I love the idea re: Algarotti. Does it work out date-wise? (I.e. from when exactly is this letter?)
Well, Algarotti's STD letter is late 1740 (December, iirc), and Fritz's letters to Gröben are from 1734, so Fritz's hypothetical sexual relationship with Gröben would definitely precede the one with Algarotti. That said, felis tells us that Gröben was transferred out of Fritz's regiment in 1738, so there would have to be a lapse of at least a year (the first encounter between Fritz and Algarotti being 1739).
That said, STDs do often go from symptomatic to asymptomatic to symptomatic, and there were no antibiotics back then to actually *fix* the problem, so the following is possible:
1733-1738: Fritz acquired an STD. Got treated (at the suggestion of the Schwedt brothers?). 1739: Fritz was asymptomatic in 1739 and attributed that to the success of some treatment. Had sex with Algarotti. Late 1740: Algarotti and Fritz both become symptomatic. 1741: Fritz receives treatment in the field, as Münchow claimed in the 1790s that his brother had told him.
Of course, in 1741, we also have Georgii, so the plot thickens...
The *only* part of this for which we have hard evidence is Fritz writing to Algarotti sympathetically about A having an STD. To my mind that's completely different from Marwitz's STD (which he got from Fritz, royal super-spreader? :P), which was said mockingly and to a third party, under circumstances where Fritz had a lot of incentive to lie or spread unsubstantiated rumors. I thus give it good odds that Algarotti of "six degrees" fame really did have an STD. (Joking aside, if there was a super-spreader, it might well have been him. And if Fritz did have an STD in the field in the 1740s, right after Algarotti turns up symptomatic in late 1740, he might still have gotten it from Algarotti.)
I have to say, "The King was a good deal piqued by this indiscretion; for if the marechal knew that it was the King of Prussia, he ought not to have received his visit, but to have prevented him with the marks of utmost repect" is as Fritzian an alternate story for "Broglie locked me up!" that I can imagine. :)
Yup. Fritz rewriting the history of that event from day 1. Later, AW would be omitted when it was convenient for Fritz to remember it that way.
Fritz and STDs
Well, Algarotti's STD letter is late 1740 (December, iirc), and Fritz's letters to Gröben are from 1734, so Fritz's hypothetical sexual relationship with Gröben would definitely precede the one with Algarotti. That said,
That said, STDs do often go from symptomatic to asymptomatic to symptomatic, and there were no antibiotics back then to actually *fix* the problem, so the following is possible:
1733-1738: Fritz acquired an STD. Got treated (at the suggestion of the Schwedt brothers?).
1739: Fritz was asymptomatic in 1739 and attributed that to the success of some treatment. Had sex with Algarotti.
Late 1740: Algarotti and Fritz both become symptomatic.
1741: Fritz receives treatment in the field, as Münchow claimed in the 1790s that his brother had told him.
Of course, in 1741, we also have Georgii, so the plot thickens...
The *only* part of this for which we have hard evidence is Fritz writing to Algarotti sympathetically about A having an STD. To my mind that's completely different from Marwitz's STD
(which he got from Fritz, royal super-spreader? :P), which was said mockingly and to a third party, under circumstances where Fritz had a lot of incentive to lie or spread unsubstantiated rumors. I thus give it good odds that Algarotti of "six degrees" fame really did have an STD. (Joking aside, if there was a super-spreader, it might well have been him. And if Fritz did have an STD in the field in the 1740s, right after Algarotti turns up symptomatic in late 1740, he might still have gotten it from Algarotti.)I have to say, "The King was a good deal piqued by this indiscretion; for if the marechal knew that it was the King of Prussia, he ought not to have received his visit, but to have prevented him with the marks of utmost repect" is as Fritzian an alternate story for "Broglie locked me up!" that I can imagine. :)
Yup. Fritz rewriting the history of that event from day 1. Later, AW would be omitted when it was convenient for Fritz to remember it that way.