Speaking of doctoral thesis(es), considering we’ll have a month of complete lockdown in November, it’s a good thing I raided Stabi these last weeks for books. Among these was a thesis on Heinrich’s development as a military leader from 2000 by one Bernhard Mundt. Now, Ziebura’s Heinrich bio was published in 1999, and since he mostly quotes from the Chester Easum bio from the 1940s, I first thought he hadn’t read it, but no, turns out he did. The majority of the thesis is about military stuff, mind, but he does do a relatively thorough “his life so far” before we get to the war. (This includes among other things a rather adorable letter to kid Ferdinand in German and French both.) And the chapter on Heinrich’s marriage, a footnote to which is the only place Ziebura’s biography is mentioned, would do all those 19th and 20th century historians on Fritz proud, though to be fair, Mundt is equal minded in his denial. We get this, slightly paraphrased and summarized:
“So, at this point Fritz thought it would be good for Heinrich’s character if he settled down and married. (See letter to Wilhelmine about this.) I know SOME PEOPLE have claimed Heinrich felt pressured into the marriage, but I disagree. The only evidence for this are some cryptic hints in Lehndorff’s journal. I’m not claiming Heinrich was in love with Mina, mind, just that he saw marrying her just as Fritz saw marrying EC, as his ticket to more personal freedom and a better budget. Which was a good thing to him! Ergo, he didn’t feel pressured by Fritz. Now, Pangels claims Heinrich didn’t love Mina because he had an affair with Countess Bentinck. I don’t think so, having read Bentinck’s letters. Ziebura, otoh, claims Heinrich was gay, by TOTALLY MISINTERPRETING the emo style of the Rokoko. There is no proof for Heinrich’s supposed gayness other than some letters that feel to us gay, but aren’t, they are just Rokoko emo. Lehndorff’s diaries, you say? I’m only footnoting volume 1, though am also mentioning dozens of references to Lehndorff in Heinrich’s unpublished letters to Ferdinand in the Prussian State Archive, so sure, he was a friend. An utterly platonic one with an emo diary style.That’s all. In conclusion: there is no more evidence that Heinrich was gay than that he had sex with Bentinck. Not gay, do you hear me?”
And this is Mundt on the brothers: “Evidently, being raised together formed a close bond between Ferdinand and Heinrich, and AW and Heinrich. This is the only explanation as to why he kept being close to Ferdinand for all their lives, despite it being more and more evident Ferdinand was a mediocre loser once they were grown up. As for AW, evidently the fact that AW was kind to him when they were kids and that he tried to mediate in the first few conflicts with Fritz blinded Heinrich to AW’s serious character flaws, namely, his passivity and phlegma, culminating in Heinrich blaming Fritz instead of AW for the big bust up. Granted, Fritz had flaws, too, but he wasn’t the one at fault in this situation, and if Heinrich wasn’t so regrettably biased in AW’s favor, he’d have seen it. I mean, there are no letters where Heinrich critisizes AW - why? Why not? This is a constant source of frustration to me, reader, because I do so wish Heinrich had been into Fritz as his fave instead of those two losers.”
And now for a not paraphrased but literal quote of how Mundt describes a certain letter. “Friedrich tried to relate the sad news to Heinrich as sensitively and delicately as possible.” (Very selected quotes follow.)
That sure is... one interpretation. I mean, Mundt, I ship Heinrich/Fritz, too, but you’re the type of shipper who rerwrites the characters into some weird bland versions in order to make it happen, and just, no.
(Incidentally, the letter of doom was thankfully not how Heinrich found out about AW’s death. It’s dated way too late for that. At this point, Heinrich had already fired off his first seething letter to Ferdinand on the topic. As far as I know, he, like Fritz himself, got the news directly from Amalie.)
One last Mundt masterpiece: When relating of how Heinrich during his January 1759 trip to Berlin kept hanging out with Amalie all the time, and also visited Louise and AW’s kids repeatedly, but avoided Mina as much as he could (though she did get an expensive new year’s present, which I hadn’t known before): “It cannot be denied that the spouses were no longer close”.
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No homo! The sequel.
Date: 2020-10-28 08:08 pm (UTC)“So, at this point Fritz thought it would be good for Heinrich’s character if he settled down and married. (See letter to Wilhelmine about this.) I know SOME PEOPLE have claimed Heinrich felt pressured into the marriage, but I disagree. The only evidence for this are some cryptic hints in Lehndorff’s journal. I’m not claiming Heinrich was in love with Mina, mind, just that he saw marrying her just as Fritz saw marrying EC, as his ticket to more personal freedom and a better budget. Which was a good thing to him! Ergo, he didn’t feel pressured by Fritz.
Now, Pangels claims Heinrich didn’t love Mina because he had an affair with Countess Bentinck. I don’t think so, having read Bentinck’s letters. Ziebura, otoh, claims Heinrich was gay, by TOTALLY MISINTERPRETING the emo style of the Rokoko. There is no proof for Heinrich’s supposed gayness other than some letters that feel to us gay, but aren’t, they are just Rokoko emo. Lehndorff’s diaries, you say? I’m only footnoting volume 1, though am also mentioning dozens of references to Lehndorff in Heinrich’s unpublished letters to Ferdinand in the Prussian State Archive, so sure, he was a friend. An utterly platonic one with an emo diary style.That’s all. In conclusion: there is no more evidence that Heinrich was gay than that he had sex with Bentinck. Not gay, do you hear me?”
And this is Mundt on the brothers: “Evidently, being raised together formed a close bond between Ferdinand and Heinrich, and AW and Heinrich. This is the only explanation as to why he kept being close to Ferdinand for all their lives, despite it being more and more evident Ferdinand was a mediocre loser once they were grown up. As for AW, evidently the fact that AW was kind to him when they were kids and that he tried to mediate in the first few conflicts with Fritz blinded Heinrich to AW’s serious character flaws, namely, his passivity and phlegma, culminating in Heinrich blaming Fritz instead of AW for the big bust up. Granted, Fritz had flaws, too, but he wasn’t the one at fault in this situation, and if Heinrich wasn’t so regrettably biased in AW’s favor, he’d have seen it. I mean, there are no letters where Heinrich critisizes AW - why? Why not? This is a constant source of frustration to me, reader, because I do so wish Heinrich had been into Fritz as his fave instead of those two losers.”
And now for a not paraphrased but literal quote of how Mundt describes a certain letter. “Friedrich tried to relate the sad news to Heinrich as sensitively and delicately as possible.” (Very selected quotes follow.)
That sure is... one interpretation. I mean, Mundt, I ship Heinrich/Fritz, too, but you’re the type of shipper who rerwrites the characters into some weird bland versions in order to make it happen, and just, no.
(Incidentally, the letter of doom was thankfully not how Heinrich found out about AW’s death. It’s dated way too late for that. At this point, Heinrich had already fired off his first seething letter to Ferdinand on the topic. As far as I know, he, like Fritz himself, got the news directly from Amalie.)
One last Mundt masterpiece: When relating of how Heinrich during his January 1759 trip to Berlin kept hanging out with Amalie all the time, and also visited Louise and AW’s kids repeatedly, but avoided Mina as much as he could (though she did get an expensive new year’s present, which I hadn’t known before): “It cannot be denied that the spouses were no longer close”.
I dare say, Mundt. I dare say.