Frederick the Great discussion post 15

[cahn]

...I have nothing clever to say here, just really pleased this is still going :)
rheinsberg

Comments

Re: Kalckreuth vs Henri de Catt

[mildred_of_midgard]

That also confused me! That's why I thought at first I had the right one, and then the wrong one. But I tracked down the Nachlass, and the copyright page says it was also published in Zerbst, 1846, so who even knows. It's in the library; check it out. It seems to be a mixture of French and German, with original letter and diary material in French, including the Seven Years' War coverage that I saw when skimming.

If you need some of the French machine-translated, maybe narrow down which pages you need, and we can work something out.

The Henckel v. Donnersmarcks are deeply confusing, as are the Marwitzes, the Rothenburgs, the Keiths, and a great many others. ;)

ETA: Btw, in the course of looking for Henckel, my search hits turned up this article, entitled "Die preußische Kriegsführung im Siebenjährige Kriege," by Reinhold Koser, that I couldn't check out because it requires a Stabi login. If you can access it with your login, maybe it will be of use! For facts, at least, if not opinions and interpretations.

Henckel vs Kalckreuth: It's Glasow Time!

[selenak]

Superbe! And LOL, one look and what do I find? Henckel totally is convinced that Glasow is as guilty as sin. His version sounds exactly like Lehndorff's, down to being the second person to believe Glasow was the reason why Fredersdorf left:

On the 2nd (of April), the King had his valet and favourite put in chains. The valet had dismissed a servant who used to be employed by the page Willnitz who is now a Lieutenant at the Gardes du Corps. This servant went back to his former master, who sent him with some orders to Dresden. There, he had the misfortune of meeting Glasow (that's the name of the valet), who had him arrested and sent to the government of Spandau in the name of the King with orders to have him locked up in the Citadel. Herr von Willnitz, supported by von Oppen, wrote to the King in this matter, whereupon it was Glasow who got arrested and interrogated. In his trunk, there were found a thousand proofs of similar villainies. His good friend Wöllner, the King's footman and coffee maker, was also arrested, and condemned to walk the drumhead. (Spießruten laufen.)
Glasow had been so favoured that he'd become the tyrant and supreme master of the Royal Household. Promoted from simple soldier to Chamber Husar, he soon won the affection and the trust of his master, got rid of the treasurer Fredesdorf who thus was dismissed shortly before his death, and became Hofmarschall, stable master, treasurer, valet and the spoiled child of the monarch. He had the most pleasant facial features of the world, blond hair and beautiful colouring, an advantageous figure, in short, everything that pleased. One found in his trunck among other things two pistols and he admitted that he had planned on running away with the treasure box which was always in the King's room. One additionally accused hiim of having stolen papers and having sent them to the Queen of Poland and to the Countess Brühl. The King had him brought to him from the prison, regarded him up and down, gave him two slaps in the face and said that he would have him hanged. It would have happened, too, if the King hadn't in grateful memory of what Glasow had done for him had preferred mercy before justice.

Re: Henckel vs Kalckreuth: It's Glasow Time!

[mildred_of_midgard]

Wow! Glasow the highly controversial.

The gossipy sensationalism is hilarious. I look forward to whatever headcanon you come up with. :)

Oh, btw, if you haven't already found this, Blanning cites Preuss on Glasow:

A petition from Glasow's father, a Zeugleutnant in the artillery with forty-six years' service, dated 22 June 1757, revealed that the offender was twenty years old, his youth being the only mitigating circumstance mentioned. Frederick wrote across the bottom of the petition: "His son's crime is very great but there is some mitigation."

I haven't looked up the Preuss, but the citation is "Preuss, Friedrich der Grosse, vol. 2, p. 402."

Re: Henckel vs Kalckreuth: It's Glasow Time!

[selenak]

The age is useful. Some mitigation, huh? Well, I don't think he'd write this about a wannabe assassin, so whatever Glasow did or didn't do, Fritz presumably assumed it was larceny and spying (plus intention to desert) rather than poisoning.

Now, Kalckreuth's "couldn't harm a fly" vs Henckel's "tyrant of the royal household" , Kalckreuth's " was framed by his vengeful servant and the jealous ex-page" vs Henckel's "was outed by his brave servant after he attempted to put him into prison, with the help of the brave ex page", can be explained, sort of, by Kalckreuth writing, err, dictating years after the fact when most people involved are dead and with the benefit of knowing in hindsight how they developed later, while Henckel is reporting (like Lehndorff in Berlin) white hot sensational gossip. And you can argue either way. A servant vengeful for his dismissal telling someone who is jealous of Glasow being in such favour how to frame him would make sense, and then all Henckel knows is the framing. Also, if Glasow managed to rise that high so quickly, he really is bound to have made enemies even if he were a nice guy, and nice guys usually don't make that fast careers. Otoh, I still have trouble believing that a) Fritz gave him all of Fredersdorf's jobs, or b) that he should have dismissed Fredersdorf in favour of Glasow. Note that Lehndorff has heard the gossip the other way around, i.e. Fredersdorf resigning from his job for health reasons and because of Glasow. My own speculation is that it's the timing of Fredersdorf's resignation in combination to Glasow's rise that made people assume one was connected to the other, but Fredersdorf's resignation really was because he could not physically do the job any longer, as evidenced by the fact he died not that long afterwards, and Glasow's rise was because he was pretty, yes, but also because Fritz knew he needed a new valet. (Still not see him handing over the entire treasury to a 20 years old newbie. I mean, this is King Fritz, not Crown Prince Fritz.

Now, re: the undoubtedly un-framed (or so Schmidt-Lötzen insists) Abbé De Prades, haven't seen yet whether or not Henckel thinks he's guilty, but the entries pre-fall mention him very positively and also Winterfeldt scheming against him on general French-hating principle. (Winterfeldt is the boo-hiss figure for Henckel and also for Heinrich even before AW's catastrophe, since Heinrich blames him for the war, i.e. advising Fritz that preemptively invading is the way to go.) Henckel also notes Fritz spends up to four or five hours with de Prades per day, which fits with the time de Catt later claims he's spending with Fritz. But for a professional distruster, Fritz, who thinks he's been betrayed by people close to him (Glasow and de Prades) within months in the same year, is amazingly quick to embrace another confidant.

I'm still torn whether I want Glasow to have been just stupid (drinking chocolate with the Countess Brühl out of vanity because he thinks this famous high ranking woman is after his shapely ass as well when she does try to sound him out re: Fritz intentions) or indeed bribed to do some spying. But the thing is: what could the occupied Saxons have offered him that was better than what he had right then? Especially if he was rumored to be the next Fredersdorf (however inaccurately that might have been)? The only reason why he shouldn't have wanted such a sweet deal to continue is if he was afraid that being physically close to a King risking his life all the time could mean he'd die in battle as well. And even then I can believe he intended to flee with some money rather than spy for the Saxons.

Re: Henckel vs Kalckreuth: It's Glasow Time!

[cahn]

This is all hilarious to me that everyone has such different feelings about Glasow! I guess I come down as mostly thinking that stupidity is always more likely than malice, so I come down on the side of Glasow having just been stupid :) (But I guess either works!)