Since we don't have just Volz' "Spiegel" but also "Gespräche" in the library, I checked to see whether maybe the Mantteuffel report on Fritz before his ascension was there. It wasn't, though Volz did include Mantteuffel's description of his conversation with Fritz about the siblings (complete with Ferdinand, coming menace) and about his wife ("I can't embrace her with passion") . Mind you, Volz boringly replaces everyone's names for the codenames, so "Crown Prince" for "Junior", "Grumbkow" for "Biberius" and so forth. What was in "Gespräche" was Volz' combination of two French reports on Fritz' 1740 Straßburg expedition., that of the Marquis de Valfons, who was a captain in the local regiment, and that of Broglie's report as given on August 26th 1740, i.e. a day after it happened , for his superiors in Paris. A reminder on Broglie: not the one from the 7 Years War, but this one, his father.
Volz is conscientious about his sources, so he tells us via footnote that the Marquis de Valfons' report is from "Souvenirs du marquis de Valfons", S. 50 ff, Paris 1860, while Boglie's report was printed in the "Archives de la Bastille, BD. XIII, S. 195 ff, Paris 1881.
Having read them now: worst incognito traveller ever! Also, no arrest, unless Broglie is being lying. The date: 23 - 25th August 1740.
Marquis de Valfons: I was lodging in the famous Inn "The Raven" in Straßburg and played a game with Frau von Schönberg, who was on her way back from Paris to Saxony, where she had some estates. (...) Three strangers from Germany were announced; one of them called himself Comte Dufour. He approached us very politely and said: "Madame, I do not have the honor of knowing you, but I know your name too well not to pay my respects to you. I come from Bohemia and met these gentlemen here with whom I have since then shared my travels in Nuremberg."
Frau von Schönberg returned his courtesy and asked him to sit with us. We interrupted the game and started to chat. Comte Dufour talked with wit and vivaciousnesss and an adroitness in French which did not betray a foreigner. He sneezed, and at once his two companions rose eager and very respectfully. He had to smile, and gestured towards them, indicating that they should sit down again. This made me think, and I became more restrained in my questions. Shortly thereafter, Teutsch, the owner of the inn, approached me from behind and told me: "Monsieur le Marquis, the Comte Dufour is the Crown Prince of Prussia, who travels incognito with two courtiers."
Now I understood the mystery of the respectful behavior his companions showed. The Comte asked me to dine together. I had already been invited by Frau von Schönberg, and she very politely suggested to dine all together. I now asked me whether he wanted to see Straßburg, offered myself as a guide, and invited him to dinner for the next day, which he accepted.
Upon his arrival, he had sent out word to ask whether some other officers from the garnison were at the Café. As accident would have it, Coicy and two others whose dinner had taken quite a long time were still drinking their coffee. They believed some newcomer was looking to make connections. Somewhat tipsy, they accepted the invitation and followed the servant who led them to Frau von Schönberg. Here they met me to their great surprise. Comte Dufour rose, said farewell to Frau von Schönberg and said to the gentlemen: "I thank you for your kindness and ask you to make it complete by dining with me."
I followed him until the stairs and said to Coicy: "Be careful! The supposed Comte Dufour may be the Crown Prince of Prussia!"
The dinner went cheerfully. THe Comte kept asking Coicy questions , since the later, as a Major, was better equipped to reply than the others. After dinner, it was agreed that the next day one would watch the changing of the guard and visit the two bataillons Piemont in order to examine them from head to toe. Yes, it's "Crown Prince" all the time, not "King". Also, Fritz, people from Bohemia speak in a really different accent from Brandenburg folk, and as for Nuremberg Franconians, well...
Marshal Broglie takes up the story in the Volz volume: My officers reported to me on August 24th. On this day, Prince August Wilhelm, Wartensleben and Algarotti came to me. (..., interruption by Volz, not me. Volz also says in a footnote Algarotti and AW had lodged in another inn together. I take this to mean that Fritz/Algarotti sex wasn't on the agenda for the Straßburg trip.) The supposed Comte Dufour did not appear, but excused himself as being sick by Herr von Wartensleben. I invited the three others to lunch, as one does with noble strangers. (..., by Volz again). After lunch, they went to the theatre, where they were supposed to meet up with the Comte Dufour.
Once they returned from the theatre, I sent a Major from the regiment Piemont to the "Raven" in order to find out who the Comte Dufour and the Saxonian Nobleman were; for I didn't know whether they were people of rank or simple adventurers, which happens here very often. The innkeeper knew nothing more than that he'd been told to serve his guest very well. Neither the innkeeper nor his servants were allowed to enter his guest's room; in front of the door, two husars stood guard, and he only was served by his own servants. All together they were maybe a dozen travellers of different rank, who ate at different tables; they only said Yes and No and talked Prussian (sic) among themselves.
Comte Dufour watched the changing of the guard with the three other gentlemen (i.e. AW, Algarotti, Wartensleben), then he climbed up to the platform of the minster (i.e. the famous Straßburg cathedral) and returned to his inn.
A citizen of Straßburg, whose nephew had been forced into the Tall Fellows of Potsdam, and who had seen the King of Prussia in Berlin, threw himself at his feet and asked him for mercy for his nephew. The King replied that surely, the other was joking; that he wasn't a King. The citzen replied he knew him well, and as proof he pulled out a medaillon which had been coined and thrown into the crowd on the occasion of his coronation (sic). The King saw himself recognized and promised the asked for mercy but ordered him not to tell anyone who he was. Since he was afraid of punishment, the citizen went straight way to the commander of Straßburg, Baron de Trélans, who in turn told me.
I found the behavior of the gentleman stranger, and started to believe that he must be one of the younger princes from the royal house of Prussia. So I sent two Prussian soldiers to the inn who had sworn they knew the King very well. After they had seen him, they both told me they immediately recognized him. Nearly at the same time, Herr von Wartensleben came to me, gave me compliments by the Comte Dufour and told me that the Comte had been sick so far but would not omit paying me a visit during the course of the day. (... by Volz again.) I told him that it was pointless for the Comte Dufour to insist on his Incognito any more; I knew that he was the King of Prussia; the citizen who had asked for the release of his nephew and the two Prussian soldiers had all recognized him at once. If hte King of Prussia wanted to stay incognito, I would not betray him; he only had to order. I was ready to pay him all the honors due to him and was awaiting his commands. I noticed that I had embarrassed Herrn von Wartensleben a lot, but he didn't want to admit it was the King of Prussia, and returned to the "Raven" in order to make his report. Shortly thereafter, Algarotti showed up and told me from the Comte Dufour that the later was indeed a Prince of the House of Brandenburg, but not the King. I asked me to receive him as a private gentleman without any thought of rank between 4 and 5 pm. I replied that I would have visited him myself if I hadn't been afraid to cause his displeasure since I could see he wanted to keep his Incognito.
He showed up at the agreed upon hour with the three other gentlemen, and I received him as a private gentleman, as he had wished. Except for us, only his three companions were present. He told me the courtesies usual among private citizens; I was very respectful and asked him: "Does your majesty want to be treated as the King of Prussia or as Comte Dufour?" Whereupon he returned that he wasn't the King of Prussia but only what he had told Algarotti to tell me he was. He said he was very pleased to see me as his late father had told him much about me and wished to visit the citadel. I sent for the local officer, du Portail, who gave him a tour. On the esplanade, he saw all the pontons standing in a row and at the magazine all the canons, a great many. He said to du Portail: "All this war machinery gives a good impression of your King's might." And it is indeed impressive. I invited him to the theatre in my box, and he accepted my invitation. However, I knew that the two officers from the Piemont regiment, whom he had invited on the day of his arrival for supper, had felt themselves obliged to invite him in return, and still believed him to be the Comte Dufour, and he had accepted in order not to reveal himself. So I asked him to pay me the honor of dining with me, and he accepted.
(Footnote by Volz: According to Valfons, the King then cancelled with Valfons and his comrades and sent six bottles of pink Champagne as a sign of his regret, which he called "his usual drink" and asked them to drink these to his health.)
During my conversation with him - and I always addressed him in the third person - , rumor ran through the town that the King of Prussia had arrived, and a great many officers, citzens and their wives went to the streets and even to my house in order to see him. And thus it happened that when he left me, all the people were running after his carriage and didn't budge. Consequently, he didn't go to the theatre but directly to his inn. Once he had arrived there, he decided to order the horses as he saw his secret was lifted, and to leave immediately. The journey went through Landau, Cologne and Wesel, as I learned from Algarotti, whom he sent to me immediately. He had Algarotti apologize to me and asked not to begrudge him that he couldn't come to the theatre and to supper with me, but that he was discovered and could not show himself in the street without all the people running after him.
Yes, well, you know what would have prevented that? No bodyguards, for starters. Also anyone with a clue of how private travellers acted. Algarotti clearly had been famous for too long for that already. BTW, since Fritz showed such interest in the garnison that this was the only thing he saw other than the cathedral, I wonder whether Heinrich's request some years later to let him do the grand tour, err, research military fortifications abroad hit extra hard and thus caused the instant NO.
What was the source for that again, an AW letter via Ziebura?
I came across a facsimile of one of the written-on-the-spot passports, provided by Koser, and in a footnote he mentions another write-up of the whole incident, which is based on the two sources that Volz has, plus a report in a journal called "Staatssecretario" and -- a second-hand report from Manteuffel of all people, who apparently talked to some of the people who were on the trip (surely not Fritz!) and had a source in Strasbourg (?) and sent a compiled report to Dresden on September 28th. Says Wiegand. (He also reports that Troeger - yep, again - wrote another account of the trip and doesn't think Manteuffel is all that reliable, because all second-hand, whereas Wiegand himself thinks differently and seems to trust him more.)
Now, the passport is interesting, because it's for both "Graf Ferdinand Albrecht v. Schaffgotsch" AND for Algarotti, who doesn't seem to have had a pseudonym after all, no matter what Rödenbeck says. The thing is dated "28 July 1740" (ha), written by Fredersdorf (says Koser) and signed by Fritz.
The Wiegand write-up is also interesting because while it doesn't have an arrest either, it does mention that Broglie apparently debated detaining them and waiting for orders from Paris how to proceed, but didn't actually do so. Wiegand says both Broglie himself and Manteuffel report that, which means Volz must have left it out? And it still contradicts AW?
In Straßburg, Wartensleben was apparently the one to repeatedly urge caution and less conspicuous behaviour, but Fritz ignored him. (Which makes me wonder if he might have been one of Manteuffel's sources.) Other details: AW ate a lot and didn't say a word during the meal with Broglie, Algarotti, and Wartensleben. Fritz did get to visit the theatre, and attracted curiosity there as well, because he commented loudly on the performance and gave a lot of money to a girl who was selling lottery tickets. (If that anecdote isn't true after all, it was certainly invented by someone who knew him. :P)
I just checked Ziebura’s AW biography again, and she says AW mentioning the arrest is from his “my life so far” CV that he wrote on the occasion of his son’s birth. (I really want to read that document!) Maybe he dramatized for future FW2’s benefit?
Anyway,thank youi for Wiegand’s write-up. Leaving aside the German nationalism near the end about Fritz discovering the true nature of the French etc. etc., it is very informative, down to the footnotes, which make me understand why he puts faith in Manteuffel. Looks like Manteuffel really must have had first class sources, because even before the September 28th compilation, he as early as September 2nd (!!!!!) correctly reports to Brühl that Fritz must have gone to Straßburg, on September 5th, he knows that Fritz was there for three days, that he visited the theatre and the local head officers, and on September 9th that Fritz was recognized by deserters. The footnote names directly the Manteuffel letters in question from the State Archive. His located in Straßburg source, according to the footnote, was a young noble studying maths at the Straßburg university, but I think you’re right about his source with Fritz being Wartensleben, what with all the Wartensleben pov sections on everything not hailing from the Valvons, Broglie or Fritz-to-Voltaire versions.
Anyway, if Manteuffel got his intel from Wartensleben - this particular spawn of the great Wartensleben clan, that is, who according to the Wiegand article had been freshly promoted by Fritz to his AD post throne ascension - , I think we have another possible source for the anymous report on Fritz. Either way, given that Manteuffel is in northern Germany, and Fritz is in Straßburg in the last week of August, all that correct intel starting from September 2nd doesn’t just indicate top sources but lightning speed couriers. I mean, okay, knowing on September 2nd Fritz went to Straßburg could hail from his source telling him pre trip (maybe from Bayreuth?) that such was Fritz’ intention, but knowing correct details like the theatre visit on September 5th does point to a really quick courier. In any case, Manteuffel being on the outs with Fritz himself evidently did not deprive him from good and realiable intel from Fritz’ entourage. Between that and the intimate reports as referenced by Seckenforff Jr. in the mid 1730s, I must say that le Diable clearly is the best intelligence asset among the envoys.
Back to the write-ups: Wiegand really comes down on Broglie for not being up to the situation by insisting on treating Fritz like a King, not as the Comte Dufour, but it was an extremely difficult situation, because Fritz is an unknown quantity at this point, and royals can be touchy if actually treated like non-royals, no matter what they say. (See also Wilhelmine’s encounter with MT’s cousin the Wittelsbach Empress and the negotiation about chairs.). Otoh I found it amusing that Wiegand mentions Joseph, decades later, on his incognito trip to Paris, also lodged in the same inn, the Raven, on his stopover in Straßburg. Because of course he did. (Speaking of Joseph, I remember the Duc de Croy in his diary being in some trouble of how to address him and act towards him, too, because as Emperor, he would outrank anyone else in any room, including the King, but as he travelled as Count Falkenstein, this wasn’t the case, yet on the third hand everoyne knew he wasn’t really Count Falkenstein, so which etiquette to use was a Versailles trained French nobleman’s headache.
Oh, and it is of course very telling for pre revolutionary France (and Prussia) that no account mentions Fritz’ servants as people, just in the plural (as in, him getting served by them, not the staff at the inn - btw, I take it this means Fredersdorf?), whereas they do list the gentleman of rank by name. The detail with Fredersdorf having written the passport and Fritz signing it from Koser makes me wonder from which original report that comes from for this reason. (Evidently not Fritz’ to Voltaire, or any of the French sources.)
The detail with Fredersdorf having written the passport and Fritz signing it from Koser makes me wonder from which original report that comes from for this reason. (Evidently not Fritz’ to Voltaire, or any of the French sources.
We saw that recently in Bielfeld's account. He mentions the separate inns: Fritz at the Holy Ghost, and AW at the Raven, though I don't see where he mentions Algarotti staying at the Raven. I'm also skimming quickly before bed, so I might have missed it.
ETA: Wartensleben is this guy, btw. Just to help us keep our Wartenslebens straight.
I think Bielfeld is wrong about the inns actually, because as Volz says via the two French sources, Fritz and Wartensleben stayed at the Raven. Wiegand confirms that and also says that AW and Algarotti arrived later (they'd apparently split up to attract less attention - great job on that! :P) and then stayed at the Ghost. (Rödenbeck has is the wrong way around as well, so I suspect he either read Bielfeld or they both had the same wrong source.)
Rödenbeck cites Bielfeld as one of his sources, so that must be it. I kind of suspect Bielfeld's source might have been Fritz and/or AW, but he was also writing after the fact from a memory of a story that was probably told to him orally, not writing on the spot as it happened, so it makes sense that he would reverse the inns. I have been guilty of worse memory lapses!
What felis says re: the inns, plus: so this Wartensleben is the son of Grandpa Wartensleben, making him Katte's uncle (more like a cousin age wise, I guess, but as Katte's mother was his sister, uncle in terms of degree)?
ETA: also, thank you for linking Bielfeld's book. I only knew excerpts before (mostly from Volz' anthologies), but a hasty overview provides me with gems such as this:
Bielfeld to his father as to why he's not heartbroken that FW has died and Fritz is King: The long and griveous illness of the late King, moreover, frequently gave him such fits of ill temper as made him terrible to the muses and their votaries, and sometimes alarmed us so much that we should have been glad to have Pegasus at our command, to carry us out of his reach.
There's a detailed description of the funeral (if you ever want to use it for a story; I know Bielfeld probably wrote the letters with the benefit of hindsight, but he did witness the funeral, so that's an eyewitness account), and I finally find out what exactly the Königsberg homage ceremony consists of:
We are not surprised the King has not been crowned. Frederic, the first king of Prussia, had good reason for submitting to that ceremony; but his successors receive the crown from the hands of Providence, and not from their subjects. They content themselves with administring the oath of fidelity to the troops, to the nobility and to the people.
And on page 195, Bielfeld gives us a description of the almost duel between FW and G2!
They say that this natural antipathy, which is worse than hatred, once rose so high that the two monarchs, after the example of Charles V. and Francis I., had determined to decide it by single combat; that the King of England had fixed on brigadier Sutton for his second; and his Prussian majesty had made choice of Colonel Derschau; that the territory of Hildesheim was appointed for the rendezvous. His Britannic Majesty was then at Hannover, and His Prussian Majesty was already arrived at Salzdahll, near Brunswick. Baron von Borck, who had been the Prussian minister at London, and who had been dismissed from that court in a most ungracious manner, arriving at Salzdahl, found the King his master in so violent a rage that he did not think it adviseable to directly oppose his design; but on the contrary, in order to gain time, seemed to approve of the choice of single combat, and even offered his service to carry the cartel. But entering the King's appatment an hour after, he took the liberty to say: "Sire, I am convinced that your majesties' quarrel should not be decided but by a duell, and if I am allowed the expression, as between one gentleman and another. But your majesty is scarce recovered from a dangerous illness, and have still the symptoms of your late disorder. How unfortunate therefore would it be, if you should relapse the evening before the combat, or even that very morning, and what triumph would it be for the English king? And what would the world say? what odious suspicions would it cast upon your majesty's courage? Would it not therefore be far better to postpone the entire affair for a few days, till your majesty's health is established?"
The King, they say, acquiesced, though with difficulty, in these reasonings; the cartel was not sent; the ministers of both sides gained time; the wrath of the two kings by degrees evaporated; and by the next year they became in a manner reconciled.
plus: so this Wartensleben is the son of Grandpa Wartensleben, making him Katte's uncle (more like a cousin age wise, I guess, but as Katte's mother was his sister, uncle in terms of degree)?
Yep, Katte's uncle who was younger than he was. The relevant Wartenslebens are sorted out to the best of my ability here. Which means, btw, that the Wartensleben on this trip was the same one Fritz listed as one of the 6 most loved a few months later. So if he was passing info to Manteuffel via rapid-fire couriers... :/
Thank you for the Bielfeld gems! You may also notice that that's volume 3. Here we have volumes one, two, and four. I'll get them into the library at some point.
I finally find out what exactly the Königsberg homage ceremony consists of:
Horowski has a great account of F1's homage ceremony! If I had more time, I would write it up.
Duel: that's awesome! Assuming that's reliable, that progressed a lot further than I thought.
his Prussian majesty had made choice of Colonel Derschau;
The one Fritz hated, who interrogated him in 1730, I assume.
Duel: that's awesome! Assuming that's reliable, that progressed a lot further than I thought.
Now I'm imagining FW and G2 singing "The Ten Duel Commandments" from Hamilton. (Hamilton can certainly be credited for even non history buffs knowing what a second is and how an 18th century duel works.
Derschau: indeed.
"One of six" Wartensleben as possible IM - wait, that's an acronym which is not familiar in English - IMs "Informelle Mitarbeiter" was how the GDR secret service referred to people they got to spy on their neighbours/loved ones/whomever without listing them as official agents - well, I could be wronging him, but you know what we agreed on re: pov, and what it betrays about who's telling the story. In the Wiegand version, you can tell which bits come from Valvons' account, from Broglie's, from Fritz' own to Voltaire. And basically 99% of the other stuff, which hails form Manteuffel, is constantly referencing what Wartensleben did or thought. So....
Wartensleben: Well, Fritz once called him his Socrates!
but you know what we agreed on re: pov, and what it betrays about who's telling the story.
No, I totally agree. I haven't been able to read the sources myself, but I trust both of you to sort out the unaccounted for elements and recognize the POV, so it does very much sound like Wartensleben was reporting to Manteuffel.
Thank you for teaching me the term IM!
Wartensleben: Well, Fritz once called him his Socrates!
Good grief, how many does he need? And did this one get a golden walking stick head? :P
Now I'm imagining FW and G2 singing "The Ten Duel Commandments" from Hamilton. (Hamilton can certainly be credited for even non history buffs knowing what a second is and how an 18th century duel works.
"So we're doing this!"
lol! I knew what a second was from reading random 18th-19th C literature as a kid (though I guess the footnotes to Pushkin's Onegin, which I didn't read until college, were the first time I was exposed to some of the points in "Commandments"). though it makes perfect sense that Hamilton will be the first exposure to duels for a lot of kids from this generation.
Also, speaking of people Fritz listed as loved at some point, here's Nicolai, who lists D'Argens and Quintus Icilius as his main sources early on, only slightly paraphrased:
"So, we're all clear that of the foreign intellectuals from the first fifteen years or so, D'Argens was the only one to truly deserve Fritz' affections, right? Lemme go through a check list: Darget: respected Fritz, but didn't love him, couldn't bear living with him and hence headed back to Paris. La Mettrie: Ugh. Firstly, kept making mischief by telling everyone what everyone else had said about them and telling it wrongly or making it up, and secondly, have you read his theories? Ugh. Totally deserved his gross death. Algarotti: "subtle man with subtle manners" (direct quote), Fritz truly loved him, but Algarotti was mostly into the relationship because Fritz was a King, and after a while, Fritz figured that out. Maupertuis didn't do anything ungrateful, but he was a weird control freak. And VOLTAIRE. Need I say more? Okay, intellectually, yes, he was the foremost writer of Europe and as such deserved Fritz as a reader BUT he totally did not deserve him as a person. I mean. Do we remember how he repaid our glorious King for his affections, all the shady deals, the freaking pamphlets? Let me quote D'Argens again here: "The man had wit for thirty, but was as malicious as a monkey." Fritz was FORCED to retrieve those poems the way he did at Frankfurt, as any rightthinking person will admit. And no, I don't get how the King could forgive him enough to correspond with him again from the late 1750s onwards, either. Freaking Voltaire. In conclusion: our noble King thought these guys were his friends, showered them with affection, praise and worldly goods, and they were just - ugh. Except for D'Argens! The King's true friend!"
Also Nicolai, in volume 3, only slightly paraphrased: "Having reported to you, dear readers, that Fritz loved to sit near the beautiful Antinous statue and SEEMINGLY gaze at it in summer days in his old age, I must tell you that only shallow people would think he only did this because it appealed to his senses. I mean, sure, our glorious King enjoyed beauty, statues, and summer days, more power to him. But look, you know where that statue was located at Sanssouci before our new King moved it to the Berlin town palace? NEXT TO FRITZ' GRAVE. So what Fritz was actually doing wasn't related to the statue. He was contemplating his grave and his impending death. Because he was deep like that, our philosopher king. That's why he kept resting at this particular spot, so everyone I interviewed tells me."
Okay, so first of all, this Nicolai sounds super reliable and unbiased, lol forever.
And secondly,
Fritz loved to sit near the beautiful Antinous statue and SEEMINGLY gaze at it in summer days in his old age
It's always great when reality confirms my headcanons, because this was ALREADY MY HEADCANON. :D
And yeah, he's totally thinking about death while he's doing it, but that's largely because he's thinking ABOUT KATTE. Same with Wilhelmine when he goes to sit at her temple. (Didn't we run across something recently--a Camas letter?--where he said he visited her temple regularly and thought about her? I maintain Antinous was the same.)
Algarotti was mostly into the relationship because Fritz was a King
I mean...they definitely hit it off as individuals, but was much of Algarotti's behavior driven by Fritz being king? Imo, totally yes.
Also, wasn't d'Argens the one Fritz got upset with for going back to France for health reasons? But then he had a grave monument built for him? Just like Algarotti? JUST SAYING.
I mean, sure, our glorious King enjoyed beauty, statues, and summer days, more power to him.
Lolol.
I knew this collection would have goodies! Also, judging by what I saw in the table of contents, there are a *lot* of d'Argens anecdotes. Makes sense if d'Argens was one of his main sources.
. La Mettrie: Ugh...secondly, have you read his theories?
cahn: he was a materialist, who argued that humans don't have souls, so I can see why Nicolai would be all "ugh" at his theories.
Fritz, writing to Wilhelmine, on the manner of his death:
We lost poor La Mettrie. He died for a joke, eating a whole pheasant pâté; after having gotten a terrible indigestion, he dared to be bled, to prove to the German doctors that one could bleed in an indigestion. It did not succeed; he took a violent fever which, having degenerated into putrid fever, prevailed.
I am so far behind on comments. I will try to catch up this weekend, but goodies keep coming in!
Having reported to you, dear readers, that Fritz loved to sit near the beautiful Antinous statue and SEEMINGLY gaze at it in summer days in his old age, I must tell you that only shallow people would think he only did this because it appealed to his senses. I mean, sure, our glorious King enjoyed beauty, statues, and summer days, more power to him. But look, you know where that statue was located at Sanssouci before our new King moved it to the Berlin town palace? NEXT TO FRITZ' GRAVE. So what Fritz was actually doing wasn't related to the statue. He was contemplating his grave and his impending death. Because he was deep like that, our philosopher king.
*chokes*
I can see why you immediately thought of Mildred! I did too, LOL!
And VOLTAIRE. Need I say more?
I feel like I will forever find hilarious that Fritz/Voltaire had this crackship going that NO ONE understands :D
Wow, that really was an almost-duel! Now I can't help but wonder what would have happened if they'd actually gone through with it and one of them (*cough*presumably FW) had managed to kill the other! (I may as usual have missed something, because it seems like the kind of thing you guys would have talked about, but at least a cursory search only turns up talking about averting the duel...)
Seconded. The habit of adding appendices which reproduce unpublished sources mentioned in the main text - I'd like it back please!
le Diable clearly is the best intelligence asset among the envoys
Seems that way. Fritz certainly knew to get rid of him a month before invading Silesia.
detail with Fredersdorf having written the passport and Fritz signing it
I can easily see Manteuffel getting that from his source(s). Also, since one of the two passports survived in the state archive, somebody must have kept it as a souvenir in the first place, and I can't imagine that AW didn't tell tales about his adventure when he came back, even outside of writing memoirs for his kid (and imaginary fanfiction letters :)).
Me neither. BTW, Wiegand's Manteuffel-gained account of AW not saying anything but limiting himself to eating in the dinner with Algarotti, Wartensleben and Broglie is I think directly related to what Bielfeld hints at here:
Prince Wilhelm is one of the finest figures I have ever seen; he is tall, and in every respect perfectly well proportioned. His hair is brown; he has huge sprightly blue eyes, and all his features are extremely pleasing. Though he does not express himself well (...), his education appears to have been much neglected; and he has a timid and embarrassed air, which is very far from making a striking impression at the first interview.
To wit, that AW's now (that he's the new heir presumptative) when meeting new people is conscious of his lack of education Fritz kept pointing out before both in letters to him and to other people. This is something some of the early envoys also remark on (not to mention the probably Voltaire authored pamphlet exaggarating it to "he didn't learn to read or write until Fritz became King") and contrast with his older brother. Now the interesting thing is that no one else before or after describes AW as shy or tongue bound. Certainly not as a child when interacting with Dad whom everyone else is afraid of, and definitely not by the time Lehndorff gets to know him. And he was working on catching up with his education and using the cultural opportunities he now had (see also the fact he corresponded with Maupertuis). Now, AW's education had been neglected - Ziebura quite plausible speculates that the teachers, with the vivid example of how Duhan fared, probably rather erred on the side of not teaching anything to the King's second son, with the result that AW's on the same level as the four years younger Heinrich in his lessons - but I think the sudden consciousness of this as a flaw must have been amplified by Fritz being now in charge and conversational topics suddenly not being the latest hunt or God's will or beer drinking anymore but Voltaire's latest work.
...on the other hand, Wilhelmine certainly didn't see him as tongue-tied or shy when she met him on that same trip for the first time as an adult but was very positively impressed according to her memoirs. (And pointedly switches the "my brother" designation to AW while Fritz is now "The King".)
Manteuffel, the Kim Philby of Envoys: Seems that way. Fritz certainly knew to get rid of him a month before invading Silesia.
Good point. Though it begs the question: would Manteuffel have bothered betraying him to MT? Because he might have decided to bet on Fritz in any case, and certainly no one thought MT had much of a shot once France, Saxony, Bavaria and Spain followed suit. Not to mention MT was out of cash, and Manteuffel might not have considered her as a rightful ruler anyway (because woman, and also cousin Karl Albrecht was the one voted Emperor). More likely Manteuffel would have signaled to Brühl that now was the time to team up with the Prussians in order to enlarge the chance of August III. getting voted Emperor. (Though that was off the table as soon as France decided to back Karl Albrecht, and maybe Manteuffel saw that coming, too.)
I think the sudden consciousness of this as a flaw must have been amplified by Fritz being now in charge and conversational topics suddenly not being the latest hunt or God's will or beer drinking anymore but Voltaire's latest work.
This makes perfect sense. Combine that with your king being someone who values a quick wit and likes to indulge his taste for mockery, and I could see keeping your mouth firmly shut in his presence.
Perhaps Wilhelmine got some one-on-one time with AW in which he was more relaxed than he was in front of Fritz?
but I think the sudden consciousness of this as a flaw must have been amplified by Fritz being now in charge and conversational topics suddenly not being the latest hunt or God's will or beer drinking anymore but Voltaire's latest work.
That makes a lot of sense. And it also makes sense that AW could catch up to a great extent although he'd never be on Heinrich's level
You should have seen my face when I saw that there was a passport and it had turned up in salon! This place is amaaaazing.
Now, the passport is interesting, because it's for both "Graf Ferdinand Albrecht v. Schaffgotsch" AND for Algarotti, who doesn't seem to have had a pseudonym after all, no matter what Rödenbeck says.
Interesting! Voltaire even says:
Algaroti, who already had attached himself to [Fritz], was the only one who went unmasked.
Bielfeld doesn't have it, and of course neither does Koser. Preuss does, but is probably relying on Rödenbeck, who doesn't name his source. The two sources he cites (other than the Berlin newspapers he quotes) are Bielfeld and Voltaire, neither of which name Pfuhl, so I can't trace Pfuhl back any earlier than Rödenbeck.
Fritz did get to visit the theatre, and attracted curiosity there as well, because he commented loudly on the performance and gave a lot of money to a girl who was selling lottery tickets. (If that anecdote isn't true after all, it was certainly invented by someone who knew him. :P)
Mind you, Volz boringly replaces everyone's names for the codenames, so "Crown Prince" for "Junior", "Grumbkow" for "Biberius" and so forth.
Hee, this made me laugh. Boring indeed!
I also think the sneezing anecdote is awfully cute :D Actually the whole thing is cute, ending with the bit where he couldn't come to supper because of all the people who would be running after him, lol.
That's wonderful that we have two detailed official reports from the French side! Just what we needed.
Also, no arrest, unless Broglie is being lying.
So we only have AW as a source for that claim against all others, hmm. I do wonder if he exaggerated.
Also, Fritz, people from Bohemia speak in a really different accent from Brandenburg folk, and as for Nuremberg Franconians, well...
Hahaha, oh, Fritz. Worst incognito indeed.
I take this to mean that Fritz/Algarotti sex wasn't on the agenda for the Straßburg trip.
Lol, this won't surprise you, but that was my reaction to that discovery too!
Yes, well, you know what would have prevented that? No bodyguards, for starters. Also anyone with a clue of how private travellers acted. Algarotti clearly had been famous for too long for that already.
Hahaha, well, just a few months later (December 1740-January 1741), Algarotti is supposed to travel incognito from Berlin to Turin and remain undercover in Turin, but he sucks at it so much that the newspapers report daily on his progress through Europe, thus ruining the covert mission. There are downsides to being one of the most famous intellectuals in Europe! (Voltaire reportedly also sucked at incognito whenever he was fleeing arrest in France.)
Looks like it, presumably to impress the kid. Mind you, it's also possible that he overheard something while he was dining and not saying anything at Broglie's, as Wiegand says one of the bits Volz cut from Broglie's report was him considering the possibility to provide Fritz with an "honor guard" that's supposed to keep him in one place until he's send word to Paris and heard what the hell he's supposed to do.
I take this to mean that Fritz/Algarotti sex wasn't on the agenda for the Straßburg trip.
Lol, this won't surprise you, but that was my reaction to that discovery too!
Naturally. :) Was that before or after Fritz heard about Algarotti's STD?
BTW, presumably Fritz learned from experience since his second incognito trip years later went much better. Perhaps only taking Glasow along instead of several husars guarding his rooms helped. :)
Something else: Wiegand says that the idea the botched Straßburg experience was the reasonw why Fritz insisted Broglie be replaced as French commander in Bohemia during the Silesian War somewhat later is pure slander, that it was solely because Broglie wasn't competent enough. Thoughts?
Looks like it, presumably to impress the kid. Mind you, it's also possible that he overheard something while he was dining and not saying anything at Broglie's, as Wiegand says one of the bits Volz cut from Broglie's report was him considering the possibility to provide Fritz with an "honor guard" that's supposed to keep him in one place until he's send word to Paris and heard what the hell he's supposed to do.
Yeah, that makes sense. Especially if Fritz sent word that they couldn't go to dinner that last night. AW might have taken that to mean that the authorities were detaining them in their inns. Either an exaggeration or a slight misunderstanding or both, is what it looks like.
This would also mean that Fritz did *not* whitewash it out of his account! (As he later would AW's entire presence.) We apologize, Fritz! (But we had reason to believe you were willing to rewrite history at will.)
Was that before or after Fritz heard about Algarotti's STD?
Before. This was August; STD was late November. This summer honeymoon is when I think it's most plausible for them to have had sex! (That and the Rheinsberg visit a year before.) But not in Strasbourg, apparently. ;) Maybe Fritz put Algarotti in a separate inn because he was afraid the two of them together were more likely to be recognized?
BTW, presumably Fritz learned from experience since his second incognito trip years later went much better. Perhaps only taking Glasow along instead of several husars guarding his rooms helped. :)
It definitely went better! Lack of husars surely a plus.
Insofar as Catt is reliable, we have a report that Fritz also took Colonel Balbi, and that Fritz was recognized toward the end of his trip and had to do some quick thinking:
The King started off at three o’clock in the morning for Arnheim, having learned from his valet do chambre that it was known that he was the King of Prussia, and that the magistrate awaited him at the town gate to make his compliment. He started off immediately, putting Colonel de Balbi in the leading carriage and himself in the baggage carriage that followed it.
When they arrived at the town gate, the magistrate approached the carriage, harangued Colonel Balbi, and finished this fine harangue by crying out in unison with those accompanying him: 'God be praised that we see the defender of the Protestant Religion.' His Majesty, in the open carriage, had great difficulty in not bursting out into laughter.
If this is true, he definitely learned something! And even if not, it appears to have been rather less eventful than the Strasbourg debacle.
Oh, according to Voltaire and Bielfeld, both of whom knew him personally at the time, Fritz was intending to go to Paris on that 1740 trip, but the Strasbourg debacle deterred him. I wonder if, if the France trip had gone better, he would have ever considered going to Italy?
Wiegand says that the idea the botched Straßburg experience was the reasonw why Fritz insisted Broglie be replaced as French commander in Bohemia during the Silesian War somewhat later is pure slander, that it was solely because Broglie wasn't competent enough. Thoughts?
I don't know enough about Broglie's military record to say, but given that Fritz promoted people he didn't personally like, including people like Derschau, there's a good chance that it wasn't primarily *because* of Strasbourg. At any rate, I believe that Fritz believed that he was incompetent. Did Fritz's personal feelings about Broglie skew his evaluation of his military career? Probably. Was it solely revenge? I doubt it. People rarely have only one reason for their actions.
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timeasmymeasure
The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-15 10:10 am (UTC)What was in "Gespräche" was Volz' combination of two French reports on Fritz' 1740 Straßburg expedition., that of the Marquis de Valfons, who was a captain in the local regiment, and that of Broglie's report as given on August 26th 1740, i.e. a day after it happened , for his superiors in Paris. A reminder on Broglie: not the one from the 7 Years War, but this one, his father.
Volz is conscientious about his sources, so he tells us via footnote that the Marquis de Valfons' report is from "Souvenirs du marquis de Valfons", S. 50 ff, Paris 1860, while Boglie's report was printed in the "Archives de la Bastille, BD. XIII, S. 195 ff, Paris 1881.
Having read them now: worst incognito traveller ever! Also, no arrest, unless Broglie is being lying. The date: 23 - 25th August 1740.
Marquis de Valfons: I was lodging in the famous Inn "The Raven" in Straßburg and played a game with Frau von Schönberg, who was on her way back from Paris to Saxony, where she had some estates. (...) Three strangers from Germany were announced; one of them called himself Comte Dufour. He approached us very politely and said: "Madame, I do not have the honor of knowing you, but I know your name too well not to pay my respects to you. I come from Bohemia and met these gentlemen here with whom I have since then shared my travels in Nuremberg."
Frau von Schönberg returned his courtesy and asked him to sit with us. We interrupted the game and started to chat. Comte Dufour talked with wit and vivaciousnesss and an adroitness in French which did not betray a foreigner. He sneezed, and at once his two companions rose eager and very respectfully. He had to smile, and gestured towards them, indicating that they should sit down again. This made me think, and I became more restrained in my questions. Shortly thereafter, Teutsch, the owner of the inn, approached me from behind and told me: "Monsieur le Marquis, the Comte Dufour is the Crown Prince of Prussia, who travels incognito with two courtiers."
Now I understood the mystery of the respectful behavior his companions showed. The Comte asked me to dine together. I had already been invited by Frau von Schönberg, and she very politely suggested to dine all together. I now asked me whether he wanted to see Straßburg, offered myself as a guide, and invited him to dinner for the next day, which he accepted.
Upon his arrival, he had sent out word to ask whether some other officers from the garnison were at the Café. As accident would have it, Coicy and two others whose dinner had taken quite a long time were still drinking their coffee. They believed some newcomer was looking to make connections. Somewhat tipsy, they accepted the invitation and followed the servant who led them to Frau von Schönberg. Here they met me to their great surprise. Comte Dufour rose, said farewell to Frau von Schönberg and said to the gentlemen: "I thank you for your kindness and ask you to make it complete by dining with me."
I followed him until the stairs and said to Coicy: "Be careful! The supposed Comte Dufour may be the Crown Prince of Prussia!"
The dinner went cheerfully. THe Comte kept asking Coicy questions , since the later, as a Major, was better equipped to reply than the others. After dinner, it was agreed that the next day one would watch the changing of the guard and visit the two bataillons Piemont in order to examine them from head to toe.
Yes, it's "Crown Prince" all the time, not "King". Also, Fritz, people from Bohemia speak in a really different accent from Brandenburg folk, and as for Nuremberg Franconians, well...
Marshal Broglie takes up the story in the Volz volume: My officers reported to me on August 24th. On this day, Prince August Wilhelm, Wartensleben and Algarotti came to me. (..., interruption by Volz, not me. Volz also says in a footnote Algarotti and AW had lodged in another inn together. I take this to mean that Fritz/Algarotti sex wasn't on the agenda for the Straßburg trip.) The supposed Comte Dufour did not appear, but excused himself as being sick by Herr von Wartensleben. I invited the three others to lunch, as one does with noble strangers. (..., by Volz again). After lunch, they went to the theatre, where they were supposed to meet up with the Comte Dufour.
Once they returned from the theatre, I sent a Major from the regiment Piemont to the "Raven" in order to find out who the Comte Dufour and the Saxonian Nobleman were; for I didn't know whether they were people of rank or simple adventurers, which happens here very often. The innkeeper knew nothing more than that he'd been told to serve his guest very well. Neither the innkeeper nor his servants were allowed to enter his guest's room; in front of the door, two husars stood guard, and he only was served by his own servants. All together they were maybe a dozen travellers of different rank, who ate at different tables; they only said Yes and No and talked Prussian (sic) among themselves.
Comte Dufour watched the changing of the guard with the three other gentlemen (i.e. AW, Algarotti, Wartensleben), then he climbed up to the platform of the minster (i.e. the famous Straßburg cathedral) and returned to his inn.
A citizen of Straßburg, whose nephew had been forced into the Tall Fellows of Potsdam, and who had seen the King of Prussia in Berlin, threw himself at his feet and asked him for mercy for his nephew. The King replied that surely, the other was joking; that he wasn't a King. The citzen replied he knew him well, and as proof he pulled out a medaillon which had been coined and thrown into the crowd on the occasion of his coronation (sic). The King saw himself recognized and promised the asked for mercy but ordered him not to tell anyone who he was. Since he was afraid of punishment, the citizen went straight way to the commander of Straßburg, Baron de Trélans, who in turn told me.
I found the behavior of the gentleman stranger, and started to believe that he must be one of the younger princes from the royal house of Prussia. So I sent two Prussian soldiers to the inn who had sworn they knew the King very well. After they had seen him, they both told me they immediately recognized him.
Nearly at the same time, Herr von Wartensleben came to me, gave me compliments by the Comte Dufour and told me that the Comte had been sick so far but would not omit paying me a visit during the course of the day. (... by Volz again.) I told him that it was pointless for the Comte Dufour to insist on his Incognito any more; I knew that he was the King of Prussia; the citizen who had asked for the release of his nephew and the two Prussian soldiers had all recognized him at once. If hte King of Prussia wanted to stay incognito, I would not betray him; he only had to order. I was ready to pay him all the honors due to him and was awaiting his commands. I noticed that I had embarrassed Herrn von Wartensleben a lot, but he didn't want to admit it was the King of Prussia, and returned to the "Raven" in order to make his report. Shortly thereafter, Algarotti showed up and told me from the Comte Dufour that the later was indeed a Prince of the House of Brandenburg, but not the King. I asked me to receive him as a private gentleman without any thought of rank between 4 and 5 pm. I replied that I would have visited him myself if I hadn't been afraid to cause his displeasure since I could see he wanted to keep his Incognito.
He showed up at the agreed upon hour with the three other gentlemen, and I received him as a private gentleman, as he had wished. Except for us, only his three companions were present. He told me the courtesies usual among private citizens; I was very respectful and asked him: "Does your majesty want to be treated as the King of Prussia or as Comte Dufour?" Whereupon he returned that he wasn't the King of Prussia but only what he had told Algarotti to tell me he was. He said he was very pleased to see me as his late father had told him much about me and wished to visit the citadel. I sent for the local officer, du Portail, who gave him a tour. On the esplanade, he saw all the pontons standing in a row and at the magazine all the canons, a great many. He said to du Portail: "All this war machinery gives a good impression of your King's might." And it is indeed impressive. I invited him to the theatre in my box, and he accepted my invitation. However, I knew that the two officers from the Piemont regiment, whom he had invited on the day of his arrival for supper, had felt themselves obliged to invite him in return, and still believed him to be the Comte Dufour, and he had accepted in order not to reveal himself. So I asked him to pay me the honor of dining with me, and he accepted.
(Footnote by Volz: According to Valfons, the King then cancelled with Valfons and his comrades and sent six bottles of pink Champagne as a sign of his regret, which he called "his usual drink" and asked them to drink these to his health.)
During my conversation with him - and I always addressed him in the third person - , rumor ran through the town that the King of Prussia had arrived, and a great many officers, citzens and their wives went to the streets and even to my house in order to see him. And thus it happened that when he left me, all the people were running after his carriage and didn't budge. Consequently, he didn't go to the theatre but directly to his inn. Once he had arrived there, he decided to order the horses as he saw his secret was lifted, and to leave immediately. The journey went through Landau, Cologne and Wesel, as I learned from Algarotti, whom he sent to me immediately. He had Algarotti apologize to me and asked not to begrudge him that he couldn't come to the theatre and to supper with me, but that he was discovered and could not show himself in the street without all the people running after him.
Yes, well, you know what would have prevented that? No bodyguards, for starters. Also anyone with a clue of how private travellers acted. Algarotti clearly had been famous for too long for that already. BTW, since Fritz showed such interest in the garnison that this was the only thing he saw other than the cathedral, I wonder whether Heinrich's request some years later to let him do the grand tour, err, research military fortifications abroad hit extra hard and thus caused the instant NO.
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-15 10:53 pm (UTC)Also, no arrest,
What was the source for that again, an AW letter via Ziebura?
I came across a facsimile of one of the written-on-the-spot passports, provided by Koser, and in a footnote he mentions another write-up of the whole incident, which is based on the two sources that Volz has, plus a report in a journal called "Staatssecretario" and -- a second-hand report from Manteuffel of all people, who apparently talked to some of the people who were on the trip (surely not Fritz!) and had a source in Strasbourg (?) and sent a compiled report to Dresden on September 28th. Says Wiegand. (He also reports that Troeger - yep, again - wrote another account of the trip and doesn't think Manteuffel is all that reliable, because all second-hand, whereas Wiegand himself thinks differently and seems to trust him more.)
Now, the passport is interesting, because it's for both "Graf Ferdinand Albrecht v. Schaffgotsch" AND for Algarotti, who doesn't seem to have had a pseudonym after all, no matter what Rödenbeck says. The thing is dated "28 July 1740" (ha), written by Fredersdorf (says Koser) and signed by Fritz.
The Wiegand write-up is also interesting because while it doesn't have an arrest either, it does mention that Broglie apparently debated detaining them and waiting for orders from Paris how to proceed, but didn't actually do so. Wiegand says both Broglie himself and Manteuffel report that, which means Volz must have left it out? And it still contradicts AW?
In Straßburg, Wartensleben was apparently the one to repeatedly urge caution and less conspicuous behaviour, but Fritz ignored him. (Which makes me wonder if he might have been one of Manteuffel's sources.) Other details: AW ate a lot and didn't say a word during the meal with Broglie, Algarotti, and Wartensleben. Fritz did get to visit the theatre, and attracted curiosity there as well, because he commented loudly on the performance and gave a lot of money to a girl who was selling lottery tickets. (If that anecdote isn't true after all, it was certainly invented by someone who knew him. :P)
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-16 02:03 am (UTC)Anyway,thank youi for Wiegand’s write-up. Leaving aside the German nationalism near the end about Fritz discovering the true nature of the French etc. etc., it is very informative, down to the footnotes, which make me understand why he puts faith in Manteuffel. Looks like Manteuffel really must have had first class sources, because even before the September 28th compilation, he as early as September 2nd (!!!!!) correctly reports to Brühl that Fritz must have gone to Straßburg, on September 5th, he knows that Fritz was there for three days, that he visited the theatre and the local head officers, and on September 9th that Fritz was recognized by deserters. The footnote names directly the Manteuffel letters in question from the State Archive. His located in Straßburg source, according to the footnote, was a young noble studying maths at the Straßburg university, but I think you’re right about his source with Fritz being Wartensleben, what with all the Wartensleben pov sections on everything not hailing from the Valvons, Broglie or Fritz-to-Voltaire versions.
Anyway, if Manteuffel got his intel from Wartensleben - this particular spawn of the great Wartensleben clan, that is, who according to the Wiegand article had been freshly promoted by Fritz to his AD post throne ascension - , I think we have another possible source for the anymous report on Fritz. Either way, given that Manteuffel is in northern Germany, and Fritz is in Straßburg in the last week of August, all that correct intel starting from September 2nd doesn’t just indicate top sources but lightning speed couriers. I mean, okay, knowing on September 2nd Fritz went to Straßburg could hail from his source telling him pre trip (maybe from Bayreuth?) that such was Fritz’ intention, but knowing correct details like the theatre visit on September 5th does point to a really quick courier. In any case, Manteuffel being on the outs with Fritz himself evidently did not deprive him from good and realiable intel from Fritz’ entourage. Between that and the intimate reports as referenced by Seckenforff Jr. in the mid 1730s, I must say that le Diable clearly is the best intelligence asset among the envoys.
Back to the write-ups: Wiegand really comes down on Broglie for not being up to the situation by insisting on treating Fritz like a King, not as the Comte Dufour, but it was an extremely difficult situation, because Fritz is an unknown quantity at this point, and royals can be touchy if actually treated like non-royals, no matter what they say. (See also Wilhelmine’s encounter with MT’s cousin the Wittelsbach Empress and the negotiation about chairs.). Otoh I found it amusing that Wiegand mentions Joseph, decades later, on his incognito trip to Paris, also lodged in the same inn, the Raven, on his stopover in Straßburg. Because of course he did. (Speaking of Joseph, I remember the Duc de Croy in his diary being in some trouble of how to address him and act towards him, too, because as Emperor, he would outrank anyone else in any room, including the King, but as he travelled as Count Falkenstein, this wasn’t the case, yet on the third hand everoyne knew he wasn’t really Count Falkenstein, so which etiquette to use was a Versailles trained French nobleman’s headache.
Oh, and it is of course very telling for pre revolutionary France (and Prussia) that no account mentions Fritz’ servants as people, just in the plural (as in, him getting served by them, not the staff at the inn - btw, I take it this means Fredersdorf?), whereas they do list the gentleman of rank by name. The detail with Fredersdorf having written the passport and Fritz signing it from Koser makes me wonder from which original report that comes from for this reason. (Evidently not Fritz’ to Voltaire, or any of the French sources.)
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-16 02:16 am (UTC)We saw that recently in Bielfeld's account. He mentions the separate inns: Fritz at the Holy Ghost, and AW at the Raven, though I don't see where he mentions Algarotti staying at the Raven. I'm also skimming quickly before bed, so I might have missed it.
ETA: Wartensleben is this guy, btw. Just to help us keep our Wartenslebens straight.
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-16 09:35 am (UTC)Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-19 10:20 pm (UTC)Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-16 10:30 am (UTC)ETA: also, thank you for linking Bielfeld's book. I only knew excerpts before (mostly from Volz' anthologies), but a hasty overview provides me with gems such as this:
Bielfeld to his father as to why he's not heartbroken that FW has died and Fritz is King: The long and griveous illness of the late King, moreover, frequently gave him such fits of ill temper as made him terrible to the muses and their votaries, and sometimes alarmed us so much that we should have been glad to have Pegasus at our command, to carry us out of his reach.
There's a detailed description of the funeral (if you ever want to use it for a story; I know Bielfeld probably wrote the letters with the benefit of hindsight, but he did witness the funeral, so that's an eyewitness account), and I finally find out what exactly the Königsberg homage ceremony consists of:
We are not surprised the King has not been crowned. Frederic, the first king of Prussia, had good reason for submitting to that ceremony; but his successors receive the crown from the hands of Providence, and not from their subjects. They content themselves with administring the oath of fidelity to the troops, to the nobility and to the people.
And on page 195, Bielfeld gives us a description of the almost duel between FW and G2!
They say that this natural antipathy, which is worse than hatred, once rose so high that the two monarchs, after the example of Charles V. and Francis I., had determined to decide it by single combat; that the King of England had fixed on brigadier Sutton for his second; and his Prussian majesty had made choice of Colonel Derschau; that the territory of Hildesheim was appointed for the rendezvous. His Britannic Majesty was then at Hannover, and His Prussian Majesty was already arrived at Salzdahll, near Brunswick. Baron von Borck, who had been the Prussian minister at London, and who had been dismissed from that court in a most ungracious manner, arriving at Salzdahl, found the King his master in so violent a rage that he did not think it adviseable to directly oppose his design; but on the contrary, in order to gain time, seemed to approve of the choice of single combat, and even offered his service to carry the cartel. But entering the King's appatment an hour after, he took the liberty to say: "Sire, I am convinced that your majesties' quarrel should not be decided but by a duell, and if I am allowed the expression, as between one gentleman and another. But your majesty is scarce recovered from a dangerous illness, and have still the symptoms of your late disorder. How unfortunate therefore would it be, if you should relapse the evening before the combat, or even that very morning, and what triumph would it be for the English king? And what would the world say? what odious suspicions would it cast upon your majesty's courage? Would it not therefore be far better to postpone the entire affair for a few days, till your majesty's health is established?"
The King, they say, acquiesced, though with difficulty, in these reasonings; the cartel was not sent; the ministers of both sides gained time; the wrath of the two kings by degrees evaporated; and by the next year they became in a manner reconciled.
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-16 03:59 pm (UTC)Yep, Katte's uncle who was younger than he was. The relevant Wartenslebens are sorted out to the best of my ability here. Which means, btw, that the Wartensleben on this trip was the same one Fritz listed as one of the 6 most loved a few months later. So if he was passing info to Manteuffel via rapid-fire couriers... :/
Thank you for the Bielfeld gems! You may also notice that that's volume 3. Here we have volumes one, two, and four. I'll get them into the library at some point.
I finally find out what exactly the Königsberg homage ceremony consists of:
Horowski has a great account of F1's homage ceremony! If I had more time, I would write it up.
Duel: that's awesome! Assuming that's reliable, that progressed a lot further than I thought.
his Prussian majesty had made choice of Colonel Derschau;
The one Fritz hated, who interrogated him in 1730, I assume.
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-16 06:09 pm (UTC)Now I'm imagining FW and G2 singing "The Ten Duel Commandments" from Hamilton. (Hamilton can certainly be credited for even non history buffs knowing what a second is and how an 18th century duel works.
Derschau: indeed.
"One of six" Wartensleben as possible IM - wait, that's an acronym which is not familiar in English - IMs "Informelle Mitarbeiter" was how the GDR secret service referred to people they got to spy on their neighbours/loved ones/whomever without listing them as official agents - well, I could be wronging him, but you know what we agreed on re: pov, and what it betrays about who's telling the story. In the Wiegand version, you can tell which bits come from Valvons' account, from Broglie's, from Fritz' own to Voltaire. And basically 99% of the other stuff, which hails form Manteuffel, is constantly referencing what Wartensleben did or thought. So....
Wartensleben: Well, Fritz once called him his Socrates!
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-19 10:25 pm (UTC)No, I totally agree. I haven't been able to read the sources myself, but I trust both of you to sort out the unaccounted for elements and recognize the POV, so it does very much sound like Wartensleben was reporting to Manteuffel.
Thank you for teaching me the term IM!
Wartensleben: Well, Fritz once called him his Socrates!
Good grief, how many does he need? And did this one get a golden walking stick head? :P
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
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Date: 2021-02-20 06:00 pm (UTC)"So we're doing this!"
lol! I knew what a second was from reading random 18th-19th C literature as a kid (though I guess the footnotes to Pushkin's Onegin, which I didn't read until college, were the first time I was exposed to some of the points in "Commandments"). though it makes perfect sense that Hamilton will be the first exposure to duels for a lot of kids from this generation.
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-16 06:42 pm (UTC)"So, we're all clear that of the foreign intellectuals from the first fifteen years or so, D'Argens was the only one to truly deserve Fritz' affections, right? Lemme go through a check list: Darget: respected Fritz, but didn't love him, couldn't bear living with him and hence headed back to Paris. La Mettrie: Ugh. Firstly, kept making mischief by telling everyone what everyone else had said about them and telling it wrongly or making it up, and secondly, have you read his theories? Ugh. Totally deserved his gross death. Algarotti: "subtle man with subtle manners" (direct quote), Fritz truly loved him, but Algarotti was mostly into the relationship because Fritz was a King, and after a while, Fritz figured that out. Maupertuis didn't do anything ungrateful, but he was a weird control freak. And VOLTAIRE. Need I say more? Okay, intellectually, yes, he was the foremost writer of Europe and as such deserved Fritz as a reader BUT he totally did not deserve him as a person. I mean. Do we remember how he repaid our glorious King for his affections, all the shady deals, the freaking pamphlets? Let me quote D'Argens again here: "The man had wit for thirty, but was as malicious as a monkey." Fritz was FORCED to retrieve those poems the way he did at Frankfurt, as any rightthinking person will admit. And no, I don't get how the King could forgive him enough to correspond with him again from the late 1750s onwards, either. Freaking Voltaire. In conclusion: our noble King thought these guys were his friends, showered them with affection, praise and worldly goods, and they were just - ugh. Except for D'Argens! The King's true friend!"
Also Nicolai, in volume 3, only slightly paraphrased: "Having reported to you, dear readers, that Fritz loved to sit near the beautiful Antinous statue and SEEMINGLY gaze at it in summer days in his old age, I must tell you that only shallow people would think he only did this because it appealed to his senses. I mean, sure, our glorious King enjoyed beauty, statues, and summer days, more power to him. But look, you know where that statue was located at Sanssouci before our new King moved it to the Berlin town palace? NEXT TO FRITZ' GRAVE. So what Fritz was actually doing wasn't related to the statue. He was contemplating his grave and his impending death. Because he was deep like that, our philosopher king. That's why he kept resting at this particular spot, so everyone I interviewed tells me."
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-16 07:03 pm (UTC)Okay, so first of all, this Nicolai sounds super reliable and unbiased, lol forever.
And secondly,
Fritz loved to sit near the beautiful Antinous statue and SEEMINGLY gaze at it in summer days in his old age
It's always great when reality confirms my headcanons, because this was ALREADY MY HEADCANON. :D
And yeah, he's totally thinking about death while he's doing it, but that's largely because he's thinking ABOUT KATTE. Same with Wilhelmine when he goes to sit at her temple. (Didn't we run across something recently--a Camas letter?--where he said he visited her temple regularly and thought about her? I maintain Antinous was the same.)
Algarotti was mostly into the relationship because Fritz was a King
I mean...they definitely hit it off as individuals, but was much of Algarotti's behavior driven by Fritz being king? Imo, totally yes.
Also, wasn't d'Argens the one Fritz got upset with for going back to France for health reasons? But then he had a grave monument built for him? Just like Algarotti? JUST SAYING.
I mean, sure, our glorious King enjoyed beauty, statues, and summer days, more power to him.
Lolol.
I knew this collection would have goodies! Also, judging by what I saw in the table of contents, there are a *lot* of d'Argens anecdotes. Makes sense if d'Argens was one of his main sources.
. La Mettrie: Ugh...secondly, have you read his theories?
Fritz, writing to Wilhelmine, on the manner of his death:
We lost poor La Mettrie. He died for a joke, eating a whole pheasant pâté; after having gotten a terrible indigestion, he dared to be bled, to prove to the German doctors that one could bleed in an indigestion. It did not succeed; he took a violent fever which, having degenerated into putrid fever, prevailed.
I am so far behind on comments. I will try to catch up this weekend, but goodies keep coming in!
More Nicolai
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From:Re: The Strassbourg Trip
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Date: 2021-02-20 06:16 pm (UTC)*chokes*
I can see why you immediately thought of Mildred! I did too, LOL!
And VOLTAIRE. Need I say more?
I feel like I will forever find hilarious that Fritz/Voltaire had this crackship going that NO ONE understands :D
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
From:Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-20 05:48 pm (UTC)Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-16 12:08 pm (UTC)Seconded. The habit of adding appendices which reproduce unpublished sources mentioned in the main text - I'd like it back please!
le Diable clearly is the best intelligence asset among the envoys
Seems that way. Fritz certainly knew to get rid of him a month before invading Silesia.
detail with Fredersdorf having written the passport and Fritz signing it
I can easily see Manteuffel getting that from his source(s). Also, since one of the two passports survived in the state archive, somebody must have kept it as a souvenir in the first place, and I can't imagine that AW didn't tell tales about his adventure when he came back, even outside of writing memoirs for his kid (and imaginary fanfiction letters :)).
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-16 02:23 pm (UTC)Prince Wilhelm is one of the finest figures I have ever seen; he is tall, and in every respect perfectly well proportioned. His hair is brown; he has huge sprightly blue eyes, and all his features are extremely pleasing. Though he does not express himself well (...), his education appears to have been much neglected; and he has a timid and embarrassed air, which is very far from making a striking impression at the first interview.
To wit, that AW's now (that he's the new heir presumptative) when meeting new people is conscious of his lack of education Fritz kept pointing out before both in letters to him and to other people. This is something some of the early envoys also remark on (not to mention the probably Voltaire authored pamphlet exaggarating it to "he didn't learn to read or write until Fritz became King") and contrast with his older brother. Now the interesting thing is that no one else before or after describes AW as shy or tongue bound. Certainly not as a child when interacting with Dad whom everyone else is afraid of, and definitely not by the time Lehndorff gets to know him. And he was working on catching up with his education and using the cultural opportunities he now had (see also the fact he corresponded with Maupertuis). Now, AW's education had been neglected - Ziebura quite plausible speculates that the teachers, with the vivid example of how Duhan fared, probably rather erred on the side of not teaching anything to the King's second son, with the result that AW's on the same level as the four years younger Heinrich in his lessons - but I think the sudden consciousness of this as a flaw must have been amplified by Fritz being now in charge and conversational topics suddenly not being the latest hunt or God's will or beer drinking anymore but Voltaire's latest work.
...on the other hand, Wilhelmine certainly didn't see him as tongue-tied or shy when she met him on that same trip for the first time as an adult but was very positively impressed according to her memoirs. (And pointedly switches the "my brother" designation to AW while Fritz is now "The King".)
Manteuffel, the Kim Philby of Envoys: Seems that way. Fritz certainly knew to get rid of him a month before invading Silesia.
Good point. Though it begs the question: would Manteuffel have bothered betraying him to MT? Because he might have decided to bet on Fritz in any case, and certainly no one thought MT had much of a shot once France, Saxony, Bavaria and Spain followed suit. Not to mention MT was out of cash, and Manteuffel might not have considered her as a rightful ruler anyway (because woman, and also cousin Karl Albrecht was the one voted Emperor). More likely Manteuffel would have signaled to Brühl that now was the time to team up with the Prussians in order to enlarge the chance of August III. getting voted Emperor. (Though that was off the table as soon as France decided to back Karl Albrecht, and maybe Manteuffel saw that coming, too.)
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-20 01:46 pm (UTC)This makes perfect sense. Combine that with your king being someone who values a quick wit and likes to indulge his taste for mockery, and I could see keeping your mouth firmly shut in his presence.
Perhaps Wilhelmine got some one-on-one time with AW in which he was more relaxed than he was in front of Fritz?
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-20 05:51 pm (UTC)That makes a lot of sense. And it also makes sense that AW could catch up to a great extent
although he'd never be on Heinrich's levelRe: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-20 05:53 pm (UTC)Re: The Strassbourg Trip
From:Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-19 10:17 pm (UTC)Now, the passport is interesting, because it's for both "Graf Ferdinand Albrecht v. Schaffgotsch" AND for Algarotti, who doesn't seem to have had a pseudonym after all, no matter what Rödenbeck says.
Interesting! Voltaire even says:
Algaroti, who already had attached himself to [Fritz], was the only one who went unmasked.
Bielfeld doesn't have it, and of course neither does Koser. Preuss does, but is probably relying on Rödenbeck, who doesn't name his source. The two sources he cites (other than the Berlin newspapers he quotes) are Bielfeld and Voltaire, neither of which name Pfuhl, so I can't trace Pfuhl back any earlier than Rödenbeck.
Fritz did get to visit the theatre, and attracted curiosity there as well, because he commented loudly on the performance and gave a lot of money to a girl who was selling lottery tickets. (If that anecdote isn't true after all, it was certainly invented by someone who knew him. :P)
I died laughing. Se non fu vero, fu bene trovato!
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-19 06:32 am (UTC)Hee, this made me laugh. Boring indeed!
I also think the sneezing anecdote is awfully cute :D Actually the whole thing is cute, ending with the bit where he couldn't come to supper because of all the people who would be running after him, lol.
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-19 09:56 pm (UTC)Also, no arrest, unless Broglie is being lying.
So we only have AW as a source for that claim against all others, hmm. I do wonder if he exaggerated.
Also, Fritz, people from Bohemia speak in a really different accent from Brandenburg folk, and as for Nuremberg Franconians, well...
Hahaha, oh, Fritz. Worst incognito indeed.
I take this to mean that Fritz/Algarotti sex wasn't on the agenda for the Straßburg trip.
Lol, this won't surprise you, but that was my reaction to that discovery too!
Yes, well, you know what would have prevented that? No bodyguards, for starters. Also anyone with a clue of how private travellers acted. Algarotti clearly had been famous for too long for that already.
Hahaha, well, just a few months later (December 1740-January 1741), Algarotti is supposed to travel incognito from Berlin to Turin and remain undercover in Turin, but he sucks at it so much that the newspapers report daily on his progress through Europe, thus ruining the covert mission. There are downsides to being one of the most famous intellectuals in Europe! (Voltaire reportedly also sucked at incognito whenever he was fleeing arrest in France.)
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-20 07:24 am (UTC)Looks like it, presumably to impress the kid. Mind you, it's also possible that he overheard something while he was dining and not saying anything at Broglie's, as Wiegand says one of the bits Volz cut from Broglie's report was him considering the possibility to provide Fritz with an "honor guard" that's supposed to keep him in one place until he's send word to Paris and heard what the hell he's supposed to do.
I take this to mean that Fritz/Algarotti sex wasn't on the agenda for the Straßburg trip.
Lol, this won't surprise you, but that was my reaction to that discovery too!
Naturally. :) Was that before or after Fritz heard about Algarotti's STD?
BTW, presumably Fritz learned from experience since his second incognito trip years later went much better. Perhaps only taking Glasow along instead of several husars guarding his rooms helped. :)
Something else: Wiegand says that the idea the botched Straßburg experience was the reasonw why Fritz insisted Broglie be replaced as French commander in Bohemia during the Silesian War somewhat later is pure slander, that it was solely because Broglie wasn't competent enough. Thoughts?
Re: The Strassbourg Trip
Date: 2021-02-20 01:19 pm (UTC)Yeah, that makes sense. Especially if Fritz sent word that they couldn't go to dinner that last night. AW might have taken that to mean that the authorities were detaining them in their inns. Either an exaggeration or a slight misunderstanding or both, is what it looks like.
This would also mean that Fritz did *not* whitewash it out of his account! (As he later would AW's entire presence.) We apologize, Fritz! (But we had reason to believe you were willing to rewrite history at will.)
Was that before or after Fritz heard about Algarotti's STD?
Before. This was August; STD was late November. This summer honeymoon is when I think it's most plausible for them to have had sex! (That and the Rheinsberg visit a year before.) But not in Strasbourg, apparently. ;) Maybe Fritz put Algarotti in a separate inn because he was afraid the two of them together were more likely to be recognized?
BTW, presumably Fritz learned from experience since his second incognito trip years later went much better. Perhaps only taking Glasow along instead of several husars guarding his rooms helped. :)
It definitely went better! Lack of husars surely a plus.
Insofar as Catt is reliable, we have a report that Fritz also took Colonel Balbi, and that Fritz was recognized toward the end of his trip and had to do some quick thinking:
The King started off at three o’clock in the morning for Arnheim, having learned from his valet do chambre that it was known that he was the King of Prussia, and that the magistrate awaited him at the town gate to make his compliment. He started off immediately, putting Colonel de Balbi in the leading carriage and himself in the baggage carriage that followed it.
When they arrived at the town gate, the magistrate approached the carriage, harangued Colonel Balbi, and finished this fine harangue by crying out in unison with those accompanying him: 'God be praised that we see the defender of the Protestant Religion.' His Majesty, in the open carriage, had great difficulty in not bursting out into laughter.
If this is true, he definitely learned something! And even if not, it appears to have been rather less eventful than the Strasbourg debacle.
Oh, according to Voltaire and Bielfeld, both of whom knew him personally at the time, Fritz was intending to go to Paris on that 1740 trip, but the Strasbourg debacle deterred him. I wonder if, if the France trip had gone better, he would have ever considered going to Italy?
Wiegand says that the idea the botched Straßburg experience was the reasonw why Fritz insisted Broglie be replaced as French commander in Bohemia during the Silesian War somewhat later is pure slander, that it was solely because Broglie wasn't competent enough. Thoughts?
I don't know enough about Broglie's military record to say, but given that Fritz promoted people he didn't personally like, including people like Derschau, there's a good chance that it wasn't primarily *because* of Strasbourg. At any rate, I believe that Fritz believed that he was incompetent. Did Fritz's personal feelings about Broglie skew his evaluation of his military career? Probably. Was it solely revenge? I doubt it. People rarely have only one reason for their actions.