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

How to choose a royal wetnurse:

[selenak]

On the 29th passato (i.e. the 29th of last month, April), both the Oberhofmeisterin v. Kamecke and the Hofmeisterin de Rouccoul as well as the royal physician Dr. Stahl audited 36 women, among whom there were wives of court councillors and those of lower descent, and have chosen four among them who at the time of the Queen's delivery will provide the first nourishment to the hopefully cheerful sight. Such a choice only regards that such a person have healthy milk and teeth. She shall be hired for a year, and has to expect 1200 Reichstaler salary for her service. Those who were reviewed and fell through were honest and good women, but they still looked somewhat enviously at the remaining four who, however, are wavering between fear and hope as well...


Next entry picking up the nursing matter: Since the, God willing, happy delivery of the Queen is expected to happen daily, the Oberhofmeisterin, the chief royal physician and the midwife had to stay overnight at the palace for the last three days now, and since a few days a certain number of canon firers has been commanded to the walls in order to fire the usual cheerful salutes; and rumor has it that his highness the Duke, offered to stay at the palace during his time here, has declined to do this as not to incommodate the Queen.
The four chosen women have presented themselves to the Queen, and she was picked among them the wife of a retired French Captain, named de Coulon, a honest and good person as her wetnurse.

*The Duke: Charlotte's engagement to the future Duke of Braunschweig-Bevern had been celebrated only a few weeks earlier, to team Braunschweig was still there.

Re: How to choose a royal wetnurse:

[mildred_of_midgard]

Thank you! You're right: that was very interesting.

has declined to do this as not to incommodate the Queen.

I seem to remember from the opening pages of Oster that back when Fritz1 and/or Fritz2 died, there were rumors that the exuberant firing of cannons after their births was responsible for their deaths as infants.

Re: How to choose a royal wetnurse:

[selenak]

SD picking the wife of a retired French Captain (likely, though not necessarily, a Frenchwoman herself) reminded me again that French really was the primary language for these kids. (Remember, Ferdinand was Quecke - "Qu'est-ce que ce?".) Also: given just a few entries later, when Ferdinand is born, you get the story of Amalie's nurse telling her to petition FW for a job for her husband, it's clear these women, while not the peasants they tended to be in France (if her husband was a Captain, in this age and before the revolution, he was probably minor nobility), still weren't into this job not just for the prestige but because they did want the income and the connections for further employment.

Re: How to choose a royal wetnurse:

[cahn]

I had forgotten Ferdinand was Quecke! Awwww, that's just adorable.