Morgenstern's Über Friedrich Wilhelm I. was published postumously in 1793. He died in 1785, one year before Fritz, and it's not entirely clear when this memoir was written, but definitely after Fritz' "Histoire de la Maison de Brandenburg" was published, as it's referenced (as in, see how worthless F1 gets dissed by King Fritz in this great work, too!). I also think it must be after Pöllnitz' history of the four princes of Brandenburg at least was in circulation, because while Morgenstern disses Pöllnitz as a person as well, he tells one story where no one but FW and Pöllnitz are present and they have a lengthy dialoge which sounds to me as it was likely plagiarized from a Pöllnitz book. So it's worth keeping in mind that some of the stories could hail from either of those books (neither of which I've read, so I can't be sure.)
The preface tells me Morgenstern also claimed to have been a secret agent for FW who stopped a Prussian/British war in 1739 (though the book itself says that it was in 1737 that the author was in Britain on a mission for FW), and that even Fritz "used him, made him vice chancellor of Silesia yet recalled him to Potsdam in 1756, where he died later". Since I've never seen the claim that Morgenstern made peace between Britain and Prussia in the late 1730s anywhere else, including the two Mitchell dissertations with the summaries of the English-Prussian diplomatic backstory pre Mitchell, I am, shall we say, somewhat sceptical. The preface concludes that in his private life, Morgenstern distinguished himself by being a miser, stubborn, a cynic and through some excentricities as well as considerable scholarly knowledge, and that one could add some well known anecdotes about him but won't because de mortuis nihil nisi bene. Alas I can't see the editor's name somewhere.
As to the book proper. The first half certainly makes it sounds like Morgenstern is FW's Zimmermann. Not just because of all the praise for his high morals, dedication to work, and general geratness but the tinhat "this explains everything!" theory which Morgenstern's case is that young FW fell in love with young Caroline and never really got over it. Unlike Jochen Klepper in his novel, Morgenstern avoids saying whether or not he thinks she requited his feelings. But he is convinced that Carolline's rejection of FW's proposal was dictated to her by mean sarcastic grandma Sophie or by Sophie Charlotte, but more likely Sophie, wanting Caroline for future G2 instead. Why is he so sure? Because such an excellent woman as the late Queen Caroline surely, surely, would have let down FW gently instead of decisively and sarcastically which is what she apparently did. It's all Grandma's fault! Because Caroline never would have said a harsh word to FW otherwise.
(Lord Hervey, somewhere in the hereafter: *spit take*)
FW's life long pining for Caroline is also one of the reasons why he wasn't as good with his older children as he was with the younger ones. He still hadn't adjusted to his Caroline-less life then. HOWEVER, he was an utterly faithful husband to SD, despite being tempted as a young man. (But then he married the pretty castellan's daughter off post haste before he could be tempted some more.) Further proof that FW never had sex with anyone but SD in his life for Morgenstern is an exchange in the Tobacco College, where FW asked his fellow smokers after having been married to SD for decades already whether if a certain part of the female anatomy - "the source of all joy and procreation", as Morgenstern terms it - smells bad, this is a sign of bad hygiene, or whether this is true for all women. Another companion assures him that his wife Charlotte smells great there, and the poor lady from this point onwards is known as "Sweet Smelling Charlotte" in tout Berlin.
Now, always according to Morgensten, G2 ending up with Caroline instead is just one of the many, many things FW held against his cousin and brother-in-law. More serious is that G2 also ended up with three crowns he did not deserve and which FW should have gotten. (At this point, a vague memory made itself known, because yes, in one of the many books I've read this last year it did say William of Orange considered adopting FW as his heir for a while, in which case Britain would have gotten the Hohenzollern Friedrichs and Wilhelms instead of the Hannover Georges.) Morgenstern tells a dramatic tale of how kid FW, who in his twelfth year has been taken by Mother SC on a trip to the Netherlands, gets presented to William of Orange and is much liked by him, to the point where the King wants to kidnap him and take him to Britain, only to be talked out of it in the last minute. FW keeps thinking he missed his destiny there.
"If only I'd been King William, he could have made a great man out of me", (...) The Holsteiner interrupted him with a smile: "But you are a great King, how could being King William have made you greater?" The Master returned with some indignation: "You talk as you know it. Of course he could have gotten me elected as Stateholder, he could have taught me the craft to command the armies of Europe, do you know anything greater?"
Since FW has the same amount of British royal blood in him as G2 does (they're both great-grandsons of Elizabeth Stuart the Winter Queen), it's really not fair that stupd G2 got Britain AND Caroline. Grrr. Argh. Morgenstern also claims that when he was on his secret mission in Britain in 1737, he checked the files and saw that the Scots wanted FW rather than the Hannover gang as well in Queen Anne's time.
Morgenstern also reports the FW-G2 fight when they were kids in Hannover, only in his version it was after they had started to learn to fence, so it was an almost duel already. And the wonderful story of FW on his deathbed telling SD she can write to her brother that he, FW, forgives him. But only after he's dead.
Oh, and then there's this: in 1738 while inspecting Wesel, FW meets the current Prince of Orange, who's married to G2's and Caroline's oldest daughter Anne, and Anne herself. Anne leaves an impression, for FW, returning to Berlin, tells SD: "Fiekchen, if you die, I'm going to remarry within the family. I'm going to marry your brother's daughter. Luckily, she's not like her father at all. She takes after her mother, only she's not pretty.")
(This stuff is all over the book, I'm just putting it thematically together.)
Now, here's the odd thing. While the first half is unrelenting praise for FW, and defense against the various charges against him, including cruelty, the second half offers actually various examples of FW being cruel. I'm not sure whether that means the author hadn't finished working on the manuscript or whether he's not aware there is a contradiction there or what.
I also mentioned earlier that the hostility towards both of FW's parents is pretty unrelenting. SC is at fault for spoiling him. The anecdote illustrating this is that once when Tiny Terror FW beat up his cousin and name sake Friedrich Wilhelm of Kurland, has the kid under him and both hands in his hair when in comes Mom, but instead - so says Morgenstern FW told the tale - of either punishing him or at least saving the other kid from him, she just says, distraught: "Mon cher fils! Que faites-vous!" Ergo, he had to learn all about childraising himself, since Dad didn't give him any discipline, either, which proves Dad didn't care. Dad was only into kingship, and provided FW with servants but not Christian education, and also he murdered little baby Friedrich Ludwig with his stupid salute shooting, and then he married for a third time when there really was no need, because FW was on the job. Dad F1 was the worst King who ever existed, and our current King says the same thing, readers, so it must be true.
When Morgenstern gets to how FW had so seek out his own friends because his parents court was just, ugh, we get this gem of a quote:
So he had to create himself friends, and he found them among all who got to know him, partly through his honesty, partly through his benevolence. And as he was modest in his claims and requests, he did not insist to have his friendship returned in an exemplary manner, to find a Hephaistion as Alexander had done; for he knew how his ancestors had behaved with their Hephaistions.
I am very hard trying to take this solely as referring to Hephaistion as an example of a "good" favourite here, but you're not making it easy, Morgenstern.
No, he was content if others understood half a word from him; if they took a hint through a glance; if they could entertain him, especially in an honest and just fashion.
Morgenstern, as mentioned, defends FW against the charge of cruelty, a misunderstanding which arose, says he, because "of the beatings, because of the recruitment excesses and because of the strict executions". But look, says he: he needed the army in order to get Prussia on a good footing again, executions were for discipline and also to deterr thieves (FW using the death penalty for thieves wasn't a given in German states, unlike in England), and anyway, the poof that FW wasn't a sadist (of course Morgenstern doesn't use this word, the Marquis de Sade is his contemporary, after all, but it's what he means) is that such people delight in watching others suffer, and FW never did that.
"No one can deny that the late King has been the most compassionate towards the victims of his rage."
He always forgave any sinnner who repented. And okay, so he got angry a few times at his family, BUT he didn't get physical except for what Morgenstern refers to as The Great Incident. (Yep, Morgenstern is definitely Klepper's source for postponing FW being abusive to Fritz until 1730.) Also? "When the Crown Prince was at Küstrin, his father in order to keep him occupied had him review all cirminal trials for either confirmation or rejection of the judgment. How could a suppoosedly so cruel master let go of the opportunity to torment via the law, to make life miserable and to shed blood?"
Now, at this point I thought I had Morgenstern's number, but he will surprise us, gentle readers, somewhat later when he comes to... but that's a surprise.
Keep in mind Morgenstern only knew FW during the last four years of his life, too. Everything else he describes, he describes from hearsay. But what he writes about FW's daily routine and personnel in his last years, for example, I guess we can take at face value, and since it's the obvious model and yet a contrast to Fritz' daily routine, here you go:
Friedrich Wilhelm limited himself to two, at most three pages who both served him at the table and followed him everwhere on horseback, and had to live from ten Reichstaler per month. After three or four years, he made them Lieutenants with the equipage coming with that state and a hundred ducats. (...) For his nursing and care, the King had five footmen and one hunter, who did the same servicen when the master got dressed or by sleeping in front of his bed as those who received postmaster offices or other benevolences so they could l ive well with a salary of 400 Reichstaler. When he died, these were:
1.) Abt, who then died twice. 2.) Bramdhorst, who followed Eversmann as Chatelain in Berlin. 3.) Wiedekin, who received the post office in Minden. 4.) Müller (Morgenstern tells a story of him using the opportunity of having to deliver a thank you present from FW to Cardinal Fleury to high tail it out of Prussia) 5.) Hammerstein, who also became a postmaster and 6.) Meyer, who became Oberforstmeister in Torgelow, Upper Pomerania.
Moreover eight chamber footmen, and the same number of hunters, who served at the table in the antechambre and at the King's sickness carriage (Kranken-Wagen, perhaps the wheelchair, perhaps an actual wagon necessary to transport him in his final year), for eight Reichstaler a month, and who were given offices at city halls or at tax offices, or at profitable hunting grounds.
Speaking of money. Let's talk about household expenses:
In order not to need a budget for his and his family's wardrobe, nor for his hunting, he told the Queen, whom he had left her considerable heritage for free use, that she would have to finance from the annual 8000 Reichstaler the following:
- linnen for herself, the princesses, the princes and the King - also everyone's wardrobe - powder and bullets for the hunting at Wusterhausen and Mackenow in autumn; in recompense, she was to have any feathery game that didn't get eaten right away
In order to be galant, he did present the Queen and each of the princesess with at least one winter dress each year; but he would not agree to have this put in the contract for which the Queen needed a legal advisor, as (...) in anger against his brother-in-law, he hadn't even wanted to sign it as her marital curator.
Day in the life: Morning starts with a prayer (of course it does), washing, cabinet secretaries show up and report about the incoming mail, note down the King's orders/replies. While they're doing this, FW drinks his coffee and gets dressed (by servants). The resolutions from the previous day are read through and signed while FW gets into his boots. After five to six hours administrative work, he's off to soldiering (i.e. inspections, parades), though he combines that with meeting envoys and foreign visitors. Lunch with up to 30 people, for two hours, with a guest getting one or one and a have bottles of wine on avarage. When in Berlin, FW also receives the envoys here as well, which means more wine. If he's in a good mood, the wine flows until he says stop. After lunch: riding with the pages and a few servants; this is when he talks to any subjects trying to meet him directly. If FW can't ride because either his health isn't up to it or the weather is too bad, he paints, with a painter who is Morgenstern's arch enemy. The painter, Johann Adelfing, nickname "Hänsgen" (= little Hans, because Johann) gets 100 Reichstaler per annum, and because of the colors used a Gulden for every day they paint together. "...but for every stroke with the paintbrush which the King didn't manage well, Hänsgen got a rich share of pushes and slaps. The results of these painting lessons weren't much to look at, though the student easily did as well as the master."
So, FW's theatre taste according to Morgenstern: He had liked French comedy during his campaigns in Brabant, but lost the taste for them when he had it staged once and the next day heard the children call each other by the names of the play, especially the youngest son, then 6 or 7 years old, calling himself Policinello. German comedy used to be very bawdy in those days, and so he thought it was too dangerous for the youngsters. Of Italian comedy, he liked slapstick, but he was ready to admit that this was not to everyone's taste.
Puppet play, he regarded justly as childish, but when it was presented at the tavern in Wusterhausen and he heard from his people about the burlesque they were presenting, he ordered it performed in front of the entire court, and the master could never recall the entire performance without laughing heartily.
And now we get to the surprise, i.e. where Morgenstern suddenly sounds... dowright FW critical. What's the occasion? Well....
He's just a soul whose intentions were good: Morgenstern on FW - A
The preface tells me Morgenstern also claimed to have been a secret agent for FW who stopped a Prussian/British war in 1739 (though the book itself says that it was in 1737 that the author was in Britain on a mission for FW), and that even Fritz "used him, made him vice chancellor of Silesia yet recalled him to Potsdam in 1756, where he died later". Since I've never seen the claim that Morgenstern made peace between Britain and Prussia in the late 1730s anywhere else, including the two Mitchell dissertations with the summaries of the English-Prussian diplomatic backstory pre Mitchell, I am, shall we say, somewhat sceptical. The preface concludes that in his private life, Morgenstern distinguished himself by being a miser, stubborn, a cynic and through some excentricities as well as considerable scholarly knowledge, and that one could add some well known anecdotes about him but won't because de mortuis nihil nisi bene. Alas I can't see the editor's name somewhere.
As to the book proper. The first half certainly makes it sounds like Morgenstern is FW's Zimmermann. Not just because of all the praise for his high morals, dedication to work, and general geratness but the tinhat "this explains everything!" theory which Morgenstern's case is that young FW fell in love with young Caroline and never really got over it. Unlike Jochen Klepper in his novel, Morgenstern avoids saying whether or not he thinks she requited his feelings. But he is convinced that Carolline's rejection of FW's proposal was dictated to her by mean sarcastic grandma Sophie or by Sophie Charlotte, but more likely Sophie, wanting Caroline for future G2 instead. Why is he so sure? Because such an excellent woman as the late Queen Caroline surely, surely, would have let down FW gently instead of decisively and sarcastically which is what she apparently did. It's all Grandma's fault! Because Caroline never would have said a harsh word to FW otherwise.
(Lord Hervey, somewhere in the hereafter: *spit take*)
FW's life long pining for Caroline is also one of the reasons why he wasn't as good with his older children as he was with the younger ones. He still hadn't adjusted to his Caroline-less life then. HOWEVER, he was an utterly faithful husband to SD, despite being tempted as a young man. (But then he married the pretty castellan's daughter off post haste before he could be tempted some more.) Further proof that FW never had sex with anyone but SD in his life for Morgenstern is an exchange in the Tobacco College, where FW asked his fellow smokers after having been married to SD for decades already whether if a certain part of the female anatomy - "the source of all joy and procreation", as Morgenstern terms it - smells bad, this is a sign of bad hygiene, or whether this is true for all women. Another companion assures him that his wife Charlotte smells great there, and the poor lady from this point onwards is known as "Sweet Smelling Charlotte" in tout Berlin.
Now, always according to Morgensten, G2 ending up with Caroline instead is just one of the many, many things FW held against his cousin and brother-in-law. More serious is that G2 also ended up with three crowns he did not deserve and which FW should have gotten. (At this point, a vague memory made itself known, because yes, in one of the many books I've read this last year it did say William of Orange considered adopting FW as his heir for a while, in which case Britain would have gotten the Hohenzollern Friedrichs and Wilhelms instead of the Hannover Georges.) Morgenstern tells a dramatic tale of how kid FW, who in his twelfth year has been taken by Mother SC on a trip to the Netherlands, gets presented to William of Orange and is much liked by him, to the point where the King wants to kidnap him and take him to Britain, only to be talked out of it in the last minute. FW keeps thinking he missed his destiny there.
"If only I'd been King William, he could have made a great man out of me", (...) The Holsteiner interrupted him with a smile: "But you are a great King, how could being King William have made you greater?" The Master returned with some indignation: "You talk as you know it. Of course he could have gotten me elected as Stateholder, he could have taught me the craft to command the armies of Europe, do you know anything greater?"
Since FW has the same amount of British royal blood in him as G2 does (they're both great-grandsons of Elizabeth Stuart the Winter Queen), it's really not fair that stupd G2 got Britain AND Caroline. Grrr. Argh. Morgenstern also claims that when he was on his secret mission in Britain in 1737, he checked the files and saw that the Scots wanted FW rather than the Hannover gang as well in Queen Anne's time.
Morgenstern also reports the FW-G2 fight when they were kids in Hannover, only in his version it was after they had started to learn to fence, so it was an almost duel already. And the wonderful story of FW on his deathbed telling SD she can write to her brother that he, FW, forgives him. But only after he's dead.
Oh, and then there's this: in 1738 while inspecting Wesel, FW meets the current Prince of Orange, who's married to G2's and Caroline's oldest daughter Anne, and Anne herself. Anne leaves an impression, for FW, returning to Berlin, tells SD: "Fiekchen, if you die, I'm going to remarry within the family. I'm going to marry your brother's daughter. Luckily, she's not like her father at all. She takes after her mother, only she's not pretty.")
(This stuff is all over the book, I'm just putting it thematically together.)
Now, here's the odd thing. While the first half is unrelenting praise for FW, and defense against the various charges against him, including cruelty, the second half offers actually various examples of FW being cruel. I'm not sure whether that means the author hadn't finished working on the manuscript or whether he's not aware there is a contradiction there or what.
I also mentioned earlier that the hostility towards both of FW's parents is pretty unrelenting. SC is at fault for spoiling him. The anecdote illustrating this is that once when Tiny Terror FW beat up his cousin and name sake Friedrich Wilhelm of Kurland, has the kid under him and both hands in his hair when in comes Mom, but instead - so says Morgenstern FW told the tale - of either punishing him or at least saving the other kid from him, she just says, distraught: "Mon cher fils! Que faites-vous!" Ergo, he had to learn all about childraising himself, since Dad didn't give him any discipline, either, which proves Dad didn't care. Dad was only into kingship, and provided FW with servants but not Christian education, and also he murdered little baby Friedrich Ludwig with his stupid salute shooting, and then he married for a third time when there really was no need, because FW was on the job. Dad F1 was the worst King who ever existed, and our current King says the same thing, readers, so it must be true.
When Morgenstern gets to how FW had so seek out his own friends because his parents court was just, ugh, we get this gem of a quote:
So he had to create himself friends, and he found them among all who got to know him, partly through his honesty, partly through his benevolence. And as he was modest in his claims and requests, he did not insist to have his friendship returned in an exemplary manner, to find a Hephaistion as Alexander had done; for he knew how his ancestors had behaved with their Hephaistions.
I am very hard trying to take this solely as referring to Hephaistion as an example of a "good" favourite here, but you're not making it easy, Morgenstern.
No, he was content if others understood half a word from him; if they took a hint through a glance; if they could entertain him, especially in an honest and just fashion.
Morgenstern, as mentioned, defends FW against the charge of cruelty, a misunderstanding which arose, says he, because "of the beatings, because of the recruitment excesses and because of the strict executions". But look, says he: he needed the army in order to get Prussia on a good footing again, executions were for discipline and also to deterr thieves (FW using the death penalty for thieves wasn't a given in German states, unlike in England), and anyway, the poof that FW wasn't a sadist (of course Morgenstern doesn't use this word, the Marquis de Sade is his contemporary, after all, but it's what he means) is that such people delight in watching others suffer, and FW never did that.
"No one can deny that the late King has been the most compassionate towards the victims of his rage."
He always forgave any sinnner who repented. And okay, so he got angry a few times at his family, BUT he didn't get physical except for what Morgenstern refers to as The Great Incident. (Yep, Morgenstern is definitely Klepper's source for postponing FW being abusive to Fritz until 1730.) Also? "When the Crown Prince was at Küstrin, his father in order to keep him occupied had him review all cirminal trials for either confirmation or rejection of the judgment. How could a suppoosedly so cruel master let go of the opportunity to torment via the law, to make life miserable and to shed blood?"
Now, at this point I thought I had Morgenstern's number, but he will surprise us, gentle readers, somewhat later when he comes to... but that's a surprise.
Keep in mind Morgenstern only knew FW during the last four years of his life, too. Everything else he describes, he describes from hearsay. But what he writes about FW's daily routine and personnel in his last years, for example, I guess we can take at face value, and since it's the obvious model and yet a contrast to Fritz' daily routine, here you go:
Friedrich Wilhelm limited himself to two, at most three pages who both served him at the table and followed him everwhere on horseback, and had to live from ten Reichstaler per month. After three or four years, he made them Lieutenants with the equipage coming with that state and a hundred ducats. (...) For his nursing and care, the King had five footmen and one hunter, who did the same servicen when the master got dressed or by sleeping in front of his bed as those who received postmaster offices or other benevolences so they could l ive well with a salary of 400 Reichstaler. When he died, these were:
1.) Abt, who then died twice.
2.) Bramdhorst, who followed Eversmann as Chatelain in Berlin.
3.) Wiedekin, who received the post office in Minden.
4.) Müller (Morgenstern tells a story of him using the opportunity of having to deliver a thank you present from FW to Cardinal Fleury to high tail it out of Prussia)
5.) Hammerstein, who also became a postmaster and
6.) Meyer, who became Oberforstmeister in Torgelow, Upper Pomerania.
Moreover eight chamber footmen, and the same number of hunters, who served at the table in the antechambre and at the King's sickness carriage (Kranken-Wagen, perhaps the wheelchair, perhaps an actual wagon necessary to transport him in his final year), for eight Reichstaler a month, and who were given offices at city halls or at tax offices, or at profitable hunting grounds.
Speaking of money. Let's talk about household expenses:
In order not to need a budget for his and his family's wardrobe, nor for his hunting, he told the Queen, whom he had left her considerable heritage for free use, that she would have to finance from the annual 8000 Reichstaler the following:
- linnen for herself, the princesses, the princes and the King
- also everyone's wardrobe
- powder and bullets for the hunting at Wusterhausen and Mackenow in autumn; in recompense, she was to have any feathery game that didn't get eaten right away
In order to be galant, he did present the Queen and each of the princesess with at least one winter dress each year; but he would not agree to have this put in the contract for which the Queen needed a legal advisor, as (...) in anger against his brother-in-law, he hadn't even wanted to sign it as her marital curator.
Day in the life:
Morning starts with a prayer (of course it does), washing, cabinet secretaries show up and report about the incoming mail, note down the King's orders/replies. While they're doing this, FW drinks his coffee and gets dressed (by servants). The resolutions from the previous day are read through and signed while FW gets into his boots. After five to six hours administrative work, he's off to soldiering (i.e. inspections, parades), though he combines that with meeting envoys and foreign visitors. Lunch with up to 30 people, for two hours, with a guest getting one or one and a have bottles of wine on avarage. When in Berlin, FW also receives the envoys here as well, which means more wine. If he's in a good mood, the wine flows until he says stop. After lunch: riding with the pages and a few servants; this is when he talks to any subjects trying to meet him directly. If FW can't ride because either his health isn't up to it or the weather is too bad, he paints, with a painter who is Morgenstern's arch enemy. The painter, Johann Adelfing, nickname "Hänsgen" (= little Hans, because Johann) gets 100 Reichstaler per annum, and because of the colors used a Gulden for every day they paint together. "...but for every stroke with the paintbrush which the King didn't manage well, Hänsgen got a rich share of pushes and slaps. The results of these painting lessons weren't much to look at, though the student easily did as well as the master."
So, FW's theatre taste according to Morgenstern: He had liked French comedy during his campaigns in Brabant, but lost the taste for them when he had it staged once and the next day heard the children call each other by the names of the play, especially the youngest son, then 6 or 7 years old, calling himself Policinello. German comedy used to be very bawdy in those days, and so he thought it was too dangerous for the youngsters. Of Italian comedy, he liked slapstick, but he was ready to admit that this was not to everyone's taste.
Puppet play, he regarded justly as childish, but when it was presented at the tavern in Wusterhausen and he heard from his people about the burlesque they were presenting, he ordered it performed in front of the entire court, and the master could never recall the entire performance without laughing heartily.
And now we get to the surprise, i.e. where Morgenstern suddenly sounds... dowright FW critical. What's the occasion? Well....