Seckendorff's biographer completely agrees with the editor (and then some, what with "the so-called Philosopher of Sanssouci" phrase - which reminds me of "die sogenannte DDR" as our worst rag, the Bildzeitung, used to all the GDR), and thinks Fritz was an ungrateful lying wretch when it came to Seckendorff.
Seckendorff himself, while imprisoned by Fritz in Magdeburg, to Lehndorff: "As for him calling me an ursurer" - which Fritz did in the Histoire de la Maison de Brandenburg - "I haven't been one to him, as I never saw anything of the XXXXX Taler I gave him again".
My own take: Seckendorff, once he'd decided FW would not actually execute Fritz, did push for reconciliation and was indeed ready and willing to donate Austrian money to both Fritz and Wilhelmine, all as an investment into the future, of course. Fritz and Wilhelmine were ready to accept this money without ever intending to do something for the Austrians in return; as Seckendorff and Grumbkow previously had done a lot to widen the rift between FW and SD, and as a consequence between FW and them, I doubt they felt as much as a flicker of gratitude. The Fritz-worshipping crowd near the end of 18th Century, otoh, would never have believed their heroic Prussian hero would ever have accepted money from two men he despised (Seckendorff and Grumbkow), even if he didn't intend to do something for it. Not the stalwart fighter against corruption!
So you have in the 1790s Fritz fans who not only utterly believe Fritz when it comes to Seckendorff in general but blame the Küstrin fiasco almost entirely on him and declare it was all an attempt to force heroic Protestant Fritz to marry Catholic MT (or her sister), since no one has access to the letters between Seckendorff and Prince Eugene, or Grumbkow and Fritz, which make it very clear this was Fritz' idea and that the Austrians, far from being enthused at the prospect, went all "yeah, no!" Zimmermann is the sole early Fritzologue who proposes the idea Fritz might have wanted to marry MT, but of course he goes over the top with it and has this adventurous spin where Fritz doesn't intend to flee to England or France at all but to Austria to marry MT, and this, quoth Zimmermann, is why Seckendorff and the Emperor pleaded for mercy later with FW.
Another outlier is the Seckendorff biographer, who doesn't appear ot have had access to the Austrian state archives with the Eugene letters, either, but who champions Seckendorff the misunderstood hero in general.
In other news, kudos to you for the Henriade catch. I'm reminded of the biographer who points out that with the start of the 7 Years War, Fritz changes his usual goodbye to a direct Henri IV quote from the Henriade - which implicitly casts all his opponents as the bigotted League and himself as the most popular of French monarchs - and I think one can never go wrong assuming he had Voltaire on the brain in some fashion if he's older than 16...
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Re: Fritz-Duhan Follow-Up
Date: 2020-11-17 12:16 pm (UTC)Seckendorff himself, while imprisoned by Fritz in Magdeburg, to Lehndorff: "As for him calling me an ursurer" - which Fritz did in the Histoire de la Maison de Brandenburg - "I haven't been one to him, as I never saw anything of the XXXXX Taler I gave him again".
My own take: Seckendorff, once he'd decided FW would not actually execute Fritz, did push for reconciliation and was indeed ready and willing to donate Austrian money to both Fritz and Wilhelmine, all as an investment into the future, of course. Fritz and Wilhelmine were ready to accept this money without ever intending to do something for the Austrians in return; as Seckendorff and Grumbkow previously had done a lot to widen the rift between FW and SD, and as a consequence between FW and them, I doubt they felt as much as a flicker of gratitude. The Fritz-worshipping crowd near the end of 18th Century, otoh, would never have believed their heroic Prussian hero would ever have accepted money from two men he despised (Seckendorff and Grumbkow), even if he didn't intend to do something for it. Not the stalwart fighter against corruption!
So you have in the 1790s Fritz fans who not only utterly believe Fritz when it comes to Seckendorff in general but blame the Küstrin fiasco almost entirely on him and declare it was all an attempt to force heroic Protestant Fritz to marry Catholic MT (or her sister), since no one has access to the letters between Seckendorff and Prince Eugene, or Grumbkow and Fritz, which make it very clear this was Fritz' idea and that the Austrians, far from being enthused at the prospect, went all "yeah, no!" Zimmermann is the sole early Fritzologue who proposes the idea Fritz might have wanted to marry MT, but of course he goes over the top with it and has this adventurous spin where Fritz doesn't intend to flee to England or France at all but to Austria to marry MT, and this, quoth Zimmermann, is why Seckendorff and the Emperor pleaded for mercy later with FW.
Another outlier is the Seckendorff biographer, who doesn't appear ot have had access to the Austrian state archives with the Eugene letters, either, but who champions Seckendorff the misunderstood hero in general.
In other news, kudos to you for the Henriade catch. I'm reminded of the biographer who points out that with the start of the 7 Years War, Fritz changes his usual goodbye to a direct Henri IV quote from the Henriade - which implicitly casts all his opponents as the bigotted League and himself as the most popular of French monarchs - and I think one can never go wrong assuming he had Voltaire on the brain in some fashion if he's older than 16...