Ooh, these Schöning reports are confirming so many things that I'd seen in modern sources but didn't know whether to trust!
And then there's this.
The sleep of the King was supposed to consist only of seven hours in the second half of his life; it actually lasted up to eight or nine hours
Seven? I thought it was five to six hours! Hence all the coffee. Never mind eight or nine. This is changing everything. What happened to 3 am in the summer, 4 am in the winter?
Depending on circumstances, he either rose immediately or slept a quarter of an hour, half an hour, sometimes even an hour longer.
Oh, that's what happened to it. :P
Early summer rising is still confirmed, though, thankfully!
I'm delighted by the confirmation of the anecdote of young Fritz's experiment with forgoing sleep, though. :)
The soupers only lasted until the 7 Years War. The King recognized that the stomach didn't digest as quickly when one got older
I seem to remember him saying this in a letter...to Voltaire?
For fanfic writers, MacDonogh reports,
We know the complete menu for one of his last meals, on 5 August 1786: broccoli soup à la Fouqué, beef in breadcrumbs with carrots, chicken with cinnamon and stuffed cucumbers in the English style (Frederick crossed it out and asked for cutlets), little pasties à la Romaine, young roast hake, salmon à la Dessau, chicken fillet à la Pompadour with ox tongues and croquettes, Portuguese cake, green peas, fresh herrings and gherkins.
To "à la Fouqué", he adds a note: "One is tempted to believe that this was with truffles."
Aah, we have MacDonough's source in the library, the 1997 Mitteilungen des Vereins für die Geschichte Berlins, 1997, page 236.
He was awoken in the morning in the exact minute he had ordered in the previous evening, and fifteen minutes before that, the fireplace in his bedroom was lighted.He dressed himself while in bed with stockings, trousers and boots, the rest he put on while standing in front of the fire in the fireplace.
Excellent, I'd read that he dressed himself (contrary to most monarchs) and had adopted that as my headcanon, but didn't have a firm source for it. Ditto for not wanting to be seen in the nude.
He also says Fritz felt so safe at Sanssouci that he didn't permit any of the doors being locked.
Ah, this is a nice touch that I didn't know!
Finally, yay for regular mustard confirmation! \o/
Re: Schöning: Days in the Life of Old Fritz
And then there's this.
The sleep of the King was supposed to consist only of seven hours in the second half of his life; it actually lasted up to eight or nine hours
Seven? I thought it was five to six hours! Hence all the coffee. Never mind eight or nine. This is changing everything. What happened to 3 am in the summer, 4 am in the winter?
Depending on circumstances, he either rose immediately or slept a quarter of an hour, half an hour, sometimes even an hour longer.
Oh, that's what happened to it. :P
Early summer rising is still confirmed, though, thankfully!
I'm delighted by the confirmation of the anecdote of young Fritz's experiment with forgoing sleep, though. :)
The soupers only lasted until the 7 Years War. The King recognized that the stomach didn't digest as quickly when one got older
I seem to remember him saying this in a letter...to Voltaire?
For fanfic writers, MacDonogh reports,
We know the complete menu for one of his last meals, on 5 August 1786: broccoli soup à la Fouqué, beef in breadcrumbs with carrots, chicken with cinnamon and stuffed cucumbers in the English style (Frederick crossed it out and asked for cutlets), little pasties à la Romaine, young roast hake, salmon à la Dessau, chicken fillet à la Pompadour with ox tongues and croquettes, Portuguese cake, green peas, fresh herrings and gherkins.
To "à la Fouqué", he adds a note: "One is tempted to believe that this was with truffles."
Aah, we have MacDonough's source in the library, the 1997 Mitteilungen des Vereins für die Geschichte Berlins, 1997, page 236.
He was awoken in the morning in the exact minute he had ordered in the previous evening, and fifteen minutes before that, the fireplace in his bedroom was lighted.He dressed himself while in bed with stockings, trousers and boots, the rest he put on while standing in front of the fire in the fireplace.
Excellent, I'd read that he dressed himself (contrary to most monarchs) and had adopted that as my headcanon, but didn't have a firm source for it. Ditto for not wanting to be seen in the nude.
He also says Fritz felt so safe at Sanssouci that he didn't permit any of the doors being locked.
Ah, this is a nice touch that I didn't know!
Finally, yay for regular mustard confirmation! \o/