Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 19

[cahn]

Yuletide nominations:

18th Century CE Federician RPF
Maria Theresia | Maria Theresa of Austria
Voltaire
Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Ernst Ahasverus von Lehndorff
Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802)
Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758)
Anna Amalie von Preußen | Anna Amalia of Prussia (1723-1787)
Catherine II of Russia
Hans Hermann von Katte
Peter Karl Christoph von Keith
Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf
August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758)

Circle of Voltaire RPF
Emilie du Chatelet
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson (Madame de Pompadour)
John Hervey (1696-1743)
Marie Louise Mignot Denis
Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu
Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
Armand de Vignerot du Plessis de Richelieu (1696-1788)
Francesco Algarotti

Comments

Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough

[selenak]

Orieux says the same, i.e. Fritz and Voltaire show up in Bayreuth together, and Voltaire stays there somewhat longer than planned while Fritz leaves. Much to Émilie's chargrin, since he'd promised her to remain only ten days in Berlin in totem, with no extra trips announced. (The passage I quoted in my Orieux write up follows, about why Voltaire was so charmed there, and Orieux wishing Émilie would have come with him since Germany would have treated her far better than Paris had done.)

Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough

[felis]

Yeah, Pleschinski even includes the Émilie detail and quotes from a letter she wrote to a third person, in which she expresses how much Voltaire's behaviour is bothering her ("I don't recognize him anymore"). It's just that this comes right after he writes that Voltaire "went to Bayreuth without the King". But the itinerary at Trier (no idea how reliable) says they went together as well, so. ...thinking about it, it might be a simple mistake and Pleschinski actually means Brunswick, which Voltaire did visit alone on his way home.

One of my reasons for asking was that apparently, some of the letters from around that time don't exist anymore, and since it's exactly when the blow-up happens that leads to more than two years of radio silence, I was trying to piece together some more details beyond "Fritz is insulted that Voltaire didn't stay for good" and possibly politics. (And what with the ungratefulness and "only come back with the works I'm owed", I was also wondering in how far not getting the Pucelle played a role, given that he started writing postscripts like these - La Pucelle! la Pucelle! la Pucelle! et encore la Pucelle! Pour l'amour de Dieu, ou plus encore pour l'amour de vous-même, envoyez-la-moi. - on his letters during the first half of the year. So if he found out that Voltaire gave it to someone else in Bayreuth... On the other hand, I'm pretty sure we would know about that, because surely Fritz would have mentioned it.)

Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough

[selenak]

I don't have the time to look it up, but if Fritz did hear about it at the time, it might have come up in his correspondance with Wilhelmine during those same months. Especially since I seem to recall there were several snippy comments about the Duchess from him during that time anyway (aproposes whether or not she should have custody of her son Carl Eugen, Wilhelmine's future son-in-law) and Wilhelmine wasn't a fan of the woman, either, though her own mixed feelings came more into play after her daughter's marriage, not before.

Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough

[felis]

Oh, hey, I should have just kept reading, Fritz letter February 22nd 1747:
You lent the Pucelle to the Duchess of Würtemberg: learn that she had it copied overnight. These are the people you confide in; and the only ones who deserve your trust, or rather to whom you should abandon yourself entirely, are those with whom you are distrustful.

Still doesn't tell me when exactly he found out which details, but he sure did know. Voltaire in response says she didn't get anything that Fritz didn't already have (he did possess around five chapters) - if he's lying about that, you guys would know better than me. (On the other hand, why would Émilie let him take the whole thing on a journey at all?)

Re: Oster Wilhelmine readthrough

[mildred_of_midgard]

Ha! Wow, that's great.

rather to whom you should abandon yourself entirely

Tell us how you really feel, Fritz. :D

if he's lying about that, you guys would know better than me

That, I don't know. I do know (or at least have read) that Fritz had a partial copy, hence in "Lovers lying two and two" I had Fritz say in 1750 that he was going to get his hands on a "complete" copy now that Voltaire was in Prussia. How much the duchess had? Your guess is as good as mine.

On the other hand, why would Émilie let him take the whole thing on a journey at all?

Ah, but that I can see. Having someone show up at your house on behalf of the Crown Prince you view as a romantic rival don't trust is one thing, having your lover abscond with a manuscript he owns might be something you don't find out about until it's too late. Maybe?