cahn | Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 22 (or: Yuletide 2020 edition)

ETA: Whoops, I missed my cue -- this might as well be the next discussion post, I guess! :)

This is about the fic I didn't author (I have another reveals post for the fics I did author).

So my goal this Yuletide was NOT to write any historical fandom (because hard!) and just enjoy the excellent stuff that other people wrote. And... that sort of happened? I didn't end up authoring anything history-intensive? Buuuuut I ended up spending a lot more time than I did on any of my own fics working with

mildred_of_midgard on her fic, which she was worried about being able to pull off because she had had this completely insane idea to write a long casefic about Frederick the Great that every time I turned around had another twist put in :P :) She supplied me with what we called a "rough opal in matrix" bus pass casefic, and I cut away the matrix that remained and in some cases carved the opal -- that is to say, writing additional text for some of the scenes, what we liked to call "putting in feels," and in at least two cases entirely rewriting and/or restructuring the scene she'd written. She didn't always keep what I wrote (which we'd agreed upon in the beginning), but when she did (which was most of the time :) ) she then went in and rewrote/restructured what I put in to wordsmith (some of the words I gave her were really rough) and match her style, adding even more scenes -- that is, polishing it up and adding some gold and diamonds -- and voila, a beautiful pendant, I mean, story :)

I'm really proud of it and also it was really fun and also what I could handle this year, especially because mildred did all the parts I thought were hard and also wrote all the parts involving actual history or subtle AU before I was brought in so I didn't actually have to know historical stuff (though I guess I will never forget the battle of Leuthen now), and took full responsibility for how the whole thing turned out, so all I had to do was be like "Here, I'll write some rough feels for you for this scene!" The funny part was that I would often then write a paragraph justifying why I *had* to write the scene the way I did, and more likely than not mildred would be like, "yeah, I was sure you would do that, of course it should be written like that." (The most glaring example of this was where I inserted the Letter of Doom at the climax. I was worried there was some reason she didn't want it there, but she said, no, she just didn't have time to put it in herself and was just trusting me to do that :) ) She started jokingly calling me her "other self," to which I replied that it was with 1000% less angst and frustration -- as Frederick the Great's brother was his "other self" (which actually comes up in the fic) that he could trust to do all kinds of competent things, but they had a relationship that was, um, fraught? radioactive? Whereas this was just fun :)

Mildred did so much more than I did (we estimated a 90%/10% word ratio, not even counting the part where she wordsmithed a lot of my text) that I felt very uncomfortable being listed as a co-author, but hey, ~3000 words is a respectable Yuletide fic length :)

Yet They Grind Exceedingly Small (30384 words) by mildred_of_midgard
Chapters: 5/5
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF, Historical RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Anna Amalie von Preußen & Wilhelmine von Preußen, Anna Amalie von Preußen & Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen, Wilhelmine von Preußen & Elisabeth Friederike Sophie von Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great & Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia
Characters: Anna Amalie von Preußen (1723-1787), Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758), Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802), Elisabeth Friederike Sophie von Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1732-1780), Wilhelmine von Hesse-Kassel (1726-1808), August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758), Alcmene 1 | Frederick the Great's Italian Greyhound, Voltaire (Writer), Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dysfunctional Family, Suicide, Alternate Universe - Dark, Siblings, Canon-Typical Violence, Mystery, Tide of History Challenge
Summary:

January 1758. Prince William is dead, some say of a broken heart. Frederick wants to absolve himself of blame for William's death. Henry schemes to end the Third Silesian War on his terms. Amalie and Wilhelmine team up to find out what really happened to their brother. Alcmene just wants to be told she's a good dog.

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Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

selenak

OMG, I’m in stitches on the floor. This is the perfect conclusion to Heinrich’s birthday, verily. ❤️👍🥳

From:

mildred_of_midgard

OMGGGGG this is AMAAAAAAAZING!

I saw this come in when I was out taking a walk and now I'm home and I'm stiiillll laughing so hard, you have no idea. Omg, you are a genius.

From:

felis

- It doesn't come from the heart.

Okay, so. This one isn't quite as clear as it seems in English I think. I left the google translation as it was, because it was one possible version, but the original French goes as follows: Avec cela, j'ai une juste cause d'affliction, qui m'est sensible jusqu'au fond du cœur; elle ne vient point d'ici, mais d'autre part; - the "not from the heart" is one possible interpretation of the "d'ici" phrase I'd say, but you don't have to read it that way, because "ici" can mean a lot of things and it's unclear if it's actually related to "coeur". He could even be talking geography and saying his affliction doesn't come from Berlin but from somewhere else! Which would fit your theory.

Okay, so, based on my reading of Fritz's correspondence, where this theme crops up over and over again, I'm 99% sure he's referring to Stoicism here.

Ohhhh. Nice. I definitely read his "moralize" in the second letter that way, but because he also has the heroism part in the first letter - which I took to mean just that, stoically withstanding things - I took the "morality" part more literally in that case, precisely because he's being so cryptic and seems worried that Camas might disapprove - and "worried for a sick friend" seems like something that Camas wouldn't object to or even fail to understand and sympathize with, unless the source of the illness is the problem - or the identity of the friend, as per your theory. Hmmm.

From:

felis

:DDDD

From:

mildred_of_midgard

Yeah, I had gone and looked at the French for "doesn't come from there, but from another part," and I concluded I have no idea what he's talking about. I wonder if it's time to grab my native speaker friend for consulting services again.

And yes, the "either morality or heroism" gave me pause for the reason you mention, but I *think* I would still take it as referring to Stoicism rather than conventional morality, just because it's such a common trope in Fritz's letters. And redundancy in the form of parallel clauses is a stylistic device in both the Bible and Roman literature (Cicero is *all over* it), and all their imitators since. Your interpretation isn't impossible, though!

This is definitely a crux.

From:

felis

I think this take on "morality" is definitely in keeping with Fritz' use of it, not to mention that it would make sense for him to pick one concept that's more philosophy-based (morality) and one that's more military-based (heroism) to express a similar thought. (The combination of both sides is what drove Voltaire nuts after all. ;))

From:

mildred_of_midgard

Okay, so, your mention of incurring debts and building Rheinsberg jogged something in my memory, and I've finally remembered where I read it: Krockow. This is Google translated, from the translation my algorithms prepared last year, because I don't have time to retranslate the German myself:

The purchase price was 75,000 thalers, of which the stingy majesty only contributed 50,000. The remainder, including all the costs for the renovation and expansion, was passed on to the Crown Prince's household, a substantial portion of which probably came from the dowry of Crown Princess Elisabeth Christine. Friedrich Wilhelm appointed his building director Johann Gottfried Kemmeter from the Kurmark to be the architect, naturally with urgent instructions for the greatest possible economy. Logically, Friedrich was soon no longer enough, what Kemmeter did, and in 1737 he appointed his own architect, Knobelsdorff, who had returned from Italy.

With the ambitious plans, of course, the lack of money increased, and getting into debt became notorious. The courtier and memoir writer Baron Pöllnitz reports of a significant incident: In the summer of 1736, Friedrich Wilhelm visited Rheinsberg. When the King had lunch with the Crown Prince and appeared to be in an excellent mood, [Minister] Grumbkow took the opportunity to favor the latter, with whom he was not exactly on the best of terms. So he began to praise the splendid dinner which the Crown Prince had set before the King, and added jokingly that he would not be able to hold such banquets often, otherwise his finances would suffer. The king asked his son if he owed him and how much it was. The Crown Prince did not dare to name a sum greater than 40,000 thalers, whereupon the King said he would pay him. Grumbkow then asked whether this was to be understood as meaning that the annual income of the Crown Prince should be increased by the sum mentioned. Friedrich Wilhelm, meanwhile, acted as if he hadn't heard anything, but the next day he sent his son the 40,000 thalers."

So we knew he was in debt and that he didn't want his father to find out, but that's nothing new in the 1730s and even late 1720s. I feel like it would neither distress him *that* much (he should be used to it by now!) nor that he wouldn't mention it to Wilhelmine. So I continue to not think this is what he's referring to, but I thought I would share this passage, since it's relevant to our discussion of his notorious 1730s debts. And it contains details that might be useful if anyone ever writes that Rokoko babysitting fic. ;)

Btw, the next paragraph is entertaining:

Unfortunately, it was the famous drop in the bucket. Frederick approached the courts in Vienna or London for help as secretly as urgently, and with the charm and tact of a future ruler he wrote to his middleman in St. Petersburg: “The king is sick. You can use that as a good reason to have a good sum advanced next summer. Seriously, if you want to give me thanks, you have to be quick.” But whatever you slipped him, there was no talk of gratitude later. The emperor in particular would have better spent his money on soldiers to protect Silesia.

From:

mildred_of_midgard

Me writing code and manually tagging the contributor of each post (can't easily be done programmatically, because I post so many of your long write-ups):

~/Documents/fritz_projects/word_counts/rheinsberg$ ./author_breakdown.sh 
Selena: 322,810
Mildred: 121,940
Gambitten: 4,611
Felis: 4,514
Cahn: 3,250
Total: 457,125

The numbers are not totally precise, but they should be good approximations.

And yes, I have a whole (private!) GitHub repo named "fritz_projects". :P

Speaking of Rheinsberg, I notice that your Der Vater write-up isn't there. Would you like me to add it, or would you prefer to do it when you have time?

I'm still meaning to add my Diderot write-up, and it occurs to me that I should add

gambitten's list of sources as well. Bayreuth pictures as a holdover until you're able to go in person would still be great! I had to track them down in old comment threads during Yuletide research.

P.S. You're awesome, and over 70% of the content is yours, as I have numerically proved. :D

Oh, hey,

cahn, you have a Candide write-up now! You should post it.

Edited Date: 2021-01-19 12:18 am (UTC)

From:

mildred_of_midgard

I'm definitely chatty in salon, though, no question:

User	Words	Comments
mildred	811,995	3,169
selenak	791,848	2,008
cahn	179,355	1,792
felis	20,098	84
gambitten	11,782	28
prinzsorgenfrei	10,955	58
Everyone else	19,705	94
Total	1,813,858	7,121

cahn, I'm amused by how very close the word count of your average post is to exactly 100.

selenak, your comment count being 2/3 of mine and your word count nearly the same is exactly why you have so much more

rheinsberg content: you do more meaty write-ups.

From:

selenak

Rokoko babysitting fic is still on the agenda. ;) AndI agree he'd have mentioned his debts to Wilhelmine. (Who must have lend him money at some point if he paid her 50 000 Taler back post ascension to the throne.) (Though maybe that could have been for her jewelry from 1730?)

with the charm and tact of a future ruler

Quite. :) Mind you, the "Dad is about to kick the bucket, you better bribe me NOW NOW NOW if you want me to favor you" grift worked, so... (Seckendorff: And then he had the gall of calling me a sleazy ursurer in his book!) (MT: And this, children, is why I ended up firing most of my father's cabinet in 1741.)

From:

selenak

Headcanon: It has to do with PTSD, seven years of war, this being the first public occasion where he has to represent again not in front of the soldiers but in front of civilians and the alas tried and true kicking down mechanism of stress relief.

re: "maman" - he uses that from the start!

That is fascinating. Especially since SD was so much on the lookout for possible rivals in her son's affections otherwise - I mean, the entire early reaction to EC was based on that as much as snobbery (hence it settling down once Fritz had made it clear that SD would come first in Prussia nad with him). You'd think she'd resent Fritz calling someone else Mom?

From:

selenak

"worried for a sick friend" seems like something that Camas wouldn't object to or even fail to understand and sympathize with, unless the source of the illness is the problem - or the identity of the friend, as per your theory. Hmmm.

I could believe both, except that I think Fritz could pass off being worried for Fredersdorf being sick to Camas as being a good feudal lord concerned for a faithful servant, so I'm still betting on Gröben and a combination of STD and gambling debts. Not least because I don't think Fredersdorf's health problems had kicked in yet, though I could be wrong about this. Of course we don't have letters between him and Fritz from that era. And the thing is, by the later 1730s, Fritz definitely wasn't hiding that Fredersdorf wasn't an exchangeable servant to him; see Bielfeld's description of Fredersdorf as: The Prince's first valet, Herr Fredersdorf, is a tall, beautiful man, who has wit and intelligence. He's polite, attentive, skillful, smooth, likes his possessions but still likes splendour. I believe he'll play a large role one day. And if Bielfeld had noticed, Camas probably had as well.

Now with Wilhelmine, both a sick Fredersdorf and an STD and gambling debts ridden Gröben would be reasons to be cryptic - whereas simply accumulating more and more debts would not be - so that's not a tell in either direction.

Lastly: there's the way STD keeps coming up, both as a rumor about Fritz in his younger days (so established and wide spread that a visiting tourist like Boswell hears about it in 1764), and by Fritz himself when wanting do make a dig at others. In one of those poems mocking the rest of Europe which Voltaire wasn't supposed to take along, he's accusing Louis XV. to have it, for example; but more interestingly, there's the way he uses it in the Marwitz letters to Heinrich, completely out of the blue. I mean, he goes from mocking Heinrich and Marwitz for pining to saying "oh, and btw, that guy is a total slut with STD!" Given the way Fritz used Heinrich to play out his own life again with reversed roles, this makes me suspect he had at some point crushed on someone who turned out to have STD. (Could have been Algarotti, of course, except that his reaction to Algarotti having STD is so very blasé.)

From:

selenak

Der Vater: I'd prefer to do it myself, both because I'd add a bit about the author's Protestant background (which is important to how he presents FW) and because since writing it I've read all the Hervey stuff and Beuys' SC biography which gave me some answers to wondering what JK had or had not invented about young FW. However, I'd appreciate a link to my original write up.

Bayreuth: Okay, I'll do a "Wilhelmine's burial place" post, to be later extended to a proper Bayreuth picture post once it's possible to go there and take pictures again.

From:

selenak

Good grief! Swedes, why?

From:

felis

I'm going chronologically, therefore a look at the correspondence with the husband first. There are 43 letters at Trier (42 from Fritz, 1 from Camas), dated from June 1734 to March 1740.

The early ones are mostly short and deal with military recruitments (a topic that keeps coming back throughout the years), except for this postscript to the very first one: I will finally depart on Thursday and leave this unfortunate land [to join the military campaign against France]. It seems to me that since you are no longer here with Madame, we are missing someone in the house; and it occurred to me more than once to want to invite Madame de Camas. You see by this that you are not forgotten. Your health has been drunk to here, and I drank to it with all my heart.

Fritz reports from the 1734 campaign, casting himself as the eager student of military matters and humble manners - You see by that, my dear Camas, how much I pay attention to your lessons; after practicing them, they can make me deserve the praise you give me. - and in later years, there's some talk about siege and salary plans, plus reactions to promotions and reviews on both sides. In short, quite a bit of shop talk, which illustrates that Camas was an experienced military man. (According to wiki, he came from a Huguenot family and joined the Prussian army at age 13. As mentioned, he lost his arm at age 18 (during the War of the Spanish Succession), got a prosthesis and kept rising through the ranks until he died in 1741 (of fever). During this correspondence, he was stationed at Frankfurt (Oder).)

As of this Ruppin letter from December 1735, Fritz starts talking more about non-military things as well, and gets creative with his metaphors:
You know that my occupations are only fixed to three objects, namely, the service, reading, and music. This is what alternately keeps me throughout the day, except for two hours which must be given both to dinner and to digestion.
[...] It is a foreshadowing of death to me when a hussar comes to bring me the order to leave. Do not cry out, I beg you, at this comparison; I will demonstrate it to you just in every way. Death is, according to what theologians say, a separation of the soul from the body, and a general abandonment of all our honours, our goods, our fortune, and our friends. Freedom is my soul; I see myself more honored here than in other places; I have friends that I only see here. So the comparison is fair; and to push it even more, my return conforms to the dogma of the rehabilitation of all things, and between [my return] and my departure, I appear before the tribunal of a judge ready to condemn us and unwilling to absolve us.

Not the last time he'll compare FW to a (vengeful) God in these letters. Nonetheless, he has to leave for Berlin and that's where, only two weeks later, he writes about the mystery affliction, quoted and discussed above.

FW is a frequent topic in general, as Fritz very openly reports ups and downs (which I was roughly familiar with through the Wilhelmine correspondence), whereas friends and other family members get basically no mentions.

Forced hunting excursion in December 1736: The devil, who never sleeps, has put an end to the hunting of wild boars; he gave the master a cold, which confused all the designs of the planned murders. However, I had a commission to kill nearly two hundred of these miserable boars. I acquitted myself of it as a not very cruel person; taking pity on their sufferings, I shortened their martyrdom as much as I could. I confess to you that I do not feel any inclination for hunting; this passion is precisely the opposite of mine.

Interesting detail from December 1737 - Camas was a guest at Wusterhausen and Fritz thinks it would have been a bad idea to write to him there: It is a mark of caution in a young man not to blindly follow his inclinations, and to know how to restrain his inclinations when he foresees that the consequences they draw after them might be detrimental to someone. It was by such prudence that I refrained from writing to you during your stay at Wusterhausen. I feared that our correspondence might have augured badly; moreover, it seemed to me that you would be sufficiently occupied over there with the attentions you owe the King, with the hunts, with the tobacco parliaments, with the dissipations from the neighborhood, etc., that my letters would only steal whatever little time you had left. I know how to impose silence on myself, and I am currently enjoying the pleasure of breaking it.

[That said, when Camas is there again almost a year later, he gets a "stop inventing eloquent excuses for your laziness and write more often" letter afterwards, clearly in jest, but Fritz still makes sure to tell him it was a joke in the next one.]

Familiar FW whiplash a year later (which I'd encountered before, see #7), where he goes from

I feel the feelings of filial love redouble in me when I see feelings so reasonable and so just in the author of my days. (December 1738)

to this state of things in January 1739:

All these beautiful appearances of grace, benevolence and gentleness have disappeared like a dream. The King's temper was so soured, and his hatred against me manifested itself in so many different forms, that if I had not been what I am, I would have asked for my leave a long time ago; and I would like a thousand times better to beg my bread honorably elsewhere than to feed myself on the sorrows that I must devour here. The relentlessness of the King to denounce me secretly and in public is no longer something that is whispered to each other; it is the talk of the city, everyone witnesses it, and everyone talks about it; and what is most curious is that I still do not know my crime, if not that of being his heir apparent. [...]

The prognosis I made for myself is unfortunate, but true; I should never expect to be able to live in peace with a father who is easy to irritate, and who is filled with fatal impressions. I must see him as my most cruel enemy, who spies on me constantly to find the moment when he thinks he can give me the blow of jarnac [an unexpected blow from behind]. You have to be on your guard without slacking off; the slightest misstep, the slightest imprudence, a trifle, a nothing magnified and amplified, will suffice for my condemnation.

Another year later, December 1739, it's a mixed bag: We are amphibians of joy and sadness here; on the one hand we have parties to entertain my sister [Charlotte just came to visit], and on the other we pity the King for the uncertain and failing state of his health. You can, my dear friend, roughly imagine the situation in which we are; however, it is a hundred pikes preferable to that of last year, which was desperate. I will hardly be able to send you news from here, except that the old etiquette is observed regularly, that it has been terribly cold here, that we dance a lot, that we speak even more, and that the we laugh and cry in turn. We have two new envoys here, Rudenskjöld and Valori. The first is a witty, clever man who has a lot of knowledge and world. The second is a fool, very coarse, and so deeply absorbed by the salacious, that the man of quality is totally lost in it; [...]

Onto happier content, there are a few gift-related letters, mostly food from Camas and wine and glassware from Fritz. In January 1737 for example, Fritz writes a note to thank Camas for sending him cheese, adding: You get too favorable an idea of my poor solitude; we are more in a convent than in the world. Philosophy, however, does not make us more austere than necessary, as you have guessed very well. A thousand compliments to Madame. (By the way, greetings to Madame are a very common occurrence.)

And this one from February 1738 made me smile, even with the chronic debt problems in the background: My dear Camas, I give you a thousand thanks for the cheeses, the pears, and everything that you took pleasure to send me. Your memory is dearer to me than all the treasures that could be given to me, and even if your letters were accompanied only by a sprig of straw, that very straw would please me if it came from you. Do not think that I appreciate the marks of friendship according to their value or their weight in gold; far from it, I can assure you that the love of poverty was never to such a high degree among the Romans as it is with me. Mark of that: I don't have a dime in the whole house, nor in my power. [...]

Lots of "wish you were here" variations as well, and when Camas visits Rheinsberg in June 1738, this is the result: I must have struck you as an intruder, and perhaps even an annoyance, the whole time you have been here. I hounded you, I persecuted you to possess you for a few moments, and this, sometimes, when you needed rest. I confess my wrong to you, and I admit it; however, in order not to deny this unfortunate character, I will sustain it until the moment of your departure.

Lovely take on his quiet Rheinsberg life, October 1738 (if, as always, struggle with the Stoics): I'm not sure, to tell the truth, what the weather is like here. The sphere of my activity extends only from my home to my library: the trip is not long, and there is no time to feel the weather on the way. As for hunting, there is a whole coterie here that hunts for me, and I study for them; there is something for everyone, and no one is hindered in their entertainment. We politicize little, talk less, and think a lot. It is not a question here of the Greek, Turkish, or Christian emperor; it is the contentment of mind and peace of soul which I try, with my little convent, to cement as best as we can. If we succeed, that is the criterion. At least we work on it, although, to tell the truth, the impassibility of the Stoics seems to me to be in morality what the Philosopher's Stone is in chemistry and the squaring of the circle in mathematics: it is the chimerical idea of a perfection or a tranquility that we cannot achieve.

Also in 1738: Voltaire gossip. Someone not Fritz is writing to him and Fritz has to know everything, because reasons: [...] remember, please, that you promised me a certain letter from a person whose good wit had in some way obscured common sense; I will not misuse it; it will only be to satisfy my curiosity, and to give me a little sermon on the foolishness that self-love can make same-minded people commit. The ridicule of others makes me tremble for myself, and I do not hear of any extravagance that, by looking back on myself, I do not fear being at risk of committing as well. [...] I would say much more if I did not fear to abuse your patience; I therefore expect from you all the correspondence of our heroine Don Quixote of the good wit, and the answers of Voltaire, if he does [answer], which can only be entertaining.

He gets the letter from Camas - unintelligible epistle of our very obscure beautiful mind [...], a masterpiece of extravagance - and a couple of months later has this to report: I had my spies on the campaign to find out the answer that the Solomon of Cirey gave the queens of Northern Saba [Madame Louise von Brandt and Madame de Wr...]. I learned that it was a very didactic reasoning on how to suppress and overcome passions. It is left to know if it was to the taste of our heroines in fine spirits; it's up to you to judge.

In August 1739, Camas gets sick and Fritz worries: The second piece of news, which distresses me, which worries me, which alarms me, is the gout with which you are said to be tormented; I admit that I trembled at the mere thought of seeing such a brave officer become an invalid, such an honest man, such an experienced soldier, who, for having lost one of his limbs for the country, seems to deserve that human infirmities respect those whom he saved from a thousand dangers and a hundred battles. Your letter reassures me in some way, if it is not the effect of one of those generous efforts of friendship which puts aside pain and what can disturb common souls. I still fear for you, my dear Camas, and I reproach you for not having said two words to me about your health, which is dear to me, in a letter of four pages. You may think that I think only of myself, and that, intoxicated with my happiness [the first piece of news = FW just gifted him the Prussian stud farms at Trakehnen], I count my friends for nothing. Disillusion yourself, I beg you; no, I will never be indifferent to those with whom I am bound by the sacred knots of friendship. [...]

I'd love to include the four-page letter from Camas, or any letter from Camas, but I'm pretty sure Preuss edited even the single one that's available, only leaving a couple of lines of praise for the "Ode on Flattery" (written in the wake of a conversation they had about the topic), which is both ironic and not very interesting.

The final 1740 letters are short notes Fritz seems to have written while they were both in Berlin, sending some of his verses back and forth. For some reason, I found them oddly charming. The last one: My dear Camas, by asking you to lend me for a few moments the tale of the doctor which I gave you [a satire inspired by Superville], I will pay you the interest in advance through two Epistles. If I told you that the weather is fine outside, and that the walk is charming, you would be outraged; but telling you that I esteem you with all my heart cannot, I hope, be disagreeable to you. These are the feelings with which, in wishing you good night, I am all yours. Farewell. Federic

Finally, once he became king, he sent Camas on a diplomatic mission to Paris and while there are a couple of letters in the Political Correspondence from that time, they all contain only official politics, largely written by secretaries, and nothing personal. Camas did meet Voltaire, though, who gets the last word here, from a letter he wrote to Fritz in September: If kings are the images of the gods, and the ambassadors the images of kings, it follows, Sire, by Wolff's fourth theorem, that the gods are chubby, and have a very agreeable physiognomy. Blessed is this M. de Camas, not so much because he represents Your Majesty but because he will see you again!

From:

felis

You'd think she'd resent Fritz calling someone else Mom?

If this was more about status than emotional connection, she probably wouldn't have seen Countess Camas as a rival, unlike the actual (future) Queen? I don't know enough about SD to judge the difference.

From:

selenak

Thank you so much for this write up. Colonel Camas definitely sounds like a much liked/loved paternal mentor, and it’s fascinating that he’s entrusted with the ups and downs of the FW/Fritz relationship, given this is a very hot iron indeed and FW is Camas’ commander-in-chief and ultra distrustful against his officers conspiring with the rising sun. Incidentally, I’ve been trying to think for a while what set FW off in January 1739. Sure, it doesn’t have to be an actual reason (abusers don’t need one), but more often than not there’s a triggering event. I mean, in the crisis year 1730, you had the English marriage disaster and the debts coming to light as outward triggers. But in early 1739, Fritz has spent almost a decade being the perfect obedient son, with the non appearance of a grandchild really being the only thing where you can accuse him of not matching FW’s expectations. So why now? FW becomes aware one more illness will do him in and he’s rulnning on borrowed time?

Madame de Wr... writing to Voltaire: Madame de Wreech, whom Fritz wrote poetry to in Küstrin? (Also the mother of two of Heinrich’s courtiers. Also made a pass to Lehndorff in her later years.)

We have two new envoys here, Rudenskjöld and Valori. The first is a witty, clever man who has a lot of knowledge and world. The second is a fool, very coarse, and so deeply absorbed by the salacious, that the man of quality is totally lost in it; [...]

Hang on, what? In that order? That would be a very negative first judgment on Valori, author of some of the best Fritz portraits in writing by a contemporary, and friends with his younger brothers.

I’m charmed by Voltaire deducing Fritz early 1740s chubbiness from Camas. :)

From:

mildred_of_midgard

Incidentally, I’ve been trying to think for a while what set FW off in January 1739.

I noticed that he was set off in January 1736 and January 1739. This coincides with Fritz visiting Berlin.

cahn and I had a conversation (related to her Yuletide Madness fic) recently about how dysfunctional families set up all these expectations about how GREAT it's going to be to get together and see each other again, and the disappointment sets in early and increases throughout the visit. Wusterhausen is only a particularly egregious example.

Going from warm and fuzzies in December, in the first part of the visit, to disillusionment in January, is straight out of the dysfunctional family playbook, to borrow a phrase from

rachelmanija.

From:

felis

much liked/loved paternal mentor / FW is Camas’ commander-in-chief and ultra distrustful against his officers conspiring with the rising sun

I guess that might have been one reason for Fritz' caution re: Wusterhausen and writing to Camas there. Do we know anything about how Fritz and Camas got close in the first place?

Madame de Wr... writing to Voltaire: Madame de Wreech, whom Fritz wrote poetry to in Küstrin?

No idea, might be. The ellipses come from a Fritz letter, not sure why he wouldn't write it out.

Hang on, what? In that order? That would be a very negative first judgment on Valori

Yep, in that order! Fritz definitely didn't like Valori, I remember that he said as much in his letters to Voltaire and regretted that he replaced La Chetardie ... wait, let me have a look ... okay:

October 10th, before meeting him: I don't know who and how this M. Valori is, but I've heard it said that he doesn't have the tone of good company. (Pleschinski translates "kein angenehmer Zeitgenosse" - no idea who told Fritz that)

And then in December around the same time as the Camas letter: This M. de Valori, so long announced by the voice of the public, so often promised by the gazettes, so long arrested in Hamburg, has finally arrived in Berlin. It makes us very much regret La Chétardie. M. de Valori shows us every day what we lost with the first. It is now only theoretical courses of the Brabant wars, trifles and minutiae of the French army; and I constantly see a man who believes himself vis-à-vis the enemy and at the head of his brigade. I always fear that he would take me for a counterscarp or a work with horns, and that he would dishonestly assault me. M. de Valori almost always has a migraine; he has not the tone of society; he does not soup; and it is said that the headache does him too much honor to inconvenience him, and that he does not deserve it at all.

Also: Valori says that you were exiled from France as an enemy of the Roman religion, and I replied that he had lied about it.

There you have it!

From:

selenak

Fritz and Camas: no idea.

Valori: Well! That’s very interesting, given that Valori - like Mitchell three wars later - will go into the field with him. Also because Valori is one of the longest lasting envoys and one of the best liked by people other than Fritz. (According to Lehndorff, he even had intended to settle down in Berlin as a retirement place when politics changed irrevocably.) As mentioned, he was great friends with the Divine Trio, and far from being a dull conversationalist, he came up with one of the best bonmots about Fritz. (“It’s impossible to have more esprit than he does, but very possible to make better use of it.”) And like I said, the characterisation he gives of Fritz, written in the early 1750s, is one of the best portraits around. It’s quoted almost in full in the “Friedrich der Große und Maria Theresia in den Augen ihrer Zeitgenossen” anthology which I summarized and excerpted at Rheinsberg.

Of course, if Fritz takes that much against him on sight it puts a new light on Valori and Darget ending up in “The Palladion”, but it does make me wonder what Valori’s actual offense was. Seeing too much? Hitting it off too well with the brothers?

From:

mildred_of_midgard

My understanding is that it was normal for nobles/royals to call their governesses "Mama," *and*, as we know, it's normal for the Queen to outrank the Queen Mother, so I think it's entirely likely EC was a potential threat and Countess Camas wasn't.

From:

selenak

And so no one has to look it up, here’s Valory’s portrait of Fritz after a decade of acquaintance:

I beginn with his portrait. His face is compelling. He's small and of noble bearing. His figure isn't regular; his hips are too high, and his legs are too strong. He has beautiful blue eyes which are a bit too strongly pronounced, but easily reflect his moods, so their expression varies depending on his state of mind. If he's dissatisfied with something, their gaze is threatening, but nothing is more soft, gracious and captivating than if he's in a mood to please. His hair is thick, mouth and nose agreeable, his smile charming and witty, but often bitter and mocking. When his soul is peaceful, the softness of his gaze can charm anyone. His health varies, his temper heated, and his personal life style contributes quite a lot to heating his blood. He used to drink incredible amounts of coffee. One day, I dared to tell him that he drank too much coffee; he admitted as much and said he was trying to abandon the habit. "I now drink only six to seven cups in the morning", he said, "and after supper only one."

The King is extreme in anything he does. His main character flaw is his misanthropy. A virtuous and enlightened man is his ideal, and in his opinion the most foolish people are called honorable men. In general, he finds only a few to have wit, and he doesn't esteem the so colled common sense which as opposed to wit can provide a right and sound judgment. Anyone has their share of the later, and only a ruler of judgment can esteem everyone correctly, and if a man has his right place, he can surprise even the most witty people. The King talks a lot and very well, but he listens very little, and mocks every objection.

One can be hardly more daring than he is; hence his contempt for humanity. He speaks out against vice with surprising eloquence. The same is true for morals, the most beautiful traits of which he seems to have learned to name by heart. But he's so little consequential and believes so little in what he says that his own claims refute him only fifteen minutes later.

He does have principles regarding administration, and, if I may say so, even about temper and disloyal reports. Fortunately what he decides when in a mood isn't set in stone; he usually returns to a correct judgment. If, however, his decision is made, he has no regard for etiquette. As soon as something he has come up with and pondered thoroughly appears right to him, he abandons all restraint in order to execute it. He is extremely suspicious; if he was less so, he'd be content to have come up with good ideas and would delegate their execution to his ministers, who are more sensible than he is and would soften any too great harshness.

Again: he has contempt for humankind and believes people are born to obey without talking back. This explains the excess in his behavior and the obvious paradoxes which amaze all who managed to get closer to him. I always have tried to analyze the immediate causes he named for his rejections, as well as the reasons why he hurt or flattered those close to him. In most cases, I had to admit his reasons were good, though not the form they took.

He owes the conquest of Silesia (...) to his boundless energy. (...) The good status of his troops and his magazines which were equipped with all that was needed to start a campaign with a strong army heightened his audacity and made him reckless for as long as he was confronted by only a handful of troops dispersed across a few Silesian fortresses. As soon as he was confronted with a proper army, he got conscious of all the dangers he faced. I dare to say he even exaggareted them in his mind. His consistent fortune has nourished his boldness for a while, but since then he thought about this and has admitted he owes much to luck. His enemy in a distance is always politics. The later often get scorned as being dependent on the moment, especially the Saxons, and yet during the campaign of 1744, they caused him the deepest trouble, but he punished them thouroughly for it in 1745. In this last campaign, he has shown the talents of a great general. But he believes to have all the talents, both those of a King and of a writer, which is a strange brew; we see the great man occupy himself with trifles.

The arts have become his weakness, in the same way as his royal father had a weakness for anyone above six feet. He pursues the reputation of a polymath - the poet, the orator, the musician are starting to dominate the King in him. His many troops force thriftiness on him, and yet I dare say he's too thrifty. It is impossible to possess more ésprit than he does, but very possible to make a better use of it. He's never more charming than if he wants to please you, and he always wants this to flatter his love of self. Once he has charmed you, he neglects you and regards you as his slave, who is there to obey him in a servile manner and to put up with all his moods.

He's harsh and masterful towards his brothers. He holds them in an utter dependency which he himself never got used to when having it on his father who made everyone tremble. This father knew him very well and once told him: "When you are lord and master here, you will betray everyone, for you can't help yourself. You are false to the core of your being, and a betrayer. Be careful, Friedrich! Make that first betrayal as complete as possible, for you won't manage to fool them a second time." I have a trusthworthy second source for this anecdote, for it has been confirmed to me by the crown prince, his worthy brother. I hope thus to have drawn some traits of his character for you. In totem, he remains an enigma.

From:

mildred_of_midgard

Re Fritz taking an instant dislike to Valori, see also this discussion.

re: Doctor Superville [what a name] - didn't Valory say some similar things that early? I seem to remember coming across that. (And Voltaire kind of jokes about the mutual dislike between him and Fritz in one of the letters I read yesterday.)
...
Fritz told Voltaire that he didn't like [Valory] the minute he showed up and then Voltaire made a joke about the way Valory saw Fritz

From:

felis

You know what, now I'm wondering if Algarotti is the one who talked to Fritz about Valori, although the negativity doesn't really seem like him (he visited Rheinsberg about two weeks before the October letter to Voltaire).

Voltaire himself didn't know Valori before November/December 1740, when he seems to have spent some time at his place, because he promptly sets his Algarotti poem at Valori's:

Mais quand, chez le gros Valori,
Je vois le tendre Algarotti
Presser d'une vive embrassade
Le beau Lugeac, son jeune ami,
Je crois voir Socrate affermi
Sur la croupe d'Alcibiade;

And thank you for reposting the whole portrait - I had read it before but it was definitely good to reread and refresh my memory.

From:

felis

Wait, didn't Fritz spent parts of basically every December/January after his marriage in Berlin/with his family? That's what I thought at least.

For example, he was in Berlin in December 1737 as well, writing this to Camas: It is believed that the King will come on Monday to honor his capital with his presence. Time will develop the events that we have to wait for. It is assured that he will come as a beneficent divinity, to spread everywhere his benign influences. Others maintain that it will be blazing Jupiter, armed with thunders. For myself, I wait for everything with admirable composure, not foreseeing what I have to fear, especially since I feel clean and undefiled. I hope to do better in this campaign than Seckendorff, and to get back to my sheep next month.

And then the next letter from Potsdam in January: I have been here for three days awaiting a fit of repentance, holiness, credulity, etc., which I hope will pass before Monday; that dispatched, I plan to leave by Tuesday or Wednesday. I was treated very gently, but the devil loses nothing; you know the spirit of the court, and that is enough to judge it.