if you treat the army as a deposit for people you want to punish, you're not making it look attractive and honorable
This is a good point, Fritz!
The irony is that Fritz, according to Schöning as well as everyone else, at this point of his life really truly loved the army and would not hear a bad word about it. Remember the explosion at Borcke (FW2's governor) for muttering some peace approving statements?
Ha, Catt! :P
LOL. Yes, it's very clear Catt was seeing what he wanted to see, if he didn't rewrite Fritz deliberately.
But yes, given what I'd read about Fritz dressing himself and not wanting to be seen in the nude (Fritz, you're just giving Zimmermann ideas!)
So he did. Fritz' freakish-for-his-time insistence of not letting the staff see him au naturell is Zimmerman's exhibit A) bit of evidence for his "must have had a broken/malformed penis" theory.
not like having your servants light the fire and wake you up, which is *everyone*, even "I dress myself and want privacy for relieving myself* weirdo Fritz
Minor nitpick: according to the biographies I read for my Yuletide story, Catherine did, in fact, like to light her fireplace herself in the morning. Though she did get woken up by her servants, six o'clock sharp every morning (via knocking), no matter the festivities in the night.
Poor, underappreciated F1.
Seriously though, why did Fritz have it in for Gramps? I mean, this is a consistent obsessive trait; Voltaire remarks on it in his letters 1750s letters, and as the statements he quotes from Fritz there are almost identical to what Schöning reports decades later, and Lucchesini, I'm assuming a "Reasons why Grandpa sucked!" rant was one of the regular events. And it's not like he had memories of the man himself, what with F1 dying while he was still a baby. I mean, sure, all the money spending offers enough room for critique, but you don't see Fritz having a go at, say, August the Strong for the same reason, when compared to August's money spending F1 was actually small scale. Still, just about the only time Fritz brings up Grandpa without ranting about how much he sucked is in the interrogation protocols when he points out the precedent of a Prince of Prussia leaving the country without royal permission (and FW heatedly replies that that was different because future F1 was afraid he'd get poisoned by his stepmother).
So, my current theories:
a) Projection theory I: Fritz was very aware FW was afraid Fritz would become F1 reborn, between their shared love for the arts, fashionable, comfortable clothing and fascination with all things French. He therefore blamed Grandpa for having caused a mindset in Dad for which he, Fritz, then paid the price. This of course he couldn't say, and thus he rants about what a sucky King F1 was instead.
b) Projection theory II: Fritz did see the similarities and did some more projecting. All those accusations of pride and vanity and wannabe Louis XIV are in fact self loathing.
c) Projection theory III: As Schöning (and Mitchell, and Catt) report, Fritz even when bringing up FW's temper and parenting was always careful to praise him more than to critique him, and to venerate him. After the letters to Wilhelmine from the 1730s, there is no more testified Fritz statement that's unmoderated hostility towards FW. Which doesn't mean those emotions were gone. But he can't vent them anymore. So he directs all the anger at his parents at Grandpa, who is a safe target since venerating him isn't necessary to uphold the Prussian mentality, on the contrary, you can use him as a bad example.
Fasting: My point here was that you don't eat chocolate while fasting. No meat, yes, and it's true that fish, cheese, milk etc. are all okay, but chocolate during lent is a no go. That's what you eat at Easter! (In egg form, these days though of course not then. *g*)
Re: Schöning: Old Fritz: Not Your Dream Boss (Unless You're Dog)
This is a good point, Fritz!
The irony is that Fritz, according to Schöning as well as everyone else, at this point of his life really truly loved the army and would not hear a bad word about it. Remember the explosion at Borcke (FW2's governor) for muttering some peace approving statements?
Ha, Catt! :P
LOL. Yes, it's very clear Catt was seeing what he wanted to see, if he didn't rewrite Fritz deliberately.
But yes, given what I'd read about Fritz dressing himself and not wanting to be seen in the nude (Fritz, you're just giving Zimmermann ideas!)
So he did. Fritz' freakish-for-his-time insistence of not letting the staff see him au naturell is Zimmerman's exhibit A) bit of evidence for his "must have had a broken/malformed penis" theory.
not like having your servants light the fire and wake you up, which is *everyone*, even "I dress myself and want privacy for relieving myself* weirdo Fritz
Minor nitpick: according to the biographies I read for my Yuletide story, Catherine did, in fact, like to light her fireplace herself in the morning. Though she did get woken up by her servants, six o'clock sharp every morning (via knocking), no matter the festivities in the night.
Poor, underappreciated F1.
Seriously though, why did Fritz have it in for Gramps? I mean, this is a consistent obsessive trait; Voltaire remarks on it in his letters 1750s letters, and as the statements he quotes from Fritz there are almost identical to what Schöning reports decades later, and Lucchesini, I'm assuming a "Reasons why Grandpa sucked!" rant was one of the regular events. And it's not like he had memories of the man himself, what with F1 dying while he was still a baby. I mean, sure, all the money spending offers enough room for critique, but you don't see Fritz having a go at, say, August the Strong for the same reason, when compared to August's money spending F1 was actually small scale. Still, just about the only time Fritz brings up Grandpa without ranting about how much he sucked is in the interrogation protocols when he points out the precedent of a Prince of Prussia leaving the country without royal permission (and FW heatedly replies that that was different because future F1 was afraid he'd get poisoned by his stepmother).
So, my current theories:
a) Projection theory I: Fritz was very aware FW was afraid Fritz would become F1 reborn, between their shared love for the arts, fashionable, comfortable clothing and fascination with all things French. He therefore blamed Grandpa for having caused a mindset in Dad for which he, Fritz, then paid the price. This of course he couldn't say, and thus he rants about what a sucky King F1 was instead.
b) Projection theory II: Fritz did see the similarities and did some more projecting. All those accusations of pride and vanity and wannabe Louis XIV are in fact self loathing.
c) Projection theory III: As Schöning (and Mitchell, and Catt) report, Fritz even when bringing up FW's temper and parenting was always careful to praise him more than to critique him, and to venerate him. After the letters to Wilhelmine from the 1730s, there is no more testified Fritz statement that's unmoderated hostility towards FW. Which doesn't mean those emotions were gone. But he can't vent them anymore. So he directs all the anger at his parents at Grandpa, who is a safe target since venerating him isn't necessary to uphold the Prussian mentality, on the contrary, you can use him as a bad example.
Fasting: My point here was that you don't eat chocolate while fasting. No meat, yes, and it's true that fish, cheese, milk etc. are all okay, but chocolate during lent is a no go. That's what you eat at Easter! (In egg form, these days though of course not then. *g*)