Browsing through Nicolai's anti-Zimmermann book is a headache because the printing quality is so smudged and bad (in addition to the font used), and there is a lot of detailed refuting of Zimmermann's numbers and locations which is good research work but not interesting to us sensationalist gossip mongers. (Well, not to me at any rate, as I'm not as systematically minded as Mildred with her maps.) Otoh, after a lot of that I was rewarded by getting to the good stuff, i.e. Nicolai addressing the chapters in which the good doctor voices a) the broken penis theory, b) his Fritz/MT shipping, and c) his Fritz/Barbarina influenced the 7 Years War theory. I have to share these gems:
1.) Zimmermann, as you may recall, is the planet's first Fritz/MT shipper and conspiracy theorist who deduced in his fragments that Fritz wanting to go to France or England was just a cover story, he was really in league with Seckendorf and had arranged to go to Austria where he wanted to marry MT, thus sparing the world the Silesian Wars and the 7 Years War. (Zimmermann calls this the greatest Fritz plan ever and really mourns it wasn't to be.) This is also the reason why Seckendorf and the Emperor later intervened with FW to save Fritz' life, and why FS was at Fritz' engagement party later, gloating over his defeated rival for MT's love and hand.
Unsurprisingly, Nicolai has an easy time making mincemeat of that theory even without access to the secret state archives, not least because he's collected stuff on Fritz for decades, including the publication of the various foreign monarchs' letters to FW on the subject, which he uses to point out that the one from MT's Dad was just standard for the day. He also correctly thinks that Seckendorff would have shot himself and his own influence on FW massively in the foot if he'd conspired with FW's son against him in this way and would never have done that, and points to all the meetings with Hotham and Guy Dickens Fritz had, as well as Keith going to England, as proof England was the agreed upon escape destination. And he argues that Katte's published letters form the pamphlet about his execution (which Nicolai has read, and which apparantly has just been republished) as well as the description Preacher Müller gave of his death point to Hans Herrmann von Katte having been an upstanding, really good Protestant, who would never, ever, have signed on a scheme where his beloved Crown Prince has to convert to the Church of Rome to marry MT. On the contrary, upstanding Protestant Katte would have done anything to prevent this.
...I must say, I'm impressed, because Nicolai does not, repeat, does not have access to the interrogation protocols.
2.) Of course, the part of Zimmermann's "Fragments" everyone talked about wasn't this, it was the "Fritz: psychologically impotent due to botched penis operation after youth of STD, but NOT GAY NEVER, he just faked gay interest to cover for this" chapter. Now, as we've seen, in his own collection of anecdotes Nicolai completely avoids the "gay" question, and when he repeatedly has a go at Voltaire for all of Voltaire's ungrateful slanders, he does not include this one. So I was curious how he'd handle what is a part of Zimmermann's big headlines making argument. Mes amies, he handles it thusly.
Nicolai: Okay. Z. - he always calls him "Ritter von Z" or "Herr von Z", never writing out the last name and always using the "von" to mock Zimmermann's pride in his ennoblement - pretends he had to go against all decency to devote an entire chapter on the state of Fritz' penis in order to defend Fritz from a certain charge he then lists in detail. As anyone with a brain in the publishing industry would know, even if you are refuting a charge, by listing it and talking about it you're just making sure more people hear about it. I therefore will not talk about this charge Z is supposedly defending our glorious King from, save to say all right thinking people would never talk about this subject AT ALL. Now, on to Zimmermann's arguments for a broken penis.
.... He points that if Zimmermann was so worried about this question, he could have simply done what Nicolai and Büsching did, to wit, asked the various people who saw dead Fritz naked in the one and a half hour his dead body was lying around in that state while it was cleaned up for the wake and funeral. (You, Mildred, quoted Banning on this, I think; Banning's source is Nicolai, because the phrasing is almost identical.) He then, as Büsching did, prints signed testimony of the various guys involved to the effect Fritz had a completely normal piece of male equipment without any scarring tissue, meaning there can't have been any operation, botched or not, at any point. Because Nicolai is thorough, he also says readers (if they'd made it so far in this unsavoury subject) might wonder what the various people were doing checking Fritz' genitals close enough to look for scarring tissue. Well, says Nicolai, it's all that bastard Voltaire's fault, because he was the one who started the story of the botched operation in his slanderous writings, which everyone had read, so these guys were curious and had a look.
Nicolai then proceeds in his Zimmermann evisceration by showing Zimmermann indulges in the art of quote falsification, as Zimmermann says Schöning told him no one alive saw Fritz naked ever; by contrast, Nicolai points to Büsching quoting Schöning saying that the King had "große Schamhaftigkeit" about his person and didn't want his servants to see him naked, hence dressed and undressed himself, which is a different kind of statement, as, see above, the people who cleaned up Fritz' dead body as well as the doctors making the cuts releaving the body of the water all saw him naked.
Next, Nicolai addresses Zimmermann's statement of Fritz (believing himself cured from STD courtesy of the Schwedt cousin and his quack of a doctor) indulging in six months of non stop sexual married bliss with EC until the STD returned, for which Zimmermann said there's the testimony of one of EC's ladies in waiting, whom he names by name. Leaving aside that it's extremely indelicate to incriminate a lady this way, says Nicolai, it's not true, either, since the lady in question never was lady-in-waiting to EC. She was present at the Fritz/EC wedding, and she and her husband were visiting Rheinsberg at one point, as mentioned in Bielfeld's letters, which is, Nicolai says cuttingly, presumably where Zimmermann has picked her name from. But he, Nicolai, talked to the late lady's son, Count Such and Such, and here reprints the son's testimony that his mother wasn't EC's lady-in-waiting during the first six months of EC's marriage (or later), and also certainly would never have been as crass and tasteless as to gossip about EC/Fritz marital sex. How, Nicolai demands, would Zimmermann, himself a married man, feel if people were quoted or "quoted" about his own sexual activities with his wife? And EC is still alive! As is one of Fritz' sisters!!!! The thought of poor EC and Charlotte having to read this (invented) stuff is TOO MUCH, how could you, Z!!!!!
3.) On to Fritz/Barbarina. Here, Nicolai doesn't really go on about Zimmermann's "Fritz clearly wanted to, but thought he couldn't anymore, and this explains his entire behavior with her", but chooses as his target for eviscaration another angle, because Zimmermann in "Fragments" theorizes that Barbarina's ditched boyfriend/sort of fiance?? "Mackenzie" whom she'd been with when Fritz had her extradited by Venice subsequently must have been fueled with thoughts of revenge, a revenge he later took when becoming advisor to none other than Lord Bute, making him withdraw British funding from Fritz in the 7 Years War. Thus, the story of the 7 Years War would have been different if not for Fritz' tragically unfulfilled longings for Barbarina and her ditching this Mackenzie for Fritz, sort of. Nicolai mocks this, saying that it could be one of Bute's advisors is called MacSomething or the other, it's a very common name part in GB for someone to have, but there's no proof this is Barbarina's ex. As for the idea the Brits wouldn't have withdrawn funding from Fritz otherwise, pleaaaaaase. And Z, you're again not being a gentleman towards a lady by putting into print Barbarina's old scandals, because Barbarina? Still alive, and wonderful highly respected old lady who has funded a woman's shelter in silesia with her fortune, so there.
Thank you for bracing the bad printing quality and extracting this feud! Very entertaining.
why FS was at Fritz' engagement party later, gloating over his defeated rival for MT's love and hand
Aw, poor FS, victim of Z's pet theory.
So, Nicolai on the gay question is basically: we all know it, but there's really no need to talk about it, so I certainly won't?
Zimmermann's legacy: causing multiple people to give signed testimonies on the state of Fritz' penis. I mean. Congrats? :P
Well, says Nicolai, it's all that bastard Voltaire's fault, because he was the one who started the story of the botched operation in his slanderous writings, which everyone had read, so these guys were curious and had a look.
Naturally. Who wouldn't have? I am amused. And of course it's Voltaire's fault in the end.
And Z, you're again not being a gentleman towards a lady by putting into print Barbarina's old scandals, because Barbarina? Still alive, and wonderful highly respected old lady who has funded a woman's shelter in silesia with her fortune, so there.
Did she? If so, good for her!
Nicolai's research into the not-actually-lady-in-waiting is really interesting, as is his comment on the quote doctoring.
By the way, via Volz' footnotes I found another Zimmermann refutation by the second chamber husar called Neumann (can be found here, written 1789), who is a lot less scientific about it and basically all about how Zimmermann was an arrogant and self-important person, who talked too much instead of doing his job, made up lies, was in it for the money, and fawned over Schöning (who was the second! chamber husar, he, Neumann, was the first!) while totally ignoring other people (read: Neumann), who might have known a few things, too. Also, that guy Schöning? Totally sucked up to FWII and that's why he got made Geheimer Kriegsrath. Neumann only serves one sun at a time, thank you very much, no rising sun for him. Oh, and that Büsching guy got ahead of himself, too. And he, Neumann, has half a mind to duel himself with all those other people who have been publishing insulting lies about the great king since his death. He also says the dog death during the Silesia revue was actually in 1784 and daily messages are a lie and while the King absolutely did get a message about the dog's death, it totally was his right as a king, so there! (He is trying to defend Fritz from a perceived "valued dogs more than people" slight in this passage. Indiscriminately defensive? Why would you ever think that?)
Zimmermann is a shipper! Shippers know no mercy with the canon love interest! He also says in "Fragments" that the only thing the FS/MT marriage ever produced was Joseph, and she should have married Fritz, dammit! (The idea of gloating Franzl at the engagement party still makes me chortle.)
Zimmermann's legacy: causing multiple people to give signed testimonies on the state of Fritz' penis. I mean. Congrats? :P
It's one way to achieve immortality, to be sure. And hey - other monarchs didn't get signed testimonies on the state of their penis, and after their death, too! Here, too, he is der Einzige.
And of course it's Voltaire's fault in the end.
One thing the feuding publishing Fritz fans always agree on: Voltaire was an ungrateful son of a bitch who broke their guy's heart and is to blame for his bad reputation ever since.
(A late carrier on of this tradition is Charlotte Pangels with her 1970s book on Fritz' siblings, which features completely straight Fritz, because she says Voltaire's totally unfounded slander is the only "proof" ever that Fritz had a non-straight thought in his life, and other than Voltaire no one believed it of him while Fritz was alive, either, so there. A few chapters later, we get to here about completely straight Heinrich and his heterosexual affairs, too.)
Barbarina: well, sort of. To quote German wiki: Nicht lange danach errichtete die nunmehrige Gräfin ein Stift zum Unterhalt 18 adeliger lediger Damen und einer Supriorin. Diese mussten aus dem schlesischen Adel stammen; zudem musste eine Hälfte der evangelischen, die andere Hälfte der katholischen Religion angehören. Barberina, die inzwischen 68 Jahre alt geworden war, hielt ein Jahrzehnt strengste Ordnung unter ihren Stiftsdamen, bis sie 1799 urplötzlich auf ihrem Gut in Barschau an einem Herzschlag verstarb. Die von ihr gegründete Stiftung für arme adelige Fräulein bestand noch mehr als 100 Jahre bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg.
ZOMG Neumann, what a find! Congrats. This is priceless. A true gem. And ah, job rivalries never change.
By the way, via Volz' footnotes I found another Zimmermann refutation by the second chamber husar called Neumann (can be found here, written 1789)
OMGGGGG, that's awesome! Brilliant find! This is so great. I am snacking hard on my metaphorical popcorn as I watch this 1790s literary feud unfold. :D
Zimmermann's legacy: causing multiple people to give signed testimonies on the state of Fritz' penis. I mean. Congrats? :P
(A small part of) Voltaire's legacy: making them look. Zimmermann's legacy: making them sign off on what they saw.
I'm dying. :'D
He also says the dog death during the Silesia revue was actually in 1784
Omg, of course we can't agree on the date. *headdesk*
I gather that STILL no one cares what happened to the dogs after Fritz died?
Indiscriminately defensive? Why would you ever think that?
Having read the article felis linked, including the footnotes, I see we have a first name for Neumann - Gottfried - but still none for Schöning. According to Neumann, their respective duties were:
Schöning: SECOND chamber hussar OMG SECOND: shaving Fritz, giving Fritz his medications, taking care of Fritz' enemas, otherwise "just like every other servant"'s duties, whereas
Neumann: FIRST chamber hussar: waking Fritz in the morning, dressing him (?? - maybe once he was ill?), creating Fritz' tail, selecting a wig, handing both coffee and water to Fritz, bring any and each letters addressed to the King to him, as well as execute any orders of the day Fritz may give.
According to yet another foonote, Neumann was born in 1752 in one of the 17 villages Peterdorf, Silesia, started his work for Fritz as a runner in 1772, ended up as First Chamber Husar and adminstrator of the royal private purse (Privatschatulle des Königs) until Fritz' death. Neumann himself died as chief of police (Polizei-Direktor) in Liegnitz on June 24th 1799.
Now, aside of Zimmermann getting wrong who was outranking whom, all this doesn't contradict the previous info; felis said the Schatulle accounts list Schöning for shaving and medication espenses, especially leeches, and even Zimmermann quoting the courtier to the effect that Schöning was currently Fritz' only doctor (due to the firing of the others) fits. Note that Schöning himself in his own account doesn't say anything about himself at all. His account is strictly about Fritz and doesn't include "the King and I" stories. But what I find telling in retrospect is the passage about Fritz being the kinder to the servants who nursed him (i.e., it appears, Schöning himself) the worse off he was, and that you could always tell he got better when he started being rude again, also that Fritz in his last years generally mellowed a bit towards the staff and "made little presents after illnesses to those who nursed him".
Something else that struck me is this: in his own account, Schöning doesn't mention Glasow, Völker or for that matter, Desen. He limits himself to the "sometimes, the King gave a lot of money to unworthy people, and no, I won't be talking about the motivation for this here" observation. Büsching, otoh, in his recounting of the Desen story (ending in suicide) gives Schöning as a source; I translated Büsching's version for you back in the day, and it's listed for contrast in the Georgii entry at Rheinsberg. Note it ends with Fritz just commenting he hadn't thought Desen had it (the shooting himself) in him. Zimmermann, who hears about Desen, can't resist improving on this because he's all about how misunderstood Fritz was really loving at heart, and says that Fritz was really sorry once the guy had shot himself and said maybe he shouldn't have been so harsh. Neumann, apparantly feeling the need to defend Fritz from this, too, which tells you something about Neumann, says NO HE DID NOT, he couldn't have cared less about Desen by then, he just said he hadn't thought Desen would have the courage.
Yeah, Schöning really was the closest thing to a nurse Fritz had during his last years it seems.
dressing him (?? - maybe once he was ill?)
Might also have been the general handling of Fritz' clothes? In the "several hours in pouring rain during the Silesia revue" passage, he is quite indignant, saying that, despite what some people write about the King's wardrobe, it's not like he had to sit at the table in wet clothes, there were more than enough clothes for him to get undressed and dressed again.
Neumann, apparantly feeling the need to defend Fritz from this, too, which tells you something about Neumann
Right? It's quite interesting what he feels the need to defend/nitpick. Also, no patience at all for literary exaggeration -
Zimmermann: driving up the hill towards Sanssouci, I prayed most fervently, probably nobody else ever prayed as fervently as I did on this hill. Neumann: Self-important bullshit, I'd say there were lots of invalids who prayed there way more devoutly than Zimmermann did.
(By the way, a look at the Schatullrechnungen tells me that Neumann, like Schöning, did apparently hand out money to poor people occasionally, and especially invalids in his case, so he does have a reason for saying this. Other recurring expenses in his list are Spanish tobacco for Fritz and postal charges.)
Oh, and Mildred: No, of course no mention of the dogs' fate.
Librarian report: I forgot to mention that I put the volume containing Neumann's refutation in the library last night, under "Journals". And I've now moved Zimmermann over to the anecdote collections section for ease of finding. Sorry for all the shuffling around lately, but we've been turning up a lot of good sources!
Browsing through Nicolai's anti-Zimmermann book is a headache because the printing quality is so smudged and bad (in addition to the font used)
Ugh. I'm sorry. Thank you for taking one for the team!
(Well, not to me at any rate, as I'm not as systematically minded as Mildred with her maps.)
Haha, I admit, sometimes I get fascinated with numbers and locations, depending on the topic.
On the contrary, upstanding Protestant Katte would have done anything to prevent this.
Apparently, it was a deciding factor in his willingness to sacrifice his life! I too am impressed with this Nicolai.
Okay. Z. - he always calls him "Ritter von Z" or "Herr von Z", never writing out the last name and always using the "von" to mock Zimmermann's pride in his ennoblement
Hahaha, I approve.
As anyone with a brain in the publishing industry would know, even if you are refuting a charge, by listing it and talking about it you're just making sure more people hear about it.
Praeteritio!
(You, Mildred, quoted Banning on this, I think; Banning's source is Nicolai, because the phrasing is almost identical.)
Blanning cites Büsching for "The surgeon Gottlieb Engel, who helped to prepare Frederick’s body for burial, indignantly asserted that the royal genitalia were as “complete and perfect as those of any healthy man," and a 1921 article reprinting the 1790 signed testimony by the three medical officers. The 1921 author "adds that Frederick’s naked body lay for more than one and a half hours and was seen by at least a dozen people, none of whom noticed any genital deformity," so I think Blanning is one degree removed from Nicolai, but his ultimate source is Nicolai.
Because Nicolai is thorough, he also says readers (if they'd made it so far in this unsavoury subject)
Nicolai's readers: *are glued*
might wonder what the various people were doing checking Fritz' genitals close enough to look for scarring tissue. Well, says Nicolai, it's all that bastard Voltaire's fault, because he was the one who started the story of the botched operation in his slanderous writings, which everyone had read, so these guys were curious and had a look.
That's awesome, though! Because I've always been aware that I have no way to refute the hypothetical argument "But what if they just missed it because they weren't looking?"
But they were looking--that's perfect! :D
*is surprisingly excited that someone looked at someone else's penis closely*
Gossipy sensationalism has clearly reached a peak. :P
Also, cahn, chronology reminder: Voltaire's memoirs were published in 1784, Fritz died in 1786, meaning the medical officers have been reading bestsellers when they were published. :D
Remember, this is not in the 1752 pamphlet!
But he, Nicolai, talked to the late lady's son, Count Such and Such, and here reprints the son's testimony that his mother wasn't EC's lady-in-waiting during the first six months of EC's marriage (or later)
I see Nicolai and Koser are soul mates in some respects.
Nicolai mocks this, saying that it could be one of Bute's advisors is called MacSomething or the other, it's a very common name part in GB for someone to have, but there's no proof this is Barbarina's ex. As for the idea the Brits wouldn't have withdrawn funding from Fritz otherwise, pleaaaaaase.
It's just possible it was her ex? But much more likely it's a MacSomething (MacJemand? MacEtwas? How do you say this in German, I must know. :P)
And yeah, the claim that he single-handedly got Fritz's funding withdrawn? As they say, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
sometimes I get fascinated with numbers and locations, depending on the topic.
There are a lot of numbers and locations in Nicolai's refutation, demonstrating all Zimmermann got wrong, but you'll forgive if I don't transcribe them. After all, no one remembers Zimmermann for his Prussian geography, or lack of same.
That's awesome, though! Because I've always been aware that I have no way to refute the hypothetical argument "But what if they just missed it because they weren't looking?"
But they were looking--that's perfect! :D
Conclusion: reading Voltaire in Frederician Prussia can have really unexpected results! It even encourages detailed genital examination!
chronology reminder: Voltaire's memoirs were published in 1784, Fritz died in 1786, meaning the medical officers have been reading bestsellers when they were published. :D
They did, and it's so telling of just how widely read Voltaire was that basically everyone encountering us in our primarly sources research quest if they were still alive in 1784 has read Voltaire's trashy tell all, no matter whether they're Fritz fans or enemies themselves. (And I'll never not be amused about Lehndorff in 1784 first getting a kick out of Heinrich reading the French original out loud to him, inserted with comments, at Rheinsberg, and then being utterly shocked a few months later when he spots a German translation in a Berlin book shop, for everyone to read.
BTW, Goethe also read it in 1784, and, I was reminded of this recently, wrote in a letter he thought it was entertaining as hell but also read like the kind of satire men write about how women suck if they're about to fall at the ladies' feet and in love all over again before the ink is dry. Methinks young Goethe was better attuned to the Fritz and Voltaire dynamic than many a(nother) Fritz fan.
(Chronology: this was after De La Literature Allemande.)
I see Nicolai and Koser are soul mates in some respects.
To a degree. Let's not forget, Nicolai isn't above a certain fleshing out himself, given that we've yet to discover anyone but Nicolai presenting Glasow as seduced by Völker etc. Then again, Koser, while never inventing new stuff or changing facts, does change the emotional coloring in his renditions. I noticed this most blatantly in his version of Fritz' post-Kolin melt down with Heinrich, which he bases exclusively on Henckel von Donnersmarck's account, only in Koser's biography, the soldiers when Fritz arrives after 36 hours on horseback aren't just struck by that, they're struck by how his eyes, usually always so bright and energetic, now have darkened, which certainly isn't something Henckel noted.
(And of course there's the nearby "Heinrich and Wilhelmine were Fritz' emotional confidants at this point, only Heinrich was coarser than W & F and didn't have their passionate nature but was cold" observation, which if it's based on anything is based on Henckel's admiring description of Heinrich having it together when organizing the Prague retreat and getting Fritz to sign off on his plan.)
But much more likely it's a MacSomething (MacJemand? MacEtwas? How do you say this in German, I must know. :P)
MacSoundso. Though that's not how 18th century guy Nicolai phrases it. He first quotes the relevant passage from Zimmermann's "Fragments" book, which is:
Z speaking: "Mackenzie was filled with an immortal hatred on Friedrich, as can be easily guessed; and as a close relation and dear friend of Lord Bute, he after his return to England infected this otherwise good man with his immortal hatred, too. One knows from Friedrich's "History of the 7 Years War" how Lord Bute treated the hero who had just revived near the end of that war."
Nicolai comments: "There we have an important deduction all the cabinets of Europe missed, and even Friedrich himself in his "Histoire" did not dare to reveal! Alas, the whole thing falls apart. It's not easy but difficult to guess that Mr. Mackenzie should have developed an immortal hatred on Frederick the Great because of such an affair. For it's far easier to believe that he made a good marriage thereafter and didn't think about the matter anymore fifteen years later. Moreover, we aren't enlightened (by Z)how close this Mackenzie - the family name contains multitudes - is related to Lord Bute, and how close their friendship was supposed to be to allow Mackenzie to infect a state minister with his immortal hatred. There's rather a huge plothole here. For Herr v. Z himself says on page 91 "Mackenzie had to separate from his beloved due to the demands of his family", and if Lord Bute did indeed belong to this family, he shouldn't have hated King Friedrich but rather loved him for contributing to the fulfillment of this very demand.
Now, we've come across some fascinating and sometimes obscure cross connections in this fandom - young Andrew Mitchell/Algarotti, Hervey knowing Voltaire, Lady Mary meeting Countess Orzelska in Rome (or for that matter Lady Mary being Lord Bute's mother-in-law - he married her daughter, and she died in his house) - and the world of the European aristocracy was relatively small. It's by no means impossible that Barbarina's ex could have been related to Lord Bute, or at least known to him. But as Zimmermann names no proof he was, and seems to have guessed solely on the basis of the name sounding Scottish and Bute being a Scot. (Bute being a Scot would have been unmissable to anyone living, as Zimmermann did, in Hannover, because it factored in to the massive anti-Scot feeling in the second half of the 18th century (see the anecdote I've told of young Boswell witnessing Highlander soldiers returning from the 7 Years War getting bood in a London theatre with the yells "no Scots! No Scots!") and was mentioned in each and every rant against him.)
It occurs to me that Zimmermann really has a fanfiction-writing mind, going for romantic theories wherever he can, be it Fritz/MT or the English policy near the end of the 7 Years War being dictated by Barbarina's ex. And of course his biggest ship is Fritz/Himself (in a tender, manly, STRAIGHT fashion).
After all, no one remembers Zimmermann for his Prussian geography, or lack of same.
Except for Neumann. :P At least, he certainly remembers that Zimmermann very unfairly dissed the sandy streets and slow horses of Brandenburg, both of which made it hard to travel quickly. Lies and slander! The horses of Brandenburg are way better than the ones of Hannover.
BTW, Goethe also read it in 1784, and, I was reminded of this recently, wrote in a letter he thought it was entertaining as hell but also read like the kind of satire men write about how women suck if they're about to fall at the ladies' feet and in love all over again before the ink is dry.
Here's the original Goethe quote to you, from a letter to Charlotte von Stein, and having looked it up again, I find there's a slightly different emphasis:
Gotha, 5. Juni 1784. ...Gestern abend vertraute mir die Oberhofmeisterin (Voltaire's trashy tell all) unter den feierlichsten Beteuernngen an. Man sagt, das Büchlein soll gedruckt werden; es wird entsetzliches Aufsehen machen und ich freue mich nur darauf- weil Du es lesen wirst. Es ist so vornehm und mit einem so köstlichen Humor geschrieben als irgend etwas von ihm. Er schreibt vom König in Preußen wie Sueton die Scandalosa der Weltherrscher - und wenn der Welt über Könige und Fürsten die Augen aufgehen könnten und sollten, so wären diefe Blätter eine köstliche Salbe. Allein man wird sie lesen wie eine Satire auf die Weiber, sie beiseite legen und ihnen wieder zu Füßen fallen. ...
Thus makes misrememberance Zimmermanns of us all. :)
Have some more Goethe about Voltaire's trashy tell-all quotes, because unique among Fritzian fanboys of the era (and despite some criticism, he did remain impressed), he really dug those memoirs:
Zum Schrecken aller Wohlgesinnten geht die Rede als sollten die Memoires des Voltaire, von denen ich schrieb, gedruckt werden, mir macht es ein großes Vergnügen, damit du sie lesen kannst. Ich soll eines der ersten Exemplare erhalten, und ich schicke es dr gleich. Du wirst finden, es ist als wenn ein Gott (etwa Momus), aber eine Canaille von einem Gott, über einen König und über das Hohe der Welt schriebe. Dies ist überhaupt der Character aller Voltaireischen Witz Produkte, kein Funke Mitgefühl, und Honettät. Dagegen eine Leichtigkeit, Höhe des Geistes, Sicherheit, die Entzücken. Ich sage Höhe des Geistes, nicht Hoheit. Man kann ihn einem Luftballon vergleichen, der sich durch eine eigne Luftart über alles weg schwingt, und da Flächen unter sich sieht, wo wir Berge sehn.
And when he did have the printed edition to send her:
Ich will einen Boten abesenden, damit ich gewiß weiß, daß mein Paket bald in deine Hände kommt. Unendlich werden dich die Memoires unterhalten. Uns anderen, die zum Erbteil keine politische Macht erhalten haben, die nicht geschaffen sind, um Reichtümer zu erwerben, ist nicht willkommener als was die Gewalt des Geistes ausbreitet und befestigt. Nun schweig ich auch ganz stille von dem Büchlein, um zu hören, was andre drüber sagen. Wenn du es gelesen, schick es doch gleich an Herder mit der Bitte, es noch geheim zu halten.
Bear in mind here that Goethe, Charlotte von Stein and Herder all live in the duchy of Fritz' grand nephew Carl August. "Eine Canaille von einem Gott" is my new favourite contemporary Voltaire description.
No time to do a full salon reply before work, but as the genealogist, I got curious about James Stuart Mackenzie and Lord Bute, and what should Wikipedia tell me but that they were brothers!
James Stuart Mackenzie's wiki page, stating that he was the second son of James Stuart, 2nd Earl of Bute, that he was the brother of Lord Bute, and that he had an affair with Barbarina, was arrested in Venice, brought back to Berlin, and kicked out of Prussia.
He was envoy to Sardinia 1758-1761, and recalled to GB in August 1761. Nothing about being involved in cutting Fritz's funding off in 1762.
Lord Bute (English wiki because more detail), first son of the 2nd Earl of Bute.
So, unless English and German wiki are both extremely wrong, Zimmermann trumps Nicolai in the matter of Scottish genealogy! Not yet in the matter of cutting off Prussian subsidies. Skimming a JSTOR article that was linked by Wikipedia on Lord Bute and Fritz and the 1762 fallout shows me no mentions of the name Mackenzie, although there's no reason to believe that article is comprehensive. Still, the author devotes dozens of pages to arguing that this was a decision driven not by personal animosity between Lord Bute and Fritz, but by the considerations of international politics (which it enumerates in detail). Which I readily believe.
Still, it seems it would be worth a detective pursuing Mackenzie some more.
There are a lot of numbers and locations in Nicolai's refutation, demonstrating all Zimmermann got wrong, but you'll forgive if I don't transcribe them.
Okay, then clearly we and Nicolai have wronged Zimmermann re: the connection between Mackenzie and Bute. Yowsers. Though I still think Nicolai was right about Lord Bute being not out to avenge his brother's lost love. Mind you, I bet James M. wasn't exactly broken hearted when he learned Britain would no longer finance Fritz' continuing war. :)
BTW, cahn, it's time for a new post so I can do my 00Diable write up...
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
Nicolai vs Zimmermann: En garde!
Date: 2021-03-02 08:05 am (UTC)1.) Zimmermann, as you may recall, is the planet's first Fritz/MT shipper and conspiracy theorist who deduced in his fragments that Fritz wanting to go to France or England was just a cover story, he was really in league with Seckendorf and had arranged to go to Austria where he wanted to marry MT, thus sparing the world the Silesian Wars and the 7 Years War. (Zimmermann calls this the greatest Fritz plan ever and really mourns it wasn't to be.) This is also the reason why Seckendorf and the Emperor later intervened with FW to save Fritz' life, and why FS was at Fritz' engagement party later, gloating over his defeated rival for MT's love and hand.
Unsurprisingly, Nicolai has an easy time making mincemeat of that theory even without access to the secret state archives, not least because he's collected stuff on Fritz for decades, including the publication of the various foreign monarchs' letters to FW on the subject, which he uses to point out that the one from MT's Dad was just standard for the day. He also correctly thinks that Seckendorff would have shot himself and his own influence on FW massively in the foot if he'd conspired with FW's son against him in this way and would never have done that, and points to all the meetings with Hotham and Guy Dickens Fritz had, as well as Keith going to England, as proof England was the agreed upon escape destination. And he argues that Katte's published letters form the pamphlet about his execution (which Nicolai has read, and which apparantly has just been republished) as well as the description Preacher Müller gave of his death point to Hans Herrmann von Katte having been an upstanding, really good Protestant, who would never, ever, have signed on a scheme where his beloved Crown Prince has to convert to the Church of Rome to marry MT. On the contrary, upstanding Protestant Katte would have done anything to prevent this.
...I must say, I'm impressed, because Nicolai does not, repeat, does not have access to the interrogation protocols.
2.) Of course, the part of Zimmermann's "Fragments" everyone talked about wasn't this, it was the "Fritz: psychologically impotent due to botched penis operation after youth of STD, but NOT GAY NEVER, he just faked gay interest to cover for this" chapter. Now, as we've seen, in his own collection of anecdotes Nicolai completely avoids the "gay" question, and when he repeatedly has a go at Voltaire for all of Voltaire's ungrateful slanders, he does not include this one. So I was curious how he'd handle what is a part of Zimmermann's big headlines making argument. Mes amies, he handles it thusly.
Nicolai: Okay. Z. - he always calls him "Ritter von Z" or "Herr von Z", never writing out the last name and always using the "von" to mock Zimmermann's pride in his ennoblement - pretends he had to go against all decency to devote an entire chapter on the state of Fritz' penis in order to defend Fritz from a certain charge he then lists in detail. As anyone with a brain in the publishing industry would know, even if you are refuting a charge, by listing it and talking about it you're just making sure more people hear about it. I therefore will not talk about this charge Z is supposedly defending our glorious King from, save to say all right thinking people would never talk about this subject AT ALL. Now, on to Zimmermann's arguments for a broken penis.
....
He points that if Zimmermann was so worried about this question, he could have simply done what Nicolai and Büsching did, to wit, asked the various people who saw dead Fritz naked in the one and a half hour his dead body was lying around in that state while it was cleaned up for the wake and funeral. (You, Mildred, quoted Banning on this, I think; Banning's source is Nicolai, because the phrasing is almost identical.) He then, as Büsching did, prints signed testimony of the various guys involved to the effect Fritz had a completely normal piece of male equipment without any scarring tissue, meaning there can't have been any operation, botched or not, at any point. Because Nicolai is thorough, he also says readers (if they'd made it so far in this unsavoury subject) might wonder what the various people were doing checking Fritz' genitals close enough to look for scarring tissue. Well, says Nicolai, it's all that bastard Voltaire's fault, because he was the one who started the story of the botched operation in his slanderous writings, which everyone had read, so these guys were curious and had a look.
Nicolai then proceeds in his Zimmermann evisceration by showing Zimmermann indulges in the art of quote falsification, as Zimmermann says Schöning told him no one alive saw Fritz naked ever; by contrast, Nicolai points to Büsching quoting Schöning saying that the King had "große Schamhaftigkeit" about his person and didn't want his servants to see him naked, hence dressed and undressed himself, which is a different kind of statement, as, see above, the people who cleaned up Fritz' dead body as well as the doctors making the cuts releaving the body of the water all saw him naked.
Next, Nicolai addresses Zimmermann's statement of Fritz (believing himself cured from STD courtesy of the Schwedt cousin and his quack of a doctor) indulging in six months of non stop sexual married bliss with EC until the STD returned, for which Zimmermann said there's the testimony of one of EC's ladies in waiting, whom he names by name. Leaving aside that it's extremely indelicate to incriminate a lady this way, says Nicolai, it's not true, either, since the lady in question never was lady-in-waiting to EC. She was present at the Fritz/EC wedding, and she and her husband were visiting Rheinsberg at one point, as mentioned in Bielfeld's letters, which is, Nicolai says cuttingly, presumably where Zimmermann has picked her name from. But he, Nicolai, talked to the late lady's son, Count Such and Such, and here reprints the son's testimony that his mother wasn't EC's lady-in-waiting during the first six months of EC's marriage (or later), and also certainly would never have been as crass and tasteless as to gossip about EC/Fritz marital sex. How, Nicolai demands, would Zimmermann, himself a married man, feel if people were quoted or "quoted" about his own sexual activities with his wife? And EC is still alive! As is one of Fritz' sisters!!!! The thought of poor EC and Charlotte having to read this (invented) stuff is TOO MUCH, how could you, Z!!!!!
3.) On to Fritz/Barbarina. Here, Nicolai doesn't really go on about Zimmermann's "Fritz clearly wanted to, but thought he couldn't anymore, and this explains his entire behavior with her", but chooses as his target for eviscaration another angle, because Zimmermann in "Fragments" theorizes that Barbarina's ditched boyfriend/sort of fiance?? "Mackenzie" whom she'd been with when Fritz had her extradited by Venice subsequently must have been fueled with thoughts of revenge, a revenge he later took when becoming advisor to none other than Lord Bute, making him withdraw British funding from Fritz in the 7 Years War. Thus, the story of the 7 Years War would have been different if not for Fritz' tragically unfulfilled longings for Barbarina and her ditching this Mackenzie for Fritz, sort of. Nicolai mocks this, saying that it could be one of Bute's advisors is called MacSomething or the other, it's a very common name part in GB for someone to have, but there's no proof this is Barbarina's ex. As for the idea the Brits wouldn't have withdrawn funding from Fritz otherwise, pleaaaaaase. And Z, you're again not being a gentleman towards a lady by putting into print Barbarina's old scandals, because Barbarina? Still alive, and wonderful highly respected old lady who has funded a woman's shelter in silesia with her fortune, so there.
Re: Nicolai vs Zimmermann: En garde!
Date: 2021-03-03 04:19 pm (UTC)why FS was at Fritz' engagement party later, gloating over his defeated rival for MT's love and hand
Aw, poor FS, victim of Z's pet theory.
So, Nicolai on the gay question is basically: we all know it, but there's really no need to talk about it, so I certainly won't?
Zimmermann's legacy: causing multiple people to give signed testimonies on the state of Fritz' penis. I mean. Congrats? :P
Well, says Nicolai, it's all that bastard Voltaire's fault, because he was the one who started the story of the botched operation in his slanderous writings, which everyone had read, so these guys were curious and had a look.
Naturally. Who wouldn't have? I am amused. And of course it's Voltaire's fault in the end.
And Z, you're again not being a gentleman towards a lady by putting into print Barbarina's old scandals, because Barbarina? Still alive, and wonderful highly respected old lady who has funded a woman's shelter in silesia with her fortune, so there.
Did she? If so, good for her!
Nicolai's research into the not-actually-lady-in-waiting is really interesting, as is his comment on the quote doctoring.
By the way, via Volz' footnotes I found another Zimmermann refutation by the second chamber husar called Neumann (can be found here, written 1789), who is a lot less scientific about it and basically all about how Zimmermann was an arrogant and self-important person, who talked too much instead of doing his job, made up lies, was in it for the money, and fawned over Schöning (who was the second! chamber husar, he, Neumann, was the first!) while totally ignoring other people (read: Neumann), who might have known a few things, too.
Also, that guy Schöning? Totally sucked up to FWII and that's why he got made Geheimer Kriegsrath. Neumann only serves one sun at a time, thank you very much, no rising sun for him. Oh, and that Büsching guy got ahead of himself, too. And he, Neumann, has half a mind to duel himself with all those other people who have been publishing insulting lies about the great king since his death. He also says the dog death during the Silesia revue was actually in 1784 and daily messages are a lie and while the King absolutely did get a message about the dog's death, it totally was his right as a king, so there! (He is trying to defend Fritz from a perceived "valued dogs more than people" slight in this passage. Indiscriminately defensive? Why would you ever think that?)
Re: Nicolai vs Zimmermann: En garde!
Date: 2021-03-03 05:01 pm (UTC)Zimmermann is a shipper! Shippers know no mercy with the canon love interest! He also says in "Fragments" that the only thing the FS/MT marriage ever produced was Joseph, and she should have married Fritz, dammit! (The idea of gloating Franzl at the engagement party still makes me chortle.)
Zimmermann's legacy: causing multiple people to give signed testimonies on the state of Fritz' penis. I mean. Congrats? :P
It's one way to achieve immortality, to be sure. And hey - other monarchs didn't get signed testimonies on the state of their penis, and after their death, too! Here, too, he is der Einzige.
And of course it's Voltaire's fault in the end.
One thing the feuding publishing Fritz fans always agree on: Voltaire was an ungrateful son of a bitch who broke their guy's heart and is to blame for his bad reputation ever since.
(A late carrier on of this tradition is Charlotte Pangels with her 1970s book on Fritz' siblings, which features completely straight Fritz, because she says Voltaire's totally unfounded slander is the only "proof" ever that Fritz had a non-straight thought in his life, and other than Voltaire no one believed it of him while Fritz was alive, either, so there. A few chapters later, we get to here about completely straight Heinrich and his heterosexual affairs, too.)
Barbarina: well, sort of. To quote German wiki: Nicht lange danach errichtete die nunmehrige Gräfin ein Stift zum Unterhalt 18 adeliger lediger Damen und einer Supriorin. Diese mussten aus dem schlesischen Adel stammen; zudem musste eine Hälfte der evangelischen, die andere Hälfte der katholischen Religion angehören. Barberina, die inzwischen 68 Jahre alt geworden war, hielt ein Jahrzehnt strengste Ordnung unter ihren Stiftsdamen, bis sie 1799 urplötzlich auf ihrem Gut in Barschau an einem Herzschlag verstarb. Die von ihr gegründete Stiftung für arme adelige Fräulein bestand noch mehr als 100 Jahre bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg.
ZOMG Neumann, what a find! Congrats. This is priceless. A true gem. And ah, job rivalries never change.
Re: Nicolai vs Zimmermann: En garde!
Date: 2021-03-04 01:12 am (UTC)OMGGGGG, that's awesome! Brilliant find! This is so great. I am snacking hard on my metaphorical popcorn as I watch this 1790s literary feud unfold. :D
Zimmermann's legacy: causing multiple people to give signed testimonies on the state of Fritz' penis. I mean. Congrats? :P
(A small part of) Voltaire's legacy: making them look.
Zimmermann's legacy: making them sign off on what they saw.
I'm dying. :'D
He also says the dog death during the Silesia revue was actually in 1784
Omg, of course we can't agree on the date. *headdesk*
I gather that STILL no one cares what happened to the dogs after Fritz died?
Indiscriminately defensive? Why would you ever think that?
LOLOLOL, he sounds awesome.
FIRST and SECOND Chamber Hussars
Date: 2021-03-04 06:18 am (UTC)Schöning: SECOND chamber hussar OMG SECOND: shaving Fritz, giving Fritz his medications, taking care of Fritz' enemas, otherwise "just like every other servant"'s duties, whereas
Neumann: FIRST chamber hussar: waking Fritz in the morning, dressing him (?? - maybe once he was ill?), creating Fritz' tail, selecting a wig, handing both coffee and water to Fritz, bring any and each letters addressed to the King to him, as well as execute any orders of the day Fritz may give.
According to yet another foonote, Neumann was born in 1752 in one of the 17 villages Peterdorf, Silesia, started his work for Fritz as a runner in 1772, ended up as First Chamber Husar and adminstrator of the royal private purse (Privatschatulle des Königs) until Fritz' death. Neumann himself died as chief of police (Polizei-Direktor) in Liegnitz on June 24th 1799.
Now, aside of Zimmermann getting wrong who was outranking whom, all this doesn't contradict the previous info;
Something else that struck me is this: in his own account, Schöning doesn't mention Glasow, Völker or for that matter, Desen. He limits himself to the "sometimes, the King gave a lot of money to unworthy people, and no, I won't be talking about the motivation for this here" observation. Büsching, otoh, in his recounting of the Desen story (ending in suicide) gives Schöning as a source; I translated Büsching's version for you back in the day, and it's listed for contrast in the Georgii entry at Rheinsberg. Note it ends with Fritz just commenting he hadn't thought Desen had it (the shooting himself) in him. Zimmermann, who hears about Desen, can't resist improving on this because he's all about how misunderstood Fritz was really loving at heart, and says that Fritz was really sorry once the guy had shot himself and said maybe he shouldn't have been so harsh. Neumann, apparantly feeling the need to defend Fritz from this, too, which tells you something about Neumann, says NO HE DID NOT, he couldn't have cared less about Desen by then, he just said he hadn't thought Desen would have the courage.
Re: FIRST and SECOND Chamber Hussars
Date: 2021-03-04 12:33 pm (UTC)dressing him (?? - maybe once he was ill?)
Might also have been the general handling of Fritz' clothes? In the "several hours in pouring rain during the Silesia revue" passage, he is quite indignant, saying that, despite what some people write about the King's wardrobe, it's not like he had to sit at the table in wet clothes, there were more than enough clothes for him to get undressed and dressed again.
Neumann, apparantly feeling the need to defend Fritz from this, too, which tells you something about Neumann
Right? It's quite interesting what he feels the need to defend/nitpick. Also, no patience at all for literary exaggeration -
Zimmermann: driving up the hill towards Sanssouci, I prayed most fervently, probably nobody else ever prayed as fervently as I did on this hill.
Neumann: Self-important bullshit, I'd say there were lots of invalids who prayed there way more devoutly than Zimmermann did.
(By the way, a look at the Schatullrechnungen tells me that Neumann, like Schöning, did apparently hand out money to poor people occasionally, and especially invalids in his case, so he does have a reason for saying this. Other recurring expenses in his list are Spanish tobacco for Fritz and postal charges.)
Oh, and Mildred: No, of course no mention of the dogs' fate.
Re: Nicolai vs Zimmermann: En garde!
Date: 2021-03-04 02:42 pm (UTC)Re: Nicolai vs Zimmermann: En garde!
Date: 2021-03-04 12:58 am (UTC)Ugh. I'm sorry. Thank you for taking one for the team!
(Well, not to me at any rate, as I'm not as systematically minded as Mildred with her maps.)
Haha, I admit, sometimes I get fascinated with numbers and locations, depending on the topic.
On the contrary, upstanding Protestant Katte would have done anything to prevent this.
Apparently, it was a deciding factor in his willingness to sacrifice his life! I too am impressed with this Nicolai.
Okay. Z. - he always calls him "Ritter von Z" or "Herr von Z", never writing out the last name and always using the "von" to mock Zimmermann's pride in his ennoblement
Hahaha, I approve.
As anyone with a brain in the publishing industry would know, even if you are refuting a charge, by listing it and talking about it you're just making sure more people hear about it.
Praeteritio!
(You, Mildred, quoted Banning on this, I think; Banning's source is Nicolai, because the phrasing is almost identical.)
Blanning cites Büsching for "The surgeon Gottlieb Engel, who helped to prepare Frederick’s body for burial, indignantly asserted that the royal genitalia were as “complete and perfect as those of any healthy man," and a 1921 article reprinting the 1790 signed testimony by the three medical officers. The 1921 author "adds that Frederick’s naked body lay for more than one and a half hours and was seen by at least a dozen people, none of whom noticed any genital deformity," so I think Blanning is one degree removed from Nicolai, but his ultimate source is Nicolai.
Because Nicolai is thorough, he also says readers (if they'd made it so far in this unsavoury subject)
Nicolai's readers: *are glued*
might wonder what the various people were doing checking Fritz' genitals close enough to look for scarring tissue. Well, says Nicolai, it's all that bastard Voltaire's fault, because he was the one who started the story of the botched operation in his slanderous writings, which everyone had read, so these guys were curious and had a look.
That's awesome, though! Because I've always been aware that I have no way to refute the hypothetical argument "But what if they just missed it because they weren't looking?"
But they were looking--that's perfect! :D
*is surprisingly excited that someone looked at someone else's penis closely*
Gossipy sensationalism has clearly reached a peak. :P
Also,
Remember, this is not in the 1752 pamphlet!
But he, Nicolai, talked to the late lady's son, Count Such and Such, and here reprints the son's testimony that his mother wasn't EC's lady-in-waiting during the first six months of EC's marriage (or later)
I see Nicolai and Koser are soul mates in some respects.
Nicolai mocks this, saying that it could be one of Bute's advisors is called MacSomething or the other, it's a very common name part in GB for someone to have, but there's no proof this is Barbarina's ex. As for the idea the Brits wouldn't have withdrawn funding from Fritz otherwise, pleaaaaaase.
It's just possible it was her ex? But much more likely it's a MacSomething (MacJemand? MacEtwas? How do you say this in German, I must know. :P)
And yeah, the claim that he single-handedly got Fritz's funding withdrawn? As they say, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Thank you for the write-up!
Re: Nicolai vs Zimmermann: En garde!
Date: 2021-03-04 07:23 am (UTC)There are a lot of numbers and locations in Nicolai's refutation, demonstrating all Zimmermann got wrong, but you'll forgive if I don't transcribe them. After all, no one remembers Zimmermann for his Prussian geography, or lack of same.
That's awesome, though! Because I've always been aware that I have no way to refute the hypothetical argument "But what if they just missed it because they weren't looking?"
But they were looking--that's perfect! :D
Conclusion: reading Voltaire in Frederician Prussia can have really unexpected results! It even encourages detailed genital examination!
chronology reminder: Voltaire's memoirs were published in 1784, Fritz died in 1786, meaning the medical officers have been reading bestsellers when they were published. :D
They did, and it's so telling of just how widely read Voltaire was that basically everyone encountering us in our primarly sources research quest if they were still alive in 1784 has read Voltaire's trashy tell all, no matter whether they're Fritz fans or enemies themselves. (And I'll never not be amused about Lehndorff in 1784 first getting a kick out of Heinrich reading the French original out loud to him, inserted with comments, at Rheinsberg, and then being utterly shocked a few months later when he spots a German translation in a Berlin book shop, for everyone to read.
BTW, Goethe also read it in 1784, and, I was reminded of this recently, wrote in a letter he thought it was entertaining as hell but also read like the kind of satire men write about how women suck if they're about to fall at the ladies' feet and in love all over again before the ink is dry. Methinks young Goethe was better attuned to the Fritz and Voltaire dynamic than many a(nother) Fritz fan.
(Chronology: this was after De La Literature Allemande.)
I see Nicolai and Koser are soul mates in some respects.
To a degree. Let's not forget, Nicolai isn't above a certain fleshing out himself, given that we've yet to discover anyone but Nicolai presenting Glasow as seduced by Völker etc. Then again, Koser, while never inventing new stuff or changing facts, does change the emotional coloring in his renditions. I noticed this most blatantly in his version of Fritz' post-Kolin melt down with Heinrich, which he bases exclusively on Henckel von Donnersmarck's account, only in Koser's biography, the soldiers when Fritz arrives after 36 hours on horseback aren't just struck by that, they're struck by how his eyes, usually always so bright and energetic, now have darkened, which certainly isn't something Henckel noted.
(And of course there's the nearby "Heinrich and Wilhelmine were Fritz' emotional confidants at this point, only Heinrich was coarser than W & F and didn't have their passionate nature but was cold" observation, which if it's based on anything is based on Henckel's admiring description of Heinrich having it together when organizing the Prague retreat and getting Fritz to sign off on his plan.)
But much more likely it's a MacSomething (MacJemand? MacEtwas? How do you say this in German, I must know. :P)
MacSoundso. Though that's not how 18th century guy Nicolai phrases it. He first quotes the relevant passage from Zimmermann's "Fragments" book, which is:
Z speaking: "Mackenzie was filled with an immortal hatred on Friedrich, as can be easily guessed; and as a close relation and dear friend of Lord Bute, he after his return to England infected this otherwise good man with his immortal hatred, too. One knows from Friedrich's "History of the 7 Years War" how Lord Bute treated the hero who had just revived near the end of that war."
Nicolai comments: "There we have an important deduction all the cabinets of Europe missed, and even Friedrich himself in his "Histoire" did not dare to reveal! Alas, the whole thing falls apart. It's not easy but difficult to guess that Mr. Mackenzie should have developed an immortal hatred on Frederick the Great because of such an affair. For it's far easier to believe that he made a good marriage thereafter and didn't think about the matter anymore fifteen years later. Moreover, we aren't enlightened (by Z)how close this Mackenzie - the family name contains multitudes - is related to Lord Bute, and how close their friendship was supposed to be to allow Mackenzie to infect a state minister with his immortal hatred. There's rather a huge plothole here. For Herr v. Z himself says on page 91 "Mackenzie had to separate from his beloved due to the demands of his family", and if Lord Bute did indeed belong to this family, he shouldn't have hated King Friedrich but rather loved him for contributing to the fulfillment of this very demand.
Now, we've come across some fascinating and sometimes obscure cross connections in this fandom - young Andrew Mitchell/Algarotti, Hervey knowing Voltaire, Lady Mary meeting Countess Orzelska in Rome (or for that matter Lady Mary being Lord Bute's mother-in-law - he married her daughter, and she died in his house) - and the world of the European aristocracy was relatively small. It's by no means impossible that Barbarina's ex could have been related to Lord Bute, or at least known to him. But as Zimmermann names no proof he was, and seems to have guessed solely on the basis of the name sounding Scottish and Bute being a Scot. (Bute being a Scot would have been unmissable to anyone living, as Zimmermann did, in Hannover, because it factored in to the massive anti-Scot feeling in the second half of the 18th century (see the anecdote I've told of young Boswell witnessing Highlander soldiers returning from the 7 Years War getting bood in a London theatre with the yells "no Scots! No Scots!") and was mentioned in each and every rant against him.)
It occurs to me that Zimmermann really has a fanfiction-writing mind, going for romantic theories wherever he can, be it Fritz/MT or the English policy near the end of the 7 Years War being dictated by Barbarina's ex. And of course his biggest ship is Fritz/Himself (in a tender, manly, STRAIGHT fashion).
Re: Nicolai vs Zimmermann: En garde!
Date: 2021-03-04 09:38 am (UTC)Except for Neumann. :P At least, he certainly remembers that Zimmermann very unfairly dissed the sandy streets and slow horses of Brandenburg, both of which made it hard to travel quickly. Lies and slander! The horses of Brandenburg are way better than the ones of Hannover.
BTW, Goethe also read it in 1784, and, I was reminded of this recently, wrote in a letter he thought it was entertaining as hell but also read like the kind of satire men write about how women suck if they're about to fall at the ladies' feet and in love all over again before the ink is dry.
!! This is just great. :D
Re: Nicolai vs Zimmermann: En garde!
Date: 2021-03-04 10:33 am (UTC)Gotha, 5. Juni 1784.
...Gestern abend vertraute mir die Oberhofmeisterin (Voltaire's trashy tell all) unter den feierlichsten Beteuernngen an. Man sagt, das Büchlein soll gedruckt werden; es wird entsetzliches Aufsehen machen und ich freue mich nur darauf- weil Du es lesen wirst. Es ist so vornehm und mit einem so köstlichen Humor geschrieben als irgend etwas von ihm. Er schreibt vom König in
Preußen wie Sueton die Scandalosa der Weltherrscher - und wenn der Welt über Könige und Fürsten
die Augen aufgehen könnten und sollten, so wären diefe Blätter eine köstliche Salbe. Allein man wird sie lesen wie eine Satire auf die Weiber, sie beiseite legen und ihnen wieder zu Füßen fallen.
...
Re: Nicolai vs Zimmermann: En garde!
Date: 2021-03-04 12:01 pm (UTC)Re: Nicolai vs Zimmermann: En garde!
Date: 2021-03-04 05:49 pm (UTC)Have some more Goethe about Voltaire's trashy tell-all quotes, because unique among Fritzian fanboys of the era (and despite some criticism, he did remain impressed), he really dug those memoirs:
Zum Schrecken aller Wohlgesinnten geht die Rede als sollten die Memoires des Voltaire, von denen ich schrieb, gedruckt werden, mir macht es ein großes Vergnügen, damit du sie lesen kannst. Ich soll eines der ersten Exemplare erhalten, und ich schicke es dr gleich. Du wirst finden, es ist als wenn ein Gott (etwa Momus), aber eine Canaille von einem Gott, über einen König und über das Hohe der Welt schriebe. Dies ist überhaupt der Character aller Voltaireischen Witz Produkte, kein Funke Mitgefühl, und Honettät. Dagegen eine Leichtigkeit, Höhe des Geistes, Sicherheit, die Entzücken. Ich sage Höhe des Geistes, nicht Hoheit. Man kann ihn einem Luftballon vergleichen, der sich durch eine eigne Luftart über alles weg schwingt, und da Flächen unter sich sieht, wo wir Berge sehn.
And when he did have the printed edition to send her:
Ich will einen Boten abesenden, damit ich gewiß weiß, daß mein Paket bald in deine Hände kommt. Unendlich werden dich die Memoires unterhalten. Uns anderen, die zum Erbteil keine politische Macht erhalten haben, die nicht geschaffen sind, um Reichtümer zu erwerben, ist nicht willkommener als was die Gewalt des Geistes ausbreitet und befestigt. Nun schweig ich auch ganz stille von dem Büchlein, um zu hören, was andre drüber sagen. Wenn du es gelesen, schick es doch gleich an Herder mit der Bitte, es noch geheim zu halten.
Bear in mind here that Goethe, Charlotte von Stein and Herder all live in the duchy of Fritz' grand nephew Carl August. "Eine Canaille von einem Gott" is my new favourite contemporary Voltaire description.
Mackenzie and Bute
Date: 2021-03-04 02:18 pm (UTC)Barbarina's wiki page.
James Stuart Mackenzie's wiki page, stating that he was the second son of James Stuart, 2nd Earl of Bute, that he was the brother of Lord Bute, and that he had an affair with Barbarina, was arrested in Venice, brought back to Berlin, and kicked out of Prussia.
He was envoy to Sardinia 1758-1761, and recalled to GB in August 1761. Nothing about being involved in cutting Fritz's funding off in 1762.
Lord Bute (English wiki because more detail), first son of the 2nd Earl of Bute.
So, unless English and German wiki are both extremely wrong, Zimmermann trumps Nicolai in the matter of Scottish genealogy! Not yet in the matter of cutting off Prussian subsidies. Skimming a JSTOR article that was linked by Wikipedia on Lord Bute and Fritz and the 1762 fallout shows me no mentions of the name Mackenzie, although there's no reason to believe that article is comprehensive. Still, the author devotes dozens of pages to arguing that this was a decision driven not by personal animosity between Lord Bute and Fritz, but by the considerations of international politics (which it enumerates in detail). Which I readily believe.
Still, it seems it would be worth a detective pursuing Mackenzie some more.
There are a lot of numbers and locations in Nicolai's refutation, demonstrating all Zimmermann got wrong, but you'll forgive if I don't transcribe them.
You are forgiven. :)
Re: Mackenzie and Bute
Date: 2021-03-04 02:28 pm (UTC)BTW,
Re: Mackenzie and Bute
Date: 2021-03-04 02:34 pm (UTC)Indeed. And it's possible it went something like this:
James M: Yes, yes, Big Bro, cut off that funding!
Lord Bute: Why do you care?
James M: Never mind that.
:P
I was also about to remind her that it was time for a new post. Am excited to hear about the Diable!