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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!
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rheinsberg :)
All the good stuff continues to be archived at
rheinsberg :)
Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
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.
Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
cinchona
For
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
Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
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.
Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
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! :)
Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
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.
Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
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....
Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
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?
Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
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
Next question for your gracious self,
Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
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?
Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
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.
Re: Lucchessini, Catt and Fredersdorf, oh, my
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.