In addition to Fritz going back to sleep, I think it's simply old age.
In general, old people sleep *less* (on average), but with his worsening health, I can imagine he's running out of energy to drag himself through a non-stop workday, so yeah, he might need more sleep to keep it up.
Incidentally, I'm also satisfied about a bit of my own headcanon getting confirmation, to wit, him having the fireplace lighted in summer as well as in winter.
Yep! I was going to mention this and say that this detail is in a fic we all know and love! <3
I thought we had that from a contemporary who toured his rooms, but not from someone who lived with him, so this is good extra confirmation either way.
Note that Lehndorff - who of course isn't a Fritz intimate - assumes the footmen were doing the pulling off of Fritz' waistcoat, when Fritz probably put the clothing too close to the fire place himself when getting rid of it. And naturally, the "incompentent" servants get blamed. Sigh.
Yes, I was thinking about that anecdote. The first time you shared it, and pointed out that Fritz had footmen undressing him, I either said or thought about saying that I had always learned that Fritz undressed himself, and I assumed that the servants' job was just putting away the clothes (given his messy habits, I doubt he could be bothered). And reading it more closely, with what we learned about him recently, I still think that Fritz was undressing himself and the footmen are putting the coat away...possibly hanging it up to the fireplace to dry, because he's sweated through it. Just like his nightshirt and sheets.
undressed himself standing in front of the fireplace except for boots and pants, put his nightshirt on, dismissed his servants
So either he's letting the clothes fall by the fireplace (because it's winter and these palace rooms are freaking cold) and everyone's leaving them wherever they land, in which case it's his fault for letting the land too close (and not ordering them removed), or else he's undressing himself, the servants (who are still present, because they're not dismissed until the next step, which suggests to me that they're doing *something* after he undresses, although maybe it's just removing candles and/or lamps) are arranging the clothes by the fire to dry, and then it's their fault.
So I give it at least a 50% chance the servants are to blame, and a 100% chance that if it was Fritz's fault, they would have gotten blamed anyway. ;)
cahn, note that getting to change quickly by the fireplace is one major advantage of being a monarch who dresses and undresses yourself. You read stories about French monarchs shivering in freezing bedrooms because dressing them is a prestigious position, so it goes according to rank. So if you've already undressed and someone's about to hand you your shirt, and a higher ranked noble walks in, that courtier has to hand *them* your shirt so *they* can hand it to you, and I think it was Marie Antoinette who complained that one time, by bad luck, nobles kept entering the room in increasing order of rank right after she'd undressed, so her clothes kept getting handed to noble after noble, before anything could actually be put on *her*, so she was naked and freezing!
Like Fritz, I'll dress myself, thanks.
chicken fillet à la Pompadour
Given Fritz' opinion of the Marquise, it's interesting his cook names dishes after her.
I hadn't caught that, because I'm familiar with meat and fish prepared à la Pompadour being a thing, so I assumed that this was just the usual name for it in Europe already in 1786. But yes, it's interesting that it's the name at Fritz's court too! (Considering he had a horse named Lord Bute, etc.)
ETA:
Also, if Fritz transpired so strongly that his nightshirt and sheets were soaked through every night in his old age, then, together with the tobacco and the general bad hygiene, then we can state he must have stunk pestilentially.
Three things.
1. This has always been my headcanon. That's why I've always raised two eyebrows when he starts talking about how women smell.
2. Why do you think he needed that perfume?! He needs "an Italian spring morning right after the rain, oranges, grapefruits, lemons, bergamot, cedrat, lime and the flowers and herbs of [Italy]" to offset all the snuff and sweat, etc.
3. Just how bad he smelled (aside from the snuff, which is a given), I think depends on how often his clothes got laundered. I read about a study a while ago that investigated the whole "People didn't bathe in history!" (disclaimer: radical oversimplification, see also public baths, and sponge baths for people who thought immersion bathing was dangerous (esp in winter)) question, and found that the odor of an unwashed human body for 30 days is orders of magnitude less bad than unlaundered clothes for 30 days, and that the difference correlated with the amount of bacteria that grew on the respective surfaces.
In conclusion: Fritz stank, but d'Argens may have stunk worse. ;) It's the 18th century! Put on your perfume and get on with it. In cities like Edinburgh (Auld Reekie), the streets are running with human waste anyway, because all those chamber pots have to be dumped somewhere!
Re: Schöning: Days in the Life of Old Fritz
In general, old people sleep *less* (on average), but with his worsening health, I can imagine he's running out of energy to drag himself through a non-stop workday, so yeah, he might need more sleep to keep it up.
Incidentally, I'm also satisfied about a bit of my own headcanon getting confirmation, to wit, him having the fireplace lighted in summer as well as in winter.
Yep! I was going to mention this and say that this detail is in a fic we all know and love! <3
I thought we had that from a contemporary who toured his rooms, but not from someone who lived with him, so this is good extra confirmation either way.
Note that Lehndorff - who of course isn't a Fritz intimate - assumes the footmen were doing the pulling off of Fritz' waistcoat, when Fritz probably put the clothing too close to the fire place himself when getting rid of it. And naturally, the "incompentent" servants get blamed. Sigh.
Yes, I was thinking about that anecdote. The first time you shared it, and pointed out that Fritz had footmen undressing him, I either said or thought about saying that I had always learned that Fritz undressed himself, and I assumed that the servants' job was just putting away the clothes (given his messy habits, I doubt he could be bothered). And reading it more closely, with what we learned about him recently, I still think that Fritz was undressing himself and the footmen are putting the coat away...possibly hanging it up to the fireplace to dry, because he's sweated through it. Just like his nightshirt and sheets.
undressed himself standing in front of the fireplace except for boots and pants, put his nightshirt on, dismissed his servants
So either he's letting the clothes fall by the fireplace (because it's winter and these palace rooms are freaking cold) and everyone's leaving them wherever they land, in which case it's his fault for letting the land too close (and not ordering them removed), or else he's undressing himself, the servants (who are still present, because they're not dismissed until the next step, which suggests to me that they're doing *something* after he undresses, although maybe it's just removing candles and/or lamps) are arranging the clothes by the fire to dry, and then it's their fault.
So I give it at least a 50% chance the servants are to blame, and a 100% chance that if it was Fritz's fault, they would have gotten blamed anyway. ;)
Like Fritz, I'll dress myself, thanks.
chicken fillet à la Pompadour
Given Fritz' opinion of the Marquise, it's interesting his cook names dishes after her.
I hadn't caught that, because I'm familiar with meat and fish prepared à la Pompadour being a thing, so I assumed that this was just the usual name for it in Europe already in 1786. But yes, it's interesting that it's the name at Fritz's court too! (Considering he had a horse named Lord Bute, etc.)
ETA:
Also, if Fritz transpired so strongly that his nightshirt and sheets were soaked through every night in his old age, then, together with the tobacco and the general bad hygiene, then we can state he must have stunk pestilentially.
Three things.
1. This has always been my headcanon. That's why I've always raised two eyebrows when he starts talking about how women smell.
2. Why do you think he needed that perfume?! He needs "an Italian spring morning right after the rain, oranges, grapefruits, lemons, bergamot, cedrat, lime and the flowers and herbs of [Italy]" to offset all the snuff and sweat, etc.
3. Just how bad he smelled (aside from the snuff, which is a given), I think depends on how often his clothes got laundered. I read about a study a while ago that investigated the whole "People didn't bathe in history!" (disclaimer: radical oversimplification, see also public baths, and sponge baths for people who thought immersion bathing was dangerous (esp in winter)) question, and found that the odor of an unwashed human body for 30 days is orders of magnitude less bad than unlaundered clothes for 30 days, and that the difference correlated with the amount of bacteria that grew on the respective surfaces.
In conclusion: Fritz stank, but d'Argens may have stunk worse. ;) It's the 18th century! Put on your perfume and get on with it. In cities like Edinburgh (Auld Reekie), the streets are running with human waste anyway, because all those chamber pots have to be dumped somewhere!