If Fritz and Wilhelmine, neither of whom were tall, call him "little", I assume Suhm was Heinrich's size?
Oh, man, I had missed that! Okay, there goes my headcanon for Suhm being at least a couple centimeters taller than Fritz. (*cough* On which the eyelid-kissing was based, ahem. Well, Fritz would totally tilt his head for comfort while crying, but the fix-it fic either needs to have an unhistorically tall Suhm, or some rephrasing of some lines.) Thanks for this, subdetective and royal reader selenak!
for he isn't popular at court
Clearly, he's too short for FW! (His not being in favor with FW is part of my in-universe reason for why Fritz, just barely out of disgrace himself, sneaks off to visit him. In subsequent years, my headcanon has them meeting at court. Like I said: totally self-indulgent of me to set the scene where Suhm could devote himself to taking care of Fritz for one evening.)
in a bad financial position
Yes, this is the year (iirc) that Fritz suggests he read Seneca's "On Indifference to Wealth." They then spend the rest of their correspondence making sure Fritz gets as much money as possible out of the Russian court, beginning in 1737. Fritz.
So, this means another Fritizan boyfriend that Wilhelmine liked!
little Diablotin - for this is how we used to call Suhm back in the day, didn't we?
Another unexplained nickname for Suhm! Also oddly like the nickname of the other major Saxon envoy, Manteuffel. She seems uncertain--I wonder if she's actually talking about Manteuffel? The problem is that, judging by the dates in Wikipedia for Manteuffel's presence in Berlin, "back in the day" would have to be either 1711-1717, for which Fritz would be way too young to remember and Wilhelmine almost, or 1733+, which doesn't seem far enough back in the day, nor was she really around for much of that. So maybe Suhm was Diablotin before he was Diaphanes!
La Chetardie the extraordinary one
cahn, this is the French envoy to Prussia at the time. Wikipedia tells me that in 1739, he'll join Suhm in St. Petersburg, and in 1741, he'll be instrumental in the coup that brings Elizabeth (she whose death was the second miracle of the House of Brandenburg) to power.
Oh, speaking of envoys. In researching Fouqué1 for "How I Survived Christmas", I found a letter from Fritz to Fouqué in 1739. Now, Fouqué at the time was on bad terms with the Old Dessauer for not getting promotions as quickly as he'd like, so Fouqué actually left Prussian service for Denmark and only came back after Fritz became king and enticed him back with a promotion. In 1739, Fritz was writing him a letter of recommendation to Denmark, and taking some heat from Berlin for this "unpatriotic" act and defending himself.
But what's interesting to me is that in 1739, when Fouqué is entering Danish military service, Fritz asks him to find out how Løvenørn is doing. Løvenørn the former Danish envoy to Prussia, who allegedly tipped off Katte to his arrest, and whose compatriot von Johnn leaked the Katte pamphlet.
So Fritz still remembers Løvenørn fondly ten years later and is asking after him.
One thing I've discovered in the last year is that the envoys are where it's at in this fandom.
Anyway, as far as can be seen, you're in the clear re: the first real Suhm and Fritz encounter, and since it's such a wonderful scene, it shall remain my headcanon forever.
Aww, thank you. <3 I've been wondering what to make of the silence on the Suhm front between 1730 and 1736. Their correspondence on the Trier site only starts in 1736, and while it's possible that's only a selection, maybe they only really got in touch again during that Berlin visit, after which Fritz asked him to translate Wolff and their correspondence began after Fritz returned to Ruppin.
HOWEVER. I choose to believe they met as often as possible between 1732 and 1735 as well. :P
1: Oh, I also found his biography as written by his more famous grandson, the 19th century German author. The work seemed mostly military, but it had the candle anecdote and is probably our source on that. It's in in the library in case you want to skim and see if there's anything relevant to, say, your Seven Years' War interests, or anything cool that isn't in Wikipedia.
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Re: With You, There's a Heaven - Suhm
Date: 2020-08-11 03:11 am (UTC)Oh, man, I had missed that! Okay, there goes my headcanon for Suhm being at least a couple centimeters taller than Fritz. (*cough* On which the eyelid-kissing was based, ahem. Well, Fritz would totally tilt his head for comfort while crying, but the fix-it fic either needs to have an unhistorically tall Suhm, or some rephrasing of some lines.) Thanks for this, subdetective and royal reader
for he isn't popular at court
Clearly, he's too short for FW! (His not being in favor with FW is part of my in-universe reason for why Fritz, just barely out of disgrace himself, sneaks off to visit him. In subsequent years, my headcanon has them meeting at court. Like I said: totally self-indulgent of me to set the scene where Suhm could devote himself to taking care of Fritz for one evening.)
in a bad financial position
Yes, this is the year (iirc) that Fritz suggests he read Seneca's "On Indifference to Wealth." They then spend the rest of their correspondence making sure Fritz gets as much money as possible out of the Russian court, beginning in 1737. Fritz.
So, this means another Fritizan boyfriend that Wilhelmine liked!
Wilhelmine approves: Voltaire, Algarotti, Suhm.
Wilhelmine disapproves: Keith, Katte.
Wilhelmine silent so far: Fredersdorf.
little Diablotin - for this is how we used to call Suhm back in the day, didn't we?
Another unexplained nickname for Suhm! Also oddly like the nickname of the other major Saxon envoy, Manteuffel. She seems uncertain--I wonder if she's actually talking about Manteuffel? The problem is that, judging by the dates in Wikipedia for Manteuffel's presence in Berlin, "back in the day" would have to be either 1711-1717, for which Fritz would be way too young to remember and Wilhelmine almost, or 1733+, which doesn't seem far enough back in the day, nor was she really around for much of that. So maybe Suhm was Diablotin before he was Diaphanes!
La Chetardie the extraordinary one
Oh, speaking of envoys. In researching Fouqué1 for "How I Survived Christmas", I found a letter from Fritz to Fouqué in 1739. Now, Fouqué at the time was on bad terms with the Old Dessauer for not getting promotions as quickly as he'd like, so Fouqué actually left Prussian service for Denmark and only came back after Fritz became king and enticed him back with a promotion. In 1739, Fritz was writing him a letter of recommendation to Denmark, and taking some heat from Berlin for this "unpatriotic" act and defending himself.
But what's interesting to me is that in 1739, when Fouqué is entering Danish military service, Fritz asks him to find out how Løvenørn is doing. Løvenørn the former Danish envoy to Prussia, who allegedly tipped off Katte to his arrest, and whose compatriot von Johnn leaked the Katte pamphlet.
So Fritz still remembers Løvenørn fondly ten years later and is asking after him.
One thing I've discovered in the last year is that the envoys are where it's at in this fandom.
Anyway, as far as can be seen, you're in the clear re: the first real Suhm and Fritz encounter, and since it's such a wonderful scene, it shall remain my headcanon forever.
Aww, thank you. <3 I've been wondering what to make of the silence on the Suhm front between 1730 and 1736. Their correspondence on the Trier site only starts in 1736, and while it's possible that's only a selection, maybe they only really got in touch again during that Berlin visit, after which Fritz asked him to translate Wolff and their correspondence began after Fritz returned to Ruppin.
HOWEVER. I choose to believe they met as often as possible between 1732 and 1735 as well. :P
1: Oh, I also found his biography as written by his more famous grandson, the 19th century German author. The work seemed mostly military, but it had the candle anecdote and is probably our source on that. It's in in the library in case you want to skim and see if there's anything relevant to, say, your Seven Years' War interests, or anything cool that isn't in Wikipedia.