Nifty! I knew Pennsylvania was musical AU material. :) (Speaking of AUs: In the where Heinrich accepts the King of the USA job, I'm not sure whether Fritz keeps that citizenship, but okay, he's dead by then.)
It was possibly renamed to entice German soldiers fighting in the American Revolution to remain in this area.
Hm, wouldn't that depend on which side they were fighting on? Also from which German state they're from? Granted, Fritzmania was pretty popular in non Prussian German states, too, after the 7 Years War, independently from whether or not the people were pro Prussia as well (see Goethe's "we were all Fritzians, but what was Prussia to me?" about his youthful fandom), but, well, Saxons would have been the exception of the rule.
Bavarians: We were also less than keen on Fritz! Würtembergians: Named-after-Fritz Schiller provides our lack of enthusiam for being sold to the US to fight in order to finance Carl Eugen's life style with powerful literary testimony. Not sure how we'd feel about a Fritz reminder one way or the other, but Carl Eugen was educated at Fritz' court, so... Hessians: We provide a ghost story! Also princesses to be married off in unhappy marriages with Prussians, but that's beside the point.
Speaking of AUs: In the where Heinrich accepts the King of the USA job, I'm not sure whether Fritz keeps that citizenship, but okay, he's dead by then.
After I posted this comment, I remembered the Heinrich AU and laughed!
Hm, wouldn't that depend on which side they were fighting on? Also from which German state they're from?
Of course! But there were Germans on both sides of the war, and the most famous Prussian to any modern-day American is von Steuben! I remember having to learn about him something like 5 separate years in school, whereas we learned about Fritz 0 times. Maybe some tax-dodger back then had decided that von Steuben was cool and therefore we need to keep some Prussians and other Fritzians around, idk.
I have no idea whether this speculative reason for the renaming is true, and neither does Wikipedia. I have no idea whether the diarist who apparently doesn't know when the inn was founded (assuming Wikipedia's account can be trusted, though it does sound more plausible) is even right about the citizenship thing as a technicality! But it's definitely funny, and should be included in any AU where Heinrich becomes King of America. ;)
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Citizen of Pennsylvania
Date: 2021-02-07 11:16 am (UTC)It was possibly renamed to entice German soldiers fighting in the American Revolution to remain in this area.
Hm, wouldn't that depend on which side they were fighting on? Also from which German state they're from? Granted, Fritzmania was pretty popular in non Prussian German states, too, after the 7 Years War, independently from whether or not the people were pro Prussia as well (see Goethe's "we were all Fritzians, but what was Prussia to me?" about his youthful fandom), but, well, Saxons would have been the exception of the rule.
Bavarians: We were also less than keen on Fritz!
Würtembergians: Named-after-Fritz Schiller provides our lack of enthusiam for being sold to the US to fight in order to finance Carl Eugen's life style with powerful literary testimony. Not sure how we'd feel about a Fritz reminder one way or the other, but Carl Eugen was educated at Fritz' court, so...
Hessians: We provide a ghost story! Also princesses to be married off in unhappy marriages with Prussians, but that's beside the point.
Re: Citizen of Pennsylvania
Date: 2021-02-07 02:29 pm (UTC)After I posted this comment, I remembered the Heinrich AU and laughed!
Hm, wouldn't that depend on which side they were fighting on? Also from which German state they're from?
Of course! But there were Germans on both sides of the war, and the most famous Prussian to any modern-day American is von Steuben! I remember having to learn about him something like 5 separate years in school, whereas we learned about Fritz 0 times. Maybe some tax-dodger back then had decided that von Steuben was cool and therefore we need to keep some Prussians and other Fritzians around, idk.
I have no idea whether this speculative reason for the renaming is true, and neither does Wikipedia. I have no idea whether the diarist who apparently doesn't know when the inn was founded (assuming Wikipedia's account can be trusted, though it does sound more plausible) is even right about the citizenship thing as a technicality! But it's definitely funny, and should be included in any AU where Heinrich becomes King of America. ;)