On the 18th, too of the King's body pages had to stand on the block for four hours at Neumarkt because they'd forgotten to bring the King's overcoat along in the morning for the parade when it had started to rain.
Oh, THAT incident! That's actually ringing a bell; I've read that somewhere before.
Hmm. How many body pages does a king have at one time? I feel like we're increasing the odds that one of them was my low-key fave Peter Keith. Otoh, it says "two of", which means not all, which means perhaps not Peter. Sucks to be them regardless. (I'm just trying to do my duty as biographer.)
Stratemann, interestingly, also provides the entire (French) text of the poem Katte wrote while under arrest at his regiment still in Berlin which you probably know from various biographies.
I do, but I think this is the first time I've seen the whole thing, thank you!
Except the editor has omitted a line:
non sans esperance de se revoir bientôt én liberté, quoique la façon d'ont-il-a-été gardé Par le temps et la Patience
"la façon d'ont-il-a-été gardé" is grammatically incomplete, has no punctuation before the capital letter of "Par", and thanks to Wilhelmine, we actually know what it said: "the manner in which he is guarded seems to prognosticate something fatal."
It's good to have the full thing (mostly)! Actually, since Wilhelmine wrote in French, I should be able to supply the missing text.
lui fasse augurer quelque chose de funeste.
Oh, this is interesting: she presents the material in a different order, where only the last 5 lines are in verse, and the ones immediately before them, from Celui qu la curiosité on, are in prose, which she says were written below that short verse. The first several lines of the poem, which were new to me, she doesn't reproduce at all.
Berlin, June 31st 1731: Supposedly General Lieutenant v. Katte after leading his regiment at the revue before the King got off his horse and put his sword at the King's feet, and asked again for his demission, whereupon his majesty showed himself very much displeased. Rumor even has it (Hans Heinrich) got arrested as a consequence.
Now, obviously the arrest didn't happen - I don't think biographers would have overlooked that! -, but this is also the first time I heard about Hans Heinrich making this gesture.
Wooow. Yeah, I gather that didn't make it into the Hans Heinrich biographical monograph you picked up at Wust.
Since the revue was a really big public spectacle (this is also why Fritz was pissed off when Heinrich didn't salute him properly in the after the 7 Years War, remember), such a gesture would have been quite something.
Yes, seriously, WOW. Go Hans Heinrich. I'm glad that you don't know what happened to your other sons; you really didn't have good luck there.
And does argue it's FW Hans Heinrich is struggling for forgive. Not to mention that it gives the lie to the "Hans Heinrich totally on board with FW executing his son!" version. All the more so since Stratemann is really the most FW friendly envoy ever.
Yes! More evidence! To go with the commissioned painting and the letters we have from Hans Heinrich, I'm pretty convinced. Plus it makes your theory even more likely as to why Hans Hermann is still in that same wooden coffin from Küstrin, instead of prettying it up to look like a normal death.
Okay, while I doubt Heinrich asking for Dad's portrait was about more than "big sis got something special, I'd like to have one of those as well", it does provide ammo together with the fish for supper at the start of the year if you want to make a case that FW at this early point indulged him somewhat.
Yep! I imagine that had changed by 1736, year of raiding Fritz's larder?
in the midst of this the King took from the Prince the sole much loved valet left
Wait, what? Another much-loved valet? Do we know anything about this individual? Was this just the random Küstrin servant that FW said should come shave him and for a brief period wasn't allowed to even sleep in the same room as Fritz, but had to visit daily?
Now I have a headcanon that the Münchow and/or Lepel got to pick the servant, and they looked around for someone who would be extra nice to this poor abused boy and future monarch whom they want to stay on the good side of.
Man, between this and the letter to Wilhelmine, I'm thinking Fredersdorf did *not* go to Berlin on any of Fritz's visits, at least the early ones, in disguise as a lackey or no. Yikes. :/
Not receiving communion might not seem a harsh punishment to us, but it's actually really nasty, because if Wilhelmine had died during that time, she'd have died in a damned state.
Never use religion to bring comfort when you can use it a stick to wield, says FW.
This was in Oster, which I got to the other day, but thank you for spelling out what it really *meant*. I am never quite clear on the precise theology of things like Pietism (ironically, I know far more about the finer theological points of obscure early Christian schisms than more modern denominations).
Anyway, see what I mean about Wihelmine being kept as much a prisoner as Fritz? Actually more so, since he gets to attend and work in the Küstrin government, which might not be the most thrilling of occupations but is at least something other than sit and brood in a room.
Yep, it definitely sucked in ways that his didn't. On the one hand, she was in proximity to FW and had nothing to occupy her time with besides music (though I like to think that people were smuggling her books, too); on the other, she had music and at least a couple people she loved with her. It sucks to be both of them.
Oh, this is interesting: she presents the material in a different order, where only the last 5 lines are in verse, and the ones immediately before them, from Celui qu la curiosité on, are in prose, which she says were written below that short verse. The first several lines of the poem, which were new to me, she doesn't reproduce at all.
I wonder whether that means that whoever was her source and wrote it down for her - I imagine Wilhelmine didn't go herself to an army barrack - copied it badly, or whether she was just told it verbally and writes it out of her memory twenty years later? That is assuming Stratemann has the correct version, but since he's writing at the time and has no problem copying down the exact text since no one should object to the Braunschweig envoy doing such a thing, I'm assuming so.
Yeah, I gather that didn't make it into the Hans Heinrich biographical monograph you picked up at Wust.
Nope. Would have blown quite a hole into his theory.
WOW. Go Hans Heinrich.
That's what I think. I mean, I wouldn't exclude the possibility that he has mixed feelings about Fritz as well, but mostly this points to him struggling to reconcile the loyalty he feels he ows his sovereign with being a grieving father who thinks his son, while deserving some punishment (I think Hans Heinrich would have been okay with some years in prison - well, ashamed, but okay in terms of considering it just), was taken from him by this man, and not higher justice.
Your plan for the AU in which he and Hans Herrmann have a heart to heart later in life looks more plausible than ever.
Yep! I imagine that had changed by 1736, year of raiding Fritz's larder?
So I would gather. Not least because there's a big difference between a four years old child who until Ferdinand is the baby of the family and a ten years old child. FW's imagine of himself as a loving dad can be amplified by adoring small children. (Note that little Wilhelmine wrote him affectionate "dear Papa" letters, too, when she was around that age and older.) Who get Christmas treats, and who get indulged when they ask for favors (like AW for the pardon) or gifts. Otoh, ten years olds who like books and music are a different matter. Stratemann's reports don't extend to that period, but younger Seckendorff is writing into his journal then, and the only two kid-related anecdotes I recall is a) young AW fainting in the tobacco parliament, and b) Ferdinand (who's the indulged five years old then) cheeking Grumbkow about handing over bread and being a Field Marshal. (Unless we count "Junior"'s pronouncement that Heinrich and Ferdinand have a bad nature, Ferdinand is the worst and AW is good natured but with the education of a peasant.) What we do have, otoh, from that era is FW's statement - quoted in several biographies - that he doesn't make predictions about his children except about AW who would be an "honnete homme" and a great one, surely. So I'm still going with the assumption that the indulgence for Heinrich on those two occasions in 1730 was based on him being the baby of the family, the position he just lost to Ferdinand who however was an actual baby and couldn't yet interact with Dad, and once Heinrich left tiny cutie phase behind and developed interests that were not FW's, he faded into the background with the other kids, with AW the constant male favourite and the female favourite being Charlotte and Ulrike in turns.
Wait, what? Another much-loved valet? Do we know anything about this individual? Was this just the random Küstrin servant that FW said should come shave him and for a brief period wasn't allowed to even sleep in the same room as Fritz, but had to visit daily?
Must be, since I don't think the valet he had before, the one who also shows up in the interrogation protocols, was with him in Küstrin at any point?
It sucks to be both of them.
Absolutely. And that's why I'm majorly sideeying those editors and historians who are complaining about her being a bad daughter, or hysterical, and that poor FW was the one to be pitied, with his wife and two oldest ganging up on him. He had all the power, and no, not every word Wilhelmine wrote in the memoirs was true, but she probably was as accurate as most people looking back at very traumatic events years later and using the writing as a chance to vent and in lack of actual therapy.
It's also always important to remember that while many a contemporary thought FW was over the top with his reactions, both Fritz and Wilhelmine would still have gotten the message that it was his right to treat them this way both as monarch and as father from all sides. And while they hated him, they didn't, I fear, ever stop loving him as well and wanting his approval and a "Well done, you".
On a lighter note, Hervey in his memoirs has this passage of G2 ranting about how lousy sons are the worst, absolute scum, fathers are martyrs, and then he suddenly recalls his own dear old dad and adds, yes, okay, there are bad fathers and good sons as well. And, says, Hervey, it was clear to everyone hearing this that G2 was thinking of himself both as the cardinal example of a wronged father and a wronged son. Meanwhile, FW, only child of two parents who despite being very different from him both seem to have loved him and whose most most debatable action was a) to send him to live with his cousins for a while, and b) given him a strict Calvinist as a teacher when he was ten: Of course there are no bad fathers! Fathers should only be loved and listened to and adored! There are no exceptions!
Yeah, I gather that didn't make it into the Hans Heinrich biographical monograph you picked up at Wust.
Nope. Would have blown quite a hole into his theory.
*g*
mostly this points to him struggling to reconcile the loyalty he feels he ows his sovereign with being a grieving father who thinks his son, while deserving some punishment (I think Hans Heinrich would have been okay with some years in prison - well, ashamed, but okay in terms of considering it just), was taken from him by this man, and not higher justice.
Your plan for the AU in which he and Hans Herrmann have a heart to heart later in life looks more plausible than ever.
Agreed on Hans Heinrich's likely psychology here. And because he doesn't agree with Hans Hermann's decision, and because he doesn't have the sense of pain and outrage at his loss to counterbalance his conviction that Hans Hermann was in the wrong, the heart-to-heart is a deathbed forgiveness secene and not a "Well done, son." But it's enough for Hans Hermann, who, due to Hans Heinrich not seeing him for 10 years and not wanting to commit certain things to mail, has been wondering just *how* angry his father was with him.
What helps reconcile Hans Heinrich and certain other family members is that while it was certainly disloyalty, no one believes it was cowardice, especially not once the full story of Katte's heroic role protecting Fritz during the escape gets out. And now he's got a royal pardon from AW, so it's all good, they can reconcile and part on good father-son terms.
Absolutely. And that's why I'm majorly sideeying those editors and historians who are complaining about her being a bad daughter, or hysterical, and that poor FW was the one to be pitied, with his wife and two oldest ganging up on him.
I'm not just side-eyeing, I'm FUMING. Those poor kids! The victim-blaming! SD was no angel, but she was definitely an abuse victim too!
It's also always important to remember that while many a contemporary thought FW was over the top with his reactions, both Fritz and Wilhelmine would still have gotten the message that it was his right to treat them this way both as monarch and as father from all sides.
Indeed.
Fritz: And as your current monarch and standing in loco parentis to my siblings and niblings, I would like to announce that I've taken this lesson to heart.
And while they hated him, they didn't, I fear, ever stop loving him as well and wanting his approval and a "Well done, you".
Yep. Totally typical for abusive families.
On a lighter note, Hervey in his memoirs has this passage of G2 ranting about how lousy sons are the worst, absolute scum, fathers are martyrs, and then he suddenly recalls his own dear old dad and adds, yes, okay, there are bad fathers and good sons as well.
LOL this is so great. Rationalization for the win!
Meanwhile, FW, only child of two parents who despite being very different from him both seem to have loved him and whose most most debatable action was a) to send him to live with his cousins for a while, and b) given him a strict Calvinist as a teacher when he was ten: Of course there are no bad fathers! Fathers should only be loved and listened to and adored! There are no exceptions!
Was this just the random Küstrin servant that FW said should come shave him and for a brief period wasn't allowed to even sleep in the same room as Fritz, but had to visit daily?
Must be, since I don't think the valet he had before, the one who also shows up in the interrogation protocols, was with him in Küstrin at any point?
Gummersbach? Not that I know of, and more to the point, he was instrumental in preventing the escape, so I wonder if he would still be "most-loved" at that point. Maybe, but until we find out it was him, I stand by my headcanon that Fritz's sympathetic jailers found him a servant who would, I don't know, help smuggle letters to Wilhelmine out.
Also, if it's someone he met at Küstrin, then they only had 4 months to become "much-loved", but also, those are circumstances under which you would very quickly latch on to someone, so... :/
I'm so glad Fredersdorf came along later that year, and FW didn't catch on.
I wonder whether that means that whoever was her source and wrote it down for her - I imagine Wilhelmine didn't go herself to an army barrack - copied it badly, or whether she was just told it verbally and writes it out of her memory twenty years later?
Good question! I've just compared the two French texts, and my impression is that they're way too similar for me to think Wilhelmine is recording something she heard orally long ago. The two transcriptions look to me like the product of two different written copies of the text, where scribal errors and/or different interpretations of not totally legible handwriting crept in.
I mean, I wouldn't exclude the possibility that he has mixed feelings about Fritz as well
Oh sure, I totally believe that. I think he'd have to be a saint not to have mixed feelings when his son would still hvae been alive if Fritz hadn't gotten him involved. But that's distinct from actually executing him. >:(
Absolutely. And that's why I'm majorly sideeying those editors and historians who are complaining about her being a bad daughter, or hysterical, and that poor FW was the one to be pitied, with his wife and two oldest ganging up on him.
:((((((((((((( Yeah, no.
On a lighter note, Hervey in his memoirs has this passage of G2 ranting about how lousy sons are the worst, absolute scum, fathers are martyrs, and then he suddenly recalls his own dear old dad and adds, yes, okay, there are bad fathers and good sons as well.
Hah! Hervey, you always come through with amusement value. Lol.
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Re: The Braunschweig Perspective: Family Holidays
Date: 2020-10-04 04:42 pm (UTC)Oh, THAT incident! That's actually ringing a bell; I've read that somewhere before.
Hmm. How many body pages does a king have at one time? I feel like we're increasing the odds that one of them was my low-key fave Peter Keith. Otoh, it says "two of", which means not all, which means perhaps not Peter. Sucks to be them regardless. (I'm just trying to do my duty as biographer.)
Stratemann, interestingly, also provides the entire (French) text of the poem Katte wrote while under arrest at his regiment still in Berlin which you probably know from various biographies.
I do, but I think this is the first time I've seen the whole thing, thank you!
Except the editor has omitted a line:
non sans esperance de
se revoir bientôt
én liberté, quoique
la façon d'ont-il-a-été gardé
Par le temps et la Patience
"la façon d'ont-il-a-été gardé" is grammatically incomplete, has no punctuation before the capital letter of "Par", and thanks to Wilhelmine, we actually know what it said: "the manner in which he is guarded seems to prognosticate something fatal."
It's good to have the full thing (mostly)! Actually, since Wilhelmine wrote in French, I should be able to supply the missing text.
lui fasse augurer quelque chose de funeste.
Oh, this is interesting: she presents the material in a different order, where only the last 5 lines are in verse, and the ones immediately before them, from Celui qu la curiosité on, are in prose, which she says were written below that short verse. The first several lines of the poem, which were new to me, she doesn't reproduce at all.
Berlin, June 31st 1731: Supposedly General Lieutenant v. Katte after leading his regiment at the revue before the King got off his horse and put his sword at the King's feet, and asked again for his demission, whereupon his majesty showed himself very much displeased. Rumor even has it (Hans Heinrich) got arrested as a consequence.
Now, obviously the arrest didn't happen - I don't think biographers would have overlooked that! -, but this is also the first time I heard about Hans Heinrich making this gesture.
Wooow. Yeah, I gather that didn't make it into the Hans Heinrich biographical monograph you picked up at Wust.
Since the revue was a really big public spectacle (this is also why Fritz was pissed off when Heinrich didn't salute him properly in the after the 7 Years War, remember), such a gesture would have been quite something.
Yes, seriously, WOW. Go Hans Heinrich. I'm glad that you don't know what happened to your other sons; you really didn't have good luck there.
And does argue it's FW Hans Heinrich is struggling for forgive. Not to mention that it gives the lie to the "Hans Heinrich totally on board with FW executing his son!" version. All the more so since Stratemann is really the most FW friendly envoy ever.
Yes! More evidence! To go with the commissioned painting and the letters we have from Hans Heinrich, I'm pretty convinced. Plus it makes your theory even more likely as to why Hans Hermann is still in that same wooden coffin from Küstrin, instead of prettying it up to look like a normal death.
Okay, while I doubt Heinrich asking for Dad's portrait was about more than "big sis got something special, I'd like to have one of those as well", it does provide ammo together with the fish for supper at the start of the year if you want to make a case that FW at this early point indulged him somewhat.
Yep! I imagine that had changed by 1736, year of raiding Fritz's larder?
in the midst of this the King took from the Prince the sole much loved valet left
Wait, what? Another much-loved valet? Do we know anything about this individual? Was this just the random Küstrin servant that FW said should come shave him and for a brief period wasn't allowed to even sleep in the same room as Fritz, but had to visit daily?
Now I have a headcanon that the Münchow and/or Lepel got to pick the servant, and they looked around for someone who would be extra nice to this poor abused boy and future monarch whom they want to stay on the good side of.
Man, between this and the letter to Wilhelmine, I'm thinking Fredersdorf did *not* go to Berlin on any of Fritz's visits, at least the early ones, in disguise as a lackey or no. Yikes. :/
Not receiving communion might not seem a harsh punishment to us, but it's actually really nasty, because if Wilhelmine had died during that time, she'd have died in a damned state.
Never use religion to bring comfort when you can use it a stick to wield, says FW.
This was in Oster, which I got to the other day, but thank you for spelling out what it really *meant*. I am never quite clear on the precise theology of things like Pietism (ironically, I know far more about the finer theological points of obscure early Christian schisms than more modern denominations).
Anyway, see what I mean about Wihelmine being kept as much a prisoner as Fritz? Actually more so, since he gets to attend and work in the Küstrin government, which might not be the most thrilling of occupations but is at least something other than sit and brood in a room.
Yep, it definitely sucked in ways that his didn't. On the one hand, she was in proximity to FW and had nothing to occupy her time with besides music (though I like to think that people were smuggling her books, too); on the other, she had music and at least a couple people she loved with her. It sucks to be both of them.
UGH.
Re: The Braunschweig Perspective: Family Holidays
Date: 2020-10-04 05:45 pm (UTC)I wonder whether that means that whoever was her source and wrote it down for her - I imagine Wilhelmine didn't go herself to an army barrack - copied it badly, or whether she was just told it verbally and writes it out of her memory twenty years later? That is assuming Stratemann has the correct version, but since he's writing at the time and has no problem copying down the exact text since no one should object to the Braunschweig envoy doing such a thing, I'm assuming so.
Yeah, I gather that didn't make it into the Hans Heinrich biographical monograph you picked up at Wust.
Nope. Would have blown quite a hole into his theory.
WOW. Go Hans Heinrich.
That's what I think. I mean, I wouldn't exclude the possibility that he has mixed feelings about Fritz as well, but mostly this points to him struggling to reconcile the loyalty he feels he ows his sovereign with being a grieving father who thinks his son, while deserving some punishment (I think Hans Heinrich would have been okay with some years in prison - well, ashamed, but okay in terms of considering it just), was taken from him by this man, and not higher justice.
Your plan for the AU in which he and Hans Herrmann have a heart to heart later in life looks more plausible than ever.
Yep! I imagine that had changed by 1736, year of raiding Fritz's larder?
So I would gather. Not least because there's a big difference between a four years old child who until Ferdinand is the baby of the family and a ten years old child. FW's imagine of himself as a loving dad can be amplified by adoring small children. (Note that little Wilhelmine wrote him affectionate "dear Papa" letters, too, when she was around that age and older.) Who get Christmas treats, and who get indulged when they ask for favors (like AW for the pardon) or gifts. Otoh, ten years olds who like books and music are a different matter. Stratemann's reports don't extend to that period, but younger Seckendorff is writing into his journal then, and the only two kid-related anecdotes I recall is a) young AW fainting in the tobacco parliament, and b) Ferdinand (who's the indulged five years old then) cheeking Grumbkow about handing over bread and being a Field Marshal. (Unless we count "Junior"'s pronouncement that Heinrich and Ferdinand have a bad nature, Ferdinand is the worst and AW is good natured but with the education of a peasant.) What we do have, otoh, from that era is FW's statement - quoted in several biographies - that he doesn't make predictions about his children except about AW who would be an "honnete homme" and a great one, surely. So I'm still going with the assumption that the indulgence for Heinrich on those two occasions in 1730 was based on him being the baby of the family, the position he just lost to Ferdinand who however was an actual baby and couldn't yet interact with Dad, and once Heinrich left tiny cutie phase behind and developed interests that were not FW's, he faded into the background with the other kids, with AW the constant male favourite and the female favourite being Charlotte and Ulrike in turns.
Wait, what? Another much-loved valet? Do we know anything about this individual? Was this just the random Küstrin servant that FW said should come shave him and for a brief period wasn't allowed to even sleep in the same room as Fritz, but had to visit daily?
Must be, since I don't think the valet he had before, the one who also shows up in the interrogation protocols, was with him in Küstrin at any point?
It sucks to be both of them.
Absolutely. And that's why I'm majorly sideeying those editors and historians who are complaining about her being a bad daughter, or hysterical, and that poor FW was the one to be pitied, with his wife and two oldest ganging up on him. He had all the power, and no, not every word Wilhelmine wrote in the memoirs was true, but she probably was as accurate as most people looking back at very traumatic events years later and using the writing as a chance to vent and in lack of actual therapy.
It's also always important to remember that while many a contemporary thought FW was over the top with his reactions, both Fritz and Wilhelmine would still have gotten the message that it was his right to treat them this way both as monarch and as father from all sides. And while they hated him, they didn't, I fear, ever stop loving him as well and wanting his approval and a "Well done, you".
On a lighter note, Hervey in his memoirs has this passage of G2 ranting about how lousy sons are the worst, absolute scum, fathers are martyrs, and then he suddenly recalls his own dear old dad and adds, yes, okay, there are bad fathers and good sons as well. And, says, Hervey, it was clear to everyone hearing this that G2 was thinking of himself both as the cardinal example of a wronged father and a wronged son. Meanwhile, FW, only child of two parents who despite being very different from him both seem to have loved him and whose most most debatable action was a) to send him to live with his cousins for a while, and b) given him a strict Calvinist as a teacher when he was ten: Of course there are no bad fathers! Fathers should only be loved and listened to and adored! There are no exceptions!
Re: The Braunschweig Perspective: Family Holidays
Date: 2020-10-04 06:48 pm (UTC)Nope. Would have blown quite a hole into his theory.
*g*
mostly this points to him struggling to reconcile the loyalty he feels he ows his sovereign with being a grieving father who thinks his son, while deserving some punishment (I think Hans Heinrich would have been okay with some years in prison - well, ashamed, but okay in terms of considering it just), was taken from him by this man, and not higher justice.
Your plan for the AU in which he and Hans Herrmann have a heart to heart later in life looks more plausible than ever.
Agreed on Hans Heinrich's likely psychology here. And because he doesn't agree with Hans Hermann's decision, and because he doesn't have the sense of pain and outrage at his loss to counterbalance his conviction that Hans Hermann was in the wrong, the heart-to-heart is a deathbed forgiveness secene and not a "Well done, son." But it's enough for Hans Hermann, who, due to Hans Heinrich not seeing him for 10 years and not wanting to commit certain things to mail, has been wondering just *how* angry his father was with him.
What helps reconcile Hans Heinrich and certain other family members is that while it was certainly disloyalty, no one believes it was cowardice, especially not once the full story of Katte's heroic role protecting Fritz during the escape gets out. And now he's got a royal pardon from AW, so it's all good, they can reconcile and part on good father-son terms.
Absolutely. And that's why I'm majorly sideeying those editors and historians who are complaining about her being a bad daughter, or hysterical, and that poor FW was the one to be pitied, with his wife and two oldest ganging up on him.
I'm not just side-eyeing, I'm FUMING. Those poor kids! The victim-blaming! SD was no angel, but she was definitely an abuse victim too!
It's also always important to remember that while many a contemporary thought FW was over the top with his reactions, both Fritz and Wilhelmine would still have gotten the message that it was his right to treat them this way both as monarch and as father from all sides.
Indeed.
Fritz: And as your current monarch and standing in loco parentis to my siblings and niblings, I would like to announce that I've taken this lesson to heart.
And while they hated him, they didn't, I fear, ever stop loving him as well and wanting his approval and a "Well done, you".
Yep. Totally typical for abusive families.
On a lighter note, Hervey in his memoirs has this passage of G2 ranting about how lousy sons are the worst, absolute scum, fathers are martyrs, and then he suddenly recalls his own dear old dad and adds, yes, okay, there are bad fathers and good sons as well.
LOL this is so great. Rationalization for the win!
Meanwhile, FW, only child of two parents who despite being very different from him both seem to have loved him and whose most most debatable action was a) to send him to live with his cousins for a while, and b) given him a strict Calvinist as a teacher when he was ten: Of course there are no bad fathers! Fathers should only be loved and listened to and adored! There are no exceptions!
THERAPY FOR EVERYONE
Re: The Braunschweig Perspective: Family Holidays
Date: 2020-10-04 07:00 pm (UTC)Must be, since I don't think the valet he had before, the one who also shows up in the interrogation protocols, was with him in Küstrin at any point?
Gummersbach? Not that I know of, and more to the point, he was instrumental in preventing the escape, so I wonder if he would still be "most-loved" at that point. Maybe, but until we find out it was him, I stand by my headcanon that Fritz's sympathetic jailers found him a servant who would, I don't know, help smuggle letters to Wilhelmine out.
Also, if it's someone he met at Küstrin, then they only had 4 months to become "much-loved", but also, those are circumstances under which you would very quickly latch on to someone, so... :/
I'm so glad Fredersdorf came along later that year, and FW didn't catch on.
Re: The Braunschweig Perspective: Family Holidays
Date: 2020-10-04 06:52 pm (UTC)Good question! I've just compared the two French texts, and my impression is that they're way too similar for me to think Wilhelmine is recording something she heard orally long ago. The two transcriptions look to me like the product of two different written copies of the text, where scribal errors and/or different interpretations of not totally legible handwriting crept in.
Re: The Braunschweig Perspective: Family Holidays
Date: 2020-10-06 04:58 am (UTC)I mean, I wouldn't exclude the possibility that he has mixed feelings about Fritz as well
Oh sure, I totally believe that. I think he'd have to be a saint not to have mixed feelings when his son would still hvae been alive if Fritz hadn't gotten him involved. But that's distinct from actually executing him. >:(
Absolutely. And that's why I'm majorly sideeying those editors and historians who are complaining about her being a bad daughter, or hysterical, and that poor FW was the one to be pitied, with his wife and two oldest ganging up on him.
:((((((((((((( Yeah, no.
On a lighter note, Hervey in his memoirs has this passage of G2 ranting about how lousy sons are the worst, absolute scum, fathers are martyrs, and then he suddenly recalls his own dear old dad and adds, yes, okay, there are bad fathers and good sons as well.
Hah! Hervey, you always come through with amusement value. Lol.