and his reaction basically is, oh, please, and that in the 18th century as long as you were an aristocrat, it wasn't a big deal.

Oh, and he thinks Fritz had an admistration problem in the later years because the circle of people he trusted was dying on him, and he wasn't capable anymore of trusting new people; that's when his micromanagement style became a problem, which in Hahn's eyes it wasn't before.

Good for him for that much, at least. (The bar, it is low.)

he thinks Fritz had an admistration problem in the later years because the circle of people he trusted was dying on him, and he wasn't capable anymore of trusting new people; that's when his micromanagement style became a problem, which in Hahn's eyes it wasn't before.

That is interesting. Blanning also says that the micromanaging started to fall apart as Fritz got older, but if I'm remembering correctly, he makes it sound like it was due to Fritz getting older or possibly due to the problems just getting more complicated (more territory, post-Seven Years' War, all that). If it was due to having fewer people he could delegate to (Fredersdorf for one was gone), I find that very convincing. Fritz simply losing his grip due to age, well...health problems mounted, granted, but the personality and mental acuity didn't waver one bit, until the last month or so, as far as I can tell.

This is all very interesting! Hahn sounds like he knows what he's talking about. (Which in this fandom is a super big compliment, hee.) ETA: I should have read further -- I am so behind! Guess I'll have to take this one back. And send Ziebura more flowers :P

(Which I note because one odd thing to me when I looked up reviews of the first volume’s republication in 2007 was that not a single review mentions the Heinrich aspect.)

whaaaat? ~~but why else would you start reading these~~ obviously there are more reasons to keep reading, but still

Hahn’s vote for best general of the 7 Years War goes to EC’s brother Ferd(inand) of Braunschweig.

This was one of the guys where EC got the Terrible Horrible Condolence Letters (TM) when he died, right?

Poniatowski’s memoirs really bear checking out.

Yeah, I've been wanting to do this for a while in case Poniatowski gets requested for YT again (surely we can manage one fic between us if we read his memoirs??) -- Mildred, is it possible for you to run it through your OCR/translation interface?
https://archive.org/details/mmoiresdestanis00polagoog/page/n7/mode/2up

The left is Polish, but facing is the original French. On one hand the margins look fairly regular, yay, but on the other hand I bet the OCR will have more trouble with this than it did with your previous batch.

Edited 2020-03-03 19:16 (UTC)

This was one of the guys where EC got the Terrible Horrible Condolence Letters (TM) when he died, right?

No, those were Franz and Albert. Ferd(inand) survived, won fame in the war, and was the recipient of most of EC's letters home from her time as Crown Princess onwards. (Which change from "omg, my new husband is the best ever, I'm so in love!" to "I'm sitting like a prisoner here while everyone else is off to the countryside" to "...and now me and Louise didn't even get a condolence letter!"

The reviews of the 2007 publication: they're basically all advertising by "come for the two Fritz is rude to EC stories, stay for the Prussian court gossip, pen portraits of personalities and vivid descripton of the homefront in the 7 Years War". Now if it were me, I'd use the "stay for the "Heinrich and me: A Rokoko Queer As Folk AU" pitch, but hey...

More depressingly, I suspect several factors coming into play here, among these: a) potential readers only casually interested in Frederick the Great before reading the diaries might hardly remember he had siblings other than Wilhelmine, and b) among readers who are well versed enough in their Prussian history to be able to list most of Fritz' important battles in correct chronological order and know their Ziethen from their Seydlitz, there's probably a sizable continget who are still in homophobic denial and the type to write indignant "it was all Voltaire's slander!" comments. I doubt your avarage newspaper reviewer is aware there's a thriving Fritz slash fandom who'd be into a bi chamberlain in love with his younger brother.

potential readers only casually interested in Frederick the Great before reading the diaries might hardly remember he had siblings other than Wilhelmine

I admit that a year ago, before I started refreshing myself by reading bios and Wikipedia, and certainly before our salon, my "Quick: enumerate Fritz's siblings!" reaction would have been, "He had a brother whose son inherited! The brother must have had a name, but damned if I know what it is." I'm trying to remember if I would have remembered even Wilhelmine that many years after last reading up on Fritz. EC I knew about, but the siblings were all blanks in my mind.

(Truly, our salon is an earthly paradise.)

to "...and now me and Louise didn't even get a condolence letter!"

To the disappeared-from-the-archives "...and now I realize I didn't know how good I had it when I didn't get condolence letters!" inflammatory letter.

I doubt your avarage newspaper reviewer is aware there's a thriving Fritz slash fandom who'd be into a bi chamberlain in love with his younger brother.

Clearly this is a situation that needs to be remedied!

Two years ago, I did know that Fritz had lots of siblings other than Wilhelmine, and at least one of them had been in his army and had been good at it, but that was it. I couldn't have told you their names, either. Having read Wilhelmine's memoirs eons ago didn't help there, since she hardly ever mentions anyone's first name as opposed to "my brother", "my sister", "my other sister" etc.

And I had even seen some movies back in the day. But in "Der Thronfolger", the younger sibs are little kids, Amalie in "Mein Name ist Bach" had only registered as "Not Wilhelmine" and Heinrich in the scene from "Der große König" which I saw as part of a seminar about propaganda movies ("Der große König" was the most popular of the Nazi propaganda movies using Frederician subjects, and was the last time Otto Gebühr starred as Old Fritz) registered only as "the one who was in the army". That scene actually is on YouTube, btw, which is sort of illegal since it's one of the 22 Nazi movies still prohibited to be shown in Germany outside of a teaching context. (I.e. you can show them when doing university presentations where you discuss their propaganda strategies and the like, but you couldn't put them on tv or in the cinema.)

Otoh, I bet you could have listed key battles and generals, whereas yours truly, having gone to school after the "no more glorification of the military!" change of mind had come about, could not have said more "and then he invaded Silesia, and then there was another war in Silesia, and then there was the Seven Years War. And I definitely could not have named anyone from the Sanssouci intellectual circle other than Voltaire, with the awareness that this had ended badly (somehow).

Having read Wilhelmine's memoirs eons ago didn't help there, since she hardly ever mentions anyone's first name as opposed to "my brother", "my sister", "my other sister" etc.

Wilhelmine: I have one *brother*, and also I occasionally see some rugrats running around that I'm told I'm related to.

Otoh, I bet you could have listed key battles and generals

Twenty years ago, absolutely. One year ago, without having refreshed myself on Old Fritz since then? ...Definitely Mollwitz and Schwerin, in detail, and I would have remembered some of Leuthen but possibly forgotten the name if you put me on the spot (though as soon as I saw it, it would have triggered a flood of memories).

And I definitely could not have named anyone from the Sanssouci intellectual circle other than Voltaire, with the awareness that this had ended badly (somehow).

He had an intellectual circle other than Voltaire? And same, it ended badly because two prima donnas sharing the same stage is a bad thing, is what I remember from high school days (and I would have used that metaphor). Anything about shady financial deals with Hirschel or pamphlets with Maupertuis, whooosh, gone.

Having read Wilhelmine's memoirs eons ago didn't help there, since she hardly ever mentions anyone's first name as opposed to "my brother", "my sister", "my other sister" etc.

SO TRUE
*was confused the entire time as to whom she was talking about at any given moment; I should go back and read it again now*

Hahn sounds like he knows what he's talking about. (Which in this fandom is a super big compliment, hee.) ETA: I should have read further -- I am so behind! Guess I'll have to take this one back.

Mmmyyyeaahh, between that unsourced Fredersdorf anecdote in which his rival commits suicide, and those "but the kids provoked him!" I have no confidence in his facts or his opinions. But the historiography write-up was super interesting, and he definitely has his uses. (MacDonogh has his uses too! You have to read the problematic biographers, or you'll never be allowed to read anything.)

Mildred, is it possible for you to run it through your OCR/translation interface?

Haha, I knew you were going to ask this. :P

The good news is, there's no writing in the margins, so it doesn't matter whether they're regular or not, since I don't need to crop them. The other good news is that the OCR did a pretty good job overall, and it was only 50 pages, so I was able to do a decent job of manual cleanup in just a couple of hours.

So that file is now in the library. *bows* Your wish is my command!

Possible bad news, and definitely not what we were expecting...that volume is extremely short. Only 50 pages of French (and 50 of Polish). I wondered if it was abridged, since I don't remember seeing anything about the Elector of Brandenburg during my cleanup, and I went looking to see if there were other copies.

Now I'm just confused. archive.org has both a 200-page Mémoires secrets et inédits, and a 400-page Die Memoiren des letzten Königs von Polen, Stanisaw August Poniatowski. After Thiebault, I'm scarred for life in trusting 19th century memoirs to be the real thing.

selenak, can you clarify what the title of the memoirs Hahn uses is? I've gone ahead and put the shortest version, including OCR and translation, and the long German version, in the library, but I'm not doing all that manual cleanup on the secret unpublished memoirs until I find out that they're real. OCR is fast, translation is fast, manual cleanup of OCR is hours or days.

A couple of notes for

cahn regarding the short version.

1) Kayserlingk is not to be confused with Fritz's Keyserlingk ("Caesarion"), the governor assigned to him as a teenager by FW, one of the "six whom he loved the most," and the one who went to Cirey to visit Voltaire and couldn't get the Pucelle out of Émilie the Very Wise. We've seen both Fredersdorf and Lehndorff write about his daughter. He died in 1745 and is not Poniatowski's Kayserlingk. (I haven't figured out how they're related yet, but they probably are.)

2) A.S. after some of the dates is "Ancien Style," called Old Style and abbreviated O.S. in English. That refers to the Julian calendar. By the Middle Ages, inaccuracies had caused it to drift several days off from reality. (Leap years weren't quite fine-tuned enough, basically.) Pope Gregory XIII made some adjustments and issued a new calendar, called the Gregorian calendar. It was introduced in 1582, when it was 10 days off the Julian calendar. So countries adopting it had to skip 10 days ahead.

Adoption varied by country. Generally speaking, Catholic countries were the first to adopt, because the Pope said so. England didn't adopt until 1752, at which point they were 11 days off. Russia didn't adopt until 1918 (obvious date is obvious, as

selenak says), at which point there was a 13 day difference.

This means that if you're dealing with 18th century history, you'd better know what day it was in what country! And when dealing with international affairs, it's not uncommon to write two dates, or to specify that one was using the Old Style (O.S.) or New Style (N.S.). This also means that sometimes you'll see an event that happened around the turn of the new year written as 1761/1762. This doesn't mean we don't know what year it happened, this means it was a different year in different countries.

For example, the second Miracle of the House of Brandenburg, when Elizaveta of Russia died? Dec. 25, 1761 in Russia, where she lived, but January 5, 1762 in much of the rest of Europe. So you may see her death written as 1761/2, or December 25, 1761 (O.S.), or just January 5, 1762, because we're all on the Gregorian calendar today.

Just in case things weren't confusing enough!

Hahn uses the German edition you've found. The introduction of which tells me that the Polish-French thing can't possibly be the real deal, since P. wrote several volumes of memoirs, all in French. In several stages of his life. They were, according to the preface, confiscated after his death by Paul I., and basically sealed up, with some of the Czars having a look and then sealing them up again. The German book is planned as volume 1, covering the first two volumes of the French edition which supposedly was published for the first time in Paris in 1914. My very quick look told me it has the snark about Fritz on the occasion of young P's Potsdam visit in 1749 from which we already got a quick quote. P. was in Berlin for his health, among other things, and consulted the same doctor, Lieberkühn, who prescribed Fritz his first glasses (the later isn't mentioned, I just noticed because Hahn had given me the name of the doctor).

ETA: So far, P's memoirs in general are quite entertaining. He's often sarcastic, with an ego of his own, of course, but there's plenty of quotable stuff. Mind you, I could excerpt the Prussia-related bits, if that's all you're after, since it's really not his main subject. But fun. Very simplified:

Fritz: Overrated and so forcing himself to be witty. Also a cheapskate in terms of his Queen's budget. (Had to have lunch there one day.) Spotted a rich French waistcoat at Sanssouci when I went touristing there; typical. Modest soldier my ass.

MT: if I were a subject, I'd want her to be my monarch. Less of an ego, more of a common sense, pious, true, but not a hypocrite about it. All three wars of hers were for defense. Footnote: I wrote this in 1772. ~~So disappointed in you, MT!~~

British people: Think they're God's gift to mankind when their schools are all about whipping instead of actual education. It shows.

Catherine: My love! My destiny!I saved myself for her. Yes, reader, I do mean she deflowered me, which as a Rokoko man I feel free to tell you. If you're wondering how a stud like me was still a virgin until Catherine, look, I was raised a Polish Catholic, and then I was ambitious. Anyway: Catherine/Me OTP, still, despite all that happened later.

Elisaveta: still surprisingly attractive when I met her, though not in profile, more of a front woman. Great dancer.

(P)Russian Pete: Ugh. And I do mean ugh. Yes, I'm completely unbiased here. Incidentally, re: his Fritz fanboying, whom he really fanboyed was FW; he had them mixed up on terms of what he thought Fritz was like. Proof no.1: he loved pipe smoking.

Edited 2020-03-05 12:24 (UTC)

The introduction of which tells me that the Polish-French thing can't possibly be the real deal

What IS IT with this fandom and memoirs??! At least by this point when I realized there were three of them, I was jaded enough to assume at least some of them were fake. :P

consulted the same doctor, Lieberkühn, who prescribed Fritz his first glasses (the later isn't mentioned, I just noticed because Hahn had given me the name of the doctor

Look at us getting to know all the minor characters!

ETA: So far, P's memoirs in general are quite entertaining. He's often sarcastic, with an ego of his own, of course, but there's plenty of quotable stuff. Mind you, I could excerpt the Prussia-related bits, if that's all you're after, since it's really not his main subject. But fun.

I am here for anything and everything Poniatowski says that you think is interesting, and I think I can speak for

cahn on this too!

Spotted a rich French waistcoat at Sanssouci when I went touristing there; typical. Modest soldier my ass.

That's our Fritz. Sparta in public, Athens when no one is looking. :P

Elisaveta: still surprisingly attractive when I met her, though not in profile, more of a front woman. Great dancer.

Interesting! These "hot or not" reports are always fun.

If you're wondering how a stud like me was still a virgin until Catherine, look, I was raised a Polish Catholic, and then I was ambitious.

HA. Poniatowski, I can already tell your memoirs are going to be fun.

(P)Russian Pete: Ugh. And I do mean ugh. Yes, I'm completely unbiased here. Incidentally, re: his Fritz fanboying, whom he really fanboyed was FW; he had them mixed up on terms of what he thought Fritz was like. Proof no.1: he loved pipe smoking.

That's hilarious.

Speaking of (P)Russian Pete, we were wondering about his portrait of Fritz practices at one point. Blanning reports,

As the French complained, the new tsar had not so much an attachment as an "inexpressible passion" for Frederick, whom he hailed in a personal letter "one of the greatest heroes the world has ever seen." He often wore the uniform of a Prussian major-general, displayed in his apartment all the portraits of his hero he could find and repeatedly kissed Frederick's image on a ring sent from Potsdam as a present.

Here you go:

His grandmother was the sister of Charles XII, his mother the daughter of Peter the Great, and yet nature had made only a coward out of him, a wastrel and such a funny personality that one couldn't help but exclaim "Look there! the arlechino finto principe" when one saw him.

I suppose that his nurse and all his first teachers in his own country were Prussians, or otherwise bribed by the King of Prussia, for he had such an extraordinary and downright ridiculous veneration and tenderness for this prince from early childhood onwards that this passion - and it really was a passion - caused even the King of Prussia to remark: "I am his Dulcinea. He has never seen me, and yet he fell in love with me like Don Quichotte."

He had been twelve or thirteen years old when Elizabeth had hi brought to Russia, made him convert to the orthodox religion and appointed him her successor. But he always kept a strong attachment to the Lutheran faith in which he had been raised, a strong idea of the importance of his state of Holstein and the conviction that the troops which he had there and which he - as he claimed - had led to I don't know how many victories were after the Prussian troops the best in the world, and much more able than the Russians.

One day, he told Prince Esterhazy, the Viennese envoy at his aunt's court: "How can you hope for a success against the King of Prussia, when your troops can't even be compared to mine, and I myself have to admit that my soldiers are far less able than those of Prussia!"

And to me he said in one of those outpourings with which he often bothered me: "Don't you understand how unhappy I am! I should be in the service of the King of Prusisa; I would serve him with all my enthusiasm and all my vigour; I am sure that I'd be in possession of a regiment today, would have the rank of Generalmajor or even of a Generalieutenant. But no, they brought me here, made me Grandduke in this godforsaken country!"

Then he held a diatribe about the Russian nation in the grotesque way of speech which was his, though sometimes even amusingly so, for he didn't lake a certain type of wit; he wasn't stupid, he was just mad, and since he loved to drink, he contributed his share to the utter destruction of what little reason he was endowed to begin with. Additionally, he kept smoking tobacco, was of a very thin and measly figure, usually wore the uniform of Holstein and rarely anything else, and was in general dressed so ridiculous and tasteless that he ever looked like a Capitano or like something that escaped an Italian farce.

This was the heir presumptative chosen by Elizabeth.

He was always the target of mockery of his future subjects, sometimes also of dark prophecies and always the misfortune of his wife, who either had to suffer through him or die of embarassment about him. In his head, he confused everything which he had ever heard of the late King of Prussia (Grandfather of the currently ruling one, i.e. the one whom his brother-in-law, King George II England, used to call "King Corporal") with the idea he had of the then current King of Prussia. Consequently, he assumed one wronged the later if one claimed that he profered books to the pipe, and especially if one said that he loved to make verses. Whereas the Grand Duchess, like so many othres, couldn't stand the smell of tobacco smoke, and she was an avid reader; this was her husband's main complaint about her.

Such objectivity! I mean, parts of it *are* why he was overthrown, and yet.

"I am his Dulcinea. He has never seen me, and yet he fell in love with me like Don Quichotte."

HAHAHA, that's the best analogy ever. I had actually used it in the WIP I was working on a couple weeks ago, but I have to admit, it fits (P)Russian Pete, who's never met Fritz, better than it fits any of Fritz's actual boyfriends (in this case, Suhm).

Consequently, he assumed one wronged the later if one claimed that he profered books to the pipe, and especially if one said that he loved to make verses. Whereas the Grand Duchess, like so many othres, couldn't stand the smell of tobacco smoke, and she was an avid reader; this was her husband's main complaint about her.

If true, this is hilarious. Don Quixote indeed.

I know! No one could ever accuse Poniatowski of anti-Pete bias, nooooo.

And yes, Fritz is much more (P)Russian Pete's Dulcinea, not Suhm's. He's the Victoria to Suhm's Lord Melbourne, if anything. :)

(Voltaire: Ducinea nothing. He's Alcina, and specifically, my Alcina.)

Poor Pete. Catherine met Fritz. Poniatowski met Fritz. Neither of them bothered with an autograph. Meanwhile, who's the No.1 fan and only got a measly Black Eagle out of it before getting deposed?

Book reading: Poniatowski got his hands on a complete edition of the Pucelle, which was one of his earliest presents for Catherine (they read it together). And she was an avid reader. No idea whether Pete really wasn't one, though.

And yes, Fritz is much more (P)Russian Pete's Dulcinea, not Suhm's.

Agreed, but this was an AU, and it made a little more sense in context. (Fritz has escaped, but now he's missing, no one knows where he is, and Suhm is riding all over Europe trying to find him.)

Btw, I totally stole your Paris/Helen of Troy line for them, it was *so* good, and in the unlikely event that this ends up postable, I would like to keep it and credit you, if that's all right?

Poor Pete. Catherine met Fritz. Poniatowski met Fritz. Neither of them bothered with an autograph. Meanwhile, who's the No.1 fan and only got a measly Black Eagle out of it before getting deposed?

At least you got to prove your #1 fan creds by saving his life!

And she was an avid reader. No idea whether Pete really wasn't one, though.

No idea either. The annual Yuletide requester, who does at least read modern revisionist Russian sources dedicated to Peter as well as contemporary sources that aren't Catherine-derived, says,

Peter, who had a good education, a massive library that he was highly invested in. Who had, according to his tutor in Russia, a superior memory and a love for fortification, an interest in mathematics and the sciences, but a lack of interest in the humanities.

But how rigorous her scholarship is, I don't know. So make of that what you will. (She also says the drinking thing was all lies, that he suffered from terrible hangovers, and so he watered his wine and drank very little.)

I just think this is hilarious.

I suppose that his nurse and all his first teachers in his own country were Prussians, or otherwise bribed by the King of Prussia,

LOLOLOL!
Fritz: Hey, you know, that's a great idea. Heinrich, go bribe all the nurses of monarchs in the vicinity.
Heinrich: Why is it that I always have to do the work?

And to me he said in one of those outpourings with which he often bothered me

This I bet is true, I mean, maybe not necessarily the content but that he was pestering Poniatowski who was rolling his eyes, lol.

he wasn't stupid, he was just mad... and was in general dressed so ridiculous and tasteless that he ever looked like a Capitano or like something that escaped an Italian farce.

Heeee. Regardless of whether his portrait is true, he can sure make it memorable.

(Being the unironic, undetached, un-historically-informed reader that I am, very glad the two of you are here to make comments on Poniatowski's objectivity, lol. Otherwise I would have come away thinking Peter was exactly like that!)

Well, between being Catherine's lover for years - and the likely father of her daughter who was legally Peters (the baby didn't survive the year though, but historians think she was Poniatowski's) - , and being a political opponenent (the Fritz fannishness, which was no joke if you're a representative of invaded Saxony and hail from economically ruined Poland), Poniatowski wasn't likely to give Peter good grades. This being said, I don't think it's fair to entirely dismiss what he says as Catherinian propaganda, either, since a) he wrote it after his own breakup with her, and b) he knew Peter for years. Let's just say it's about as objective as Lehndorff's descriptions of Heinrich's boyfriends.

Edited 2020-03-07 09:58 (UTC)

Mind you, I could excerpt the Prussia-related bits, if that's all you're after, since it's really not his main subject.

Nooooo I want it all. [Hilarious edit: the first thing I wrote was actually "I want it tall." Typo or channeling FW? You choose.] Also what I'm after is that someone should write

deathsblood Poniatowski fic for Yuletide! Which, if you're the only one who's read his memoirs, is maybe going to have to be you, unless I can convince

mildred_of_midgard to translate it from German to English so I can read it too. (I totally think this is worth a book or two. Just so you know, mildred. :D )

Fritz: Overrated and so forcing himself to be witty. Also a cheapskate in terms of his Queen's budget. (Had to have lunch there one day.)

HAHAHAHAHA omg this is gold.

Footnote: I wrote this in 1772. So disappointed in you, MT!

...okay, sorry, what happens to MT after 1772 that he didn't like? Are you talking about the policing of sex stuff?

Catherine: My love! My destiny!I saved myself for her. Yes, reader, I do mean she deflowered me, which as a Rokoko man I feel free to tell you. If you're wondering how a stud like me was still a virgin until Catherine, look, I was raised a Polish Catholic, and then I was ambitious. Anyway: Catherine/Me OTP, still, despite all that happened later.

OMG. This is hilarious and I love it.

Elisaveta: still surprisingly attractive when I met her, though not in profile, more of a front woman. Great dancer.

HAHAHAHA lol

Yes, I'm completely unbiased here

Hee, I bet you are!

[Hilarious edit: the first thing I wrote was actually "I want it tall." Typo or channeling FW? You choose.]

:D I choose FW channeling! Next thing, you'll be making us listen to German comedians outside in the winter, and stiffing them on their fees. :P

unless I can convince [personal profile] mildred_of_midgard to translate it from German to English so I can read it too. (I totally think this is worth a book or two. Just so you know, mildred. :D )

Hmmm, book bribes, my favorite! Let me check out my wishlist, because that is a few hundred pages of manual cleanup, or I would have volunteered by now. :P

...okay, sorry, what happens to MT after 1772 that he didn't like? Are you talking about the policing of sex stuff?

You'll find out if you keep reading, but it's the partition of Poland that year. See also:

Early 1770s
Heinrich: I hear you've been eyeing the rest of Prussia since I was 5 years old.
Fritz: Does it lead to getting involved in a land war in Asia?
Heinrich: Nah, my BFF Catherine says as long as she gets a share of Poland, she's on board with it. We'll have to let Austria get a share, of course.
MT: The poor Poles! What did they ever do to deserve this?
MT: Also, which part is mine?

1772
First Polish Partition: *takes place*

Edited 2020-03-06 17:10 (UTC)

OHHHHH of course I did know that. *chronology-impaired me strikes again!*

ETA: And yeah, that looks like a lot of manual cleanup, which I know is not fun. Thaaaaaaank you <3

Edited 2020-03-06 17:15 (UTC)

Repetition is key to learning! (The sex policing, I might add, starts waaaaay before this. FS is several years dead by this point and not even around to cheat on MT any more, thus adding fuel to the fire that is her hatred of extramarital sex.)

ETA to your ETA: <3 Notice how I didn't require a bribe to do 50 pages for you! 500, you have to really want it. ;)

Edited 2020-03-06 17:20 (UTC)

Found the passage Hahn was quoting from. It's when P discusses the 7 Years War. Worth bearing in mind: P, as a Pole employed by the Saxon government (holding a fiery "behold what Fritz the bastard just did to us, AGAIN!" speech to Elizabeth as the Saxon envoy was one of his first big profile opportunities) at the time and later as the next King, does have a bias and numbers to back him up, i.e. he knows whereof he speaks.

The usual income of Saxony was then around nine million Taler; one can assume the King of Prussia extorted through additional taxes three times as much. 7 x 9 is 63, 3 x 63 is 189 - as many million Taler was Saxony worth to the King of Prussia; additionally, he received 700 000 Pound Sterling of annual English subsidies; and that made it possible what had seemed impossible: that an Elector of Brandenburg resisted for seven years the united countries Russia, Austria, France and Sweden.

Moreover, this prince gained a profit one can't understimate by inventing - as the first among all rulers - the custom of clipping coins with the stamp of another monarch; but he wasn't content with making the Saxon coinage print coins with the image of August III., no, he even had the stamps imitated in his own states and reduced the content bit by bit, to a degree that the coins at last didn't have a third of the worth they were supposed to have.

Since the main field of this war was in Saxony and since he, armed by weapons, only bought what he didn't deign to take for free anyway, he made up for his expenses with a third of the usually assumed sum.

But he didn't only damage Saxony by this; Poland suffered as much, which happened thusly: the treaty of Wehlau had added to the advantages which the House of Brandenburg already possessed in East Prussia yet another, which was that both states should dictate the coinage after agreeing to it. This of course was disregarded; the ruling princes of the House of Brandenburg were content to print coins in their own right which were bearing the same names as the Polish Tymphs and Sixes and were supposed to carry the same worth; consequently, these Prussian coins were used in Poland as much as Polish coins were. (...)

Using the pretense of simply continuing the Saxon print and the prints of his own Prussian Tympths and Sixes, the King of Prussia managed to bring about a hundred million of his devalued coins into circulation in Poland, before the majority of my countrymen (...) even wanted to believe in the possibility of a devaluement. They got into circulation so quickly becuase Poland was to the King of Prussia a store; he bought corn, horses, cattle, salpeter, rough linnen and even cloth, nearly everything he needed. Silesia and the other states ruled by the King of Prussia had been exposed to so many attacks and devastations in the course of this war that Poland was back then able to replace all he used to get from Silesia in the last two listed items. When the Poles finally realized that they had been deceived regarding the value of these Prussian coins, they heightened the prices of their articles, but the substance of theese coins was lessened even more for about the same sum, and always a time passed until one had realised the renewed and even greater deception, so that by the year 1763, at the end of this war, over 200 million Gulden of these false coins were circulating in Poland.

Slytherin with a strong Gryffindor streak. :P

This is awesome! Economic hijinks plots are my favorite :D So I remember waaaay back, hearing this (I think it was this?) story of the counterfeit coins / inflation; is this then the primary source for that story (which I dimly remember we didn't have a primary source for at the time)?

It was Hahn's, which is who we got reminded to check the memoirs again.

And now for Anhalt Sophie:

She was twenty five years old. Only a short time ago, she'd risen from giving birth the first time, and her beauty was in full bloom at this point which to most women graced with beauty means the highest peak. Her white skin and vivid colours contrasted with her black hair; she had large blue and very expressive eyes, black and very long lashes, a thin nose, a mouth inviting kisses, completely beautiful hands and arms; she was slender, more tall than small, her walk was graceful and yet full of majesty, the sound of her voice pleasant and her laughter as bright as her mood; with ever balanced ease she returned from childish games to communicating in cyphres, she was never afraid of the physical demand of deycphring chiffere or of the text, no matter how important or dangerous the message.

The oppression she'd been subjected to since her marriage, the lack of any equal-minded company had led her to the joy of reading. She knew much; gifted with a seductive nature, she could assess anyone's weaknesses, and she was already accumulating the love of the people who would be her way to the throne which was later to surround with so much glamour.

This was the woman who was to rule my destiny; my whole life was dedicated to her, far more literally than by what people usually mean when they make such claims in a similar position. And through an odd circumstance, I, despite being twenty two years of age, could give her something which no one had had before she did.

Firstly, a strict education had kept me from any debauched company; on my travels, my ambition to rise in so-called "good society" had protected me, and despite the many liasons I had started abroad, at home and even in Russia, several accidents of fate had made it possible that I had inadvertendly saved myself for the woman who was to govern my fortune later.

I cannot abstain from the pleasure of describing even the dress she was wearing when I met her that day; a simple dress made of white satin, with pink ribbons and some lace as its only decoration.

I know you said the French-Polish one from 1862 can't be the real deal, but I recognize this passage from there. Maybe the "hot or not" report got published somewhere else in the interim?

Well, according to the preface, he wrote the whole thing in several stages, starting in the 1770s till the end of his life. Wouldn't be surprised if he made copies of the first part early on, and someone nicked them before he ended up deposed and in exile...

In haste (must wrangle kids, more later) but I looked at the 50-page one and it appears to be a "best of" super-abridgement, with ellipses demarcating what look like extreme cutting of material (like, it seems to go to entirely separate subjects, which confused me when I started looking at it!)

(also, thaaaaaank you mildred and sorry I gave you a dud, I should have looked more closely at the french beforehand)

Yeah, I noticed the jumping around during the cleanup, but what's weird is that

selenak says the preface to the German edition says it wasn't officially available to be super-abridged in 1862. So there must have been an illicit copy floating around of at least excerpts.

(also, thaaaaaank you mildred and sorry I gave you a dud, I should have looked more closely at the french beforehand)

No worries. As librarian, it's my job to check these things out!

Edited 2020-03-05 16:42 (UTC)

LOL, I should have read everything first, hee! I can't keep up with you guys! :)

Maybe it was a Danish ambassador. ;)

OMG, this is so great.

And through an odd circumstance, I, despite being twenty two years of age, could give her something which no one had had before she did...

HAHAHAHAHA I mean, your synopsis above does... accurately describe this passage!

I cannot abstain from the pleasure of describing even the dress she was wearing when I met her that day

LOL, Poniatowski :D

HAHAHAHAHA I mean, your synopsis above does... accurately describe this passage!

When I first read it and arrived at that sentence, I went... does he mean... yup, that's exactly what he means.

BTW, I saw there's a vid about P based on one of the Russian Catherine miniseries, titled Primadonna Girl.

I should add here that P adores one particular Englishman, the "Chevalier Williams", who seems to have been his Suhm from teenage days onwards; when Williams argues for the first time with him in St. Petersburg, P is ready to jump from the balcony, Rokoko guy that he is, but Williams pulls him back, and they reconcile. This before P meets Catherine, of course. Hover, re: the rest of the nation...

The most amazing thing is their education; contrary to what I've seen everywhere else, where people try to raise their children well, a sense of honor seems to be neglected entirely in English schools. The whip and only the often used whip seems to be the deciding instrument there, and experience speaks of success to the English. (...) When they have finally completet their eighteenth year, sometimes even earlier than that, they should, so everyone there agrees on, go travelling(...). So they go forward, the brain packed with good Latin and some English classics and the conviction that government, the earth, the morals, the taste, and practically everything is better in England than anywhere else in teh world. Thus equipped and full of disregard for all the nations they visit, they are very amazed when they are stared at like one stares at savages whereever they go, because they can't even greet anyone properly, they don't know how to enter a room and how to leave it; since they always have regarded the "shallow French exercises" with contempt and usually can't talk in any language but their own, they by necessity become a burden to everyone, and consequently to themselves as well.

Edited 2020-03-06 05:52 (UTC)

A passage about MT's first minister Kaunitz, aka the one who hit on the idea of the Diplomatic Revolution, leading into a passage about MT

It can be regarded as one of the great qualities of Maria Theresia's character and government that she knew how to esteem Herr von Kaunitz rightly and to put him into the correct position, on her own initiative and despite of all the voices talking against him, and that she has kept him there, without him having tried in particular to win the favour of his fellow noblemen; nor did he fake a hypocritical devotion in order to keep the favour of his pious princess. She tried a few times to make him feel her displeasure at him keeping actresses as mistresses. He replied: I have to give my Empress and Queen account regarding my attitude as her minister, as her subject, but in no other way. If my princess is not content with my service, I will gladly give up my work and business and withdraw to my estate of Rietberg."

Such a reply would have caused Madame de Maintenon - mistress and morganatic wife of Louis XIV, very pious - to throw out whoever gave it. Herr von Kaunitz even has allowed himself to ignore courtly etiquette; to the officers who pointed this out to him because they thought he had simply forgotten (the dress code), he replied: "I won't go where my furcoat isn't welcome, either."

Since nineteen years, Kaunitz is in office and seems to be destined not to leave it any time soon. And if I was to be born a subject and could choose among any of the currently living rulers, Maria Theresia would be my Queen. When she ascended to the throne, she found the troops and the finances of her state in utter disarray. In the middle of three nearly always miserable wars, she has managed to restore both and to put them on a higher level than they have had under any of her ancestors, and yet her subjects do not get oppressed. She is generious; nearly all public buildings in vienna, nearly all the roads of her provinces have either been built by her or renewed by her, and she's still rich, and she proves it through making huge and regular presents; she is faithful, she has never given into the temptation to go against her principles, and yet she isn't just compassionate, let alone soft, but she has reduced the arrogance of the Church, she has improved the education of the youth in all her states. Her politics were skillful without being false; so far, she has only conducted war to defend herself. And thus she has experienced the happiness to be truly loved by her subjects. For thirty years of her government, no action of hers has been known to go against the principle of justice.

May such a beautiful example not fall from its pedestal and keep itself pure to be imitated by posterity! And may my fatherland never have to complain about the lack of consistency of human virtues!* *Footnote: I wrote these words in the February of 1772. (I.e. before the Polish Partitioning.)

P: as disappointed in MT as Voltaire was in Fritz when Fritz invaded Silesia!

Edited 2020-03-05 19:37 (UTC)

He replied: I have to give my Empress and Queen account regarding my attitude as her minister, as her subject, but in no other way. If my princess is not content with my service, I will gladly give up my work and business and withdraw to my estate of Rietberg."

Wooooow, that's kinda great (and also great that MT respected it)

And may my fatherland never have to complain about the lack of consistency of human virtues!* *Footnote: I wrote these words in the February of 1772. (I.e. before the Polish Partitioning.)

Oooooooh.

Young P visits Berlin for the first time in 1749.

The courts of the queen mother and the queen shared twice weekly the duties of etiquette, to receive strangers of distinction, the ladies of the country and the small number of subjects of the King of Prussia who weren't members of the military. (...) Since the behavior of the women in Poland was back then much more restrained than it is now, I was amazed about the behavior of the women in Berlin: it seemed to me as if the Voltairemania everyone pretended more than actually feel, and their bold speeches which they thought were the expression of wit, as if all this gave them the aura of artifice, as if they wanted to appear much freeer than they actually were; perhaps all of this just resulted from the impulse caused by the writings and sayings of the philosopher of Sans-Souci.

He had been in Prussia when I arrived in Berlin, and returned there only three weeks later; I've seen him twice; both times, he adressed me. I thought he came across as awkward, and as feeling himself obliged to always talk better than anyone else in the room while being afraid he might fail at this. He had a restless gaze, disturbed eyes, an insecure attitude, unclean wardrobe and the entire figure not having much in the way of nobility. I've often heard others say similar things about him, but these are just external factors. This is neither the place or time to paint a complete and thorough portrait of this prince. Every day, I have heard his subjects of every social background talk out loud badly about him, which he knew very well, and which he had gotten used to so much that it didn't matter to him in the least.

Before he had returned from Prusisa, I had visited Charlottenburg, Potsdam, the little palace of Sans-Souci, and the room in which he lived and usually worked. It seemed to me an utter mess: books and writings thrown together, everywhere, on all sides, verses written by the King's own hand, a lot of furniture mixed together; the women who have been entrusted to show strangers the royal palaces of this country and whom one calls "Castellaines" there told me they had strict orders to leave everything in its place where they had found it when the master had left; so I saw in Charlottenburg a marble bust of Julius Caesar beneath a canapee, and the chatellaine assured me she'd never dare to remove it.

In all the bedrooms of the King of Prussia, I saw a richly endowed waistcoat tailored for the figure of the King, made of expensive clothing; but people swore that he did not wear it. This waistcoat attracted my attention since it seemed to have been put there deliberately in contradiction of the idea one had of the dressing gown of a warior and philosopher.

In his bedroom in Sans-Souci, I saw two small beds in exactly the same size, standing close together; in Berlin, there had been various rumors about the use of these two beds, but the chatelaine told me that the King switched from one bed to the other whenever he got too hot; and yet he loves the heat; the room in which he lives in summer lies to the southside, and there isn't a single day in the year in which there isn't a fire lit in his fireside; they even told me that anyone he calls into his room nearly faints from the heat. I have seen the cabinets of his library in Sans-Souci, but the chatelaine said she didn't possess the keys. The cuppola of this small palace, made of exquisite marble, illuminated through a round window above, and the Mercury by Pigalle in the garden are the two most beautiful things I have seen there.

Since it is not my intention to talk here about the cheapskate poverty in which the Queen and her entire court are being kept, nor about the strict force to which the entire lives of the King's brothers are subjected to, nor about this troops and his financial practices, I shall restrain myself to observing that in Berlin, I made the aquaintance of the Chevalier Charles Hambury Williams, who was then the British envoy at the court of the King of Prussia, who even then gifted me with many courtesies and who later became my great friend.

Edited 2020-03-05 19:42 (UTC)

Oh, HANBURY-Williams! I saw Williams in the OCR cleanup I was doing, but I didn't realize it was that Williams.

Refreshing myself by looking at MacDonogh and Blanning, it's funny because they both report pretty much the same thing, i.e. Fritz and Hanbury-Williams not being able to stand each other, but, very predictably, Blanning blames Fritz and MacDonogh blames Hanbury-Williams.

Blanning, as part of a larger argument that Fritz's tendency to shun and insult envoys and foreign leaders crippled him politically:

[Foreign diplomats] were given a brief royal audience when they arrived and another when they left. In between times, they were very lucky if they even saw Frederick, let alone talked to him. In 1750 the new British envoy, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, was kept waiting for an hour and was then given an audience of five and a half minutes. Longer experience only confirmed his initial impression: “A man might as well make his court to a parcel of hogs as to the court of Berlin” was his verdict.

...Unfortunately, the need to be attentive to people one finds tiresome is an integral part of public office at every social level. For a sovereign it is essential. Had Frederick brought himself to be agreeable to the foreign diplomatic corps, he might well have reaped political benefits.

MacDonogh, in contrast:

When Hanbury Williams was posted to Prussia at the end of the decade, he noted bitchily, 'No female is allowed to approach the court, males wash the linen, nurse the children, make and unmake the beds.' But then, Hanbury-Williams' tactless and snobbish approach put the Prussians' backs up. He was, by his own admission, 'shunned and avoided by everybody'. What he knew about Potsdam was merely gossip from fellow diplomats in Berlin.

Some time later...

Frederick's diplomatic contacts with Saint Petersburg were assured by the British and their envoy Hanbury Williams. Hanbury-Williams had changed his mind about the king since Frederick had him recalled from Berlin, and he was now 'the zealous defender of the interests of Prussia'. Frederick, too, was reconciled to the Englishman and had had him provided with a fat purse.

Still later...

[Future Catherine the Great]: For the time being at least, she was relatively open-minded towards Frederick. On 20 November 1756 she wrote to Hanbury Williams: 'I read the writings of the king of Prussia with the same avidity as those of Voltaire. You will think that I am making up to you, if I tell you today that I am a profound admirer of His Prussian Majesty.'

Chronology note for

cahn: in November 1756, the Seven Years' War has just started, Elizaveta is sick but still hanging on and not going to die until January 1762, and Catherine is Grand Duchess, wife of the heir to the throne (future irrational fanboy Peter III). By the time 1762 rolls around, Catherine manages not to let any remaining admiration get in the way of a cool-headed foreign policy that benefited Russia more than Prussia. The first thing she did was recall the troops that had been fighting for him (and that's where you get that lovely episode where Fritz asks them to stick around for a couple days and pretend they're going to fight, and he wins the battle and then says thanks).

In an unreliable source that I don't even remember what it is now, I read that Catherine was worried Fritz was going to try to keep the Russian troops there against their will. When he let them go after asking nicely for two more days of non-combat services, she was like, "Okay, I can work with him!" Then they arrived at an agreement that was neither her making Russia a de facto province of Prussia nor trying her level best to dismember Prussia. And the war ends shortly thereafter, status quo ante bellum.

LOL. So what is your thought on this? Somewhere in between the two, I expect? I mean, Fritz... does have a tendency to insult everyone. But he did get along with / made a good impression on some people, like Mitchell, so I imagine that Hanbury-Williams was not perhaps the most... diplomatic envoy ever, either/

This also explains at least one reason that P. didn't have a great picture of Fritz, though, lol.

Hard to say. Both authors agree Fritz wasn't inclined to interact with foreign diplomats, and he might have been more forthcoming to his only ally during the Seven Years' War than in 1750, when he was insulting every power in Europe (which even ultra-faithful Lehndorff confirms). So Mitchell might have seen Fritz at his best, and everyone agrees that if you see Fritz at his best, you are immediately charmed.

I don't know much about Hanbury-Williams as a person, but if Fritz made a bad first impression by insulting him, it doesn't surprise me if that experience didn't bring out the best in Hanbury-Williams. I imagine he would be, even if not offended personally, offended as a representative of a powerful nation that has just been snubbed. And then he might have hung around in Prussia looking at everything with a jaundiced eye, until Fritz got around to making a better impression.

This also explains at least one reason that P. didn't have a great picture of Fritz, though, lol.

Would not surprise me!

Poniatowski: The Chevalier Williams was the best, loveliest, most awesome man I ever met, I crushed on him as a teen and through my 20s, and the King of Prussia was an ass. This is not even a matter of debate. I heart Williams, and not just because he enabled my affair with Catherine, big time. Did I mention the first time I seriously argued with him because I was the Saxon envoy and he was the British one in St. Peterburg, I nearly threw myself off the balcony until he pulled me back?

German Wiki: is much much more detailed about Williams than English wiki and seems to think it was more Fritz' fault in this particular case AND that Williams still put other people's backs up in his own right. ("His government sent him to Vienna next to be more pointed than the previous envoy, Robert Keith. He was so pointed that the Empress was angry and Williams had to leave.")

German Wiki also: Williams had syphilis, with some of his temper outbursts in later years because of it, he was eventually locked up by his family and died of it.

English wiki: has none of this.

I seriously need to just start checking German wiki by default, even when it's about an Englishman! I've said this to myself before and still haven't developed the habit.

Thank you.

So it's 1756, and Grand Duchess Catherine challenges her admirer to write a self portrait for her. Which he does:

I would be content with my figure if I was an inch taller and had more beautifully shaped legs, not such a pronounced beak of a nose, less hips, a sharper gaze and more pronounced teeth. Not that these corrections would make me an Adonis, but I wouldn't ask for more, because I find my physiognomy to be noble and quite expressive, my gestures and my whole attitude distinguished enough to get anyone's attention anywhere. My shortsightedness gives me a sometimes awkward or sinister expression, but it doesn't keep, and once the first moment is over, I often make the mistake of striking a too proud attitude.

The excellent education I've enjoyed helped me to overcome the mistakes in my figure and my mind. I have enough wit to match anyone's conversation, but I don't have enough of an imagination to carry it over an extended time, except if my sentiment is deeply involved, or my well trained sense for anything to do with the arts.

I often notice the ridiculous and false in any area, and the flaws people have, and often I let them notice this too soon. I hate any bad company. A considerable laziness has prevented me from developing my talents and my knowledge as far as my abilities would allow me to. When I work, I do so in a fit of inspiration, I do a lot at once, or nothing at all. I don't easily trust people and thus come across as more sophisticated than I actually am. As far as businesses are concerned, I often am too eager and too sincere and thus put my foot in my mouth at times. I have a good judgment, easily find the mistakes of a project or of the one who leads it; but I need counsel and someone to restrain me in order not to make mistakes myself. I'm extraordinarily sensitive and tend to grieve more easily than I feel joy, and would feel too much of the first sensation if a precognition of the second didn't live in my heart. Burning and insatiable ambition lives within me, and my ideas for various reforms for the honor and the use of my fatherland are at the heart of all my projects and my entire life.

I thought I was not suited for women; my earliest attempts were just owed to a necessity owed to circumstance for me. Finally, I have at last encountered tender love, and now I love with such a passion that I feel a change of my fortune would make me the unhappiest of men and drive me into despair. The duties of friendship are sacred to me, and I carry them very far. If my friend should wrong me, there is nothing in the world I would not do to prevent a breakup; and long after he has insulted me, I would remember that I owe him much. I believe that I am a very good friend. It is true, I count only a few people as intimate friends, though I am of course grateful for anything good someone has done for me. (...)

I am generous, I hate dirty avarice, but I'm not capable of administrating my worldly goods. I can't keep my own secrets as well as I can keep those of others which I treat carefully. I am very compassionate. I have such a strong desire for love and approval that my vanity would grow into infinity if I wasn't so afraid of making myself look ridiculous. Furtherly, I don't lie, both out of principle and out of a natural dislike against falsehood. I'm very far from being devout, but I dare say I love God; I often address him, and I have the flattering conviction that he loves doing good as we ask it of him. I am fortunate to love my father and my mother, not just out of duty but out of affection. I would not be capable of carrying out a revenge scheme even if in my first anger I thought of one; I believe that pity would win in me. One forgives out of a certain weakness just as one does out of greatness, and I fear that for this reason, one day I shall have to give up many of my plans. I leave myself to my thoughts and possess enough imagination to not get bored if I'm alone and without a book, mainly since I now love.

Edited 2020-03-05 20:44 (UTC)

This too was in the French-Polish version. It seems somebody did have access to at least some of the memoir material at that time.

Heh. "Hot or not? ME!"

because I find my physiognomy to be noble and quite expressive, my gestures and my whole attitude distinguished enough to get anyone's attention anywhere.

:D

I often notice the ridiculous and false in any area, and the flaws people have, and often I let them notice this too soon.

I can't imagine where you get that idea from! Well, at least you have an accurate assessment of this part of yourself :)

"Hot or not? ME!"

LOL!

I often notice the ridiculous and false in any area, and the flaws people have, and often I let them notice this too soon.

I can't imagine where you get that idea from! Well, at least you have an accurate assessment of this part of yourself :)

Fritz: That's the only way to LIVE!
MT: If your goal is to die alone, yes. Joseph, pay attention. You're not dying alone on my watch!

Heh. "Hot or not? ME!"

Well, he had a Grandduchess to impress. :) (Also as you can see below, Lehndorff actually agrees with him.) P also kindly informs us future readers which of his portraits currently hanging in Warsaw he thinks is best. This one.

Hi Frederick fans!

I am delighted that this fandom exists, and sometimes lurk on the fringes.

I also have a friend who is planning a trip to Germany in late March / early April. She and her husband will be in Trier, Frankfurt, Cologne, Bonn, and Luxembourg.

Are there Frederickan sites, museums, or other points of interest they should visit?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions! They are much appreciated.

Unfortunately, geography is against your friend there. These cities are all with the exception of Frankfurt in the Rhineland, and Frankfurt is in Hesse. Frederician sites and points of interest are in East Germany, in Berlin, Potsdam, the rest of Brandenburg. Rhinelanders, um, rather loathed the Prussians. By and large.

This being said, there's a lot of history in each of these places to be admired!

Trier: oldest Roman settlement still existing in Germany. Roman governors used to reside there. Also, hometown of Karl Marx. Has the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier with the greatest collection of Roman mosaics north of the Alps along wit the greatest Roman treasure. There's also a Marx museum and a big Chinese donated statue.

Frankfurt: a lot was destroyed and had to be rebuild after WWII. Museum wise, I'd say one must is the Goethe Museum - Goethe was born there, and not visiting is like going to Stratford and never visiting either of the two Shakespeare houses - which also offers a good exhibition on the time of Goethe's youth, which, of course, overlaps with Frederick's middle and old age. There's also a Jüdisches Museum - Frankfurt used to have one of the biggest Jewish communities in Germany - and a Archäologisches Museum worth visiting, although if your friend has already done Trier and is short of time, they might want to skip. To me, visiting the Paulskirche would also be a must, as this is where in 1848 there was the first attempt at a freely elected German Parliament and creating a constitution. This ended with the repression of the 1848 revolution and badly, but it's still a poignant place. There's a rotunda with a painting depicting all the 1848 parliamentarians, including Jacob Grimm (one of the two fairy tale gathering brothers Grimm).

Cologne: the cathedral, of course. Step out of the train station and into the cathedral, it's that close. The Römisch-Germanisches Museum is a must again for the Romans and ancient Germans, even if you've been in the Trier Museum, because it's one of the best archaelogical museums of Europe. The NS Dokumentationszentrum is the largest local museum devoted to documenting the crimes of the Third Reich in a German city.

Bonn: Beethovenhaus (birthplace of Beethoven) and Schumannhaus, devoted to these respective composers. The bungalow of the chancellors, i.e. where our heads of state resided before the capital moved to Berlin again post reunification. Noteworthy for being a normal size ordinary citizen bungalow, in intentional contrast to the Third Reich architectural megalomania. The Kunstmuseum Bonn, one of the best museums devoted to contemporary art.

Luxembourg: never having been there myself, have to pass.

Like I said: none of these cities are connected to Frederick unless very remotely (as in, young Goethe was a fan) - it's completely the wrong region of Germany for that, with a century old tradition of resenting Prussians that's only rivaled by Bavarians resenting them even more. (Frederick himself was popular as a character, mind.) He's never been in any of these places except en route to being somewhere else.

I

Unfortunately, geography is against your friend there.

Ah well! Geography does defeat my good intentions. :-)

Thank you for the Rhineland recommendations! I will pass them on. The museum suggestions are absolutely in her area of interest.

What

selenak said. The only sites of possible Fritzian interest I can think of that are on that side of the country, and I'm talking like a 2-3 hour drive south, are:

1) a very minor museum on the site of the spot where 18-yo Fritz tried to escape from his abusive father but was caught, then sent off to (modern-day) Poland for imprisonment and ~~traumatic brainwashing~~ rehabilitation (and yes, as

selenak says, he was on his way to somewhere else when this happened),

2) Hohenzollern castle, waaay in the south, which Fritz himself didn't live at or even visit, but the current (19th century) castle has a museum that has some Fritz-related stuff (and also other things of possible interest to Americans, such as, Wikipedia tells me, a letter from George Washington to von Steuben). Also Fritz (and his abusive father Friedrich Wilhelm I) were buried there from 1952-1991. They're currently buried in Potsdam.

I haven't been to either site, but I can tell you that while (2) might be worth a trip if your friend has the time and interest, (1) is only even remotely of interest to people who are absolutely obsessed with the escape attempt, so basically just me. ;) (

cahn and

selenak may remember (1) as the site with the pre-1945 plaque saying "Here on August 4/5 Frederick the Great was preserved for the Fatherland," i.e. "Yay child abuse leading to conquest!")

In terms of things Fritz did in the Rhineland vicinity, he visited Strasbourg once with a forged passport and spent the night in jail (no really!), and about an hour away, he saw his first sort-of battle as a young man, at a very lackluster siege in a war that no one remembers any more, but there are no "Fritz was here" tourism sites there. (Though Strasbourg is interesting in its own right.)

But if you, your friend, or anyone you know should ever end up in the Berlin area, we can give you the Frederician itinerary to beat all itineraries! :D

These are not hardcore Frederick people. If they do head to Berlin I will hit you all up!

Thank you for sharing the tidbits available, as I get to hear about things like hey did anyone tell you about this one time a future monarch spent a night in jail, as one does.

These are not hardcore Frederick people.

I figured. If they're hardcore enough to care about the escape attempt, they're hardcore enough to know where the sites are and aren't.

If they do head to Berlin I will hit you all up!

Please do! I did a whole Sanssouci tour guide over in

rheinsberg, and we can totally supplement it with all the Berlin proper stuff.

Thank you for sharing the tidbits available, as I get to hear about things like hey did anyone tell you about this one time a future monarch spent a night in jail, as one does.

Even funnier, Frederick never ever admitted this happened, and if he hadn't brought his younger brother along on the trip, we would never know. It was his brother who wrote, "Hey, we totally spent the night under arrest!"

a future monarch

No, it gets even funnier. He wasn't even a future monarch. This was about two months after he'd acceded to the throne. He was the current monarch of Prussia, detained in France for forging his own passport and sneaking over the border! The reason was that he wanted to travel incognito and enjoy being a tourist like a private person and not be recognized as a monarch. Well, he was recognized very quickly, and also apparently he got detained (I don't have the details on that, maybe

selenak does*) before the officials straightened everything out in the morning. So his plan to spend a lot of time doing tourism was aborted very quickly.

This fandom is chock-full of crazy anecdotes. :D

* ETA: I actually realized I don't even remember if "jail" is overstating it and it was house arrest or something similar, but the point is, he and his companions were apparently detained against their will until the paperwork situation was straightened out the next day, and it was embarrassing enough to Fritz that it NEVER HAPPENED. Much like that time Old Fritz supposedly fell off his horse during a military review, and the younger officers wanted to go see if he needed help, while the older ones knew enough to go "LALALALA nothing to see here!" Which was 100% the right move. :P

Edited 2020-03-08 18:27 (UTC)

Mes amies, here‘s Lehndorff in the year 1777, demonstrating that age does not wither one‘s inner tendency to draw sparkly hearts one bit:

1777 February 17th

(...) I receive many letters, including one by Prince Heinrich. He writes me that he is quite content about this winter, which passed without a scandal - something of a rarity for Berlin, it is true. As for me, I‘m surprised by myself: I‘m not in a hurry to return to this city at all, where I did spend the majority of my life and where one has courted me with attentions. I feel so comfortable in my solitude that I only want to leave it in order to travel through warm countries. For a few days, I enjoy myself by riding a sledge and by the great scenery offered through the mountains.
After a few days, I receive a letter from Buchholtz, the esteemed secretary of Prince Heinrich and without a doubt the most diligent of his servants. He tells me that the prince has travelled to Braunschweig with Herr v. Knyphausen, but has left Kaphengst behind, since the later has been stopped from travelling by a strong outbreak of the French sickness which he has picked up from German and French drama players. In Magdeburg his royal highness was in danger of getting smashed by a splinter of the great brdige which fell down right next to his carriage. Of course, I was completely shocked by these news and praised God for protecting my dear prince from this accident. But the very next day, I received a letter which still disturbes me. My dear prince has fallen dangerously sick in Braunschweig. He coughes blood and is extraordinarily weak, so it has been assumed that he was in great danger. Fortunately, he was bled at once, otherwise he might have been lost. My position is cruel. If I wasn’t away for more than 70 miles from him, I would have hurried to his side at once! The last few letters have somewhat reassured me, since I was told that he is out of danger now. But I will not rest until I know him to be safely back at Rheinsberg.

On May 2nd, Lehndorff while visiting Leipzig meets the Count of St. Germain himself.

(...)From there, I visit the Count Saint-Germain, who has been known for 50 years now under this name, but currently has assumed the alias of „Welton“, which in the English language meants philanthropist. Of this man, it is claimed that he has been alived since the birth of Christ. He himself doesn’t claim that directly, but he does indicate he has been living for a long time and doesn’t believe he will have to die, and that the people who follow his life plan would at the very least reach a great age. It is certain that he follows a strict diet. He lives with great moderation, drinks only water, never newly opened wine, and only eats a light supper once a day. His conversation is interesting; he preaches solely the virtues of moderation and philanthropy he himself displays. One can’t accuse him of doubletalk there. It is said he’s not as rich anymore as he used to be. In France, in England and in Venice, he used to spend 6000 ducats per annum without anyone knowing where that money came from. Here in Leipzig, people say, he’s lacking funds, but he hasn’t tried to borrow money from anyone yet; instead, he supposedly owns a lot of diamonds. His facial expression is verry high spirited. He talks with enthusiasm and pointedly, but doesn’t suffer counter arguments lightly. He claims to be able to read from anyone’s face whether they are able to understand him or not. In the later case, he refuses to see the person in question again. As for me, I have listened to him with great enjoyment. He seems to feel much friendliness for me, so I’ve spent about 24 hours with him over the last three days. (...)
Some believe him to be a Portuegese Jew, others assume his life to have lasted for a few hundred years now, and believe him to be a dethroned prince. One accuses him to have told people that he was the third son of Prince Rackozy. He thinks he’s a great physicist. Above all things, he’s a doctor and talks a lot about his delicious powder which is to be drunken like a tea. I drank a cup of it. It tastes like anis and leads to increased bowel movement. He keeps preaching about the balance between mind and body; if one observes it carefully, he says, the machine of the body will never falter. Since my earliest youth I have heard tales about this man, and now I’m delighted to have finally met him. (...)
Upon my return to the inn where I’m lodging the most pleasant surprise awaits me any feeling heart can experience. For as I climb up the stairs to the rooms in which so many strangers lodge, a pretty boy steps downwards to me. Even while I ponder who he might be, I’m told he is my son. This child, which has been so thin and worn out that I gave him to Herr Muzelius in Berlin to be cured, and then to Halle in the care of my niece Isenburg, married Countess Schlieben, has changed so much within only six months that I hardly recognized him. I cannot describe my joy. It feels like my soul became one with that of the child - this is how glad I am! No joy in the world can replace such happiness. My heart swam in delight, and yet I could not pronounce a single word. (...) I had dinner with my niece, my wife and my son, and must confess that this meal meant more to me than anyone with the most famous wits.

Awwww. But seriously, for a retired family man, Lehndorff finds an amazing amount of opportunities to make trips to, well...

May 16h: Early I was on my way to Rheinsberg. I couldn’t stand the journey; the terrible sand made me almost melancholic. But when I finally arrived, my joy was all the greater; now, all was forgotten. Rheinsberg is still a place where I have spend many pleasant hours.
At first, we‘re completely alone, the Prince, Kaphengst and myself. Then, Herr v. Stosch arrives. We now make a trip to Meseberg, the beautiful estate which the Prince has bought wiht 130 000 Taler and given to Kaphengst as a gift. The mansion is furnished splendlidly, and this, too, the kind prince has paid for. One could admire him for it if only he would present his gifts according to merit, as opposed to favour. The health of the Prince improves. As we keep talking day in and day out, I always see how clever and gifted the Prince is. One can truly say of him that he is great in great matters, and small in small matters. (...)

June 1st. The Prince of Liechtenstein and Count Colloredo arrive. They are delighted by Rheinsberg and by the Prince. The Empress has explicitly ordered Prince Liechtenstein to go there and congratulate the Prince to his recovery. The King of France has ordered his envoy to do the same. Clearly, the Prince enjoys the respect given to great minds. If only this Prince whom my heart loves so tenderly would try to be as just as he is good and generous, he would be the object of universal admiration. Unfortunately, with him, passion always wins over sentiment. Thus he is able to give Kaphengst an estate for 150 000 Taler, but to refuse a young Wreech who is completely loyal to him 100 Louisdor. His loyalty is known to the prince, but as he is modesty itself, he doesn’t get anything out of it, while the other achieves everything through his impudence. This reminds me that one day, I strongly remonstrated with Mara, a strong favourite of the Prince’s, because he had behaved very impudently towards his Highness. The creature replied to me: „Oh, you don’t know this Prince as I do. If you don’t behave like a bastard towards him, you’re not getting anywhere.“
During my stay at Rheinsberg, I drive a few times to Meseberg, where Kaphengst marries one of his sisters to a Captain Beyer from the regiment Ferdinand. He throws them a princely wedding. Fourteen days, he hosts forty people, which all get supplied through the kitchen and the cellar of the Prince. While his royal highness limits himself to one bottle of Champagne for his evening table, people at Meseberg empty 1900. This favourite costs the Prince more than 10 000 Taler per annum, and that’s without counting the state.

Lehndorff, we knew that about Heinrich. You know that about Heinrich. I’m not expecting psychology on why Heinrich might have imprinted on charismatic bastards for life from you, but after all these decades, are you still expecting him to see the light? In July, Lehndorff is back at home when it’s family reunion time because old Uncle Du Rosey celebrates his 82nd birthday. This reminds Lehndorff:

I would like to add that I felt a certain satisfaction, which of course I did not pronounce out loud, when I saw the same Herr du Rosey in front of me who was 26 years ago my greatest enemy, when I proposed to Fräulein du Rosey. Through her mother, she was my cousin, and very rich, but her family sold her to a Herr v. Katt. All the people who were involved in this and scheming against me back then, I‘ve seen either take a bad ending or have seen them greatly humbled. There’s visible proof that there is such a thing as divine justice; God is just and knows what people deserve!

Nope, you’re still not forgiven, relations and Kattes. In August, he brings his son Karl to Berlin to go to school there, spends a few days in the capital, his wife has another daughter, the kid is duly baptized, and then Lehndorff is off to Rheinsberg again. No Kaphengst for a while, yay!

In the morning, I always take charming strolls with Prince Heinrich. Our conversation is extremely interesting to me, and covers subjects that only a few historians will know about. They will present the fascinating rule of Friedrich completely differently from how it should be written; the most interesting stories will be missed by them. (I dare say, Lehndorff.) They will seek for extraordinary causes for events which were more or less a work of accident as opposed to being the result of careful long term policy. The memorable partitioning of Poland, which people now believe to have been planned by the King throughout his entire rule, it started as a spontanous deal between the Czarina and Prince Heinrich during his first journey to Russia. The goal was to prevent that the House of Austria joined the war in favour of Turkey or concluded an alliance wiht them. This was the true cause for this great partitioning. But one could see from the Russian peace that Austria had already settled things with Turkey; they made deals with both sides.
All the other guests who have assembled in Rheinsberg leave on August 22nd. I have rarely enjoyed eight consecutive days more. Without interruption, there was only pure happiness. The relaxed tone which the Prince has set makes Rheinsberg so charming. Everyone is allowed to amuse themselves according to their taste. While the young people play a lot of games, I take my strolls or withdraw to my room in order to paint. The Prince comes to me, and we chat. Every evening, there’s a theatre play. In the morning, one drives, rides, or walks in the open air. There’s always music. The conversation during meals is always light hearted. One cannot call my stay here anything but enchanting.

Theatre: Heinrich employed a troupe of players there - till the end of his life - which in the last fifteen years of same was the sole remaining ensemble of French players regularly performing in any German state. He often was on stage as well, and basically was a producer/director once Blainville had committed suicide (Blainville was the director before that time).

Edited 2020-03-02 16:58 (UTC)

This child, which has been so thin and worn out that I gave him to Herr Muzelius in Berlin to be cured, and then to Halle in the care of my niece Isenburg, married Countess Schlieben, has changed so much within only six months that I hardly recognized him. I cannot describe my joy. It feels like my soul became one with that of the child - this is how glad I am! No joy in the world can replace such happiness. My heart swam in delight, and yet I could not pronounce a single word.

Lehndorff <333.

This reminds me that one day, I strongly remonstrated with Mara, a strong favourite of the Prince’s, because he had behaved very impudently towards his Highness. The creature replied to me: „Oh, you don’t know this Prince as I do. If you don’t behave like a bastard towards him, you’re not getting anywhere.“

Lehndorff, you are the better man, but I have to say, Mara knows Heinrich better than you do.

THERAPY FOR EVERYONE

when I saw the same Herr du Rosey in front of me who was 26 years ago my greatest enemy, when I proposed to Fräulein du Rosey. Through her mother, she was my cousin, and very rich, but her family sold her to a Herr v. Katt. All the people who were involved in this and scheming against me back then, I‘ve seen either take a bad ending or have seen them greatly humbled. There’s visible proof that there is such a thing as divine justice; God is just and knows what people deserve!

Lol. Does he say what happened to 82-yo Herr du Rosey, ~~Public~~ Lehndorff Enemy Number One? If he's 82, he's obviously doing quite well on the longevity front...

Also, do you have any idea what the du Rosey family would have gotten out of this arrangement, that they "sold" her to the Kattes?

Lehndorff as a father is, btw, yet another illustration that Prussian dads did not have to follow the FW model. Like, at all. You could be socialized in this society and end up a Lehndorff rather than a Hohenzollern.

Lehndorff, you are the better man, but I have to say, Mara knows Heinrich better than you do.

If you're wondering, the original word Mara uses is "canaille" which Schmidt-Lötzen leaves as Canaille in German (in 1921, it was already a bit old fashioned but still used). However, obvious English translation was obvious to me. :)

(Fritz would probably agree with Mara's assessment and point out he said as much when argueing with AW about Heinrich all the way back in 1749, back when he wrote: "Heinrich is your idol, your blind friendship for him doesn't let you recognize his faults. I love him as a brother, but I'd regret it if he doesn't improve in all the regards I've told him about". Ghost of AW: You mean, when you behaved like a bastard towards him?)

THERAPY FOR EVERYONE

But then we would probably never heard about any of them!

Herr du Rosey: I suppose he fell into the category "getting greatly humbled"? Especially if his estates are in East Prussia as well, because then chances are the Russians were there a couple of times.

Also, do you have any idea what the du Rosey family would have gotten out of this arrangement, that they "sold" her to the Kattes?

Royal favour? Your guess is as good as mine.

If you're wondering, the original word Mara uses is "canaille"

I was wondering, but failed to ask. Thank you for picking up my slack!

THERAPY FOR EVERYONE

But then we would probably never heard about any of them!

Therapy in their reincarnated-as-private-citizens-in-the-21st-century-where-there-are-proper-therapists lives, obviously. :P

Herr du Rosey: I suppose he fell into the category "getting greatly humbled"? Especially if his estates are in East Prussia as well, because then chances are the Russians were there a couple of times.

Ooh, that's an excellent guess. I've tried to find the Roseys before, but they're very elusive.

*some time later*

No, still elusive, although there is a Die Familie Rolaz du Rosey und ihre Vorfahren Rolaz book that hasn't been digitized.

Royal favour? Your guess is as good as mine.

That was my only guess. Lol, that reminds me of this anecdote from Catt (which may or may not be totally fabricated, as I don't remember it from the diary):

A Swiss officer, named M. de Holland, had left the Dutch service...in order to enter the King's as an artillery officer...[Regarding] his betrothed, whom he had left in Holland, he begged me to ask His Majesty for permission to go and marry the lady. Although the moment was not a favourable one, I spoke to the King, who refused. I took advantage of a moment of gaiety in which I found the King to return to the charge. He granted the major's request, but on the condition that this marriage should not take place until the end of the war. I reported this consent and the condition to the major, who thought the latter was very reasonable ; but the lady, a rich heiress, thinking that peace might still be a very long way off, too long perhaps for her desires, and being courted by another worshipper who was at hand and immediately ready, gave herself to him, and dismissed the poor major, who had to bear with the thing in patience. I told the King of this misadventure.

"How did he take it?"

"Very well, Sire, and with all the more resignation in that he builds all his hopes on Your Majesty."

"I will recompense him for his loss."

I gave this good news to the major.

The King drew up on this subject a rough sketch, of which he showed me the beginning, which ran thus:

Dans ces beaux jours ou renalt la nature,
Ou l'air pesant de ses frimas s'epure.

['In these fine days when nature is reborn, when the heavy air is purified of its frosts.']

...

I arrived at the hour stated ; the King was...finishing the piece he had spoken to me about the day before.

"Here are my Amours suisses finished. You see that I have worked pretty hard. I will correct them again, and you will give them to your Swiss. This piece will not be altogether bad; it may serve to console him and recompense him for the loss of his lady which he has sustained. What do you think?"

"I believe, Sire, that he will think the piece pretty, that it will amuse him, that he will be sensible of the trouble you have taken to sing his unfortunate love affairs, but-"

"I do not want any of your 'buts'; you may be sure he will be pleased."

The recompense which His Majesty had promised amounted to this jest.

Maybe Lehndorff's schadenfreude is because all the royal favor the du Roseys got for marrying their heiress into the family of the King's late tragic boyfriend took the form of Fritzian love poetry. :P

Edited 2020-03-03 23:25 (UTC)

Therapy in their reincarnated-as-private-citizens-in-the-21st-century-where-there-are-proper-therapists lives, obviously. :P

Gotcha. So Fritz' siblings get reincarnated as well?

Also, ROTFLOL on the Catt memoirs story, fictional or not. I'm definitely on board with the du Roseys getting Fritzian poetry as their expression of royal favour. (Mind you, when visiting Potsdam while evacuating Berlin, courtesy of the Queen of Hungary's troops, Lehndorff does take the opportunity to have a look at the Philosophe de Sanssouci's personal edition of his works and, loyal subject that he is, pronounces them deep and moving.)

Gotcha. So Fritz' siblings get reincarnated as well?

I mean, there's nothing stopping us from saying so! So far I've only personally considered Wilhelmine, but the only real constraint is that the vast majority of them have to be reincarnated as not-siblings, otherwise it defeats the therapeutic purpose.

loyal subject that he is, pronounces them deep and moving

Of course he does. On the other hand, Lucchesini seems to have meant it, so maybe Lehndorff did too!

Awww, Lehndorff, you have an infinite variety of sparkly hearts :D

I cannot describe my joy. It feels like my soul became one with that of the child - this is how glad I am! No joy in the world can replace such happiness.

Also. Lehndorff. You are the best <33333

At first, we‘re completely alone, the Prince, Kaphengst and myself

~~clearly someone needs to write threesome fic~~

This reminds me that one day, I strongly remonstrated with Mara, a strong favourite of the Prince’s, because he had behaved very impudently towards his Highness. The creature replied to me: „Oh, you don’t know this Prince as I do. If you don’t behave like a bastard towards him, you’re not getting anywhere.“

LOLOLOLOL! Well, Mara is right!

To be fair, it sounds like Lehndorff doesn't actually expect him to see the light :P

But Lehndorff is still too nice to do it even if he knows that impudence is the way to go <3 *cuddles*

Well, Lehndorff's documented ideas of being tough to Heinrich included "not visiting until Heinrich explicitly asks me to, twice" and "show up at Heinrich's with a dashing young Englishman and tell him I'm so going to move abroad". I don't think he has it in him to be deliberately hurtful to someone, especially when he loves them - at least not in the three decades in his life I've read about so far. The meanest he gets are his constant comments on EC's dullness, and he doesn't make them to anyone but his diary.

Incidentally, remember when we had the extended top/bottom discussion re: Fritz and his boyfriends? Clearly, one of the problems here is that Heinrich is clearly into being dominated (though in a pushy bottom manner - most of those boyfriends get dumped by him eventually, after all, not the other way around), and Lehndorff could never, ever do it. Which is another reason why it's a good thing he managed to build himself a happy home life in the provinces, even if he can't resist the occasion trip to Rheinsberg and Berlin even in retirement.

Heinrich is clearly into being dominated (though in a pushy bottom

I'm leaning more and more toward Heinrich being not into being dominated so much as being into dominating a pushy bottom who taunts him, provokes him, and gets under his skin until he snaps and comes down on *them*, and they capitulate. So I actually think he might be a top, but a very specific kind of top that wants a lot of resistance. If you think the imprinting on charismatic bastards comes from Fritz, I think actually the prospect of doing what he couldn't do in real life, namely winning the encounter after being made to work for it, would get him hot like nothing else. The equivalent of putting up that obelisk ONLY DURING FRITZ'S LIFETIME.

I could be wrong. But this is now my headcanon.

And yes, Lehndorff is never going to push those buttons. Sorry, Lehndorff! You hang out with therapy-less Hohenzollerns, you're gonna run into some downsides.

*nods* Yeah, like, I think he can intellectually understand that Heinrich responds more strongly to people who are hurtful and impudent, but he's incapable of doing it himself to someone he loves.

The meanest he gets are his constant comments on EC's dullness, and he doesn't make them to anyone but his diary.

And then he comes back years later and annotates them with "oh, you know, I was being mean there because I was unhappy." Lehndorff is the best <3333333

On September 4th, Lehndorff - who is back in the provinces again, and spefically in Glogau - has the opportunity for another scoop, as he meets a couple of former readers:

Here I meet Herr Francheville again, Prince Heinrich‘s former reader, who feels quite comfortable enjoying his big pension, and the famous Abbé Prades, whom the King had had arrested during the war and had banished to Glogau afterwards. He tells me a lot about this story and claims that the true reason had been his many visits to the late Prince of Prussia, who was at odds with the King during that time. (Stern footnote by our editor: De Prades so WAS a traitor, and his punishment lightly. He‘s bamboozling Lehndorff, whose fondness of AW he knows.) We talk a lot about the King travelling to Silesia. I see how the judgment people make about the King depends on the plans everyone has for their future. Some believe that he’s probably been for the last time in Silesia. They claim he is so weak he can’t live much longer. Others are certain he will live for a few years more at the very least. I agree with the later. If this Prince had no more life powers, he would not be able to achieve what he still achieves and to undertake such demanding journeys as the one he makes annually to Prussia and to Silesia. All in all, I consider life under his rule to be pleasant, if one has no special claims. One can live in peace and isn’t exposed to great injustices, which is what counts. I had grown up devoted to him. Hostile circumstances ensured that he did far more evil to me than good, without me having given him the slightest reason to. But heaven has ensured my happiness in other ways, and God knows, there can’t be many subjects who wish him more happiness than I do. (...)

In Glogau, I also see President Cocceji, with whom I used to be friends during my earliest time in Berlin. Due to his marriage with the famous dancer Barbarina, he had to leave the capital. This marriage, which caused him great distress and a position as Staatsminister, and which had cost his parents a part of their fortune, didn’t provide him with the satisfaction he had hoped to achieve through it. She’s still living on an estate near Glogau which she has purchased for herself and doesn’t allow her husband to participate in the great wealth she has accumulated through her career and amours.

Go Barbarina!

Oh God. Lehndorff’s favourite niece, the one who married a Schlieben, turns out to have married a bad egg. He‘s a money wasting spendthrift and lothario. Speaking of the type, by October 23, Lehndorff is back in Rheinsberg again. The current visitor there is the Heriditary Prince of Braunschweig (one of Charlotte’s sons and thus a nephew of Heinrich’s).

He plays with Prince Heinrich the tragedies „Lothar“ and „Oedipus“. Prince Heinrich plays with a devotion, an intensity, a truth which puts him on the side of such men as Baron and Lekain. (Famous actors of the day.) The Heriditary Prince speaks his parts with wit. We have pretty plays of all kinds. It’s amazing in which high degree Prince Heinrich has trained his ensemble to. T’he two operas - „The Queen of Colconde“ and „Alzira“ - which we hear would have been worth being shown on any great stage in the world, both regarding the musical skill and the set decorations. „Alzira“ has been composed by a young man named Orginski. He is a nice man whom the Prince had taken under his wing from an early age and who has excelled in all expectations. He is a philosopher, and what counts more, a decent human being in the youthful age of 22.
Our main topic of conversation is the fight of the Americans. The two Princes are on the side of the colonial rebels; but their conversation often ends as debates usually do when there is a difference of opinion; each retains his own view. (...)
The Prince’s health is well. The exercise of the production of the two playes „Lothar“ and „Oedipus“, which showcased the Prince’s extraordinary gift of declamation to the full - the Heriditary Prince is really his inferior there, despite not without talent - doesn’t tire him at all.

It’s winter time, which means the Lehndorff clan goes to Berlin, where it’s warm.

At Prince Heinrich’s, I meet a very old aquaintance, to wit, Count Lamberg. I knew him as a particular favourite of the Prince’s. He then was toppled by Kalkreuth and left the court in sadness, after having wasted his entire fortune. Now, he has withdrawn to Brunn, where he has married a sister of the Countess Cobenzl, the wife of the current Viennese envoy. This was the reason of his visit to Berlin. He will find everything much changed and especially the court of Prince Heinrich. Lamberg always was a good egg, who in his younger years had a lot of sympathetic qualities. He was always cheerful, if a bit of a spendthrift. This of course leads to having to fight for your existence in old age more often than not.
If I ponder how many men have been enjoying the Prince’s greatest favour and how many during the last thirty years of my relationship with the Prince have tried their best to blacken my name with him, to get rid of me and how this was all in vain and didn’t change anything regarding my relationship with the Prince, I come to the conclusion that honest behavior does pay off, and that a balance will be achieved. One should not attempt to force a decision, better to think everything through ten times and especially never leave a position, even if it seems unbearable, without knowing you are exchanging it for a much better one.
News from England sound quite differently now. There is no doubt anymore, the Americans will free themselves. The entire army of Bourgonynnes has been captured, and Howes is in the greatest distress. This now is the main topic of conversation.

Edited 2020-03-02 17:03 (UTC)

Oh God. Lehndorff’s favourite niece, the one who married a Schlieben, turns out to have married a bad egg. He‘s a money wasting spendthrift and lothario.

Wait, so you mean Lehndorff's favorite niece is attracted to the same kind of person as Lehndorff's favorite prince? Poor Lehndorff.

If I ponder how many men have been enjoying the Prince’s greatest favour and how many during the last thirty years of my relationship with the Prince have tried their best to blacken my name with him, to get rid of me and how this was all in vain and didn’t change anything regarding my relationship with the Prince, I come to the conclusion that honest behavior does pay off, and that a balance will be achieved.

<3 Lehndorff, you don't have the right personality flaws to be my problematic fave, but objectively speaking, you're a better person than all of them. (Fritz, you're still my from-a-safe-distance fave, but the only person I've ever met who was anything like you, I've never wanted to strangle someone so much, OMFG. :P)

better to think everything through ten times and especially never leave a position, even if it seems unbearable, without knowing you are exchanging it for a much better one.

You mean like moving to England with someone you just met?

<3 Lehndorff, you don't have the right personality flaws to be my problematic fave, but objectively speaking, you're a better person than all of them.

Yeah, absolutely -- I don't know that he's dysfunctional enough to be the person I'd want to write or read fic about ~~except the Fontane bodyswap one which would be totally hilarious~~ but he's so great <3

You mean like moving to England with someone you just met?

LOLOLOLOL!

Wait, so you mean Lehndorff's favorite niece is attracted to the same kind of person as Lehndorff's favorite prince? Poor Lehndorff.

Quite. In the next installment, she nearly gets arrested for those guy's debts.

You mean like moving to England with someone you just met?

A hit, a palpable hit! I mean, it's of course entirely possible that he'd have truly been happy with Hotham there, and wouldn't have regreted his choice, but, you know: it's 1756, the war starts, and England explodes into Fritzmania. Also Heinrich transforms into a war hero. Somehow I can't imagine AU!Lehndorff in England thinking "yeah, good thing I got out of in time" , as opposed to "OMG! The Russians are at Steinort, is my mother alright, hope my siblings have told her to move to Berlin in time! And ZOMG what about Prince Heinrich!!!!"

Quite. In the next installment, she nearly gets arrested for those guy's debts.

OMG. Now where have we seen that before.

Somehow I can't imagine AU!Lehndorff in England thinking "yeah, good thing I got out of in time" , as opposed to "OMG! The Russians are at Steinort, is my mother alright, hope my siblings have told her to move to Berlin in time! And ZOMG what about Prince Heinrich!!!!"

Somehow, I agree with you.

Fritz must drive everyone crazy with his eye for "You'll regret this, which is why I'm not letting you do it."

Everyone: *cough* Voltaire *cough* beam in your eye *cough*

Fritz must drive everyone crazy with his eye for "You'll regret this, which is why I'm not letting you do it."

Everyone: *cough* Voltaire *cough* beam in your eye *cough*

Quite. It still must have been galling that he kept being proven right post facto.

Fritz: Well, in all modesty, one doesn't have to be a genius to be right about Heinrich's boytoys. One can just work from the general assumption that they all suck.

Heinrich: You might want to rephrase that or I'll be forced to go for a pun. Also, speaking as someone whose boyfriends never tried to kill him, nor published trashy tell alls in repeated editions...

Fritz: Well, in all modesty, one doesn't have to be a genius to be right about Heinrich's boytoys. One can just work from the general assumption that they all suck.

Heinrich: You might want to rephrase that or I'll be forced to go for a pun. Also, speaking as someone whose boyfriends never tried to kill him, nor published trashy tell alls in repeated editions...

Ahahahahaaaa, you two. :P Stop being each other's other selves.

Fritz: At least it was a witty trashy tell all ~~which I secretly reread every night while rolling my eyes and furiously annotating the margins~~. Not my fault your boyfriends aren't literary geniuses like mine.

He tells me a lot about this story and claims that the true reason had been his many visits to the late Prince of Prussia, who was at odds with the King during that time. (Stern footnote by our editor: De Prades so WAS a traitor, and his punishment lightly. He‘s bamboozling Lehndorff, whose fondness of AW he knows.)

Interestingly, Lehndorff doesn't actually say here that he believes him, nor that he doesn't believe him...

She’s still living on an estate near Glogau which she has purchased for herself and doesn’t allow her husband to participate in the great wealth she has accumulated through her career and amours.

LOL you go girl!

If I ponder how many men have been enjoying the Prince’s greatest favour and how many during the last thirty years of my relationship with the Prince have tried their best to blacken my name with him, to get rid of me and how this was all in vain and didn’t change anything regarding my relationship with the Prince, I come to the conclusion that honest behavior does pay off, and that a balance will be achieved.

<3 He really is the sweetest :D

Barbarina: at last, someone knows what to do if the goodlooking guy you fell for starts to want to spend your money on a massive scale! Figures it would be the woman who didn't start out as a royal but had to work for that money first.

...well, okay, Gertrud Elisabeth Mara Schmeling had to work hard for her money, too, but it her case it wasn't just her Dad and Mara who were wasting it, both of which she could deal with eventually, but Napoleon invading Russia!

(I still am toying with the "Heinrich runs into Barbarina and Mara-Schmeling in Paris" idea.) (A soprano, a ballerina and a theatre-mad Prince go into a ~~bar~~ coffee house...)

Yeah, go Barbarina, and also, YES to expanding that idea!

I need to get my hands on Schmeling-Mara's memoirs first, though. With any luck, she expresses an opinion on her no-good husband's ex. I mean, I can work with both "Prince Heinrich, ugh, that guy, never could stand the sight of him!" or "Prince Heinrich, lover of music, man, those were the days, he was great!", or even "never noticed any of the King's siblings even while staying at their place and having sex with the same guy as them", but I'd like to know which one it was.

They are in your hands! Allgemeine_musikalische_Zeitung.pdf in the library, beginning on page 265 of the pdf (periodical pagination is weird).

Thank you! Just what I needed. I mean, it's also a bit sad, as she feels the need to defend her father and Mara a lot, but it's a goldmine for the musical side of Sanssouci, the concerts, and of Fritz, since she doesn't just describe her own contribution but Proporino's singing and Fritz's flute playing. (Three flute concerts every evening, together with two violins, one alto, one violincello and one piano.) "He did not play like a King but very good, had a strong, full tone and much technique.") Considering how things ended with her and Fritz, she has no reason to praise his ability unduly, so I believe her assessment.

Having read Lehndorff's diaries in which Mara doesn't described with any positive qualities other than his musical abilities and his good looks, Gertrud-Elisabeth's description of him as passionate but the perfect gentleman is, shall we say, a contrast, and knowing Mara will waste all her money, too, and drink like a fish I'm more inclined to believe Lehndorff, but I do believe her on Mara being charming, and the Rashomon effect of hearing the same story froma completely different perspective is fascinating. Remember, Mara/Schmeling first became a thing during Ulrike's visit at Rheinsberg:

There was supposed to be an evening concert, and the gentlemen of the court had made the suggestion to let it take place in the garden pavillon; Mara resented this fiercely, went to the Prince and said: "These gentlemen might enjoy themselves coming and going through the concert, but it will show no regard for the first singer of the realm!" I did not know about any of this. When I later took a stroll with Mara, we encountered the Prince. He said to me: "I heard you wouldn't have liked to sing in the pavillon, so I have ordered for the concert to take place inside the palace."
I wanted to reply to this, but Mara intervened and replied: "Mademoiselle doesn't know anything about this, I was the one who didn't think it was fitting." The Prince, who otherwise always called him "du", said: "Well, well, don't be rude" (using the Sie-form), and I tried to leave as not to witness the ending of this conversation. The concert took place in the palace, the Prince was extraordinarily kind to his favourite, and his court was angry about this.

Mara insisting that courtiers shouldn't come and go during a concert is actually a very sympathetic trait, and very believable. It's the rest that makes me raise a cynical eyebrow. Here's how she introduces her later husband to the narrative: After the Carneval 1774, I met the young famous violincellist Mara. He had returned from Paris where his master, Prince Heinrich of Prussia, the King's third brother, who was a great admirer of the French theatre had sent him in order to study with the famous Le Quin. He was a beautiful, well educated man, full of talent and excellent manners. This was only natural, as he'd been living in the Prince's household ever since he was fourteen. (When AW had died and Heinrich had taken over the musicians from AW's household.) It wasn't surprising, then, that I prefered such a man to all others when he was trying to win my heart. When he had played for the Prince for the first time after his return, the Prince - like anyone else in the audience - had been so delighted about his passionate performance that he provided him with a new budget, large rooms in the palace, kitchen and cellar at his service, wardrobe, carriage - in short, if he hadn't had caused jealousy before, he surely did thereafter.

So Ulrike's lengthy state visit with Rheinsberg finale happens. When the Queen left, she gave me a beautiful Crystal de Rochau watch, and a tobbaco box laid in gold, while Mara received a diamond ring of great worth. We all returned to Berlin, where Mara didn't leave me any time to think of anything other than him. In the morning at 9 am, he sent me a messenger to learn how I'd slept, at 10 a billet d'amour arrived, at 11 fresh fruits or flowers, and at 12 o'clock, he came himself. Through him, I made the aquaintance of his teacher, famous contrapunctist Joh. Ph. Kirnberger, he was kind enough to teach me in generalbasso, and without effort, I learned more in an hour from him than I had in 10 hours from others.

This musical idyll gets first interrupted by Dad (who is still around but gets paid off for good at this point), and then:

The Prince wasn't too keen on his favourites marrying - though, as I mentioned once, they all did, or were already married when they became his favourites - as he thought that the closeness usually faded, since husbands felt more love for their wives than for their lord. (Mara)assured me that he would never sacrifice his love to me for the Prince's favour; he was simply concerned that as soon as he wasn't in the Prince's service anymore, all those envious of him would seek to harm him, and as it turned out he was right to fear this; also, that if I became his wife as I had given him reason to hope I would and then would leave Berlin with him, the King, whose subject he was, might not permit him to leave.

These ponderings made me very sad. I, who had grown up in England where I had heard of nothing but liberty, and who was still seeking the laurels on my head, should waste my life as a prisoner between love and violence? I lost all my joy, I remained mostly at home, and Mara was always with me; this was interpreted as if we were plotting, which I did not think of, since I regarded myself as a free woman in any case as soon as my contract had expired. Meanwhile, the Prince was travelling, and the courtiers, having him for themselves, probably did not miss the opportunity to tell him that I supposedly was planning to leave Berlin and that Mara would come with me.

The Prince returned, and after a short conversation, he released Mara from his service. As one might imagine, there was much gossip, and his enemies used their opportunity. At last, rumor reached the King that I was intending to leave for Italy in Mara's company, that Mara had persuaded me to this because he had been dismissed, in short - the King, who had not liked a single one of the Prince's favourites, and didn't want to lose me, was glad for the opportunity to discipline the dismissed favourite somewhat. One evening, when Mara was with me, Polizeimeister B. (...) arrived with 12 men, in order to arrest Mara; one can imagine my shock. (..)

Mara is off to Marienburg, writes earnest letters, and our heroine pleads with Fritz. I asked the King to free him and promised to stay. When Mara arrived at Marienburg, the commandant told him: "I'm happy to tell you you're a free man." Shortly after his return, we rwere married, in the morning in my apartment by a Catholic priest, as Mara was a Catholic, and in the afternoon by a Calvinist clergymen, with the most noble citizens of the city as our witnesses.

Meanwhile, Lehndorff's account of the same story, as a reminder: Another matter which amazed me was that Prince Heinrich finally decided to fire the infamous Mara, who had such influence on him. He was the son of a local poor musician and was educated as a boy through the benevolence of the late Prince of Prussia who financed his study of music, at which he soon made great progress. After the death of this prince, Prince Heinrich took him into his service. Despite Mara playing pranks all the time, but Prince Heinrich in consideration of his great talents was lenient. Mara possesses a vivacious, passionate temper, and not fourteen days passed without him arguing with the Prince who nonetheless treated him leniently, which spoiled him completely. Four years ago, he already left the Prince once already and went to Paris, and the Prince not only paid for his journey but allowed him to come back upon his return. Last winter, Mara left him again, and in order to win him back, the Prince had to concede him the greatest privileges. Thus Mara was allowed to get as many meals as he wanted and for as many people as he wanted from the kitchen, he had a courtly equipage, he had a large apartment in the Prince's town residence, in which he was allowed to install Fräulein Schmeling, our first singer, of whom he is enamored. This still wasn't enough for him, and he behaved so badly that the prince finally sent him away.

Wow, this is very cool, thank you as always!! I love how she's such a musician and you can see that around the edges even when she's talking about Mara or whatever.

"He did not play like a King but very good, had a strong, full tone and much technique.") Considering how things ended with her and Fritz, she has no reason to praise his ability unduly, so I believe her assessment.

*nods* That's great.

Mara insisting that courtiers shouldn't come and go during a concert is actually a very sympathetic trait, and very believable.

Yes! And it really is kind of disheartening as a musician. So, good job in that case, Mara.

He was a beautiful, well educated man, full of talent and excellent manners.

I mean... I can believe this too. These can all coexist with all the terrible dysfunctional things we also know about him.

In the morning at 9 am, he sent me a messenger to learn how I'd slept, at 10 a billet d'amour arrived, at 11 fresh fruits or flowers, and at 12 o'clock, he came himself. Through him, I made the aquaintance of his teacher, famous contrapunctist Joh. Ph. Kirnberger, he was kind enough to teach me in generalbasso, and without effort, I learned more in an hour from him than I had in 10 hours from others.

I mean... on one hand I'm like "you know, if someone did that to me I would call him a stalker," and on the other hand I think it's totally charming how she's like "but actually the really great part was that I got a good music teacher out of it!"

Meanwhile, Lehndorff's account of the same story, as a reminder

ahahaha, thank you for this compare and contrast. LOL.

I love how she's such a musician and you can see that around the edges even when she's talking about Mara or whatever.

Yes, same here. It's even more noticable in the complete text, since I was of course having to cut passages.

ahahaha, thank you for this compare and contrast. LOL.

Mind you, Lehndorff to her was probably one of those jealous courtiers, and from a certain pov (tm Obi-Wan Kenobi), she's not wrong. But going by how things ended with her and Mara years later, Lehndorff's own obvious bias nothwithstanding, he had a point....

I concur with the YES to expanding this!! (And I see that in my absence Steps have been taken downthread, yay! :D )

Yes, mes amies, I have in my temporary prosession, as a loan home, the "Trenck and Fritz: The Documents" book by the esteemed Gustav Volz.

This consists of a lengthy text in which Volz skewers Trenck's various claims similar to Koser skewing Henri de Catt, and then of the documents themselves which he refers to in the text already. I only had time to read the text. Overall summary: Trenck is a lying lying who lies, but both Fritz and the Austrians did weird stuff (unmentioned by Trenck) that makes the entire affair even more confusing.

In detail: Volz shows that Trenck's entry in the Prussian army and early promotions by Fritz as reported in the memoirs did not happen; according to the officer's list, he joined the army two years later than he claims to have done (1744 instead of 1742). (Volz also points out that Trenck's claim to have been buddies with Voltaire, La Mettrie and Maupertuis is nonsense, which was guessable. During Voltaire's 1743 visit, Trenck wasn't in Berlin, La Mettrie didn't move to Potsdam until 1745, and Maupertuis in 1748.

Trenck is recorded as being part of the army fighting the second Silesian War on 15th August 1744. He's also participating in the batlte of Hohenfriedberg the next year on June 4th. But before the month of June is over, he gets arrested and locked up in Glatz, where he's recorded as being delivered as a prisoner on June 28th. Which means that his claim to have been with Fritz during the battle of Soor (September 30th) is completely invented.

So is Trenck a liar who had no contact with Fritz at all? This is where it gets intriguing and confusing.

Documented are: order by Fritz on June 28th to the commandant of Glatz, Generalmajor Fouqué, to keep Trenck prisoner, with the added comment in Fritz' own handwriting "be very strict to this scoundrel; he had wanted to become a Pandur at his uncle's."

"Uncle" refers to Cousin Austrian Trenck. Prussian Generalauditor Pawlowsky confirms Trenck is in Glatz because of "illegal correspondance". Now, Trenck does mention (harmless) letters with Austrian Trenck as well as one forgery. We don't have the letters themselves but Volz points to a relation of Trenck's, the brother of his brother-in-law von Meyerentz, who says it happened thusly:

Austrian Trenck writes to Prussian Trenck, offering him to join the Austrian side. Prussian Trenck shows the letter to Fritz. Fritz says to report any further correspondance immediately. More letters arrive, but don't get reported. Fritz has one of his generals ask Trenck point blank whether there were more letters, and, should Trenck deny them, have him arrested at once. Thus it happened, according to the relative.

Trenck tries to flee a couple of times: while the memoirs beef this up, he did try and eventually, one year later (November 1746), succeed. Then on April 12th 1747, Trenck (and Schell, one of the Glatz staff, who let his door unlocked and went with him are condemmed by a war tribunal for desertion in absentia and in effigy (yep, that again, ask Peter). Also the Trenck estate Groß-Scharlach in East Prussia gets confiscated and only returned in 1752 to his brother Ludwig when Ludwig petitions for it.

Trenck, as we know, ends up in Vienna. And now it gets fascinating.

Trenck memoirs: So I met the Prussian Ambassador, Podewils (author of the MT: Hot or Not? report), who told me Fritz was only testing me and would have let me go after a year, and wants me to come back. I said no way, my loyal heart was too mishandled by him. And that was that.

Podewils report dated December 1752, adressed to Fritz: Guess whom I met? Yep, the Trenck boy. He said he only did a runner because he was told you'd have had him locked up for eternity. HE's really really sorry and asks you for a pardon. Also he just inherited 600 000 Taler from Austrian Trenck and if you let him return to East Prussia, he will, of course, bring that money along. If you pardon him, that is.

Fritz to Podewils, dated December 22nd 1752: I had absolutely reason to lock that boy up, but okay, he can come home. I'm just that nice. Provided he stays in East Prussia and never tries to join my army again.

Now this was the first reveal that really stunned me. I mean. Say what? Which other deserter - I mean, Peter Keith excepted - gets offered a pardon and a return by Fritz?

Podewils to Fritz: It's a deal. He's really grateful and says just three or four weeks more to wrap up his business in Vienna, and then he comes home to Prussia.

For reasons Volz can't explain, after all this, Trenck does NOT go home. Instead, he joins the Austrian army, rank of Rittmeister, in the Hungarian Kürassierregiment Cordova.

1749: Renewed and even more strict order to arrest known deserters abroad.

Trenck's mother Maria Charlotte dies in Danzig on December 25th 1753. On June 12th, 1754, the Prussian Resident in Danzig, Reimer, reports to the ministry that former Prussian Cornett Trenck is in town on family business and is mostly seen near or in the residence of Austrian Resident in Danzig, Abramson. He wants to know whether he should ignore Trenck's presence in Danzig or ask the city council of Danzig whether he can arrest him as a deserter.

This is a tricky business, not least because Trenck was now a member of the Austrian army, and Austria & Prussia were at least nominally at peace. Also Danzig = Free City.

Trenck's memoirs: That bastard Abramson and Reimer conspired against me and had me practically kidnapped.

Volz: Did not. Abramson was a total champ for you and did everything in his power to help you. And Reimer went out of his way to handle this delicate situation legally. Fritz was handed Reimer's request for directives on June 27th. On the 29th, Fritz ordered that Reimer was to petition the city of Danzig as discreetly as possible but without delay to hand over Trenck.

July 2nd: official petition by the Prussian ministry to the City of Danzig to hand over the deserter Trecnk, wanted for "enormous crimes" beyond desertion.

Danzig City Council: we're cool with that.

Night from July 5th to July 6th: Trenck gets arrested. However, earlier that same day, Reimer, his wife and his secretary attended a party at the Austrian resident's where they met and talked to Trenck, who had no idea of his impending doom.

Abramson, the Austrian resident, learns from Trenck's servant of Trenck's arrest and immeditely, the same night, writes to the City Representatives, protesting, and asks for Trenck to be handed over to him. This first petition is denied. Abramson writes another one, asking for a delay until the Austrian and the Prussian court can come to terms re: Trenck; supposedly, negotiations have already started. Trenck himself writes a petition dated July 9th to the city officials asking for help and pointing out that the arrest goes against the freeness of the city of Danzig. However, on July 8th, the City Council has already signed off to agreeing to Fritz' extradition request. And it's off with Trenck to Prussia. The Commander of Berlin notifies Fritz on July 22nd that Trenck has arrived, and is told to transport him to Magdeburg immediately. Magdeburg at this point is commanded Generallietenant von Borcke, not, as Trenck claims in his memoirs, by EC's brother Ferd of Braunschweig.

(While he's at it, Volz also skewers the story Trenck tells that evil Austrians have warned Fritz, supposedly visiting East Prussia for military revue reasons, that Trenck was on his way; Fritz wasn't in East Prussia in 1754, and he learned about Trenck's presence in Danzig from Reimer.)

Far from conspiring with the Prussians, the Austrians actually continued to go on the mat for Trenck. No sooner is he in Magdeburg that the official Austrian envoy in Berlin, Count Puebla, officially protests against what's done to Trenck with the Prussian cabinet and says that Trenck having fallen out of favour with Fritz does not justify his arrest and treatment as a criminal. Fritz writes to his ministers to tell Count Puebla he's amazed that Trenck was accepted into the Austrian army to begin with, since a proper war tribunal has condemmed the guy first and made him infamous that way. He also asks that a copy of the war tribunal's judgment against Trenck from 1747should be forwarded to Puebla, which it is.

So far, so Fritzian. And now comes another stunner. On November 1st that same year, Fritz makes a confidential request to the French envoy in Berlin (at this point, it's La Touche) and asks him whether the French government could do him a favour and take a Prussian prisoner of state and transport him overseas to their colonial possession. IN this document, the person in question is described as a young man of noble birth who has behaved badly against Fritz. Fritz wishes him far away from Prussia both due to his, the King's own interests, and those of Trenck's family. However, he doesn't want the guy to remain locked up overseas, far from it, no. The young man in question, says Fritz, knows how to use his sword, he has wit and courage, and could be really really useful if the French take him into their service - but in the colonies. Far from here.

La Touche is down with that, but unfortunately, the ships on which this swashbuckling guy of wit, courage and bad behavior towards his King is to be transported on leave for St. Maurice in January 1755, but the winter in Prussia is so heavy that and early that Trenck can't be transported to France to be put on one of those ships. (Document No. 27.) (By the next year, 1756, the French government isn't in a mood to do Fritz favours anymore, and Fritz dosn't ask anyway.)

At which point, Volz says, yes, reader, I'm confused, too. How come Fritz is offering a pardon in 1750 and demands Trenck's extradition four years later, why, if he has him arrested and brought to Magdeburg, is he then ready to have him shipped off to the French colonies with basically a recommendation letter? But it's not really a paradox, reader: the pardon was offered before Trenck joined the Austrian army. Trenck joining the Austrian army after that one means Fritz would never forgive him again. Handing him over to the French would have meant a face saving way of defusing the diplomatic situation with the Austrian s in 1755, which was tense enough already, that's all.

Trenck in Magdeburg: no tombstone with his name to sit on, says Volz, but his proof for this is just an indignant letter to a newspaper upon the publication of Trenck's memoirs, with the letter writer calling himself "A Brandenburg patriot" who says he was employed in Magdeburg fortress at that time and there was no tombstone.

Trenck then tries to flee a couple of times, and we get documents again, proving a certain Ruckard, who used to be Austrian Trenck's quartermaster with the Pandurs, is sending 1000 Taler bribery money to the guards. However, all of Trenck's escape attempts fail (the memoirs name more than can be proven, but he did, Volz admits, try several times), which leads to the order to have him chained.

Trenck becomes an Austrian-Prussian object of discussion again after the 7 Years War ends, and the peace treaty of Hubertusburg explicitly includes an article offering amnesty to both MT's and Fritz' subjects. There's a note from Vienna to the peace negotiator, Hofrat von Collenbach, that this clause should be extended to Trenck as well. As with Puebla's protest 9 years earlier, Fritz replies he doesn't understand why the Austrians would want to intervene for "a man of that type". (Document No. 36.) Things get moving again when the first Austrian post war envoy, Freiherr von Ried, arrives in Berlin. He asks Graf Finckenstein how to approach the Trenck subject without causing the King's displeasure, but really, MT wants Trenck released. Finckenstein tells him to wait for Fritz moving from Potsdam to Berlin for the carnival and ask nicely then. Ried does so. Fritz points him back to Finckenstein. Finckenstein gets another visit from Ried and asks Fritz himself. Fritz tells Finckenstein fine, but only because MT asked nicely and he wants to do her a favour. Under the condition Trenck never puts his foot on Prussian soil again and is forbidden the Austrians to say anything about Fritz in either written or oral form ever. Exit Trenck from Madgeburg to Prague.

As for Trenck/Amalie, Volz points out Trenck gets the date of Ulrike's wedding festivities (where according to the memoirs Amalie and Trenck met) wrong and that the obvious reason is that he claims a three years love affair when his later entry into the army and the later wedding mean it can't have lasted nearly that long, if it ever did. Volz' main reason for not believing it ever did is that the same royal familiy who even brings up Barbarina in their letters never ever gossips about Trenck, this despite the fact Amalie with her sharp tongue at different points has various other family members very pissed off at her. And yet, never a "remember that Trenck guy?" kind of needling. No one mentions Trenck at all.

He does concide some of Trenck's poetry - yes, he published some - is adressed to Amalie but says this was standard for the day, and Trenck also adressed poems to EC. Yes, one of Trenck's daughters became Amalie's goddaughter, with Amalie accepting godmother status, but the accepting letter was by her secetary, not her. (Remember, Trenck also tried to get Joseph to become his son's godfather and got a "no thanks" letter back.) Lastly, the fact that Trenck in the first volume swears never to reveal the name of his high born lady, and in volume 3, when both Fritz and Amalie are dead, says "it was totally Amalie" makes the claim even less credible. Volz, of course, lives a century before the "great familiarity" indicating letter is found.

In conclusion: we know more than previously, but it's no less confusing. Especially the bit with the pardon and the French overseas handover that almost happened. And the Austrian championing of Trenck (who later did nothing but complain about lack of support from Vienna). So, my current take:

Spy or no spy: must have done some spying, otherwise I really fail to understand why they didn't leave him to rot.

Sex or at least flirt with one or both siblings: could explain the pardon offer. Like I said - who, other than Peter, gets pardoned for desertion from the Prussian army? Yes, Trenck is offering to bring his Austrian inheritance money along, but a few taxes more aren't that crucial, surely.

Edited 2020-03-03 20:56 (UTC)

Oh wow oh wow OH WOW.

I KNEW if we got our hands on this book, it would reveal hitherto unguessed-at secrets to us! Koser and Volz are our new historical heroes, for facts if not opinions (Koser at least being dicey on the "abuse is justified!" opinion side).

During Voltaire's 1743 visit, Trenck wasn't in Berlin, La Mettrie didn't move to Potsdam until 1745, and Maupertuis in 1748.

The Maupertuis dates seem off. He moved to Berlin in 1740, got captured at Mollwitz in 1741, left for Paris, and returned in 1745 or 1746 (my sources keep differing, but definitely by 1746).

Now, was Trenck BFFs with him in 1740-1741? I'm sure he wasn't. But 1748 seems much too late a date for Maupertuis' arrival in Berlin, unless all my sources are very much mistaken.

Which means that his claim to have been with Fritz during the battle of Soor (September 30th) is completely invented.

Damn. So no Fritz batman at all? Time to mark "Care and Feeding" an AU! (See, this is why I'm starting to think *all* historical fiction should be marked an AU, whether you know in what way it's an AU when you write it or not.)

Funny thing, original version of that story had a nameless batman, and I threw in Trenck at the last minute because you had done your memorable memoir summary in between when I wrote this fic (October) and when I posted it (two days before Yuletide closed in December).

Then on April 12th 1747, Trenck (and Schell, one of the Glatz staff, who let his door unlocked and went with him

Oh, wow!

~~No one left Katte's door unlocked. :`-(~~

Now this was the first reveal that really stunned me. I mean. Say what? Which other deserter - I mean, Peter Keith excepted - gets offered a pardon and a return by Fritz?

During wartime, it wasn't uncommon. Asprey even says he offered a mass pardon for deserters in late 1744, as long as they returned within 6 months and rejoined the army. And I've seen sources saying that in the Seven Years' War, when manpower was at a premium, returning after deserting meant all was forgiven.

In 1752, yeah, that feels weird. That said, Prades was released from prison after the war, after having been imprisoned for espionage, and told to stay in Silesia, so Fritz telling him to stay in East Prussia and behave himself sounds maybe in character? TBD.

the Prussian Resident in Danzig,

Ah, of course, I should have remembered that there would have been a Prussian resident in a city as major as Danzig. Also, would Trenck have had to show identification papers before entering? (You know, the thing that got Fritz & co. arrested in Strasbourg when their papers didn't check out. :P)

Danzig City Council: we're cool with that.

Night from July 5th to July 6th: Trenck gets arrested.

Well, this is a definite step up from the Frankfurt arrest so far!

How come Fritz is offering a pardon in 1750 and demands Trenck's extradition four years later, why, if he has him arrested and brought to Magdeburg

I'm confused primarily by the dates in this write-up. You originally had the pardon offer being made in 1752, followed by a stricter order to round up deserters in 1749, followed by a demand for extradition in 1754. Now you have the pardon offer in 1750.

Can you clarify? Was 1752 a typo?

*some time later*

It was! I found the letter from Fritz in the political correspondence, dated December 22, 1750. Okay, all is clear, then. And so you were putting the 1749 order in to highlight that Fritz has *just* indicated that he really cares about capturing deserters, and yet he's willing to pardon Trenck?

The young man in question, says Fritz, knows how to use his sword, he has wit and courage

The "wit" makes it sound like Fritz met him at least once and found him memorable, though perhaps he's just going by report.

Trenck in Magdeburg: no tombstone with his name to sit on, says Volz, but his proof for this is just an indignant letter to a newspaper upon the publication of Trenck's memoirs, with the letter writer calling himself "A Brandenburg patriot" who says he was employed in Magdeburg fortress at that time and there was no tombstone.

Random patriot has a teeeensy bit more credibility than Trenck at this point, but! this reminds me of credibility-less Nicolai having Fritz watch the execution, and receiving an indignant letter from Münchow saying he was residing in the fortress at the time and Fritz *totally* didn't have to watch! "I who am writing this watched Katte's blood spray high." Five years later: "Oh, wait, yes, he did."

So only a teensy bit more credibility.

Volz, of course, lives a century before the "great familiarity" indicating letter is found.

So you know my question at this point is going to be: is there a copy of this letter we can read somewhere and judge for ourselves whether we think he "totally scored"? Have you read it?

Spy or no spy: must have done some spying, otherwise I really fail to understand why they didn't leave him to rot.

Sounds convincing to me!

Sex or at least flirt with one or both siblings: could explain the pardon offer. Like I said - who, other than Peter, gets pardoned for desertion from the Prussian army?

I would hesitate to put too much weight on this argument from personal ignorance of peacetime pardons. Fritz supposedly (biographer alert!) pardoned/downgraded the sentence of at least one general who was cashiered for surrendering during the Seven Years' War and sentenced to death after the war, and Fritz was reeeeeally cheesed off at that general.

I feel like I would need to read a dedicated work on the subject of Fritz's judicial track record to get a sense of what was and wasn't in character.

Anyway, amaaaaazing write-up. Another one for ~~the ages~~

rheinsberg!

I'll put it up at Rheinsberg after reading some more of the orignal documents, in order to possible insert quotes.

Maupertuis: I misread Volz saying "letzerer" - it's 1745 for Maupertuis and 1748 for La Mettrie according to him.

Speaking of dates, yes, 1749 mentioned after 1750 (by both Volz and me) to clarify that just after putting out an "wanted for arrest and harsh punishment: all deserters on foreign soil!" order in 1749, Fritz is ready to issue a pardon in 1750 - not 1752, typing dates quickly is haaaard -.

No batman: not at Soor, at any rate. Volz doesn't say what position Trenck held other than "Cornett", but he does believe Trenck's in-law's brother (described, naturally, as a total soulless bastard in Trenck's memoirs) story which has Trenck show Fritz the first of the letters from Austrian Trenck. As in, show Fritz personally, not his next superior officer who then shows Fritz. Now, this doesn't have to mean Trenck was on talking terms with Fritz before that - maybe he even thought reporting a letter form his Austrian cousin wuld get him the King's attention! - , but it could mean that.

That said, Prades was released from prison after the war, after having been imprisoned for espionage, and told to stay in Silesia, so Fritz telling him to stay in East Prussia and behave himself sounds maybe in character? TBD.

Yes, but Prades was a) a civilian, while Trenck had been a Prussian officer, b) a French citizen, not a Prussian citizen, and c) an actual member of the church - yes, he'd been temporarily excommunicated, but he had been accepted back into the Church. The "Abbé" wasn't just for show, and whether or not you could condemn clerics the same way as laymen was still not completely settled by universal law. Much as Fritz was into mocking Catholicism, a sizable part of his subjects, courtesy of Silesia, were now Catholics, and he needed goodwill to rebuild.

Now, Trenck was also an officer of the Austrian army and as Kaunitz himself (! saw this when having a quick look) told his people to argue a citizen of Austria, not Prussia anymore, but he'd been Prussian first. Mind you, I doubt Fritz would have been amused if, say, Uncle George had George Keith, Lord Marishal arrested at Versailles on the rationale that Keith was a British subject and deserter, then had him extradited to GB. Ahem.

Speaking of Keith, seems Trenck in a OMG HELP! letter from Danzig to another officer of his current Austrian regiment thinks "Mylord Keith" will help him, but the footnote by Volz tells me he means Robert Keith, current British envoy in Vienna. HOW MANY GODDAM KEITHS ARE THERE?

The "wit" makes it sound like Fritz met him at least once and found him memorable, though perhaps he's just going by report.

Direct quote form the letter: "Il ny's sera pas tout-à-fait inutile, vu que c'est proprement un homme d'épée, ne manquant pas d'esprit ni de bravoure."

Now it could just be, like Volz suggests, he wants to make Trenck someone else's problem and thereby defuse the situaton with the Austrians. But "defusing the situation with the Austrians" and "Fritz" do not go usually in the same sentence, especially pre 7 Years War. What it does refute, though, is the idea that Fritz absolutely wanted to see Trenck suffer by any means at this point. Also that there had been no trial, for that matter, since there had been a war tribunal post escape from Glatz, complete with sentence.

~~No one left Katte's door unlocked. :`-(~~

FW was scarier? Actually, I do have a theory, because glancing at the war tribunal sentence for both Trenck and Schell, I see that Schell isn't from Prussia. He's from "Müncherode in Swabia" according to the judgment. Google didn't give me a Müncherode in Swabia, but it did give me one in Thuringia, near Jena (at this point, belonging to the Dukedom Sachsen-Weimar, the one unborn great nephew Carl August will rule one day. Either way, it's not Prussia. At a guess: maybe Schell had the dubious joy of being forcibly recruited into Prussian service, like so many others. And thought this was a great opportunity for his very own "Fuck you, Fritz!"

Letter to Amalie: I've only seen the mention by German wiki, providing this citation:

Christopher Frey: Friedrich von der Trencks Beziehung zu Prinzessin Amalie von Preußen sowie ein bisher unbekannter Brief Trencks. In: Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, 116. Band, Heft 1–2 (2008), S. 146–158.

German wiki, btw, does have the correct date for Trenck joining the army (1744, not 1742 as the memoirs claim), but is also sure he did become a batman in 1745. Then again, German wiki, like English wiki, thinks Fredersdorf embezzled, so...

Oh! One of the documents is the secretary-written letter from Amalie accepting the godmotherhood which Volz mentions:

Berlin, 116 mars 1771/ Je vous félicite, Monsieur, de la naissance de votre fille, et comme je me suis toujours intéressée à votre sort, j'accepte avec plaisir d'etre sa marraine, vous assurant que je prends part à tout les evenenments heureux qui vous surviennent, étant avec estime, Monsieur, votre affectionée, Amèlie.

Okay, here I have to slightly disagree with Volz in that while it's not a love letter, it also doesn't sound like just a letter to someone she never met or heard of before, either. I would say it sounds as if the very least they've met in ye olde pre Magdeburg days.

typing dates quickly is haaaard

It is! As I well know.

Now, this doesn't have to mean Trenck was on talking terms with Fritz before that - maybe he even thought reporting a letter form his Austrian cousin wuld get him the King's attention! - , but it could mean that.

Hmm, okay. I guess it's no longer clear whether Trenck counts as evidence for Fritz's witty pretties that turned out to be no good.

At the very least, we have to cross at least one item off the list of "Fritz and the very upsetting week of winning the Battle of Soor":
- dogs gone
- flute gone
- older sister met with arch nemesis
- younger sister has been getting it on with batman
- batman possibly Austrian spy
- MT Empress now due to having crowned FS at Frankfurt.

And depending on how the Trenck/Amalie thing went and when Fritz found out and whether he was the batman at all, possibly two items.

Yes, but Prades was a) a civilian, while Trenck had been a Prussian officer, b) a French citizen, not a Prussian citizen, and c) an actual member of the church

True. Though as noted, he supposedly offered pardons to Prussian deserters during wartime.

Speaking of Keith, seems Trenck in a OMG HELP! letter from Danzig to another officer of his current Austrian regiment thinks "Mylord Keith" will help him, but the footnote by Volz tells me he means Robert Keith, current British envoy in Vienna. HOW MANY GODDAM KEITHS ARE THERE?

Robert Keith the envoy is mentioned in the Confusion of Keiths write-up! (Oh, man, that reminds me I need to update that post to include the fact that Kloosterhuis' documentary evidence does *not* support Peter's younger brother, betrayer of escape plans to FW, being named Robert Keith. Notwithstanding all the biographies that do name him that.)

There are actually even more Keiths, since both Peter and James have kids, and I think it's James' kid who shows up in the letters between Fritz and Maria Antonia, but so far, they haven't caused problems for us yet. ;)

But "defusing the situation with the Austrians" and "Fritz" do not go usually in the same sentence, especially pre 7 Years War.

Trufax. I laughed.

Also that there had been no trial, for that matter, since there had been a war tribunal post escape from Glatz, complete with sentence.

But there had been no trial for the initial imprisonment, am I right?

FW was scarier?

What I was thinking. As much as Fritz enjoyed ruining your life, he was pretty reluctant to chop off heads, whereas FW not only chopped off your head, he made sure everyone watched, especially if they cared about you.

At a guess: maybe Schell had the dubious joy of being forcibly recruited into Prussian service, like so many others. And thought this was a great opportunity for his very own "Fuck you, Fritz!"

Very likely! Good thinking.

I would say it sounds as if the very least they've met in ye olde pre Magdeburg days.

Agreed.

Reading through the original documents makes me feel for the put upon Austrian officials, starting with Abramson the resident in Danzig. They do their best, Trenck has zero common sense, and is ungrateful to boot, and there are the Prussians to deal with. Also the documents mention that the brother-in-law‘s brother, Trenck‘s arch nemesis, was in town along with the other Trenck siblings because Mom died and there was an inheritance, and did have a grudge against Trenck for owing him money and refusing to repay him, so Trenck might not be completely fantasizing about that guy having it in for him. However, writes Abramson to Kaunitz:

The Rittmeister (i.e. Trenck) showed no restraint whatsoever and told everyone his name, rank and service, he visited me day in and day out. Yesterday this officer showed up in the middle of the night around twelve, delivered a letter signed by the King in (!) Prussia‘s own hand to the City Council, and thus two officers and several grenadiers were sent to his quarters, which were at the boatsmen‘s guildhouse, to arrest him, and he was brought to a local prison via a Porte-Chaise. An hour later, this was told to me through his servant.

Then Abramson protested with the city fathers, etc., to no avail. In the next letter to Kaunitz, he describes further attempts to provent Trenck getting sent to Prussia, and sighs: I do not know what on earth made the Baron of Trenck consider this journey, all the more so since I have reminded him of the danger he was in many times during my daily interactions with him. Still he believed himself safe, and did not want to show the least bit of caution. After his arrest, his servant, named Kayser, who along with a hunter and a footman of his is still here, has told me that he (Trenck) didn‘t have any money with him and that this had been the reason why he had to remain in Danzig for so long; he (Kayser) had advised him repeateadly to open up to me about this. But (Trenck) supposedly replied every time that he wasn‘t afraid of anything and was utterly safe here. By now I‘ve discovered that a brother of his brother-in-law, named v. Meyerentz, who is staying here as a Polish Lt. Colonel, has denounced him to Berlin as a revengfe for the refused payment of 200 Ducats which the Baron of Trenck owes him as well as due to various quarrels from their time in Vienna, thus causing this arrest. I‘ve written all of this with today‘s mail to the Marquis de La Puebla. I await the Empress-Queen‘s orders how to behave towards the city council from now on.

As we‘ve said before, it‘s a miracle Trenck lived long enough to get beheaded in Paris when in his 70s.

Re: war tribunals - yes, one after the escape from Glatz, but not before that. So whatever cousin Austrian Trenck wrote might not have been available as evidence? Or maybe Fritz just didn‘t bother. Incidentally, for all his lying, the documents do prove Trenck did make a couple of inventive escape attempts from both prisons before in one case succeeding and in the other not so much, so if nothing else, he was a terrier, too.

Another quote, this one from Ried to Finckenstein in 1763: Le cas de Trenck est differént: S.M. L‘Impératrice, par un simple mouvement de pitíe, m‘a recommandé fortement de tacher d‘ effectuer sa liberté. Ma souveraine est bien éloignée de contredire S.M. Le Roi sur la conduite et la charactère de Trenck. Tout le monde connait que c‘est un mauvais garnement. Cependant à tout pécheur rémission! Si on considère la longueuer du temps qu‘ il est déjà en prison, et qu, lorsqu‘il fut arrété a Danzig, il était actuellement dans le service de L‘Impératrice, il pairait qu‘il ne devrait pas etre impossible de fléchir S.M. Le Roi.

At the same time, Ried writes to Kaunitz in German: Regarding Trenck, (...) it just depends on finding a good moment to petition the King. For now, I haven‘t achieved anything beyond making his imprisonment somewhat more bearable for him, and gotten permission to allow him to improve his conditions through third parties sending him money now and then. This man‘s regular behavior, however, is so badly that one can‘t take his party in public, for as soon as he sees the slightest hope to expect some help, he starts with his debaucheries. Not withstanding this, I still hope to free him; for those who have his fate in their hands are as much invested in his cause as I am.

Now I knew noble prisoners paid for their imprisonment (food, creature comfort etc.), but - debaucheries? And Ried writes „Ausschweifungen“ ? What is going on in Magdeburg? I mean, beyond Prades cleaning everyone out with card games. (BTW, Trenck did not make up being chained to a wall, there is among the documents a Fritz signed order to that effect after his first three escape attempts.)

Also, I do wonder what he did for the Austrians to deserve all this, or maybe I‘m too cynical and Mt did just feel sorry for him. I mean, it‘s not like even if he got letters from Austrian Trenck and wrote back „yep, on your side now!“, they got much out of this. And since he got arrested at the end of June, and Soor wasn‘t until the end of September, he can‘t have told them that Eichel and the war chest would be around, either...

Now I knew noble prisoners paid for their imprisonment (food, creature comfort etc.), but - debaucheries? And Ried writes „Ausschweifungen“ ? What is going on in Magdeburg?

Now I'm curious too!

I mean, maybe I'm overcomplicating things, and it was simply:

Ried (via messenger, he was in Berlin, after all, not Magdeburg): Trenck, good news! We're working on your case, and here's some money from your sister and other friends so you can buy yourself some nice cushions and maybe some books.

Trenck: Cushions nothing. I haven't gotten laid in nine years. Get me some Magdeburg working girls, stat.

Then again: as Lehndorff's diaries constantly tell me, (war time) imprisonment for nobles who weren't Trenck didn't prevent them from getting visits (like he shows up at old Seckendorff's) and to a degree socialize with the local Prussian nobility, at least the officers. (Hence lots of Austrian and French officers flirting with the Prussian court ladies and dancing with them at balls before being returned to their fortresses.) Now peace time imprisonment is probably a different issue, not to mention that someone like Trenck, with his jail break record, probably would be suspected to make a run for it even in his last few months if they let him out of Magedburg Fortress, but maybe he was allowed to hang out with the other prisoners now?

Volz doesn't say what position Trenck held other than "Cornett"

Clarification for

cahn: this is a military rank, the lowest rank of a commissioned officer in the cavalry. When a nobleman like Trenck joined the army, he would start out as a cornet (the usual English spelling) and work his way up the ranks. The next rank up was lieutenant.

Historically, the cornet, like his infantry equivalent the ensign, was responsible for carrying the flag for his unit. By the 18th century, though, there wasn't a 1-1 relationship between cornets/ensigns and standard-bearers.

Lol, I just discovered a neat thing. There's this one book I read in second grade that's what I always think of when I think of carrying a flag. It's called Did You Carry the Flag Today, Charley?, and it's about a boy who wants to be chosen to carry the flag at school. Amazon tells me the protagonist is named Charley Cornett. I can tell you that flew right past me when I was seven!

I should also add that cornet is Trenck's rank in the Prussian military 1744/1745 - the Austrians have him listed as "Rittmeister" (cavalry captain - so basically he skipped ranks hen joining the Austrian army?) once he joins the Austrian army. I want to know what exactly he contributed to the Austrian cause more than ever. I mean, I would suspect nepotism, but Austrian Trenck the Pandur was a) disgraced, and b)soon dead when Prussian Trenck made it to Vienna. Not to mention c) according to Prussian Trenck actively hostile to him. (With the usual caveat about "according to" - Volz has nothing on as to whether Austrian Trenck in his last months schemed against Prussian Trenck as the later claims.)

Schell, the guy who leaves Trenck's door in Glatz unlocked and deserts with him, whom I suspect of having been gangpressed into Prussian service due to him not having been a Prussian, is a Lieutenant.

the Austrians have him listed as "Rittmeister" (cavalry captain - so basically he skipped ranks hen joining the Austrian army?)

Hmmm, yeah. Looks like he skipped right over second lieutenant and first lieutenant.

I want to know what exactly he contributed to the Austrian cause more than ever.

Circumstantial evidence is certainly damning!

Schell, the guy who leaves Trenck's door in Glatz unlocked and deserts with him, whom I suspect of having been gangpressed into Prussian service due to him not having been a Prussian, is a Lieutenant.

I don't know enough about impressment practices: were foreign noblemen impressed as officers? He is a von Schell and he is a lieutenant. I could be wrong, but it strikes me as dangerous to have your officers serving involuntarily, and impressing noblemen is probably going to cause a hue and cry that impressing lower and middle classes isn't.

Googling around, I'm not finding evidence that noblemen and officers were impressed, and am finding statements that press gangs worked the lower and middle classes, and that noblemen were exempt. I remember Duffy saying that Prussian recruiters would trick people into enlisting voluntarily by telling them they would be officers, and then when they signed up, they were forced into service as common soldiers and not allowed to leave. But if you know of any examples where nobles were impressed as officers, let me know. It's hard to prove a negative after a few minutes of googling.

While googling, I ran across something else that backed up my sense that pardons for desertion were common: "Desertion was to be punished by death. Yet, most deserters were in fact not executed but often enough pardoned and re-admitted to the service if they requested a pardon." This is from Prussian Army Soldiers and the Seven Years' War: The Psychology of Honour, a scholarly volume that was published in 2019, costs $80, and has something like 12 footnotes per page. This particular line has a footnote citing a 1996 scholarly volume. So it looks legit. Again, the book is about the Seven Years' War, but this particular page seems to be talking about practices in general, including peacetime practices. The citation is Disziplin und Desertion: Strukturprobleme militärischer Organisation im 18. Jahrhundert (Historische Forschungen), page 288, which would probably tell us everything we ever wanted to know about how exceptional Trenck's pardon offer was (my sense without reading it is: not enough to warrant concluding that he slept or at least flirted with one of the royal siblings).

Btw, Google is giving me Müncherode as an acceptable alternate spelling for Rot_an_der_Rot Abbey in Swabia, and Wikipedia tells me the town developed out of the abbey, so I'm guessing Schell's from the town called Rot an der Rot today.

This is from Prussian Army Soldiers and the Seven Years' War: The Psychology of Honour, a scholarly volume that was published in 2019, costs $80, and has something like 12 footnotes per page.

Hey, I have access to that! Thank you for introducing this to me!

There's lots of stuff on the structure of the Prussian army, recruitment, the role of women and Africans in the army, primary sources etc. Here's just some stuff I found interesting, not necessarily about Friedrich. I'm smashing together quotes from the book:

Tidbits about the recruitment of the army:

The majority of Prussian soldiers were Kantonisten, draftees from the recruiting districts (Kantone) of the regiments. They were the second, third or fourth sons of peasants and craftsmen, coming from the centre of Prussian society. Most of them were Lutheran Protestants of the Pietist brand, who believed that the faithful and professional fulfillment of their duties would secure them a place in heaven. The regiment as the basic organizational unit had its own area of recruitment. There, all male peasants, artisans and small traders who reached a certain height and were not only sons were enrolled at the age of thirteen and drilled for two months during the summer each year once they reached the age of twenty. When it was war time, who was actually called up was decided by the regiment together with the local authorities. More than half of those who had been enrolled were able to evade service. Rich merchants and certain religious minorities such as Jews, Quakers, and Mennonites were excluded from the draft.

The other soldiers were Ausländer (foreigners), which were not always foreigners in the modern sense of the word. The term meant that the person came from outside the Kanton, or was a mercenary, who came from the Kanton but was not required to serve. The Ausländer who volunteered signed six year contracts. But many were not volunteers, and were forcibly recruited by violence, deceit and press gangs.

Tidbits about the role of women:

A soldier did not need to marry a woman for her to be formally recognised as a companion. Direct quote: "Sweethearts: A Prussian idiosyncrasy was the legalization of the Liebsten (sweethearts). Soldiers, who were not allowed to marry due to a lack of money or permission by their master, could get a Liebstenschein (sweetheart diploma). With this, the army recognized the girlfriend of a soldier as a legitimate companion, cared for the women in times of war and made the relationship honourable." Basically, just like wives, they were Soldatenfrauen ("soldiers' women") who could travel between the army and the Kanton if they desired. Or send letters. Friedrich established a free postal service so soldiers and their families could communicate. Women in most soldiers' families needed to take on paid work in addition to housework, and soldiers often took on second jobs. Soldiers’ wives could also take over the military duties of their absent men, such as guard duties or supervising the cleaning of stables. Up to 72 women were allowed to accompany each Prussian regiment in wartime, and they cooked, mended uniforms, sold looted goods, etc.

The Potsdam Orphanage:

"One of the darkest chapters of the Prussian army’s history was the handling of the military orphanage in Potsdam. While Frederick William I had carefully built up the orphanage and provided the inmates with spiritual guidance and a good education by Pietist chaplains and musical instructors, Frederick II sent the children to the arms factories, where many of them perished due to a harsh labour regime and long working hours."

Later in the book, when talking about musicians in the Prussian army: "Some the drummers also came from the military orphanage in Potsdam. During the reign of the Soldier King, orphaned boys were taught to play the drum by older invalid drummers and at the same time taught to write and read in order to join one of the regiments of the elite Potsdam garrison. Under Frederick II, the orphanage degenerated and became a prison-like institution which supplied cheap labour to the nearby factories. The king was not interested in educating the orphans and music and drumming lessons were abandoned."

Sympathy to the author:

The pains of historical scholarship: "(...)but the documents were missing. Unfortunately, the Household Archive could not be accessed at the time of writing as the heirs of the Prince of Stolberg-Wernigerode and the state of Sachsen-Anhalt are involved in a legal dispute about the further use of the Archive."

Sorbs:

Frederick II – and some of his generals – valued soldiers from Magdeburg, Pomerania and Brandenburg greatly. Officers seem to have agreed that men from the West Slavic minority of the Sorbs, who lived in Brandenburg, were ‘the best infantrymen in the world’, as they were totally obedient to their king.

Child soldiers:

Child soldiers were used by the Prussians in siege of Schweidnitz in 1762:

"the regiments used to besiege the fortress were amongst the worst of the entire army and almost entirely composed of children. One day, the garrison staged a sortie and some of the Prussian soldiers began to cry. The colonel commanding the trenches feared that they might do something worse [flee, K. & S.M.], [but] did not abuse them, not even with words but shouted: ‘Cry as much as you want, my children, but open fire and do not run away.’ His gentle behaviour made them fight as good soldiers."

Former slaves in the Prussian army:

I think I remember Mildred being curious, at some point, about the status of black people in Prussia - after she read about a 're-naming ceremony' in Count Lehndorff's diaries? This book provides some answers in the military sense:

"Some of the musicians [in the Prussian army] were black Africans. For example, the Pfeifer (fifers) of the Potsdam Giants were slaves bought in the Netherlands or England. Upon their arrival in Prussia, they were taught German, baptized and given German names. Legally, they were freed and theoretically had the same rights as other non-noble subjects of the king. There were twenty-three of these former slaves in the army at the end of Frederick William’s reign."

This blogpost has visual illustrations of African musicians in the Prussian army, in Friedrich's lifetime. It's an interesting article overall.

Related, here's Friedrich's own opinions about the slave trade, found in Christopher Duffy's biography:

'He replied with angry sarcasm to one of his customs officials who asked for leave for his brother, a Bordeaux merchant, to go slaving under the Prussian flag:
I have always been of the opinion that the trade in negroes is a blight on the human race. Never shall I do anything to authorise or promote it. However, if this business is so attractive to you, you have only to go back to France to be able to indulge your taste. May God keep you in his holy and fond care! (Preuss, 1832-4. IV. 296).'

(But Fredersdorf bought an entire plantation didn't he...??? Fritz????)

Thank you you for checking out this book!

Potsdam orphanage: that is terrible. And a really black mark against Friedrich.

Incidentally, re: socially beneficial institutions founded by FW, the most famous of these which is still ongoing is the Charité, the famous Berlin hospital. (Though it became famous for its high medical standards only in the later half of the 19th century.)

Citation for Fredersdorf buying a plantation? Is it in this book? Because I don't recall it mentioned in the sources we've had so far. As far as I know, over the years he bought additional estates once given Zernikow in 1740, which became the Fredersdorfischen Güter, but these were all within Brandenburg. Don't know whether directly attached to Zernikow. I'm ready to stand corrected - any additional information is welcome!

Citation for Fredersdorf buying a plantation? Is it in this book? Because I don't recall it mentioned in the sources we've had so far.

The source is not this book, but I explicitly remember reading that he bought a plantation in Mexico. This newspaper article mentions that Fredersdorf "bought a plantation in South America", and I'm assuming they're drawing from the same source I read that I can't remember. Giles MacDonogh writes that he had a 'colony' in the East Indies. His doesn't quote sources for each sentence but has a list of sources for the paragraph about Fredersdorf, in the frustrating truncated way he lays out his references. Since that information is in the first sentence, and the first reference in the list is Johannes Richter "Die Briefe Friedrichs des Grossen an seinen vormaligen Kammerdiener Fredersdorf" 1979, pages 20-21, I'm assuming the information is there.

Well! Despite both

selenak and me having read that article, and me having read MacDonogh, and her having read Richter, somehow both of us missed three references to it. Clearly, we needed you in this fandom and we never knew it!

His doesn't quote sources for each sentence but has a list of sources for the paragraph about Fredersdorf, in the frustrating truncated way he lays out his references.

MacDonogh is terribly unreliable about his sources actually saying what he says they say, but in this case, he's got it in one. Richter, page 20, "...kaufte Fredersdorf später noch mehrere Besitzungen hinzu, ja er wurde sogar, wie wir aus der früher erwähnten Urkunde des Grafen Schlitz wissen, Besitzer einer 'Kolonie' in Ostindien."

Aaaand, it does appear that the slave trade was thriving in the 18th century in the East Indies (about which I know virtually nothing and had to check).

:(

Nothing in Richter on South America or Mexico, or even the West Indies, that I can see, but I'm hindered by my rudimentary German. Still.

The past is a terrible place, I mean we already knew that. :( A few props to Fritz for speaking out about the slave trade, I guess, though Fredersdorf has some splainin to do.

Oh,

gambitten, you know about the Fritzian library I'm hosting? It has a lot of public domain (in the US) and borderline public domain resources, including Richter. (Which I thought was borderline public domain because 1926, but if there was another edition or printing in 1979, maybe I should rethink that.)

Yeah, the past is terrible. I suppose Fredersdorf took an "out of sight, out of mind" approach to morality.

you know about the Fritzian library I'm hosting?

Yeah! I'll offer up some more public domain Volz from archive.org that doesn't seem to be on there yet - it's the Grumbkow-Hille-Wolden correspondence, which gives insight into Friedrich's mindset/behaviour at Küstrin as well as other things.

My German is rudimentary too, but I see a pretty sad entry on pages 15 to 16:

Hille to Grumbkow, 23rd of December 1730

"[You?] will have heard from the King from the relay sent yesterday that the Crown Prince had two attacks of Wechselfieber [malaria]. So much excitement, grief and fear must have had a violent effect on his body. Thank God it didn't result in anything more serious(...)" (cont but Google Translate struggles)

I suppose it would be better to post about it on the new discussion topic, hah.

Edited 2020-03-07 21:23 (UTC)

Yeah, the past is terrible. I suppose Fredersdorf took an "out of sight, out of mind" approach to morality.

Let's just acknowledge that I personally would be a terrible person in the past.

Yeah! I'll offer up some more public domain Volz from archive.org that doesn't seem to be on there yet - it's the Grumbkow-Hille-Wolden correspondence, which gives insight into Friedrich's mindset/behaviour at Küstrin as well as other things.

Oh, that's the first volume of the three-volume work I've been trying to get from our royal patron! I don't know why I didn't see it on archive.org. Oh, it looks like they only have the first volume, so maybe I ignored it in favor of getting all three volumes from the same source.

I don't suppose you have access to download entire volumes from Hathitrust? I was assuming you didn't, because it's US-only, but it doesn't hurt to ask?

(cont but Google Translate struggles)

I think I've noticed you saying this before. If you ever want to post something and ask for help, we have a native German speaker here, and with my year or two of German at school, I usually don't have trouble getting the gist of a text when Google Translate struggles. I usually get it, sometimes miss nuance, rarely get stumped, and frequently ask

selenak just to double check my understanding, especially if I'm using the passage to base an argument on. ;) I'm actually just happy that she usually confirms I understood it correctly!

Anyway, you can get basic German support from me and advanced German support from her, if you ever have any questions. And I occasionally post something short in German or French on the assumption that everyone here can handle a sentence or two, but if that's no longer true, then I can get better about translating. And feel free to poke if I don't.

For example, that Fredersdorf quote from Richter says that Fredersdorf later acquired still more possessions, and as we learned in the Count Schlitz document mentioned earlier, he even became the owner of a 'colony' in the East Indies.

And yeah, I suppose we should drift over to the new place. :)

I don't suppose you have access to download entire volumes from Hathitrust? I was assuming you didn't, because it's US-only, but it doesn't hurt to ask?

Sorry for the late reply on this; unfortunately, I don't. Oxford isn't on the list of partner institutions rip

Re: Google Translate

My issue is that I can't read the old-timey German font that everything 18th-century Prussian-related is written in. :\ And neither, apparently, can Google Translate (for archive PDFs my go-to has been taking pictures of my laptop screen with my phone and using GT that way, which is extremely inefficient, I realise). If it's in regular font, I'm usually fine with a bit of German (thanks to Duolinguo LOL). I feel bad asking for translations for minute things that I'm curious about, since I don't want to take up anybody's time

Sorry for the late reply on this; unfortunately, I don't. Oxford isn't on the list of partner institutions rip

No worries, we have someone at UCLA who does.

My issue is that I can't read the old-timey German font that everything 18th-century Prussian-related is written in.

Neither could I in December, but I'm getting better at it! As measured by: how much less angry when I see the font, lol. Occasionally, something relevant even jumps out at me when I'm scrolling while looking for something else! I'm still much slower with it than with more familiar typefaces, but I'm now only totally defeated by it when it's a very blurry scan.

I feel bad asking for translations for minute things that I'm curious about, since I don't want to take up anybody's time

At the moment I have nothing but time, but that's going to change in a couple weeks. In any case, you can always ask, and it might end up on somebody's backlog.

selenak took a few weeks to get us the full Katte species facti translation (and that wasn't even in blackletter font), but she did it! For which we are deeply grateful and do not at all mind the delay. Everyone here is understanding that everyone else is fitting Fritz into their spare time.

I do intend to continue incorporating the recently uncovered Katte execution material into

rheinsberg, as time and health permit, and that will include the Lepel report from Hoffbauer that you expressed an interest in. I would like to get that done before I have to go back to work, but even when I go back, I'm not full time, so hopefully I continue to have time to participate in fandom. Even if the nature of that participation shifts, hopefully from more mindless work like OCR cleanup, to more interesting stuff like reading books and possibly maybe just within the realm of possibility, beefing up my French. And maybe fanfic!

Pro tip on Google translate: if the blackletter font is in a copy-pastable PDF, it's usually pretty good about OCRing properly and all you usually have to do is swap out the s's manually to get a better translation. But if it's just an image, then yeah, you have to be able to transcribe yourself. Which I can now do a page or two at a time of, but in December I just deferred altogether, and you're certainly welcome to ask for help. It never hurts to ask, especially if you're willing to wait for the response.

Wait, Google translate can read your pictures?! Or am I misunderstanding your workflow?

Yep. The Google Translate app on Android can translate pictures, but even it seems to struggle with old-timey German fonts and scanned artifacts. I use it when the text is not selectable, which is usually the case for old scans.

Oh, that's really cool! Though I can hardly blame it for having trouble with old German fonts :)

Yeah, join the club, Google!

Okay, I just checked Richter, and what he says on page 20 is that „in addition to the Zernickow estate, which he administrated exemplarly (...), Fredersdorf later bought other estates, and even became, as we know through the earlier mentioned document of Count Schlitz, the owner of a „colony“ in East India.“ Ostindien is British India, „Kolonie“ is written in quote marks by Richter, which doesn‘t indicate irony - Richter doesn‘t do irony - but presumably an old fashioned use of the term. For example, the French huguenot settlement in Berlin was called „die Kolonie“. Conversely, maybe he does mean a plantation - at a guess, tea or pepper, givne India‘s most common exports. Either way, I could be wrong, but I don‘t think British India did slaves in the second half of the 18th century. (Though the slave trade certainly was still going strong with British traders to other colonies.) No mention of South America or Mexico, or any other overseas possession. The next sentence is about beer.

ETA: Oh, I see you already found the sentence. The „earlier mentioned document“ refers to the one in which Fredersdorf‘s widow doesn‘t sign herself „von“, which is how Richter concludes Fredersdorf wasn‘t ennobled. Also, belatedly it’s occured to me that before the demise of the East India Trading Company it‘s not British India yet, but in terms of 18th century use of the term „Ostindien“ in the fictional texts I‘ve seen it in, it was employed for the continent and not the islands. Again: „I could be wrong“ caveat, big time.

Edited 2020-03-07 22:08 (UTC)

Either way, I could be wrong, but I don‘t think British India did slaves in the second half of the 18th century.

Hmm. What I had found was that Wikipedia says the Dutch East India Company was involved in slaving in the 18th century, though whether that geographically lines up with the use of the German term Ostindien in the 18C, I'm not sure. It looks like most of the focus on slavery in Wikipedia is the Cape Colony, which is a very specific location on the African continent (Cape of Good Hope). I don't know about slavery practiced by the East Indies company outside of that region, and I don't know if Fredersdorf could have had his "Kolonie" (whatever that is) in one of the slave-based regions.

This person, of unknown scholarly rigor, is making a case that the British East Indies engaged in the slave trade, and that this aspect has been downplayed in the literature due to the low numbers relative to the transatlantic slave trade.

Wikipedia says "Ostindien" is "a historical designation for a large region in Asia, consisting of the Vorderindien (roughly the Indian subcontinent), Mainland Southeast Asia (Hinterindien) and the East Indies Islands." It predates the later use of the term for British India.

To what extent slavery was widespread there, as opposed to the Cape Colony in South Africa, I don't know.

So for now, I'm going to say Fredersdorf's possible involvement as an overseas slaveowner is inconclusive. If he was dealing with either the British or Dutch East Indies companies, he certainly profited indirectly from the slave trade, but then, who didn't? All that tobacco's got to come from somewhere, and I don't think most of it was what you'd call ethical labor practices.

Wow. So far Fredersdorf has been accused of murder, embezzlement, and slaveowning, and so far he's eluded a guilty verdict on all three! (Please let it stay that way, she says, ever the objective historian.)

Hey, I have access to that!

Ooh, you lucky dog!

A Prussian idiosyncrasy was the legalization of the Liebsten (sweethearts).

Did not know about that! Or that the women could take over some of the military duties. I did know about the free postal service and that both soldiers and their wives worked for extra pay to supplement their meager income from serving.

I knew Fritz's wartime practices were indefensible, but did not know that about the children, ouch. It's worse because from everything I've seen, his labor conditions in his porcelain factory were *above* average for the time, but "win at all costs" Fritz during wartime is a different beast than Fritz during peacetime, and this isn't the first time I've had occasion to make that observation.

I think I remember Mildred being curious, at some point, about the status of black people in Prussia - after she read about a 're-naming ceremony' in Count Lehndorff's diaries?

It's definitely something we discussed before.

selenak is the only one who can read Lehndorff's diaries, but she did tell us about the ceremony and we wondered about the status of black people, and I did some digging and found pretty much that "Legally, they were freed and theoretically had the same rights as other non-noble subjects of the king," but none of the cool military detail, thanks!

I second

selenak's lack of familiarity with Fredersdorf buying plantations in places where they would have been worked by black slaves. The only property I know of that he owned is the estates in Brandenburg, plus one that he inherited in Saxony from this woman who decided she liked him and wanted to adopt him. Definitely curious if there's evidence for him buying anything in territory where slavery was legal and race-based (but will be sad if it's true).

This book sounds interesting--I wish it weren't $82! Or that I could read library books. But thank you for sharing cool details with us!

Letter to Amalie: I've only seen the mention by German wiki, providing this citation:

Christopher Frey: Friedrich von der Trencks Beziehung zu Prinzessin Amalie von Preußen sowie ein bisher unbekannter Brief Trencks. In: Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, 116. Band, Heft 1–2 (2008), S. 146–158.

Check the library!

Check the revised Rheinsberg write-up!

Ooh, nice! For one, that's a really neat detail about Amalie not being able to move her arms, as a corroboration to Trenck's "She didn't let go of my hand for half an hour." I don't think you had told us that?

And since he got arrested at the end of June, and Soor wasn‘t until the end of September, he can‘t have told them that Eichel and the war chest would be around, either...

True, and also my impression is that the plundering of the Prussian camp and train was not an organized effort carried out under orders from superiors, but the officers losing control of the hussars, which happened more than once during Fritz's wars. Loot was seen as one of the major perks of being a soldier, and the hussars were "irregulars" anyway.

It might also be worth adding to

rheinsberg what we found in that Seven Years' War book, that most deserters who requested a pardon were granted one (though usually on condition they rejoined; telling Trenck that he's *not* allowed to rejoin is interesting)?

Not just interesting but it means the example of deserters getting pardoned in the 7 Years War is useless, since there the motivation is clearly to have more canon fodder. Understandable in a situation where Prussia is rapidly running out not just of soldiers in general but also of officers with any kind of experience or training, the longer the war takes. (Krockow was very good on this, including the reminder than more Prussian officers died in the 7 Years War than at any point of subsequent history until WWII.) Whereas Trenck gets offered his pardon not only in peace time, after the Silesian Wars, when Prussia is doing just fine, but under the explicit condition that he never tries to join the Prussian army again. Ergo: pears and oranges. Can‘t compare.

Amalie‘s physical state: no, I only mentioned near blindness before the end, not the difficulties of moving after what appears to have been a stroke or a series of short ones.

Frey also has some other interesting stuff, including that Thièbault, who is the one having worked for Fritz memoirist who subscribes to the Trenck/Amalie sotry, hadn‘t just read Trenck‘s memoirs, as I had guessed from even the rewritten into two volumes version of Thiebault‘s book, but had met Trenck himself, in 1789 in Paris, and talked to him about this. Unfortunately, this makes the entire thing not more or less plausible, since again, Trenck is Thièbault‘s only source, but it‘s possibly worth noting that Thièbault, who knew Fritz for 20 years, is willing to buy the story.

Then again, Trenck must have been enormously convincing. I mean, he got FW2 to actually order that Trenck was to be paid a pension as an officer of the Prussian army. With retroactive payment covering the Magdeburg years. (Might have been because of FW2‘s general „think about what Uncle Fritz would do, then do the opposite“ mantra, of course.)

Oh, and this happened, since Trenck also got an Austrian pension. Bear in mind he was in Paris twice, once when the Revolution started and once in the middle of the Terreur, when he got himself beheaded.

Trenck: *returns in 1790 from Paris*: Vive la Revolution! A bas les aristocrats! Wow, events in Paris are just awesome. I‘m totally going to publish about this.

Leopold: Who do you think you are, Prinz Heinrich? I might not be willing to commit troops to saving my sister Marie Antoinette, but that kind of thing is not okay. Say farewell to your Austrian pension, Trenck.

Trenck: Habsburg bastard! Fine! I‘m going back to the wonderful land of liberty. While still boasting of my royal connections.

The. Dumbest. Gryffindor.

Not just interesting but it means the example of deserters getting pardoned in the 7 Years War is useless, since there the motivation is clearly to have more canon fodder

I agree it's pears and oranges, but I disagree that makes it completely useless. Because imagine if we didn't have that example. Imagine if desertion were SUCH an unforgivable crime that you had to execute people for it even when you had a good reason for keeping them around as cannon fodder. Then we'd really only have Peter and Trenck as the exceptions, and the Trenck exception of forgiveness for desertion + initial crime would be mind-blowing.

As it is, there's an abundance of precedent for pardoning of desertion, possibly even during peacetime, and it's plausible that if Fritz can find a reason for letting someone come back, he will. And no, Trenck isn't joining the army again (because of his initial crime that predated the desertion), but he's bringing some money with him, which might not be a lot, but in peacetime might be the equivalent of "one more piece of fodder for cannon." Especially if they are allowing pardons and rejoins in peacetime as well, which means "one more potential piece of fodder in the event we go to war again (which I don't think we are) and you're still here."

The. Dumbest. Gryffindor.

No contest!

True, the fact that desertion & pardons were a (common) thing under specific circumstances for people other than Peter and Trenck should be mentioned, and I‘ll do it when I‘m back home. (Am in a train now.) But I haver something else for you, which I waited to post until Cahn put up a new post, she says mysteriously.

Have already seen it, read it, and started preparing a reply. Thank you SO MUCH!

It had two magic K words, what can I say? :D I dropped everything.

ETA: Also, I should add that you did already mention in

rheinsberg that pardons were common during wartime, but 1) we have a much more reliable source now than Duffy + Asprey, and 2) that source seems to imply that it was a peacetime practice as well, although I'm not sure. If we *really* care how exceptional Trenck was during peacetime, you could have a gander at that Disziplin und Desertion volume, although limited time is limited, so up to you.

Edited 2020-03-07 15:59 (UTC)

Okay, this is amaaaaaazing :DDDDDD

I am really rather pleased to find out that Trenck is a lying liar who lies :D I never liked that whole "it was totally Amalie!" thing or the Fritz!batman thing.

Yes, one of Trenck's daughters became Amalie's goddaughter, with Amalie accepting godmother status, but the accepting letter was by her secetary, not her. (Remember, Trenck also tried to get Joseph to become his son's godfather and got a "no thanks" letter back.)

HAHAHAHHA lol.

Volz, you are my hero!

Unlike certain royal brothers we could name, Lehndorff actually watches Shakespeare (Hamlet) in German in 1778. ZOMG. Likes it, but still thinks French theatre is superior, and all the swooning on the audience’s part not quite justified. And it's a bit strange that there are more and more German language theatres playing this stuff...

1778 starts with worries about Bavaria, since the Prince Elector has just died. Lehndorff, who with his family is in Berlin for the Carneval months, is not happy.

The sudden death of the Elector of Bavaria by smallpox upsets half of Germany. The first few days we spent in great concern. All officers were preparing themselves. All the world expected our army to get marching. One thought that the Emperor would take all of Bavaria. Since, however, the prince elector of the Palatinate has demanded homage as the legitimate heir, things have quieted down. But a certain concern remains, and I watch often enough how the face of Prince Heinrich gets longer and longer, so that I cannot get rid of my worry.(...)

January 18th: The King celebrates Prince Heinrich’s birthday. One dines from golden table wear. In the evening, the King hosts a great ball which he himself attends. But there is a terrible hurlyburly, so no one finds their place at the right table, and it’s even hard to get a glass of water. The people fill all the ballrooms, and it’s tiring and doesn’t allow for a real mood to be enjoyed. The King himself seems to have taken on too much, since he’s sick the next morning, and everyone is very concerned about him. (...)
Prince Ferdinand, too, celebrates a great party on the occasion of Prince Heinrich‘s birthday. Two days later, Kaphengst throws a ball for a hundred people due to the same reason. When the Prince sees the souper, the ball, the waste and the superflousness everywhere, he vents his exasparation with the words: „Since I‘m doing the honneurs for this - i.e. pays for it- you might as well amuse yourself.“ This favour is incomprehensible. I‘ve never seen two characters more different than the Prince and Kaphengst. All the quality is on the side of the former, and yet he’s dominated by the later. (...)

But enough about Heinrich's love life. On to politics!

As he's invited me to supper, I find Prince Heinrich darkly brooding, triggered by the news that the Emperor has taken Lower Bavaria. He wishes our King should try to foil this enterprise through negotiations, instead of reacting beyond measure. For he has said he wants war any price, even if he has to be carried in front of his army. He shared his plans with Prince Heinrich who remains convinced that peace could still be maintained.

The health of the King remains a matter of concern. He is often feverish. On the day after Prince Heinrich’s birthday party, an odd accident happened to the King. When he got undressed, people put his waistcoat and everything else pulled off him near the fireplace. The clothing caught fire, and everything was in flames. But since he only has incompetent footmen around himself, the fire remained unnoticed, and it could have spread, if not for another footman who thankfully woke up and quenched the fire. The King is very angry that his tobacco box, several important papers and especially his spectacles did get burned. To indicate the state of wardrobe of this great man, I shall note that on the next day, he did not have an overcoat to wear; they had to send a messenger on horseback to Potsdam in order to get him such a piece of clothing.

All this, Prince Heinrich discusses with me. He heaps a lot of deserved praise on the Heriditary Prince of Braunschweig, but he says in this war matter he will not argue with the King. I suspect that this Prince, who after all is still in the full vigour of his years, secretly does desire war in order to distinguish himself. He is a man of supreme qualities, and I consider him one of the great minds of Europe and especially admire his calm state of mind. One can’t read from his face that he’s pondering the matters of Europe and is aware of the various agencies of the different courts as usually only a prime minister would be. I don’t say all of this because I love him. This is my sincere, impartial judgment. This estimable prince presents his portrait to me as a gift, which I shall always consider a precious family heritage and will honor as such.

Since Heinrich first will drag out going to the front as long as he can and later will end up after an argument with Fritz stepping down from his command in favour of his Braunschweig nephew, after which the record one and a half years of fraternal silence ensue, I'm not sure that Lehndorff is right about him secretly wanting another war despite of what he says. Though on the other hand, he could be, or at the very least torn. He is restless, he knows he's good at war, and like all of FW's kids, he believes in being useful. Then again, he probably imagines, like MT at the same time in Vienna, what a disaster another bloody war would be for everyone involved and shudders.

Fron Hohenzollern family drama to Lehndorff family drama:

I have a great grief through my nephew Schlieben, who has made such horrendous debts and pulls the most estimable of women into misfortune. (...) One fine morning, as I am sitting in my room, I’m told that my niece if I don’t send her on a journey in the next fifteen minutes will be arrested (for his debts) and brought into the Hausvogtei. The poor woman sees herself forced to leave her home with a bleeding heart. I send her to my wife‘s uncle, Count Schwerin, in Wolfshagen. All happens within the quarter of an hour, but it has so upset me that I haven‘t calmed down yet. I shall not miss naming the man who has done me such service and has informed me secretly of the shame which was supposed to fall on my niece. It is General Ramin, who has acted so honorably. I shall never forget it. And this man was supposed to be malicious! Again a proof one can be entirely wrong about someone. How different acts this hypocritical Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg, whom my mother has clothed and fed when he was Major in the regiment „Lehwaldt“! He, a close relation of my niece‘s, he who always plays the good Christian, he has caused this misfortune.

So: some people actually get out of town when told they should get out of town! Just saying. Lehndorff's niece is back in town next year, unarrested, so apparantly the matter is settled.

May 1778: Lehndorff the aristocrat meets Goethe and Carl August and isn‘t impressed. This is a great passage for illustrating the generational difference and the ongoing cultural shift in the German states, because you can see Lehndorff doesn‘t get that Goethe isn‘t along as his Duke‘s entertainment and really doesn‘t feel obliged to function as such, nor does Goethe see the job of a writer to occupy himself with the history of the House of Weimar. Which of course would have been what favoured court artists in Lehndorff‘s youth would have done. As for some middle class guy (who hasn‘t been ennobled yet by his Duke, that‘s still to come) fancying himself a key part of the government!!!

During the month of May, the Duke of Weimar arrives incognito under the name of Baron v. Altenstein, but the Queen doesn‘t give up until he shows himself in society. I dine with him, Prince Heinrich and Prince Ferdinand. He appears to be a pretty young man, but with an unfriendly trait on his face. With him, he had the famous author of „Werther“ and „Götz von Berlichingen“. Herr Goethe, whom the Duke has made a Councillor. This man now dominates him, after pushing aside the former chief minister, Count Görtz, who has now entered our services. This Herr Goethe sits next to me at dinner. I do my best to carry a conversation, but he seems quite laconic. He probably thinks himself too much a grandseigneur now to be a poet and entertain people. This is in general the mistake educated Germans make: whenever they achieve a certain position, they become insufferably arrogant.
Prince Heinrich asked Herr Goethe whether the Weimar archive didn’t have letters from the famous Bernhard of Weimar. The young Duke claimed they were there, but this great scholar doesn‘t know about them. This makes a very bad impression on me. Since this concerns one of the most glorious parts of the history of the ducal house, he ought to know about them.

Goethe: has zilch interest in Bernhard of Weimar. He‘s got a dukedom to co-govern, masterpieces of German literature to write, oh, and to keep Carl August from joining the Prussian army, which is the main purpose of this Berlin visit. That, and a side tourist trip to Sanssouci.

News from Rokoko Dallas: At the same time, I hear that (Baron Taube) has been commanded to tell the King that the King of Sweden has decided to banish his mother, since he cannot live with her any longer due to their constant arguments, to Stralsund. Their feud was caused by the Queen Mother having urged her other sons to protest when the young Queen of Sweden got pregnant. She claimed the King was impotent and that the child which the Queen was carrrying was from a certain Munk. The Queen-Mother in turn accuses her second son to be the origin of this gossip. Whatever is true about this, the noise caused will resound in all of Europe.
On this occasion, I can’t help but recall what the late Prince of Prussia used to say: „I’m glad my sisters aren’t foreign princesses, for otherwise I’d have gotten in the position of having to marry one of them. This would have been a misfortune since they are all extremely strong willed and argumentative.“ It is true that the widowed Queen of Sweden is an educated woman with wit; but she has a very unruly disposition which has caused her sufferings throughout her life.

News from Paris: For a short time, we stop talking about politics in order to talk about the death of Voltaire. (30. May 1778.) His end was brought about by an accident, for he took a dose of opium which he was supposed to take in ten parts all at once. The opium was sent to him by the Duke de Richelieu who - despite his eighty years being just as flighty as the other - forgot to name the exact dose which Voltaire was supposed to take.

Okay, Lehndorff, that story is one I hadn‘t heard before. Also, the Duc de Richelieu is of course Émilie‘s pre-Voltaire lover whom she remained friends with. I do find it interesting that Prussian gossip about Voltaire’s death picks this, and not the question of whether or not he repented, or his arguments with the priests who tried a deathed confession out of him, which is the direct opposite of the gossip as recorded by the Duc de Croy in Paris. Incidentally, if Voltaire did take too much opium, then, based on the fact he spent the last week of his life in tremendous physical pain, I'd speculate it was quite intentionally (on both his and Richelieu's part).

Lehndorff records the tale of the Miller Arnold, in German, not French, which makes it harder to read (sudden Rokoko spelling and vocabulary is sudden, with Fritz being wrong, and himself deeply shocked.

Throughout 1780: One announces the death of the Empress-Queen as impending, but one also keeps letting our King die, and I see people who don‘t consider the present anymore but live already entirely in the future. Happy the wise man who regards all events with an even mind and doesn’t lose this disposition!

Lehndorff, back in East Prussia now that any danger of war is over, becomes buddies with retired Austrian General Broune whom he meets at Königsberg and who reminds him of George Keith, Lord Merischal. He even warms up to Kalkreuth (!), though doesn't say why, just that they had a nice chat.

Future FW2 travels to Russia to meet Catherine after Joseph‘s journey to Catherine was a success and worried the Prussians who feel the need to send her a royal visitor of their own again. Remember, this is during the big - and last - Fritz-Heinrich non-talking era, so Fritz can't or at any rate doesn't ask Heinrich to go. Lehndorff is still full of love for Crown Prince Jr., whom he meets when future FW2 passes through East Prussia both times en route to and from Russia. But Catherine, our editor notes, wasn‘t impressed by this latest Hohenzollern, compared him to his uncles, and told her court, alluding to the medieval custom of apprentices going on their journeys in order to become masters of their craft: "The apprentice has travel a lot further than that in order to become a master!“

Biggest surprise of this couple of entries: Lehndorff knows about Fritz' spectacles and mentions them casually, so presumably this isn't newas or something lately learned by him. Now, Lehndorff only sees Fritz on court occasions (like Heinrich's birthday party or the party after the 7 Years War or the receptions for Ulrike and Gustav). Fritz can't have been wearing his spectacles then. So does he know via Heinrich? (Just like he knows about the fire?) Or via the staff after 30 years at court?

I'm not sure that Lehndorff is right about him secretly wanting another war despite of what he says. Though on the other hand, he could be, or at the very least torn. He is restless, he knows he's good at war, and like all of FW's kids, he believes in being useful. Then again, he probably imagines, like MT at the same time in Vienna, what a disaster another bloody war would be for everyone involved and shudders.

Mixed feelings makes sense to me. At the very least, I agree he wasn't gung-ho about it, not after the Seven Years' War.

So: some people actually get out of town when told they should get out of town! Just saying.

Lol. :P Clearly, she didn't have a princess to protect!

Incidentally, if Voltaire did take too much opium, then, based on the fact he spent the last week of his life in tremendous physical pain, I'd speculate it was quite intentionally (on both his and Richelieu's part).

That's exactly what I was thinking, having read your account of his last days.

Lehndorff knows about Fritz' spectacles and mentions them casually, so presumably this isn't newas or something lately learned by him.

Interesting! Maybe it's less of a problem to need glasses in 1778 (the man is 66) than in 1740? I mean, this is right around the time Fritz has to stop playing the flute because he's losing his front teeth, so everyone knows he's slowly falling apart (and reports of his impending demise have been greatly exaggerated). Maybe he even pretends, or Lehndorff assumes, he only needs them for reading, i.e. is farsighted like many people as they get older. Especially as the spectacles get mentioned right after "important papers."

Mixed feelings makes sense to me. At the very least, I agree he wasn't gung-ho about it, not after the Seven Years' War.

Not even Fritz was, after all. I think they both had seen more than their share of bloodshed, and Heinrich knew if this actually got serious, it would stay limited to Bavaria. (See also MT's letter.)

Voltaire's death: I looked up the Duc de Croy again, since he's a simultanous contemporary witness who is in Paris at the time, and he does mention Voltaire taking opium, though not an accidental (or deliberate) overdose. (Mind you, given not just clerical but legal laws in Ancien Regime France were really firm on how to deal with the body of suicides, and people who helped other people to commit suicide, so I can see why not.) Anyway, the Duke had met Voltaire and Émlie 30 years earlier at Versailles.

When Voltaire returns to Paris for the first time sine a life time:

"When I had known and seen him thirty years ago, he already had been a skeleton and a hypochondriac. How did he look now? Well, he lived only of coffee and poetry. It seems that work and coffee are not always lethal, then. One has to recall that he wrote the Henriade when he'd been five or at least wrote his first tragedy with eighteen. The main purpose of his journey to Paris was the production of his play Irene which he was still working on. As one wasn't quite satisfied with the work and he was afraid for his fame, he rewrote an act within two nights into smoking verses. One really needs inner fire for this at the age of 83! He wanted everything to be recited differently and made the actors rehearse nonstop. On that occasion, he got so heated that he coughed blood and Tronchin had to treat him."

The Duke describes the theatrical triumph I already told you about as well as the "if your feelings are hurt, I'm sorry, Catholic Church" letter and the Archbishop of Paris being less than happy about it. Then, a few entries later, the Duke learns Voltaire has died and manages to get the story out of the doctor who embalmed him (not Tronchin) as well as one of the houseguests.

Apparently he'd been progressively worse through the last ten days due to his colics. Since he was still full of fiery energy working and composing tragedies for which he alwaays needed a lot of coffee, he poured up to 20 cups into himself and had a set back. On May 21, he became bed bound for good, and suffered terribly. He organized some opium and took enough to be calm, if not completely numb. That's how rumors started someone was trying to poison him. Others said his family would declare him insane, though he was completely sound of mind most of the time. Sometimes he was in delirium and fantasized, but even that was impressively intense, full of wit and sometimes fury. He made blasphemous speeches and ended badly. Tronchin has called it the end of a desperate man and preached at him to think of his conscience. But Voltaire replied to him: "To claim a religion which I wanted to destroy for sixty years, really?"

When the pastor of Saint-Sulpice learned that the time was approaching he hurred to him. He had to wait. He pushed, and when he entered and saw Voltaire was dying, he called out: "Monsieur de Voltaire, do you believe in Jesus Christ?" Voltaire stared at him with glowing eyes and said while turning away from him: "Leave me in peace!" Upon which the pastor withdrew and declared that Voltaire had denied God in his writings and could not receive a Christian burial. When shortly afterwards Mr. de Vllette stood crying next to his bed, Voltaire asked in a stage worthy manner: "Tears, my boy?" IN the night from Saturday to Sunday the 30th, he said goodbye around eleven pm to his servant, who was holding him, and died.

And then we get the farce with the burial, also described in detail. The Duke, who is a faithful Catholic, nonetheless is Team Voltaire's nephews there. About the man himself: It remains very regrettable taht Voltaire throughout his life knew neither honorable conduct nor any principles. His is one of the most beautiful and richly endowed geniuses to ever exist. His system to deny everything, never to follow a given path, to look at everything with scepticism, this meant he could make you believe anything like a lawyer would. And that is why he has written so much, and few writers have commented on everything so brilliantly.

Maybe he even pretends, or Lehndorff assumes, he only needs them for reading, i.e. is farsighted like many people as they get older. Especially as the spectacles get mentioned right after "important papers."

That is quite plausible, and yes, glasses at 66 when people have called you "The Great" for many years now are quite different than having to wear them at 28 when you're busy establishing yourself as a Mars-and-Apollo-hybrid. But as foreign visitors still don't mention them, I'm assuming he did take care not to wear them outside of a plausible "I'm reading now" context when in company.

Also, note he doesn't get undressed alone. Which is not a symptom of old age but one of those things one tends to forget about this period often, but which is worth keeping in mind in terms of how the nobility and royalty lived - the presence of servants from morning till night and beyond for all these tasks.

(Mind you, given not just clerical but legal laws in Ancien Regime France were really firm on how to deal with the body of suicides, and people who helped other people to commit suicide, so I can see why not.)

Agreed! Plausible deniability is a thing.

But Voltaire replied to him: "To claim a religion which I wanted to destroy for sixty years, really?"

Really? Do you know who I am?

when you're busy establishing yourself as a Mars-and-Apollo-hybrid

Haha. Sparta in the morning, Athens in the afternoon, as Voltaire said of Fritz's court.

I'm assuming he did take care not to wear them outside of a plausible "I'm reading now" context when in company.

Agreed. I could see him ostentatiously taking them off to look up from what he was reading to whoever he was talking to, and fix them with his "My eyes appear to be boring through your skull because I can't see a thing otherwise, but feel free to be intimidated!" stare. ;)

Also, note he doesn't get undressed alone.

Normally, I would have assumed that from the get-go, but for Fritz specifically, I've been going by MacDonogh's "...his extreme prudery. His servant Schöning, who occupied a position of great trust at the end of Frederick's life, maintained that he could not suffer anyone to see him without his clothes on, and would not even attend to a call of nature in their presence." Citation: Either Volz's 3-volume bio or Halmsten's Friedrich II in Selbstzeugnisse und Bilddokumenten or neither (he cites both in the same endnote at the end of a paragraph that contains a bunch of stuff, and he's been known to have uncited claims in the paragraph when he does that).

On the one hand, never trust MacDonogh and it *would* be weird for Fritz not to be undressing with servants around; on the other, I found it just plausible enough because Fritz is weird wrt his fellow monarchs, and isolation is one of his notable qualities. Even from the early days when he wanted to build a palace that was a private residence and not hold any kind of proper court there, and almost never allow guests at his musical performances.

So we'll see if Volz supports this claim. Currently waiting on delivery from our royal patron.

Also,

cahn, notice that not wanting to attend to a call of nature while talking to other people is "extreme prudery" by the standards of the day--it really was!

But enough about Heinrich's love life. On to politics!

lolololol. Are we ever really done with Heinrich's love life? :D

Though on the other hand, he could be, or at the very least torn. He is restless, he knows he's good at war, and like all of FW's kids, he believes in being useful. Then again, he probably imagines, like MT at the same time in Vienna, what a disaster another bloody war would be for everyone involved and shudders.

Yeah, like you guys, I can see mixed feelings making a lot of sense. Like he really doesn't want another war, but he knows he'd do well in one.

This is a great passage for illustrating the generational difference and the ongoing cultural shift in the German states

Thank you for this commentary -- it's really cool to be able to read this in context (and since I'm used to thinking of Lehndorff as a clueless 19-year-old, it's interesting to shift my view of him to an older guy in his 50's).

"I’m glad my sisters aren’t foreign princesses, for otherwise I’d have gotten in the position of having to marry one of them."

LOL.
Fritz: Whereas if Wilhelmine were a foreign princess, that would have solved a lot!

I do find it interesting that Prussian gossip about Voltaire’s death picks this, and not the question of whether or not he repented, or his arguments with the priests who tried a deathed confession out of him, which is the direct opposite of the gossip as recorded by the Duc de Croy in Paris.

So I wonder if this is partially Catholic vs. Protestant and partially Lehndorff just being uninterested? Like, as far as I know, confession specifically to a priest/pastor is a rather bigger deal in Catholicism than in Protestantism (though wikipedia tells me that prior to the nineteenth century it was more of a thing). Also, I mean, I know we're getting a highly curated version, but our man L. doesn't seem to be particularly invested in theological questions :)

Fritz: Whereas if Wilhelmine were a foreign princess, that would have solved a lot!

You know, my reaction to SD looking in the Mirror of Erised and seeing, "not Wilhelmine getting crowned as Queen of England, [but] Fritz getting crowned as King of England somehow while his proud mother watches," was:

Fritz and Wilhelmine: Why not both, Mom? Why not both. :D

Fritz and Wilhelmine as ancient Egyptian Royalty: would not have had a problem with this concept at all.

Courtesy of Gambitten quoting Voltaire's "I know it is difficult to get out of here, but there are still hippogriffs to escape from Madame Alcine" - which is the Orlando-Furioso (or Händel's opera based on Orlando) referring comparison Voltaire also employs in his memoirs, i.e. Fritz as the bewitching sorceress Alcina - I was reminded that hippogriffs have been returning to pop culture again courtesy of J.K. Rowling using them for Harry Potter. (Sirius Black escapes on one in volume 3.) Which in turn made me wonder: which House for which Frederician contemporary?

The easy ones:

Émilie: Ravenclaw.
AW: Gryffindor.
Ulrike: Slytherin.
Fredersdorf: Hufflepuff.
Franz Stephan: Hufflepuff
Peter Keith: Ravenclaw
Wilhelmine: Ravenclaw, though insisted on being sorted into Gryffindor or Slytherin (whichever it was) to keep Fritz company
Algarotti: Ravenclaw
Trenck: the dumbest Gryffindor. But definitely Gryffindor.
Gustav: the dumbest Slytherin. Seriously.
EC: Hufflepuff
SD: Slytherin

The trickier ones:
MT: Gryffindor with strong Slytherin streak or Slytherin with a strong Gryffindor streak? You decide.
Fritz: Ditto. Bravery, ambition and cunning all dominant traits.
Voltaire: Ravenclaw gone bad or superintellectual Slytherin? You decide.
Katte: Gryffindor. Despite his interest in the arts, I don't see him as a Ravenclaw.
Heinrich: Is Fritz' other self, so, see above.
Joseph: Ravenclaw who thinks he's a Slytherin.
FW: Gryffindor gone bad who thinks he's a Hufflepuff

Other thoughts? contesting opinions?

Edited 2020-03-05 08:01 (UTC)

Oh boy. This is going to be fun.

Katte: Gryffindor. Despite his interest in the arts, I don't see him as a Ravenclaw.

Easy one for me too. Dyed-in-the-wool Gryffindor. Loyalty notwithstanding, I don't even see him as a Hufflepuff, as in your pre-edited comment.

MT: Gryffindor with strong Slytherin streak or Slytherin with a strong Gryffindor streak? You decide.
Fritz: Ditto. Bravery, ambition and cunning all dominant traits.

Not sure about MT, but I see Fritz as the Slytherin who argued with the Sorting Hat for several minutes that he was a Ravenclaw, the ULTIMATE RAVENCLAW, but the Hat refused to fall for it. "Green and silver table for you, kid."

Strong Gryffindor streak, definitely. And I hated the way Slytherin was characterized in the books--I would have liked a lot more nuance--so I'm always torn between "how JKR presented Slytherin" and "how I would present Slytherin" when sorting people there, but then I'm going to ruin all our fun if I go on my rant of "If you want to fuck kids up, sort them into a house at age 11, tell them their entire experience in life will be governed by one personality trait that's set in stone, oh, and make sure one of the houses is the evil house, that will help."

Trenck: the dumbest Gryffindor. But definitely Gryffindor.

HA. Yes, yes, definitely.

Wilhelmine: Ravenclaw, though insisted on being sorted into Gryffindor or Slytherin (whichever it was) to keep Fritz company

Awww. <3 In the AU where she's the younger sister, definitely. If we go with my take on Fritz and their canonical ages, though...he tries hard for Ravenclaw and gets Slytherin, ouch. :(

Joseph: Ravenclaw who thinks he's a Slytherin.

Yup on this one.

Voltaire: Ravenclaw gone bad or superintellectual Slytherin? You decide.

This is a hard one! (I hate that Slytherin = 'gone bad', but *muffles rant*.) I keep going back and forth. Where's the Odysseus house? Like Fritz, a strong Gryffindor streak--it takes a notable amount of courage to provoke all authorities at every turn and campaign for justice, even after being locked in the Bastille and fleeing for his life multiple times--but I wouldn't sort him in Gryffindor. Fritz I can see in Gryffindor more easily.

Let's say Ravenclaw, with Émilie, and Fritz is watching with resentment and envy from Slytherin. After Émilie graduates (we'll have to make her a bit older in this one), Fritz finally succeeds in his campaign to have Voltaire eat at the Slytherin table. The rest is left as an exercise to the reader. ;)

FW: Gryffindor gone bad who thinks he's a Hufflepuff

Oof. Yeah, I suppose that makes sense.

Heinrich: Is Fritz' other self, so, see above.

Heinrich *behaves* like a Gryffindor with a strong Slytherin streak, but it's hard to say how much of their differences in actions were due to differences in opportunity. Switch their birth order and see how much their differences flip from one to the other.

Suhm: Ravenclaw

Should say that I agree re: the lack of nuance for Slytherin in general in the books (though would like to point out that Snape isn't the only anti-Voldemort Slytherin, Horace Slughorn does exist, so does Phineas Nigellus, and the Malfoy clan in the last two books is actually way more interesting than the previous fanon had been; but still, there should have been more, and going by the presentation of Slytherin in the theatre plays - not written by JKR, but endorsed - it did belatedly dawn on the author). This aside, sorting is fun, so:

re: MT - my reasoning is that she was, hands down, ambitious. Jessen reminded me again - we don't have one but two ambassadors reporting before her father dies that the arch duchess had the absolute intention to rule. (As in, rule herself, not let her husband do it.) The British ambassador even marveled that she seemed to regarded Dad as the administrator of her future property who frustratingly refuses to let her have a look. And this just wasn't normal for her her day - these two ambassadors aside, everyone else, including her father, expected FS to rule and MT, since she clearly loved him, to be totally supportive of this. So while bravery is undoubtedly also a prominent trait - which was the earliest one Fritz would grant her as a good quality - I do think the hat would be torn.

I see Fritz as the Slytherin who argued with the Sorting Hat for several minutes that he was a Ravenclaw, the ULTIMATE RAVENCLAW, but the Hat refused to fall for it. "Green and silver table for you, kid."

LOL. Yes, absolutely plausible.

If we go with my take on Fritz and their canonical ages, though...he tries hard for Ravenclaw and gets Slytherin, ouch. :(

Sob, yes. Would fit with FW trying to keep them separate and secret meetings, though.

Re: Voltaire, by "Ravenclaw gone bad" I didn't mean Slytherin; Voltaire's various shady dealings and propensity to lie when caught haven't got much to do with ambition, but financial greed isn't really a factor in the HP novels. (Except for Lockhart maybe? Though there it's more vanity and fame.) By "Superintellectual Slytherin", otoh, I meant if one sees his ambition to be the foremost intellectual of the age as the dominant trait and emphasizes "foremost" and "intellectual" the same way. Agreed on his courage, of course!

Let's say Ravenclaw, with Émilie, and Fritz is watching with resentment and envy from Slytherin. After Émilie graduates (we'll have to make her a bit older in this one), Fritz finally succeeds in his campaign to have Voltaire eat at the Slytherin table. The rest is left as an exercise to the reader. ;)

*highfives* Yes yes. Though, Émilie doesn't have to be older - Voltaire must repeat a year (oh, the indignity!) because he collected so many punishments and was absent so often for various reasons. He still passed all the tests, but whoever was the headmaster insisted a point had to be made.

Agreed on Suhm. Heinrich: insists on Gryffindor because AW is there, despite the hat pointing out to him he might be unhappy there because it doesn't entirely suit him. At some point, it's time for the "what if Fritz was never born?" episode and Heinrich is appalled to find himself as one of the most ruthless Slytherins around.

(Ferdinand is a Hufflepuff; that's easy again.)

Catherine is of course Slytherin. Marie Antoinette is a not very bright but brave type of Gryffindor. Henri de Catt thinks he's a Ravenclaw and actually is one until constantly hanging out with Fritz awakens his inner Slytherin, not that he's a good one.

I do think the hat would be torn.

Agreed. It's a tossup for me too, with my current superficial knowledge of her.

Re: Voltaire, by "Ravenclaw gone bad" I didn't mean Slytherin;

Ah, okay. I guess I read a parallel in where there wasn't one, probably prompted by your other parallels.

Voltaire's various shady dealings and propensity to lie when caught haven't got much to do with ambition, but financial greed isn't really a factor in the HP novels.

The Malfoys are definitely into acquiring wealth and using it for political gain, but yes. Ambition isn't the only defining trait of Slytherin, though, at least not judging by the Sorting Hat songs. Slytherin's description in the song in the very first book goes:

Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.

Which fits Voltaire's shady deals and lies quite well.

Sob, yes. Would fit with FW trying to keep them separate and secret meetings, though.

Yes, that's EXACTLY what I was thinking, culminating in his imprisonment and most of all her marriage, which basically separated them for life, barring occasional meetings.

*highfives* Yes yes. Though, Émilie doesn't have to be older - Voltaire must repeat a year (oh, the indignity!) because he collected so many punishments and was absent so often for various reasons. He still passed all the tests, but whoever was the headmaster insisted a point had to be made.

HA! Alternatively, Émilie the inimitable manages to graduate early. (We do have to squash ages for this one anyway, as Voltaire is canonically 17 years older than Fritz and 12 older than Émilie!)

Heinrich: insists on Gryffindor because AW is there, despite the hat pointing out to him he might be unhappy there because it doesn't entirely suit him

I really like it. Headcanon!

At some point, it's time for the "what if Fritz was never born?" episode and Heinrich is appalled to find himself as one of the most ruthless Slytherins around.

Oh, yeah.

Henri de Catt thinks he's a Ravenclaw and actually is one until constantly hanging out with Fritz awakens his inner Slytherin, not that he's a good one.

AHAHAAAA, lolsob. Yes. This.

Next question! What do these people see in the Mirror of Erised?

Sadly, I think the "Well done, son" guy's might be cliched but true anyway.

Mirror of Erised:

Fritz - Yes, sadly, "Well done, Son" (it's canon, according to Catt's diary and the dream told therein), though I'd like to think at different points of his life he'd also see himself in the Paris opera with the people he loves alive and at his side.

Wilhelmine - sees herself in one of those Roman villas near Naples she's been visiting, only with Fritz instead of La Contamide, and they're both completely healthy and free of any ague. It's a warm evening and somewhere, someone is playing music.

MT - as a young woman ca. 1741 - 1750: Silesians cheering their true Queen's return while some Prussian guy is covered in the dust of the road somewhere in the back where no one even pays attention to him.
- at any time post 1765 - Franz Stefan alive again, holding out his hand to her as he did during their weddding.

EC: Fritz, who has asked her to come to him, greets her as she gets out of the carriage (no other Hohenzollern around! None! Also they are at Rheinsberg somehow) and says "Madame, welcome! Let's go into the gardens together, I think the strawberrys are ripe for plucking!"

Émilie: Newton is somehow alive, and she's debating with him, while the back and forth leads her to understand more and more.

Fredersdorf: he's found the philosopher's stone and presents Fritz with the potion that doesn't create gold, no, it's the water of life that makes both of them completely healthy and immortal. Because for the most part, Fredersdorf did have his ideal life, but he couldn't have born Fritz dying before him, and he would have liked to stick around because he was rather worried how Fritz would fare without him.

SD: No contest, and no, it's not Wilhelmine getting crowned as Queen of England. It's Fritz getting crowned as King of England somehow while his proud mother watches.

FW: as a young man: devoted SD and adoring kids welcome hard-working father home while a very tall man pulls out a chair for him and a voice from above says "this is my beloved son in which I take great joy".

in his late 30s and early 40s: he presents AW to the people as crown prince, and yes, the implication is that Fritz has died (in some way that doesn't implicate FW) while SD tells him how sorry she is and asks for his forgiveness. He is disturbed by seeing this in the mirror, but he does see it.

In his late 40s and up to age 51, when he dies: Reformed Fritz (minus the flute and Sanssouci and the witty pretties) says "I now understand that I owe it all to my dear father" while overviewing a splendid revue of (tall) Prussian soldiers at Spandau.

Henri de Catt: Fritz hands him a copy of the Histoire de mon temps, Catt opens it and sees the dedication to "my inspiration, always, Henri de Catt".

Lehndorff: Heinrich proposes. Marriage to cousin du Rosey and/or Fritz appointing him envoy to Great Britain would also be nice, but the first image the mirror of Erised presents to Lehndorff is definitely Heinrich asking for his hand in monogamous marriage.

Joseph: As a young man: he's just returning to Vienna from some victorious campaign, but not on horseback, on foot, and enthusiastic people accost him to tell him how well the new schools are going; no priest in sight; for some reason, he's wearing a blue uniform.

Last decade of his life: His daughter is alive again, and in his arms, and he's twirling her around.

Voltaire: he's sitting in a box seat, drinking coffee and talking to Émilie and Fritz at the same time while a play of his gets presented below them to thunderous applause, not in Paris, not in Berlin... in Constantinople. Lots of Turks, looking suspiciously like Prussians with darker moustaches, cheering "Vive Voltaire, vive la liberté!"

Katte: he and Fritz are on a boat on the Thames, on their way to somewhere, no idea where, with no one but Händel in pursuit.

(Händel actually hired some musicians to play his stuff on a boat in pursuit of newly crowned Uncle G2, since he was afraid that as G1 had favoured him, G2 might not.)

I knew you would deliver!

I'd like to think at different points of his life he'd also see himself in the Paris opera with the people he loves alive and at his side.

I hope so. I feel like being acclaimed (by Voltaire, let's be real) as a great poet is on his list--he might actually have wanted that more than he wanted to be a flutist, but his talents didn't quite line up with his wishes.

Fredersdorf: he's found the philosopher's stone and presents Fritz with the potion that doesn't create gold, no, it's the water of life that makes both of them completely healthy and immortal.

Awww, that's my fave. <3 Fredersdorf.

a very tall man pulls out a chair for him and a voice from above says "this is my beloved son in which I take great joy".

I don't know which of these made me laugh harder. Oh, FW.

Henri de Catt: Fritz hands him a copy of the Histoire de mon temps, Catt opens it and sees the dedication to "my inspiration, always, Henri de Catt".

HAAAAA, Henri de Catt, never change. :P

the first image the mirror of Erised presents to Lehndorff is definitely Heinrich asking for his hand in monogamous marriage.

Yups. Wait, we didn't sort Lehndorff! Obvious Hufflepuff is obvious?

Heinrich: *only into Slythindors*

and enthusiastic people accost him to tell him how well the new schools are going; no priest in sight; for some reason, he's wearing a blue uniform.

Joseph, I love your rational fanboying.

in Constantinople. Lots of Turks, looking suspiciously like Prussians with darker moustaches, cheering "Vive Voltaire, vive la liberté!"

I died. I saw "Constantinople" and I died.

Katte: he and Fritz are on a boat on the Thames, on their way to somewhere

<3

Neat Händel tidbit! I didn't know that.

Waiiiit explain Constantinople??

I only know about this from

selenak's write-up, so I'll just excerpt that part:

selenak: In the 1760s, Voltaire starts his correspondance with Catherine, who promptly gets referred to as "your Empress" or "your Imperiatrizia" by Fritz in his letters. Fritz also reports about his two meetings with Joseph, and what he writes before meeting ViennaJoe for the second time is downright crack ship encouraging, since it's not in a over the top letter between monarchs but in a personal one to Voltaire:

This Prince is amiable and truly deserving. He esteems your works and reads them as often as he an; he's not superstitious in the least. Consequently, he's an Emperor of a kind we haven't had in Germany since a long time. Neither he nor I like ignorants or barbarians; but this isn't a reason to kill them; if it was, the Turks would hardly be the only ones. How many nations have been dumbed down due to lacking enlightenment!

selenak: What he's alluding to here is that Voltaire in his old age has decided there is actually one worthy cause he wants Fritz to go to war to, allied with Joseph and Catherine both: against the Ottomans. Voltaire, it turns out, is really sincere idea that both Islam is the worst of the Abrahamatic religions and the Turks are the worst, and he wants Team Enlightened Monarchs to take them on militarily. I kid you not.

It's all very well to say that the Mohammadanian religion should pose a counterweight to the Greek religion and the Greek religion to the Catholic one. I'd love for you to be the counterweight. I'm always aggrieved at the idea that the feet of some pasha should walk through the ashes of Themistocles and of Alcibiades. This image makes me want to throw up as much as the one of Cardinals petting their doves at the tombs of Marcus Aurelius does.

Seriously, I don't understand why the Empress-Queen doesn't sell her household goods and equips her son, the Emperor, your friend - in as much as people of your rank can have friends - with her last Taler so he can go at the head of an army to Adrianopel and await Cathereine there. This enterprise strikes me as so natural, so easy, so beautiful that I can't understand why it has not yet been accomplished; of course your majesty would have received a good glass of wine out of this deal. Everyone has their chimera; this is mine.

selenak: (Voltaire, you don't want to know how "liberating" Muslim nations "for their own good" works out; you truly don't. Incidentally, Joseph and Catherine did fight the Ottomans together at a later point, post MT's death. This did not go well for Joseph.)

Re: Händel, I first learned about it in a very amusing audio version of a play, „Mögliche Begegnung der Herren Bach und Händel“, about a fictional meeting between Bach and Händel.

Yups. Wait, we didn't sort Lehndorff! Obvious Hufflepuff is obvious?

Agreed, with the slight caveat that I‘d also buy Lehndorff as an unassuming Ravenclaw. He‘s not supersmart, and can be quite clueless emotionally, but his fondness for books and theatre seems to be a life long thing rather than something he only picked up as a young man wanting to advance at the court of a „philosopher thing“, and as opposed to people who shall remain Fritz and Heinrich, he‘s at least ready to watch occasionally plays in German and read German books now and then, even if he remains imprinted on French culture - he has an open, curious mind when it comes to the arts. What‘s more, he’s truly interested in people and curious about other countries. (Interested in history, too, see him reading about the Stuarts as a young man and going „WTF was going on with that family?“ or later in life making all those Liselotte letter excerpts in his notebook.) And if he‘s reading Rousseau‘s Confessions while being shaken by a 18th century carriage, he‘s able to focus to an admirable degree.

These are all wonderful and so true.

(Wilhelmine <33 MT <33 EC, aw, breaks my heart <3 (no other Hohenzollern around! None! Also they are at Rheinsberg somehow also made me laugh)

that makes both of them completely healthy

Including mental health! Which of course he wouldn't have known about as a thing at the time, but I think he would have known that Fritz needed healing in some way that he might not have been able to articulate.

It's Fritz getting crowned as King of England somehow while his proud mother watches.

Man, this one makes me laugh and cringe.

while a very tall man pulls out a chair for him

HAHAHAHAHA but in general this one is so spot on.

for some reason, he's wearing a blue uniform.

LOL Joseph!

Last decade of his life

JOSEPH <3333

Trenck: the dumbest Gryffindor. But definitely Gryffindor.
Gustav: the dumbest Slytherin. Seriously.

LOLOLOL it's funny because it's true!

MT: Gryffindor with strong Slytherin streak or Slytherin with a strong Gryffindor streak? You decide.

I think MT is a lot like Harry in that she's got plenty of ambition and plenty of courage, and the Hat would be torn. (She's also, of course, completely unlike Harry in a lot of ways.) I also think that she'd argue with the Hat for Gryffindor, because she'd like to think of the "courage" part as the defining part of her personality, and would end up there for basically that reason. (Whether the whole "houses = defining personality traits" division even makes sense or is hella unhealthy, as you and mildred have said, is another matter entirely, of course! Just going by what we've seen in the books.)

Fritz: Ditto. Bravery, ambition and cunning all dominant traits.

I think Fritz would end up in Slytherin. LOLOLOL to y'all's discussion, yeah, I think after Wilhelmine gets sorted into Ravenclaw he's like "OBVIOUSLY I am the ULTIMATE RAVENCLAW, YOU MUST SORT ME WITH HER" and the Hat is all "naw."

At this point either the Hat is so fed up with him that it just yells, "SLYTHERIN!" or gives Fritz the choice between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Fritz remembers MT has been sorted into Gryffindor, is all "They let WOMEN in there!" and picks Slytherin himself.

(OK, OK, I know MT is younger. She seems older though! :P )

Voltaire: Ravenclaw gone bad or superintellectual Slytherin? You decide.

HAHAHAHA! Ooh, this is a hard one. I did know what you meant by "Ravenclaw gone bad," though, HEE. I do like the solution you guys have come up with where he's Ravenclaw with Emilie.

Heinrich: insists on Gryffindor because AW is there, despite the hat pointing out to him he might be unhappy there because it doesn't entirely suit him. At some point, it's time for the "what if Fritz was never born?" episode and Heinrich is appalled to find himself as one of the most ruthless Slytherins around.

Huh, I like it.

Joseph: Ravenclaw who thinks he's a Slytherin.

HAHAHAHA YES.

LOLOLOL it's funny because it's true!

I knew you'd appreciate my Gustav sorting. BTW, I noticed that when Gertrud Elisabeth Mara Schmeling writes about her fellow singers in her memoirs, she writes about the castratos (Porporino, Salimbene), never about the tenors. Now this might just be a sign of the (about to shift) musical landscape of the times - Castrato voices are still importannt when teenage Mozart writes his first operas, but in adult Mozart's operas, they're no longer an element around which the opera is built - but it could also be she shares your opinion on tenors!

MT arguing with the hat like Harry did because of how she sees herself, with the same result: quite likely, agreed.

Seckendorff: Slytherin!

I think we can safely assign him and Grumbkow both. Along with Mantteufel, though Mantteufel might also work as a Ravenclaw with Slytherin leanings.

In which we get the answer to the question as to whether Lehndorff has the same taste in men as Catherine the Great!

Because 1781 and 1782 are Lehndorff's years of travelling. As you do, when you're retired. Since he's an East Prussian, there's one obvious destination he hasn't visited yet, except in passing through it. Yep, Lehndorff heads off to Poland. Currently ruled by none other but that enterprising gentleman whose memoirs I'm currently reading, the King formerly known as Poniatowski. It's the lovely month of May, Lehndorff likes Warsaw just fine, though he thinks the palace is a bit too overbudget for the Poles. He successfully angles for an invitation at court.

On the 9th at 10 am, I get presented to the King of Poland. He asks me to join him in his study and greets me with charming amiablity. He is still a beautiful man. He rises from his desk and tells me several pleasantries, while recalling that he has met me thirty years ago in Berlin. The conversation extends for quite a while. Finally, he tells me that he wants to show me his country seat himself. I must admit: even leaving his royal dignity aside, he is the most charming and witty man his kingdom has to offer, and he has a nice figure besides.

See, Lehndorff is deeply appreciative of your legs and hips just as they are, P!

He meets the royal siblings as well, but in this case, Lehndorff clearly thinks the brother on the throne is the one who's hottest. You and Catherine both, Lehndorff, even if she's since moved on. Speaking of moving, Lehndorff isn't the only traveller hitting the road a lot in that year. So does Joseph. Since he's been doing that for a while, loyal Prussians like Lehndorff are starting to get worried. After all, their King has identified ViennaJoe as the coming menace of Europe!

„All the world is talking about the Emperor‘s travels. This prince with his captivating nature developes more and more into a farseeing statesman. While he shows the greatest respect to our royal house at all opportunities, he takes our allies and our influence from us. (...) in short, he does all we used to du until 1756 and we are turning from a first rate to a second rate power again without noticing.“

Not quite. (Speaking as a Southern German, I'm tempted to add "would that it were so", but then I remember that after Joseph and Poldl there came the arch reactionary Franz as Emperor, and that wouldn't have done anyone any good, either.) But it says something about current Prussian mentality that Lehndorff, who isn't gung ho about war, still after decades of Fritz rule has gotten used to the idea that Prussia needs to be the coolest, the most admired, or something is off.

Now, Lehndorff has of course been noticing that Heinrich and Fritz have been at it again ever since the war of the Bavarian succession. Or, as Lehndorff puts it about Heinrich "He has been sulking with the Firstborn". The Firstborn hasn't been seen a lot around anyway, which is worrying. Lehndorff therefore notes with some relief in early 1782:

February 1782: The King has dined this winter at Princess Amalie‘s, at Prince Heinrich‘s and even in great society. He is very well, and has been in a good mood despite the serious matters occupying him and despite his advanced age. Among other things, he said after hearing people talk about a girl who they said had much intelligence and could play the piano very well, then she was bound to be ugly.(...)

Fritz making sexist cracks is Fritz normal, so no more "he's at death's door " stories. And now comes one of Lehndorff's hands-down best pen portraits. Remember EC throwing her fan at Wartensleben? That guy dies. And as much as Lehndorff is fun when gushing, he's just as much fun when he's bitching:

The Queen’s eternal Count Wartensleben has died. He was, in short, a unique creature of his type. For 43 years, he has been at this court, and during these 43 years he didn’t miss executing the duties of his office for a single day. He only left the antechambre of the Queen in order to go to sleep. Despite the two of them living in each other’s pocket for all this time, they were constantly at odds. Never has a soldier guarded his position so well like Count Wartensleben has the Queen’s antechambre. She accused him of interfering in all her affairs, that he was listening at doors, that he was reporting on her to other people, that he even dared once to approach her as a lover. All this has given cause to the most stormy scenes. The queen, who usually is benevolent but also has a touchy temper, sometimes threw napkins at his head. One day, I witnessed an actual battle. Wartensleben made an objection which the Queen didn’t like. At first, she tried to change his mind in kindness. When she didn’t manage to do this, she hit him so heavily with her fan on the shoulder that the unfortunate fan burst into a thousand pieces. Despite such scenes, he remained the one constant inhabitant of the antechambre, for 43 long years. AT noon, he arrived in a carriage with horses which were as old as he was at the palace. The two footmen who were with him then had to inspect the entire palace, all corridors and corners and report to him what was happening. This kept him occupied until 2 pm, which was when the Queen sat down for her lunch. After the meal, he planted himself in the miserable, sleazy antechambre, stole all the sugar cubes from us which we were being given to drink our coffee with and remained there until the arrival of the guests at 7 pm. While everyone was gambling, he slinked away through the corridors, in his younger years in order to seduce the wardrobe ladies, and later in order to spy. He only left the palace after all the candles had been extinguished. Other than the urge to spy, hiis primary motivation was avarice. About a hundred times he has told me that he was saving a lot by not having to heat his room, use any light or furniture. Day after day, he nicked a piece of white bread from the table for his breakfeast the next morning, and he only had made hankerchiefs for the right hand which he needed to walk with the Queen. He was truly the worst of misers. Besides, he was as dull as dirt; he always talked about himself and what was going on in his house. I remember how he told us for eight days about an ulcer his youngest daughter had on her backside. At which point the splendid and witty stewardess of the Queen’s, Countess Camas, who was thoroughly fed up with the story, said: „My dear Count, I know a wonderful way to treat this ulcer.“ Delighted, he exclaimed: „My dear lady, I urge you tell me which it is!“ Quickly, she returned: „Her Daddy has to put his nose into it!“ It has to be said that Wartensleben‘s nose was one of the most impressive which have ever existed.

Like I said: one of Lehndorff's best. (Wartensleben stealing everyone's sugar cubes is my favourite detail.) He's off travelling again, via Silesia and today's Slovakia to Austrian territories and then to Bavaria and Franconia.

First, the cause of so much invasion and counter attack:

June 1782: Silesia shows rests of his former splendor, but in the four years I haven‘t been here, it has gone down with it. The great misery of our fatherland has spread everywhere. All the world is depressed and complains, especially because trade isn‘t going well. I was surprised when I saw at the window of a post station the words inscribed: Better a night in cold Russia than a hundred years in this land of famine.

Then he enters the arch enemy's territory for the first time in his life, when being at the Spa in Kalrsbad.:

„On Sunday the 9th of June I enjoy sitting down at a window and watching the droves of people hurrying towards the various churches. The people have been dressed well, acording to their respective stations, which makes me assume a shared prosperity. But sadly, I have only heard complaints about the terrible changes the Emperor has caused. Especially the high nobility and the clergy is very discontent. HIs Imperial Majesty oppresses and damages them as much as he can. Everyone has tears in their eyes as they talk of the late Empress. The freedom to write against the Catholic religion has been distorted into impudence. At all the bookstores, one sees pamphlets in which complaints against the celibacy of priests, against mass and against all the clerical privileges are made.“

Joseph, we're rooting for you, and it's depressing to know it will all have been in vain, well, a lot of it. Lehndorff now enters Franconia. What's in Franconia? Bayreuth, that's what's in Franconia! So where does a loyal Hohenzollern fan go in the June of 1782?

„From there, I visit the Eremitage, about an hour away from Bayreuth. This is a beautiful palace. I have never seen anything which has caused me as much pleasure to watch. It shows an exquisite, incomparable sense of art. The spirit of the late Margravine, the older sister of my King, can be found everywhere. Especially beautiful to me is the grave of Vergil which the Margravine has had copied exactly as she herself as seen it. There is a grotto theatre here which is unique for its kind. In order to get to the palace, one has to cross the Parnassuss, the mountain of the Muses. I spend four hours in this wonderful place. Sadness fills me as I have to leave it, and have to tell me that so much beauty no longer finds any attention since the serene lady who has created it has gone. Oh vanity of vanities!
The new palace with its grotto and shell decoration in blue and white looks like it has escaped a fairy tale. Further, I visit the new Bayreuth promenade, which has been built under the supervision of Baron Seckendorff, who is the current first minister. I visit the opera house as well. Everything shows its builder’s wonderful taste. But all is dead! It is this which fills me with sadness.

We're with you, Lehndorff. But it's nice that you could see it; I think Fritz never did...

In October, he’s in Dresden: (Herr v. Hallberg) tells me of all kind of love affairs the late Princess Elector (Maria Antonia), who had been a born princess of Bavaria has conducted, worse than Messalina. It is strange that all her children have become very pious pricks since their mother has only been a sacred Venus.

Lehndorff, you should really find another designation for sexually active royal ladies than "Messalina". I'm just saying. Maria Antonia, btw, was MT's and Fritz' pen pal. Travelling through Saxony, Lehndorff uses the time to catch up on his reading:

(...) Through terrible ways, I get to Bautzen, where I stay for the night. Throughout the entire journey, I’m reading J.Jaques Rouseau’s „Confessions“. I can’t praise destiny enough for the fact my health and my eyes are still as good as if I was only 25. Rouseau has written his confessions exactly like everyone should write their life story. It would be the most interesting of all stories, for it is the history of the heart.

It's interesting that Lehndorff turns out to be a Rousseau fan. On the one hand, it's very him - the Confessions are famously emo, and of course shocked because they also (artfully) confessed to dastardly deeds of their author as well - , on the other, Rousseau was of course the literary god of all those revolutionaries currently still being young lawyers but soon ready to storm the Bastille.

Heinrich asks him to come to Berlin. Give you three guesses as to whether he goes. There, Amalie greets him kindly. He also visits EC, his former boss. It‘s November now.

„On Friday, I have lunch at the Queen‘s. AT this court nothing ever changes, the rooms, the tone, the tables are just like in 1747, when I entered this world. One has to respect the Queen, but it isn‘t really possible to love her, though she basically has all that would invite such a feeling, including a winning kindness. However, one never feels at ease in her company, not least because she gets so easily upset about small matters which others would dismiss with a laugh. (...)

I think this, as opposed to Lehndorff's complaints while he was still working for her, can be taken as a fair assessment on his part.

After I have attended the Queen, I drive on to Prince Heinrich. I find he’s better looking than four years ago. He reminds me on the painful moment of our separation when he had to leave for the war. My joy is all the greater to see him now, especially since he is extremely charming to me. Good old Ludwig Wreech I find down with a worrying fever, Kaphengst with a double chin, Knyphausen is doing well, Tauentzien has grown into a man. And now there’s a new favourite. Count Wartensleben, formerly known under the nickname of „Nantchen!“. He’s been entrusted with the business of the princely household and seems to be very esteemed.

Love you noticing Kaphengst's double chin, Lehndorff. One appreciates the little things, eh?

December 10 - 16: I’m still busy making new acquaintances or to refresh old ones. I’m so delighted by Prince Heinrich and his natkure that I can hardly bear to leave him again. The conversation with him is always interesting, and I learn a lot. Sometimes I’m sitting alone with him till 1 in the morning, and if not for having to think of his and my health, I would like to remain until 4 am. No one will ever be quite like him.

You and your sparkly hearts drawing are forever, Lehndorff. Meanwhile, about the main Hohenzollern - and his new reader:

1783 - Januar 3rd: Finally after five years, I see the King agian. He looks extraordinarily healthy, his voice is strong, his face full of grace, so one almost forgets his age. We watch him during his audience for the foreign envoys. It is a pleasure to listen to how he talks to the representatives of different nations, finding a suitable individual tone for each of them. All the more painful it is for us, to see, how rarely this prince graces his subject with a conversation. He himself says he hardly knows anyone in Berlin.
A charming man, the Marchese Lucchesini, an Italian, now belongs to his most trusted circle. I often have heard him mentioned, and was looking forward with the greatest interest to making his aquaintance. Then he lets himself be introduced to me at the opera. He reminds me vividly of Count Algarotti, who used to occupy a similar position in the King‘s life. ONe can call his nature angelic. Despite his position is designed to evoke envy and jealousy, he is still popular everywhere, both with the military and with civilians. This universal esteem is owed to his extraordinary intellegence. He knows a lot, has much wit, and has a very honest nature. Towards the King, he has managed to win his respect like few others, to a degree where the King spares him from being the target of his mockery. Nearly daily, I meet with this man at lunch, and his society is always the greatest pleasure to me.

And this is the quote which drew our attention to the fact there was a fourth Lehndorff diary volume published, mes amies.

Edited 2020-03-06 18:01 (UTC)

See, Lehndorff is deeply appreciative of your legs and hips just as they are, P!

ROFL!

Like I said: one of Lehndorff's best. (Wartensleben stealing everyone's sugar cubes is my favourite detail.)

This was amazing beginning to end. The sugar cubes were my favorite too!

After all, their King has identified ViennaJoe as the coming menace of Europe!

I wonder if he still thinks Ferdinand is biding his time. :P (

cahn, as the youngest, and the longest-lived, of the siblings, Ferdinand will last until 1813.)

Or, as Lehndorff puts it about Heinrich "He has been sulking with the Firstborn".

From "Junior" to "the Firstborn," LOL.

Lehndorff, you should really find another designation for sexually active royal ladies than "Messalina". I'm just saying. Maria Antonia, btw, was MT's and Fritz' pen pal.

Maria Antonia was exactly who I was thinking of when Fritz said that an intelligent and musically talented must be ugly! Good to know you're still alive and going strong, Fritz?

Love you noticing Kaphengst's double chin, Lehndorff. One appreciates the little things, eh?

LOLOL, this has been one of the best Lehndorff write-ups yet!

And this is the quote which drew our attention to the fact there was a fourth Lehndorff diary volume published, mes amies.

And glad we are! Sparkly hearts, like diamonds, are forever.

Re: Wartensleben - since you are the Mistress of genealogy, can you tell us how EC's Count Wartensleben, not to be confused with Heinrich's Count Wartensleben, was related to Katte's Grandpa Wartensleben? Because I do wonder whether Hans Herrmann would have known the sugar horder in the later's youth…

Also intelligent and musically gifted, in addition to Antonia: Wilhelmine and Amalie. But never let fraternal gallantry stand in the way of a quip!

Kaphengst's double chin is when Lehndorff channels his inner Jane Austen. In another life, he might have had a career as a Society novelist, which is why the body swap with Fontane is so seductive a crack idea. Mind you, given his hard-partying life style, I'm not surprised Kaphengst is gaining weight at this point. Btw, did you notice in the earlier write up that Lehndorff mentions Kaphengst having "the French sickness" courtesy of several theatre people?

Fritz: No surprise there. Clearly, that's yet another reason why I told Heinrich to dump him. Heinrich would be dead already if I didn't try to look out for his health out of the goodness of my fraternal heart.

Heinrich: There are ways of having sex with someone who has STD which allow you to remain safe. As someone who actually does get laid on a regular basis would know. I would like to point out here that even the most unflattering accounts of me never accuse me of a) having STD myself, or b) impotence.

Heinrich: I would like to point out here that even the most unflattering accounts of me never accuse me of a) having STD myself, or b) impotence.

There is no ointment for the burn.

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Frederick the Great discussion post 12

Chocolate

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Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my

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Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my

The Very Secret Plans of European Royalty

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Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my

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Unfun interluding footnote: Seydlitz

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Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my

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Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my

Broccoli, redux

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Pangels in Wonderland

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