This is of interest probably only to me, but I though I would post my fic research findings here, since one of them was so hard to dig up, and one was an unexpected finding.
The Man Also spelled Rottembourg (in French), or Rothembourg, or some combination thereof. Sigh. Still not as bad as Lövenörn in terms of name spellings.
French envoy to Berlin off and on during the 1710s and 1720s. Very cultured. BFFs with Katte. Hated FW. Was petitioning Versailles for his recall as early as 1719. According to one of my sources, he claimed it was the climate in 1719, but I'm betting he also just didn't like the court. :P Tried to support a coup in Prussia to have FW declared insane and Fritz put on the throne. He and 14-yo Fritz used to pass information to each other via an intermediary, while pretending to have no interest in each other.
Successfully got recalled in 1727. It was supposed to be to take care of his domestic affairs, and he was supposed to go back as soon as possible. Sauveterre, his secretary, was left behind. (This explains my confusion over why there was no French envoy to replace him and yet Sauveterre was there, and also possibly explains why Sauveterre is apparently dependent on Dickens for his info in November 1730, and why my sources say Sauveterre was kind of lackadaisical.)
However, Rothenburg then got sent on a mission to Spain in 1727-1728, which then turned into a more permanent station, when he was sent back in 1730. He helped negotiate the Family Compact between the Bourbon monarchs of France and Spain (1733). He was recalled to Paris on May 25, 1734 because of bad health. He died in April 1735 childless, very rich, and either never married or married to Jeanne-Madelene d'Helmstat on April 10, 1721 (depending on who you believe). He's the subject of my extremely specific question about legal inheritance on little_details.
His father was from Brandenburg, and he was made a field marshal by Louis XIV.
The Estates When Fritz made his escape attempt and was trying to hide the fact that he had been having dealings with the English, he confessed "that he was planning to flee to Strasbourg (where he seemed to have his eyes on a stay on the Alsatian estate of the French envoy, comte Rothenbourg)." Quote MacDonogh. I've also seen other sources state that Katte had suggested Rothenburg's estate as a safe haven, and that this was one of the pieces of evidence used to convict of Katte of being up to his ears in this plot and helping advance it further than it would have without him.
Being me, I've been wanting and wanting to track down this estate, just like I did with Peter Keith's.
Well, I finally turned it up, and one reason it took so long is that it's not nearly as close to Strasbourg as that sentence had led me to believe. Comte Rothenburg/Rottembourg (however you want to spell his name) was feudal lord of the seigneury of Masevaux, 120 km south and east of Strasbourg in Alsace, and about 40 km from the modern French border.
It also gets a bit more complicated than this. Rothenburg was descended from Conrad de Rosen, who was a field marshal and a member of a prominent family. Conrad bought this property from the Fuggers (famous German banking family), then sold it in 1684 to his son-in-law, who was our Comte Rothenburg's father.
Conrad meanwhile hung on to the Dettwiller, Herrenstein, and Bollwiller estates, though Bollwiller had been pawned to the Fuggers by his father-in-law, and Conrad had to pay that debt. These estates were passed down the Rosen line.
Comte Rothenburg, during his lifetime, acquired the nearby estate of Rougemont. I also see some other estates, of which I do not know the history, listed as belonging to him at the time of his death: Keivenheim, Seintein, and Oberbruck. On his death, his estates went to one of his sisters.
Now, I had thought both his sisters were childless, but it turns out not, because sister had a daughter. Daughter inherited the Rothenburg estates, and married the Rosen heir of Conrad's estates. Thus the Rosen family became one of the largest landowners in Alsace.
Here are Bollwiller, Masevaux, and Rougemont situated on the map in relation to each other and Strasbourg. I hadn't yet found the other estates when I took this snapshot, but Oberbruck is just northeast of Masevaux, so that checks out. Keivenheim looks like a German name, and the only thing I can find remotely similar, Kaifenheim, is near Bonn. And Seintein is right on the Spanish border.
Parts of the original manor house in Masevaux remain standing and are protected as a historic monument. I couldn't get any good pictures because of its location and obscurity, but I've found it on the map and looked at what I can.
The Library I also ran across a cool piece of information that I wasn't looking for, namely that our Comte Rothenburg's library was assessed after his death. I thus know that it contained 156 books, most of which were in French, and, amazingly, I know the distribution of these books as well:
Now, this is only the books of value, because smaller books were not recorded, but even so, I have to say...this is not going to be enough for Fritz in my AU. That library's going to have to be expanded once he decides he's moving in permanently. :P
The Plot Speaking of which, we hash out plots for selenak fic here, so I thought we could do one for me too. I make no promises to finish it, but if my health cooperates, I'd like to, because I really really need a fix-it fic for my faves!
So far, this is what I've got.
- Fritz successfully escapes from the Zeithain camp. - Katte gets separated from him during the escape. - Keith makes it to London as in reality. - Fritz makes it to Comte Rothenburg in Alsace. - Katte has to go into hiding in Saxony while FW rampages throughout the HRE. - FW puts SD and Wilhelmine under house arrest and threatens to do worse if Fritz doesn't come back, and especially if he goes to England. - Fritz lies low at Rothenburg's for as long as he can, waiting for Katte and trying not to make things worse for Wilhelmine. - Katte manages to get out, and not knowing where Fritz is but knowing where Keith is, goes to London. - The English gov't sends Keith and Katte to Lisbon to escape FW's wrath. - Katte, BFFs with Comte Rothenburg, takes them to Madrid, where Rothenburg is French envoy to Spain. - In reality, Rothenburg was envoy there until 1734. - In this fic, I need Rothenburg to have been recalled by the time Katte gets to Madrid. - Rothenburg is hanging out with Fritz on his estate in the east of France, keeping Fritz's location a secret. - Suhm, who was kind of sort of involved in helping with the escape, and is currently retired (as per reality), goes to France as a private individual, looking for Fritz. - Katte and Keith follow Rothenburg's footsteps to Paris, then Alsace. - Eventually, everyone ends up together. (Yay) - The English and French gov'ts aren't going to extradite, but are pretty unenthusiastic about escalating the FW/Fritz conflict beyond that. - The eventual solution is that childless and extremely wealthy Comte Rothenburg adopts Fritz. - Fritz gives up his claim to the Prussian throne. - French and Austrian gov'ts okay this. - FW not happy, but now has the heir he wants, so learns to live with it.
The Unsolved Plot Points 1) I'm looking for a way for Rothenburg to have left Madrid suddenly and for Fritz's presence on his estate to be a secret for several months. The easiest solution is that by authorial fiat, his health worsens 3-4 years earlier than in real life (but he still doesn't die before 1735, because I need Fritz to have at least a few years with a surrogate father who doesn't suck).
A more satisfying solution would be for his departure to be linked with Fritz's secret arrival, but I'm having trouble making the chronology and secrecy both work. It's a long way from Alsace to Paris to Madrid and back again, and the current plot is that Rothenburg and Fritz get together relatively early on in the process. At least early enough that it's still unknown whether Katte is dead or alive, and Fritz still hasn't decided whether he's going to England or not.
Would the French gov't, after getting wind of Fritz's arrival (and possibly Fritz's stubbornness in cooperating with them), both 1) recall their envoy to Spain to deal with Fritz, whom he knows from Berlin days, and 2) keep this enough of a secret that neither Katte nor FW has any idea where Fritz is? Even if so, Fritz is going to be alone on the estate for a long time while the message travels west and then Rottembourg comes back east.
Or what is the best way to get Fritz and Rothenburg together secretly, so that there's still time for all the other developments, namely Katte and Keith to wander around Europe looking for them, and Fritz to decide how much he trusts Rothenburg in a pinch.
Is it plausible to keep Fritz's location a secret for so long?
2) Wilhelmine! She's the last remaining character in desperate need of a fix-it in this fic! I want all the young people to do an Italy tour together, paid for by Comte Rothenburg, sometime in the 1730s.
How do we get her away from FW and over to safety with Fritz?
The easiest way is that FW hasn't heard a peep from Fritz, so he starts marrying Wilhelmine off to a German prince, and she ends up in Bayreuth, maybe a year or two earlier because events move faster. Presumably not-hearing-a-peep probably means she thinks Fritz is dead, until she's in Bayreuth and can get a surprise messenger from Alsace. And then Fritz goes public with the renunciation and adoption plan.
But if Fritz gets a happily ever after with a surrogate father and three boyfriends, part of me wants Wilhelmine to join them. Unfettered. (Sonsine can come.) It seems more fun. And I think they'd like it better.
But I'm stumped on how to get her away from the furious terrier that is FW.
Halp!
3) How plausible is it both that Fritz can lie low and keep his whereabouts secret for so long without close friends, and that he considers this the best way to protect Wilhelmine and SD? I'm taking into account that the fact that Fritz told page Keith that once he got away, he was never coming back to Prussia, and the fact that he told Dickens that his reason for going to France instead of straight to England was to protect SD. I'm not entirely sure that he was wedded to the English marriage of his own accord, and once he got away from FW, he might not have felt the need to go the whole "marry Amalie, become governor of Hanover, make Mom happy, piss Dad off" route, *especially* if the English are loudly proclaiming after his disappearance that they don't want him (read: international conflict with Prussia).
My Fritz isn't immediately planning to stay in France forever. The adoption plan only develops (and isn't proposed by him) after he's been there quite some time, all his friends are there, and he's pretty happy with his new life. Even then, he's extremely reluctant to burn his Prussian bridges forever--there are major downsides to France as a political entity, and he identifies more as a Prussian than he realizes until after he's left. But a visit of a few months at the beginning of his escape is within the scope of his plans. Rothenburg can get his material needs met until Suhm, Katte, and Keith (and eventually Wilhelmine) show up, but what I wonder about is Fritz's ability to keep quiet until they do. This is why it's easier if Rothenburg shows up sooner rather than later in the process--it makes it easier for Fritz to stay hidden for several months if he's got at least one person he knows, who comes with a strong recommendation from Katte, and who's making a concerted effort to bond with him.
None of this is set in stone, and I'm trying to figure out the most politically and psychologically plausible way for this to play out.
4) Any tips on actions FW is likely to take are welcome.
Count Rothenburg (the French one)
The Man
Also spelled Rottembourg (in French), or Rothembourg, or some combination thereof. Sigh. Still not as bad as Lövenörn in terms of name spellings.
French envoy to Berlin off and on during the 1710s and 1720s. Very cultured. BFFs with Katte. Hated FW. Was petitioning Versailles for his recall as early as 1719. According to one of my sources, he claimed it was the climate in 1719, but I'm betting he also just didn't like the court. :P Tried to support a coup in Prussia to have FW declared insane and Fritz put on the throne. He and 14-yo Fritz used to pass information to each other via an intermediary, while pretending to have no interest in each other.
Successfully got recalled in 1727. It was supposed to be to take care of his domestic affairs, and he was supposed to go back as soon as possible. Sauveterre, his secretary, was left behind. (This explains my confusion over why there was no French envoy to replace him and yet Sauveterre was there, and also possibly explains why Sauveterre is apparently dependent on Dickens for his info in November 1730, and why my sources say Sauveterre was kind of lackadaisical.)
However, Rothenburg then got sent on a mission to Spain in 1727-1728, which then turned into a more permanent station, when he was sent back in 1730. He helped negotiate the Family Compact between the Bourbon monarchs of France and Spain (1733). He was recalled to Paris on May 25, 1734 because of bad health. He died in April 1735 childless, very rich, and either never married or married to Jeanne-Madelene d'Helmstat on April 10, 1721 (depending on who you believe). He's the subject of my extremely specific question about legal inheritance on little_details.
His father was from Brandenburg, and he was made a field marshal by Louis XIV.
The Estates
When Fritz made his escape attempt and was trying to hide the fact that he had been having dealings with the English, he confessed "that he was planning to flee to Strasbourg (where he seemed to have his eyes on a stay on the Alsatian estate of the French envoy, comte Rothenbourg)." Quote MacDonogh. I've also seen other sources state that Katte had suggested Rothenburg's estate as a safe haven, and that this was one of the pieces of evidence used to convict of Katte of being up to his ears in this plot and helping advance it further than it would have without him.
Being me, I've been wanting and wanting to track down this estate, just like I did with Peter Keith's.
Well, I finally turned it up, and one reason it took so long is that it's not nearly as close to Strasbourg as that sentence had led me to believe. Comte Rothenburg/Rottembourg (however you want to spell his name) was feudal lord of the seigneury of Masevaux, 120 km south and east of Strasbourg in Alsace, and about 40 km from the modern French border.
It also gets a bit more complicated than this. Rothenburg was descended from Conrad de Rosen, who was a field marshal and a member of a prominent family. Conrad bought this property from the Fuggers (famous German banking family), then sold it in 1684 to his son-in-law, who was our Comte Rothenburg's father.
Conrad meanwhile hung on to the Dettwiller, Herrenstein, and Bollwiller estates, though Bollwiller had been pawned to the Fuggers by his father-in-law, and Conrad had to pay that debt. These estates were passed down the Rosen line.
Comte Rothenburg, during his lifetime, acquired the nearby estate of Rougemont. I also see some other estates, of which I do not know the history, listed as belonging to him at the time of his death: Keivenheim, Seintein, and Oberbruck. On his death, his estates went to one of his sisters.
Now, I had thought both his sisters were childless, but it turns out not, because sister had a daughter. Daughter inherited the Rothenburg estates, and married the Rosen heir of Conrad's estates. Thus the Rosen family became one of the largest landowners in Alsace.
Here are Bollwiller, Masevaux, and Rougemont situated on the map in relation to each other and Strasbourg. I hadn't yet found the other estates when I took this snapshot, but Oberbruck is just northeast of Masevaux, so that checks out. Keivenheim looks like a German name, and the only thing I can find remotely similar, Kaifenheim, is near Bonn. And Seintein is right on the Spanish border.
Parts of the original manor house in Masevaux remain standing and are protected as a historic monument. I couldn't get any good pictures because of its location and obscurity, but I've found it on the map and looked at what I can.
The Library
I also ran across a cool piece of information that I wasn't looking for, namely that our Comte Rothenburg's library was assessed after his death. I thus know that it contained 156 books, most of which were in French, and, amazingly, I know the distribution of these books as well:
Religion: 5%
Law: 8%
History: 22%
Belles-lettres: 43%
Sciences & arts: 13%
Various: 9%
Now, this is only the books of value, because smaller books were not recorded, but even so, I have to say...this is not going to be enough for Fritz in my AU. That library's going to have to be expanded once he decides he's moving in permanently. :P
The Plot
Speaking of which, we hash out plots for
So far, this is what I've got.
- Fritz successfully escapes from the Zeithain camp.
- Katte gets separated from him during the escape.
- Keith makes it to London as in reality.
- Fritz makes it to Comte Rothenburg in Alsace.
- Katte has to go into hiding in Saxony while FW rampages throughout the HRE.
- FW puts SD and Wilhelmine under house arrest and threatens to do worse if Fritz doesn't come back, and especially if he goes to England.
- Fritz lies low at Rothenburg's for as long as he can, waiting for Katte and trying not to make things worse for Wilhelmine.
- Katte manages to get out, and not knowing where Fritz is but knowing where Keith is, goes to London.
- The English gov't sends Keith and Katte to Lisbon to escape FW's wrath.
- Katte, BFFs with Comte Rothenburg, takes them to Madrid, where Rothenburg is French envoy to Spain.
- In reality, Rothenburg was envoy there until 1734.
- In this fic, I need Rothenburg to have been recalled by the time Katte gets to Madrid.
- Rothenburg is hanging out with Fritz on his estate in the east of France, keeping Fritz's location a secret.
- Suhm, who was kind of sort of involved in helping with the escape, and is currently retired (as per reality), goes to France as a private individual, looking for Fritz.
- Katte and Keith follow Rothenburg's footsteps to Paris, then Alsace.
- Eventually, everyone ends up together. (Yay)
- The English and French gov'ts aren't going to extradite, but are pretty unenthusiastic about escalating the FW/Fritz conflict beyond that.
- The eventual solution is that childless and extremely wealthy Comte Rothenburg adopts Fritz.
- Fritz gives up his claim to the Prussian throne.
- French and Austrian gov'ts okay this.
- FW not happy, but now has the heir he wants, so learns to live with it.
The Unsolved Plot Points
1) I'm looking for a way for Rothenburg to have left Madrid suddenly and for Fritz's presence on his estate to be a secret for several months. The easiest solution is that by authorial fiat, his health worsens 3-4 years earlier than in real life (but he still doesn't die before 1735, because I need Fritz to have at least a few years with a surrogate father who doesn't suck).
A more satisfying solution would be for his departure to be linked with Fritz's secret arrival, but I'm having trouble making the chronology and secrecy both work. It's a long way from Alsace to Paris to Madrid and back again, and the current plot is that Rothenburg and Fritz get together relatively early on in the process. At least early enough that it's still unknown whether Katte is dead or alive, and Fritz still hasn't decided whether he's going to England or not.
Would the French gov't, after getting wind of Fritz's arrival (and possibly Fritz's stubbornness in cooperating with them), both 1) recall their envoy to Spain to deal with Fritz, whom he knows from Berlin days, and 2) keep this enough of a secret that neither Katte nor FW has any idea where Fritz is? Even if so, Fritz is going to be alone on the estate for a long time while the message travels west and then Rottembourg comes back east.
Or what is the best way to get Fritz and Rothenburg together secretly, so that there's still time for all the other developments, namely Katte and Keith to wander around Europe looking for them, and Fritz to decide how much he trusts Rothenburg in a pinch.
Is it plausible to keep Fritz's location a secret for so long?
2) Wilhelmine! She's the last remaining character in desperate need of a fix-it in this fic! I want all the young people to do an Italy tour together, paid for by Comte Rothenburg, sometime in the 1730s.
How do we get her away from FW and over to safety with Fritz?
The easiest way is that FW hasn't heard a peep from Fritz, so he starts marrying Wilhelmine off to a German prince, and she ends up in Bayreuth, maybe a year or two earlier because events move faster. Presumably not-hearing-a-peep probably means she thinks Fritz is dead, until she's in Bayreuth and can get a surprise messenger from Alsace. And then Fritz goes public with the renunciation and adoption plan.
But if Fritz gets a happily ever after with a surrogate father and three boyfriends, part of me wants Wilhelmine to join them. Unfettered. (Sonsine can come.) It seems more fun. And I think they'd like it better.
But I'm stumped on how to get her away from the furious terrier that is FW.
Halp!
3) How plausible is it both that Fritz can lie low and keep his whereabouts secret for so long without close friends, and that he considers this the best way to protect Wilhelmine and SD? I'm taking into account that the fact that Fritz told page Keith that once he got away, he was never coming back to Prussia, and the fact that he told Dickens that his reason for going to France instead of straight to England was to protect SD. I'm not entirely sure that he was wedded to the English marriage of his own accord, and once he got away from FW, he might not have felt the need to go the whole "marry Amalie, become governor of Hanover, make Mom happy, piss Dad off" route, *especially* if the English are loudly proclaiming after his disappearance that they don't want him (read: international conflict with Prussia).
My Fritz isn't immediately planning to stay in France forever. The adoption plan only develops (and isn't proposed by him) after he's been there quite some time, all his friends are there, and he's pretty happy with his new life. Even then, he's extremely reluctant to burn his Prussian bridges forever--there are major downsides to France as a political entity, and he identifies more as a Prussian than he realizes until after he's left. But a visit of a few months at the beginning of his escape is within the scope of his plans. Rothenburg can get his material needs met until Suhm, Katte, and Keith (and eventually Wilhelmine) show up, but what I wonder about is Fritz's ability to keep quiet until they do. This is why it's easier if Rothenburg shows up sooner rather than later in the process--it makes it easier for Fritz to stay hidden for several months if he's got at least one person he knows, who comes with a strong recommendation from Katte, and who's making a concerted effort to bond with him.
None of this is set in stone, and I'm trying to figure out the most politically and psychologically plausible way for this to play out.
4) Any tips on actions FW is likely to take are welcome.