I've only done 13 pages, so somebody yell at me if I don't do another 7 before bed. :P I have no medical excuse, just got distracted doing other things.
* I had forgotten that Pöllnitz got F1's nightclothes, but now that I'm reminded, I am charmed.
* AW and Sophie: the longer she resisted, the more his passion grew. Yeah, I feel like this is a common dynamic.
* Okay, so Ziebura says FW-puncher and heroine of our fandom was the aunt of Sophie. ?? I thought it was Sophie's mom, Johanna? Is she confusing Sophie the aunt of FW2 flame Julie? Or are we missing something? Wilhelmine says the woman in question was a lady in waiting of SD, and Sophie's memoirs (at least as quoted by unreliable editor) say Sophie's mom was a close friend of SD who spent almost the whole day at court, which I could easily see Wilhelmine remembering or simplifying as "lady-in-waiting." But I guess Johanna could have had a sister?
The thing that makes me think Ziebura could be wrong is that she calls Peter III the son of Elizaveta instead of the nephew. The thing that makes me think she could be right is that we had to apologize to her about Marwitz. :P
The other thing that nagged me when I first ran into the "Sophie as FW-puncher" claim of unreliable editor was that Wilhelmine refers to the lady in question as "fille" and "demoiselle." Johanna was, if Wikipedia can be trusted, 31 at Fritz's wedding, married, with at least one kid. Now, "fille" and "demoiselle" can/could in French be used of a lady-in-waiting as a job title, regardless of marital status. But as much as I trust FW not to go for a 3-year-old sexually (or even an 11-year old), I was actually surprised when I first looked her up and realized she was in her 30s. That's not young for a woman by the standards of the 18th century.
So maybe Wikipedia is wrong! Or Johanna looked especially attractive for her age (by the standards of a very ageist and misogynist society! where men can be attractive at 70 but women start going downhill after 25). Or FW, no spring chicken himself (44), was drawn to her anyway. I guess I just feel like if you're normally rigidly faithful to your wife and are breaking down because you haven't had any in 3 years and don't believe in masturbation1, you're going to go after the hottest young thing in the place. But maybe that's stereotyping both middle-aged men and 30-yo women. Idk.
1: Remember our crackfic where Heinrich and FS debate whether Fritz might chill the fuck out if he were getting laid more regularly? This might be even more true of FW, who didn't believe in masturbation. I feel reasonably sure if that if Fritz felt like masturbating, he did, no second thoughts. Even if he was traumatized into having difficulties taking that last step with people, which I still think is unlikely but not impossible.
FW, on the other hand...think of all those trips he made without SD! And also, did he believe in non-reproductive sex with pregnant women? Because she was pregnant quite a lot! (Although apparently didn't always realize it.)
* I love (sarcasm alert) Fritz writing a letter where it sounds like he's trying to talk AW into learning more about Prussia (remember, it has to be *his* idea!), then taking him on a trip and not letting him learn anything. *headdesk*
That one really feels like trauma to me. Because Fritz's willingness to share information seems to have done a 180 after late 1730.
And btw, remember when he told Grumbkow he "could complain on several grounds" about Katte? I'd put money on that including 1) Katte was supposed to get permission to go on a recruiting trip out west so he could run away with Fritz, and he not only failed to convince his commander, he didn't keep trying once he got a no, 2) Katte had the opportunity to escape Berlin in time (according to Fritz), and for whatever reason (a girl? Wilhelmine?), didn't. I think it has to be much easier to live with Katte's death and Fritz's role in it if he can pin some of the blame on Katte. Survivor's guilt is never rational.
But what I'm thinking his takeaway from 1730 was is that if you tell people what you're planning, they may betray you (not!Robert Keith), or they may loyally but incompetently die for you (Katte), but either way it's not going to end well. Better to keep things to yourself.
Which is why I think Fredersdorf met him at just the right time, just enough to get a foot in that door before it closed. (And being a commoner helped.) Sorry, AW.
* Fritz gets sick in 1747 (this is the year of "Pulvis et Umbra", cahn), starts talking about bringing AW into the loop, recovers, no more talk about that. Where have I read almost that exact sentence before? In Ziebura, the Heinrich bio, mid 1770s, when Fritz had one foot in the grave for a while but pulled it out again. "Heinrich, *cough cough gasp*, I'm dying here, and you're going to be the power behind the throne when I'm gone, so I should tell you some stuff before I go, because Oldest Nephew sucks big time. Oh, no, wait, false alarm, I'm feeling better. You've got 10 more years of me not telling anyone anything to look forward to! You'll miss me when I'm gone. :P"
* AW writes up some "absolute power is bad" notes to self, Ziebura concludes, "From this we can conclude that AW, as the heir, would not have followed the absolute ruling style of his brother in everything."
In everything, no, but I can't help remarking...
I hear Fritz wrote down some opinions about ruling styles before he became king too. :D
More seriously, what I think this shows is that AW would not have followed the *micromanaging* style of his father and brother. Most absolute monarchs, enlightened or not, don't have the energy, paranoia, masochism for that, and that's a major reason Fritz got called der einzige. He wasn't the most absolute monarch of his age so much as the most meddling. MT may have been a demanding workaholic, but I think she was less of a paranoid micromanager? Maybe? I haven't read a bio of her in 20 years.
Google fail:
Fritz makes fun of AW when he goes to communion, not supper. Evening meal = Last Supper = reenacting the Last Supper = communion.
You probably got the real meaning from common sense, never mind looking at the German, but I thought Google's take was funny and worth sharing:
The prince saw the task of the church in preaching hope of eternal bliss to the poor and the unfortunate, and virtue, benevolence and moderation to the soldiers, and bravery to the rich and careless.
Soldiers, be more benevolent and moderate! Rich people, be more brave! The true purpose of religion.
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Re: AW readthrough
Date: 2020-08-31 01:04 am (UTC)* I had forgotten that Pöllnitz got F1's nightclothes, but now that I'm reminded, I am charmed.
* AW and Sophie: the longer she resisted, the more his passion grew. Yeah, I feel like this is a common dynamic.
* Okay, so Ziebura says FW-puncher and heroine of our fandom was the aunt of Sophie. ?? I thought it was Sophie's mom, Johanna? Is she confusing Sophie the aunt of FW2 flame Julie? Or are we missing something? Wilhelmine says the woman in question was a lady in waiting of SD, and Sophie's memoirs (at least as quoted by unreliable editor) say Sophie's mom was a close friend of SD who spent almost the whole day at court, which I could easily see Wilhelmine remembering or simplifying as "lady-in-waiting." But I guess Johanna could have had a sister?
The thing that makes me think Ziebura could be wrong is that she calls Peter III the son of Elizaveta instead of the nephew. The thing that makes me think she could be right is that we had to apologize to her about Marwitz. :P
The other thing that nagged me when I first ran into the "Sophie as FW-puncher" claim of unreliable editor was that Wilhelmine refers to the lady in question as "fille" and "demoiselle." Johanna was, if Wikipedia can be trusted, 31 at Fritz's wedding, married, with at least one kid. Now, "fille" and "demoiselle" can/could in French be used of a lady-in-waiting as a job title, regardless of marital status. But as much as I trust FW not to go for a 3-year-old sexually (or even an 11-year old), I was actually surprised when I first looked her up and realized she was in her 30s. That's not young for a woman by the standards of the 18th century.
So maybe Wikipedia is wrong! Or Johanna looked especially attractive for her age (by the standards of a very ageist and misogynist society! where men can be attractive at 70 but women start going downhill after 25). Or FW, no spring chicken himself (44), was drawn to her anyway. I guess I just feel like if you're normally rigidly faithful to your wife and are breaking down because you haven't had any in 3 years and don't believe in masturbation1, you're going to go after the hottest young thing in the place. But maybe that's stereotyping both middle-aged men and 30-yo women. Idk.
1: Remember our crackfic where Heinrich and FS debate whether Fritz might chill the fuck out if he were getting laid more regularly? This might be even more true of FW, who didn't believe in masturbation. I feel reasonably sure if that if Fritz felt like masturbating, he did, no second thoughts. Even if he was traumatized into having difficulties taking that last step with people, which I still think is unlikely but not impossible.
FW, on the other hand...think of all those trips he made without SD! And also, did he believe in non-reproductive sex with pregnant women? Because she was pregnant quite a lot! (Although apparently didn't always realize it.)
* I love (sarcasm alert) Fritz writing a letter where it sounds like he's trying to talk AW into learning more about Prussia (remember, it has to be *his* idea!), then taking him on a trip and not letting him learn anything. *headdesk*
That one really feels like trauma to me. Because Fritz's willingness to share information seems to have done a 180 after late 1730.
And btw, remember when he told Grumbkow he "could complain on several grounds" about Katte? I'd put money on that including 1) Katte was supposed to get permission to go on a recruiting trip out west so he could run away with Fritz, and he not only failed to convince his commander, he didn't keep trying once he got a no, 2) Katte had the opportunity to escape Berlin in time (according to Fritz), and for whatever reason (a girl? Wilhelmine?), didn't. I think it has to be much easier to live with Katte's death and Fritz's role in it if he can pin some of the blame on Katte. Survivor's guilt is never rational.
But what I'm thinking his takeaway from 1730 was is that if you tell people what you're planning, they may betray you (not!Robert Keith), or they may loyally but incompetently die for you (Katte), but either way it's not going to end well. Better to keep things to yourself.
Which is why I think Fredersdorf met him at just the right time, just enough to get a foot in that door before it closed. (And being a commoner helped.) Sorry, AW.
* Fritz gets sick in 1747 (this is the year of "Pulvis et Umbra",
* AW writes up some "absolute power is bad" notes to self, Ziebura concludes, "From this we can conclude that AW, as the heir, would not have followed the absolute ruling style of his brother in everything."
In everything, no, but I can't help remarking...
I hear Fritz wrote down some opinions about ruling styles before he became king too. :D
More seriously, what I think this shows is that AW would not have followed the *micromanaging* style of his father and brother. Most absolute monarchs, enlightened or not, don't have the energy, paranoia, masochism for that, and that's a major reason Fritz got called der einzige. He wasn't the most absolute monarch of his age so much as the most meddling. MT may have been a demanding workaholic, but I think she was less of a paranoid micromanager? Maybe? I haven't read a bio of her in 20 years.
Google fail:
Fritz makes fun of AW when he goes to communion, not supper. Evening meal = Last Supper = reenacting the Last Supper = communion.
You probably got the real meaning from common sense, never mind looking at the German, but I thought Google's take was funny and worth sharing:
The prince saw the task of the church in preaching hope of eternal bliss to the poor and the unfortunate, and virtue, benevolence and moderation to the soldiers, and bravery to the rich and careless.
Soldiers, be more benevolent and moderate! Rich people, be more brave! The true purpose of religion.
:P