cahn | Frederick the Great discussion post 12

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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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From:

mildred_of_midgard

) 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

From:

selenak

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.

From:

mildred_of_midgard

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."