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

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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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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. :)

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.

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.

Yep, as far as I know, he spent every December/January there. I suspect a lot of emotional upheaval around that time of year. It sounds like 1737/1738 went a bit better, but still very stressful for Fritz.

So more background on this: the Madness ficlet was originally set in Wusterhausen (with Amalie just being fond of asking weird questions when she gets drunk), but before the big blowup fight, and I had a line in there about how it wasn't really living up to Heinrich's expectations (except for Fritz not being there, lol), and mildred asked why, since she'd assumed from that line that the ficlet took place after the fight. Hence the discussion about expectations, which I am mortally certain happened in that Wusterhausen trip, probably before the big fight too.

Anyway, when the setting of Amalie betaing Heinrich's play became a thing, I dropped the Wusterhausen setting :)

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!

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?

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

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.

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.

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

Re: Camas Letters I - Colonel Camas (1734-1740)

Re: Camas Letters I - Colonel Camas (1734-1740)

Re: Camas Letters I - Colonel Camas (1734-1740)

Re: Camas Letters I - Colonel Camas (1734-1740)

Re: Camas Letters I - Colonel Camas (1734-1740)

Re: Camas Letters I - Colonel Camas (1734-1740)

Re: Camas Letters I - Colonel Camas (1734-1740)

Re: Camas Letters I - Colonel Camas (1734-1740)

Re: Camas Letters I - Colonel Camas (1734-1740)

Re: Camas Letters I - Colonel Camas (1734-1740)