Okay, this is the ONE post from my reading I'm going to allow myself to make today. I wish I could share all the Horowski goodies with you guys, but I will never sleep if I do, and I will certainly never learn German. So here goes.
The master of ceremonies who's come up a couple of times is Johann von Besser, son of a preacher from the Pomeranian Besser(er) family. Is there another preacher Besser(er) from the general vicinity who's come up a lot in our fandom? Yes, there is! (Was with Katte at the end, wrote the sympathetic account to Hans Heinrich.) Are they related? Probably!
Anyway, our future master of ceremonies Besser was planning to become a preacher, but he got into a notorious duel and that ended that career. He ended up in diplomacy instead (thanks to a bunch of connections), and the Great Elector (F1's father) sent him to the court of Charles II of England, as the Brandenburg Resident. As his performance with the sword duel and then his tennis matches with C2 proved, he was a very athletic guy.
Now, Brandenburg and Venice were about equal when it came to precedence at court. Which meant Besser and the Venetian envoy were always duking it out, trying to get the edge over the other. After the Venetian envoy managed to get ahead of Besser in making it to a door and entering a room before him, Besser knew if it happened again, that all the diplomats would have to write home that Venice clearly should treated with more respect than Brandenburg.
So when C2 died and his brother James became king, Besser and the Venetian guy were racing down the hall to be the first to present their compliments to the new king. Here is where I have to quote from Horowski:
Besser's martial arts lessons at Leipzig proved useful one last time. All diplomats could improvise this kind of speech, but only Besser was capable of talking and keeping his gaze fixed on the king while simultaneously grabbing the competition by the pants and giving him the most elegant kickboxer kick possible to shove him far into the back of the room, all without breaking stride in the delivery of his speech of compliments upon the accession to the throne. When he finished speaking, the room broke into spontaneous applause, and we should not be surprised, if from then on, his career had something to do with ceremonials.
His first day on the job as master of ceremonies for F1 was F1's homage ceremony in Prussia (no coronation yet), where Horowski gives a description that may be of interest to fanfic writers, if anyone wants to lead into the 1740 Strasbourg and Cleves trip with the Königsberg trip before it. He did such a good job--including tricking the Polish envoys into accepting chairs with lower backs than his boss, the new Elector, as part of a campaign to signal that an Elector was about the equal of a king (remember, the thing he'll have to go back on later, when his elector becomes king)--that F1 ennobles him, and that's when he becomes "von Besser."
He keeps his job until 1713, when F1 dies and FW kicks out all his father's unnecessary staff, and then he goes to Dresden and advises August the Strong until his death.
Next hilarious observation by Horowski is that, during his homage ceremony, the elector (here in his capacity as sovereign Duke of Prussia), did not make a speech. He points out that we are used to our rulers being on a permanent election campaign and making speeches all the livelong day, but early modern monarchs were trained to be pithy and make short observations that would not risk their dignity.
If an early modern monarch could talk well, that was a wasted stroke of luck among born rulers. How gladly would Frederick the Great have given speeches! But there were practically no occasions, and so his entourage alone got the full weight of his monologues.
Lol. I guess Leuthen was his chance to shine in more ways than one!
His entourage: *weary* Catt: My real job title is Royal Listener!
That's absolutely priceless, and I so hope one day a film will include that sequence of Besser kickboxing the Venetian ambassador while keeping eye contact with James II. and delivering his congratulations speech.
James: for once in his life, not the most status conscious person in the room!
Lol. I guess Leuthen was his chance to shine in more ways than one!
No kidding. And good lord, yes, he'd have loved to give speeches. As it is, he was the King with the most modern PR work anyway, with all those articles he launched in the press.
Catt: My real job title is Royal Listener!
The other readers: So say we all!
but early modern monarchs were trained to be pithy and make short observations that would not risk their dignity.
Lord Hervey: Pity the training never seems to hold for Germans, then. Of course, I learned to tune out G2 a lot of the time, but not enough not to satirize him on that count, too, in my memoirs.
I agree! Somebody--I'm not saying who, but SOMEBODY--should write a book on this guy and find someone who wants to film it! :P Between the duel, and beating C2 at tennis, and the kickboxing, and F1's eventful homage ceremony (which Horowski recounts in a very cinematic way) and working for August the Strong, this guy's life was well suited to the screen.
Unfortunately, I checked, and he *just* missed the giant, over-the-top military+pleasure camp at Zeithain by a little over a year. All I can think is, "He would have loved that." :/
But maybe it took more than a year to plan--didn't they build a whole opera house for it?--and a fiction writer could still work it in. Also, he was totally around in 1728 when FW and Fritz visited Dresden, just saying.
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timeasmymeasure
F1's master of ceremonies
Date: 2021-01-30 01:42 pm (UTC)The master of ceremonies who's come up a couple of times is Johann von Besser, son of a preacher from the Pomeranian Besser(er) family. Is there another preacher Besser(er) from the general vicinity who's come up a lot in our fandom? Yes, there is! (Was with Katte at the end, wrote the sympathetic account to Hans Heinrich.) Are they related? Probably!
Anyway, our future master of ceremonies Besser was planning to become a preacher, but he got into a notorious duel and that ended that career. He ended up in diplomacy instead (thanks to a bunch of connections), and the Great Elector (F1's father) sent him to the court of Charles II of England, as the Brandenburg Resident. As his performance with the sword duel and then his tennis matches with C2 proved, he was a very athletic guy.
Now, Brandenburg and Venice were about equal when it came to precedence at court. Which meant Besser and the Venetian envoy were always duking it out, trying to get the edge over the other. After the Venetian envoy managed to get ahead of Besser in making it to a door and entering a room before him, Besser knew if it happened again, that all the diplomats would have to write home that Venice clearly should treated with more respect than Brandenburg.
So when C2 died and his brother James became king, Besser and the Venetian guy were racing down the hall to be the first to present their compliments to the new king. Here is where I have to quote from Horowski:
Besser's martial arts lessons at Leipzig proved useful one last time. All diplomats could improvise this kind of speech, but only Besser was capable of talking and keeping his gaze fixed on the king while simultaneously grabbing the competition by the pants and giving him the most elegant kickboxer kick possible to shove him far into the back of the room, all without breaking stride in the delivery of his speech of compliments upon the accession to the throne. When he finished speaking, the room broke into spontaneous applause, and we should not be surprised, if from then on, his career had something to do with ceremonials.
His first day on the job as master of ceremonies for F1 was F1's homage ceremony in Prussia (no coronation yet), where Horowski gives a description that may be of interest to fanfic writers, if anyone wants to lead into the 1740 Strasbourg and Cleves trip with the Königsberg trip before it. He did such a good job--including tricking the Polish envoys into accepting chairs with lower backs than his boss, the new Elector, as part of a campaign to signal that an Elector was about the equal of a king (remember, the thing he'll have to go back on later, when his elector becomes king)--that F1 ennobles him, and that's when he becomes "von Besser."
He keeps his job until 1713, when F1 dies and FW kicks out all his father's unnecessary staff, and then he goes to Dresden and advises August the Strong until his death.
Next hilarious observation by Horowski is that, during his homage ceremony, the elector (here in his capacity as sovereign Duke of Prussia), did not make a speech. He points out that we are used to our rulers being on a permanent election campaign and making speeches all the livelong day, but early modern monarchs were trained to be pithy and make short observations that would not risk their dignity.
If an early modern monarch could talk well, that was a wasted stroke of luck among born rulers. How gladly would Frederick the Great have given speeches! But there were practically no occasions, and so his entourage alone got the full weight of his monologues.
Lol. I guess Leuthen was his chance to shine in more ways than one!
His entourage: *weary*
Catt: My real job title is Royal Listener!
Re: F1's master of ceremonies
Date: 2021-01-30 03:17 pm (UTC)James: for once in his life, not the most status conscious person in the room!
Lol. I guess Leuthen was his chance to shine in more ways than one!
No kidding. And good lord, yes, he'd have loved to give speeches. As it is, he was the King with the most modern PR work anyway, with all those articles he launched in the press.
Catt: My real job title is Royal Listener!
The other readers: So say we all!
but early modern monarchs were trained to be pithy and make short observations that would not risk their dignity.
Lord Hervey: Pity the training never seems to hold for Germans, then. Of course, I learned to tune out G2 a lot of the time, but not enough not to satirize him on that count, too, in my memoirs.
Re: F1's master of ceremonies
Date: 2021-01-30 05:35 pm (UTC)Lord Hervey and G2: LOLOL.
Re: F1's master of ceremonies
Date: 2021-02-10 06:24 am (UTC)His entourage: *weary*
Catt: My real job title is Royal Listener!
hahahaha, yeah.
Re: F1's master of ceremonies
Date: 2021-02-12 06:51 pm (UTC)Unfortunately, I checked, and he *just* missed the giant, over-the-top military+pleasure camp at Zeithain by a little over a year. All I can think is, "He would have loved that." :/
But maybe it took more than a year to plan--didn't they build a whole opera house for it?--and a fiction writer could still work it in. Also, he was totally around in 1728 when FW and Fritz visited Dresden, just saying.