Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 20

[cahn]

Yuletide signups so far:
3 requests for Frederician RPF, 2 offers
2 requests for Circle of Voltaire RPF, 3 offers !! :D :D

(I am so curious as to who the third person is!)

Comments

Re: Boswell in Prussia: All Things Fritz

[mildred_of_midgard]

(BTW: has Ulrike heard?)

Didn't you say that Ulrike was the one who told him about the Erlangen journalist Gross? And you said she must have quite the spy network? I'm betting she's heard!

True, not just ladies of the court, though - any "good" woman

Right, exactly.

Incidentally, other than Orzelska and Wreech, do we know of any noble lady rumor tied to young Fritz?

Not that I can think of. There was that other lady in Dresden, the one August got him to take in favor of leaving Orzelska alone (until she came to Berlin), but since her name is just given as Formera, I can't tell. The internet is giving me Gräfin Formera, so a countess, but only for recent sources. In lieu of further evidence, I speculate that they're transferring Orzelska's title to her. The only primary source I can find is Wilhelmine, who just says "the beautiful Formera," which made me think she was non-noble, but could go either way. Ah, Carlyle says "Formera her name, of Opera-singer kind," though with no citation given. Atm, I trust Carlyle over the 20th/21st century unscholarly-looking sources that I think are all blindly copying each other.

Other than that...? No, nothing's coming to mind. I'm guessing "Sabine" the alleged local Rheinsberg girl wasn't a noble. Hans Hermann von Katte the daughter of Hans Heinrich disguised as a son? :P (That was one crazy conspiracy theory, btw.)

Re: Boswell in Prussia: All Things Fritz

[selenak]

Ulrike having heard: yes, I'm guessing so, too. Btw: Dashkova mentions in her travels coming across Gustav's younger brother Carl, who according to her has no love for either Gustav or his mother, and is sure he'll be King one day because Gustav "isn't likely to sire a child". Now, leaving aside Dashkova writes this at a point where Carl had become King (and Gustav's son was disregarded because Reasons), so there's the hindsight factor, there's no reason for her to invent Carl having it in for mother Ulrike. Given Carl managed to successfully transfer blame on Ulrike entirely for the big soap opera scandal spreading out, I'm now considering Heinrich might have been onto something when he blamed Carl as well as Gustav for his sister's fate towards Lehndorff. (Who correctly pointed out to himself, if not to Heinrich, that Ulrike shares some blame, too.)

I'm guessing "Sabine" the alleged local Rheinsberg girl wasn't a noble.

Nope. According to the tale the Rheinsberg staff guy spun for the tourists, Fritz was touring the surrounding countryside with Fredersdorf, both of them ravishing country girls, until true love Sabine showed up.