As we've seen in the contemporary accounts, whether via dispatches like Mitchell's during the 7 Years War or late life memoirs like Schöning's, and of course in Henri de Catt's two versions of his time with Fritz, he consistently comes across as respectful and complimentary about his father once he's King, and if he does bring up a downside like FW's rages, it's immediately qualified and put into (generally) positive perspective. This is one big reason why the official version of the two of them getting along fine post Küstrin submission in August 1731 was so widely accepted, and in 19th and early 20th century dogma also FW's sentence changing and rehabilitation regime, because look! Result: Frederick the Great! Who accepts Dad has been right!
Now, the 1730s contemporary documents beg to differ. Chiefly the Fritz and Wilhelmine correspondence which show the Fritz & FW relationship post Küstrin was more of a jojo going up and down all the time, but even Other Seckendorff's secret journal (fed by Manteuffel reports) notes the same thing; one day it's "Fritzchen" and Fritz swearing he'd give his right arm for Dad to get better, the next it's "why no babies yet? Also, let me predict AW's future greatness!" and needlings behind close doors. (Once he's ordered to report in person in Austria, Other Seckendorff is even asked point blank how serious this father/son reconciliaton thing is in his opinion and he basically replies he thinks it's patched up on the surface, hurt feelings boiling underneath.) it occurred to me that the emotional release of venting to Wilhelmine about FW, instant of constantly holding himself in check as reported by the later accounts, was another thing that ended (at least in writing - we dont know what they said to each other in person, of course) when Fritz became King. (BTW: just for a compare and contrast: Fritz is careful not to critisize FW towards Voltaire in his 1730s letters even when Voltaire all but baits him to do it, presumably because he knows that correspondence is read by third parties from the get go. And while by what you've quoted from the Suhm and Duhan correspondences he is ready to write poetry about how those who teach and give knowledge are his spiritual fathers, there is, to my knowledge, no "Dad: still the worst!" outburst towards them, either.) So in terms of risking writing (as opposed to whatever he might have said in person to anyone around him from Fredersdorf to visiting Suhm or Manteuffel to painting that rising son, err, sun Pesne), it's Wilhelmine, full stop. (And vice versa, though we don't know that as definite because a lot of Wilhelmine's not-addressed-to-Fritz letters are still unpublished.) Wilhelmine is also the addressee of that single complaint about Mom which stands out to me so much, and it's worth rereading that 1734 letter again, because it's yet another reason why Oncken flatly calling either Knyphausen or Hotham or both a liar because of Hotham reporting in his dispatch Knyphausen quoted FW as saying "I hate him and he hates me" and that they need a break from each other about his oldest son. Looking up this letter again, I just saw that the version in the Volz edition is longer than the one in "Solange wir zu zweit sind", and also has a lengthy passage discussing sister Charlotte which had been edited out there, and which is quite intriguing.
Berlin, March 19th 17354 Dearest Sister! I envy you for not being here; for our gracious monarch and the monarchess have agreed upon taking turns of being in a bad mood. One doesn't know how one stands with them at any given point: today you get overwhelmed with tenderness, and tomorrow there are only sullen faces and unfriendly words. In short, their mood changes from one day to the next. (...) by Gustav Volz. Lotte has spoiled everything I've done for you with the Queen and nearly would have caused distress between her and me as well. Among ourselves I advise you not to put one foot into this direction and to pray for those who have to endure here: for this is the most false, most treasonous court of the world. The King's mood has become unbearable again, he hates me like sin, and the prestige of the Crown Princess has nearly been exhausted. I still mock everything and am in a good mood. I'm not sad and only pity the King who can't bring himself to show his children affection. I advise you to arrange it for the Prince Heir (her husband, serving in one of FW's regiments) to quit the service and to end any relationship with this place. But if you want to do me a favour, drag things out until May 10th when I want to present myself to you. (En route to the Rhine; as it turns out, FW would forbid that.) To return to Lotte, who has just left (for Braunschweig), she's charming in conversation, funny and in a good mood, much more sophisticated than she used to be. She dances perfectly and always comes up with a new entertainment. At the same time, she's the most false creature of the world, and capable of the worst against those who have the misfortune to provoke her jealousy. I've studied her thoroughly, and unfortunately noticed she has a very bad character. I fear this is more a result of her general disposition than of her temper. The King and the Queen are completely enamored with her. I sooner would dare to insult their majesties than to say anything against Lotte. Which proves yet again that there is no more certain way to insinuate yourself with the Great than to applaud blindly all they want and to banish sincerity and charity from one's heart. A bad character and not worth of anyone with a good heart!
Prince Karl (Charlotte's new husband, the future Duke of Braunschweig, EC's brother) is the exact opposite. He is a good fellow and an honest bloke, a declared enemy to falseness and lies, and incapable of doing anything below his dignity. He's cheerful, can take a joke, knows my sister as well as I do and condemns her falseness for what it is worth. Which is why his dear wife has already found means and ways to badmouth him to the King, and even more to the Queen. Since my sister Charlotte was here, all my other sisters got treated like maid servants, as if they were not her equal. This, dearest sister, is the truth about how things stand here. As you see, staying here isn't exactly character building. I'll leave sooner or later and would rather risk a shipwreck in order to avoid the other dangers of these stormy seas.
I am thoroughly pleased Benda (his musician) has your esteem. As soon as I'm at the (Rhine) campaign, I'll send you both Grauns, Schardt, Schafrath and the entire company in the hope they will entertain you. Farewell, dearest sister! You are my sole north star, and will find your faithful and truly devoted servant in me, even if this puts me into disgrace with the entire world. But I wouldn't change an inch for this.
Ooookay. Like I said, I remembered the part about FW, SD and EC, but the one about Charlotte was new to me. On the one hand, this not only backs up the claim in Wilhelmine's memoirs of Charlotte's behavior towards her (and EC) around that time. (And fits with what Mildred lets Wilhelmine think about Charlotte in her Christmas story.) Otoh, the claim that Honest Karl, Charlotte's new husband, already sees through her is something else again. Not just because as far as I know, Charlotte had one of the better royal marriages (and sided with her husband over Fritz years later when it came to Fritz' idea that his brothers-in-law were mainly on earth to contribute soldiers to his wars). But also because: doesn't Fritz entrust Charlotte with Duhan (and his correspondence with Duhan) none too much later? The most false creature of the world, who will only rat you out to FW and SD?
Which leads me to the speculation that the case of sibling jealousy depicted here isn't just Charlotte's. I mean, in the same letter, Fritz says he pities FW for not being able to show affection to his children, and that Charlotte is the current petted parental fave. As I said in regards to AW, I think Fritz could have coped better with a FW who was awful to all his children. But FW capable of showing affection, praise and tenderness without (much) of the temper tantrums and (as far as we know) the verbal abuse to the favourites like AW, Ulrike or Charlotte demonstrated he was capable of a different type of parenting, which in turn must have made Fritz secretly wonder again and again it was something about himself that was unlovable. Now, he's writing to the sister who is FW's other unfavourite (and no matter about secret resentment for not encouraging him to run away, he never had to fear she's try to win favour with their parents at his expense) and can vent there, but to continue the theme of sibling jealousy, the fact that Wilhelmine is the recipient of the letter also shouldn't be ignored, because Wilhelmine? Most definitely jealous of her sisters. (Most blatantly so after Fritz becomes King and in the last bit of her memoirs, before they break off, she's sure he dumps her as favourite sister in favour of Friederike in Ansbach.) And of course laboring with the same problem/fear Fritz does - if FW (and SD) can be loving towards the younger sibs, doesn't that prove something is wrong with her? So a factor in the letter could also be that Fritz knows he'll find open ears with not just the complaints about Mom and Dad but the complaints about Charlotte, not least because they'll reassure Wilhelmine he still loves her best. Wilhelmine's reply letter shows her actually pleading EC's case, and directly proving Charlotte really did make that ulcers-in-the-anus allegation from the unbowlderized memoirs.
Bayreuth, March 27th 1734
Dearest Brother! While your letters are always a source of great joy to me, the last one, to be honest, has made me sad: for I can see from it how much grief the Berlin lords and ladies are causing you. You seem to be in exactly the same position I was a year ago, when I was nearly driven mad and my poor health was wrecked to a degree I'm still sensing the aftermath. I wish Lotte would be so kind as to spread all her poison against me and leave you alone. Quarrells without reasons leave me indifferent since I'm not there. But what does sadden me and is the worst is that she has badmouthed the Crown Princess. She has never liked her and had described her to me in such a way I was imagining a mental and physical monstrosity. It was also her who riled up the Queen against (EC); otherwise, one could have calmed (SD) down and reasoned with her.
To be frank with you, dearest brother, your peace and quiet depends on the Crown Princess. If her standing with the King is sunk, I'm afraid you two will experience much grief. Therefore, I think it would be best if she tries everything to regain favour, with the Queen, too, who, if I may say so, due to her thoughtlessness and bias against the Crown Princess could tell the King things which could have evil results. (EC) must make (SD) little presents now and then and pretend to madly love my sister. I pity the poor Crown Princess, who has deserved a better fate. Her good heart and her kind disposition deserve recognition. Should I have the joy to greet you here, I will say some more things in this matter to you which I don't dare to entrust to my pen.
I'm familiar with Prince Karl and his good character. He is to be pitied for being married to such a creature. That she should have badmouthed him to the King and Queen is, in my opinion, the meanest thing she's done so far. But I can assure you that Lotte isn't the only one at fault for this; so is la Montbail, whose low disposition I am familiar with. I'm sure (Montbail) has goaded (Charlotte) into this; for that good lady strongly dislikes both the Crown Princess and myself. And I know why Lotte is angry with you, too. Hopefully she'll acquire a better mindset in time, but only heartbreak can improve her. (...)
Since everything in Berlin changes so quickly, I hope this will, too, and the bad moods will be over (by the time her letter arrives). As far as I can judge, the worst thing is that no one has influence on the Master's mind anymore. Even Grumbkow's and Seckendorff's credit has sunk a great deal. (I'm cutting the discussion as to whether or not Bayreuth Friedrich should quit the regiment and how far Prussia will engage in the Rhine campaign.) For my part, I'm resolved not to return to Berlin again. I know too well how things stand there and what the mood of our sovereigns are to enter the labyrinth once more which I only recall with a shudder. Our old Margrave is currently amiability itself. I f he stays that way, we'll be the happiest of mortals.
No such luck, but he won't live much longer. Anyway, heartbreak improves no one, Wilhelmine, but I'm not surprised you'd think so. The subsequent letters also deal with poor Sophie getting engaged to the Schwedt cousin, for which she's pitied by both Fritz and Wlihelmine. (Justly so, as Sophie's subsquent fate will prove.) Since SD is taking Sophie's marriage to the Margrave Schwedt (which she had explicitly not wanted for Wilhelmine, remember) on the chin and resigns herself to it, without blaming Sophie for it, Wilhelmine risks a pointed Mom obervation in her letter to Fritz from April 27th, saying It would have been nice if she'd dealt as kindly with our marriages; it would have spared us much grief. The Crown Princess deserves all the respect. People of her character are rare to find. I don't understand why the King is still disgruntled with you. Hopefully, the revue will improve this.
No such luck, as the next news is that FW forbids Fritz to visit Wilhelmine en route to the Rhine, though he's still open to a reunion on the way back. (Which Fritz will make happen though FW will have forbidden it by then as well.) Anyway, I don't get how any historian can read through the Fritz and Wilhelmine correspondence from the 1730s and emerge with the conviction that Fritz and FW had settled into a warm father/son relationship post Küstrin, or that family dynamics chez Hohenzollern in general were one bit less dysfunctional. Oh, and I do suspect that Wilhelmine's positivity about EC in these letters is also the result of Fritz having emphasized in every letter from 1732 and 1733 he mentions her how much he does not love her, but even so, it's still interesting that she speaks well of her (and gives good advice, because it's true, of course, FW's benevolence towards EC is one of the few plus factors for Fritz to bargain with). Given the sheer level of dysfunction, it's remarkable at all that Fritz and Wilhelmine ended up as allies instead of rivals. For comparison, Lord Hervey's memoirs - which are of course biased, but still, he's an eye witness - make it sound as if there were no sibling alliances among the Hannover cousins, it was all mutual scheming against (and everyone ganging up against FoW, but that didn't mean supporting each other).
Oh, wow, that was new to me as well! (And Volz still cut parts of it, sigh.)
But also because: doesn't Fritz entrust Charlotte with Duhan (and his correspondence with Duhan) none too much later?
Not later, same day! He writes to Duhan, March 19th, 1734: You know the risk you run when you can only do things while trembling. This is why I have only been able to answer you now, having a good opportunity through my sister. She will tell you everything I think about you. (After that comes the "I have to be a mirror" quote btw.) So Charlotte has "just left" with this letter in her pocket.
Which certainly suggests that he does know how to deal with her, possibly indeed trading on his future position? Huh.
Also, re: venting about Dad to Duhan, this is as far as it goes, from 1736: When one indulges blindly in one's prejudices, and without examining things thoroughly, one is often prone to be seriously mistaken; hence most of the mistakes that men make. This is why it would be hoped that Father Malebranche's treatise 'The Search after Truth' was better known and read. Blood ties impose silence on me on a subject where I could explain myself more clearly, and where the subtle distinction between hating a bad deed and loving the one who commits it might vanish.
But the correspondence with Duhan was also fraught and risky in general. Looking at a less risky connection, he does vent to Camas! See the January 1739 letter for example, with lines like this: I must see him as my most cruel enemy, who spies on me constantly to find the moment when he thinks he can give me the blow of jarnac [an unexpected blow from behind].
So while I think that the "blood ties" are certainly one reason why he'd mostly talk to Wilhelmine (both the ties to her and the lacking ones to others) and why he didn't speak badly about his father later on (but still didn't go to Wusterhausen with the rest of the sibs :P), he did vent to friends as well, even in writing.
(... and now I'm back to wishing for the Keyserlingk letters. Stupid (suspected) censors.)
Wow. So, to recapitulate the order of events on the 19th:
Fritz: Lotte, be a dear and smuggle this super secret letter to my old teacher Duhan for me, you know, the one Dad banished. And don't tell anyone.
Charlotte: *departs with letter*
Fritz. Dear Wilhelmine, Charlotte's the worst, a chronic sibling backstabber who even badmouths her own husband to Mom and Dad to boot!
"Mirrors his surroundings" indeed. More seriously:
Which certainly suggests that he does know how to deal with her, possibly indeed trading on his future position? Huh.
I bet. I mean, Charlotte's not stupid, and she has to know that if she ratted Fritz out to Dad, she might get a pat on the back in the short term, but in the long term, she will have the next King hostile to her. And 1734 is one of those years when FW is in such bad health that everyone thinks he'll die. So it's not like she could assume Fritz' reign to be far, far into the future, with enough time to win his favor. She has to store favors now. Otoh, I also have no problem believing Charlotte kept badmouthing Wilhelmine and EC. Because Wilhelmine is competition (not socially right now; Charlotte has married a Duke of one of the major German duchies, Wilhelmine is Margravine in some Franconian backwater), but in terms of her being Fritz' favourite. As for EC, either this is so early in the marriage that it's still up to debate whether EC might become important to Fritz - especially since he has to fake being a good husband for now - , or it's just the Hohenzollern instinct to punch downwards, combined with smelling vulnerability (the way Dad does), because EC is an easy target.
I've recently read a biography of Anna Amalia (i.e. Charlotte's daughter, not her sister; Carl August's mother), and it does mention right at the start that Anna Amalia took one of Charlotte's jokes very serious, which was a Hohenzollern family joke. The chain went thusly:
FW (when one of his younger daughters was born): too many daughters, they can't all get husbands, "Aussschuß der Natur" (Waste of nature), should start to drown them like kittens.
Charlotte (in the letter announcing Anna Amalia's birth): Had another waste of nature product (this was her second daughter), am willing to drown her if my dear Papa promises to drown my sisters Ulrike and Amalie at the same time.
Anna Amalia's opening of her memoirs: Mom called me a waste of nature.
Biographer: No sense of humor.
I mean, yes, Charlotte was clearly joking, but I can see why Anna Amalia still minded that designation and didn't forget it. And let's not forget Charlotte's willingness to cut off her other daughter, EC the younger (first wife of FW2) immediately and forever instead of taking her back after the scandal when Fritz offers that first as an alternative to locking EC up, and telling FW2 the next time she sees him when visiting Brandenburg how ashamed she was for her daughter. Conclusion: Charlotte strikes one as the type to know on which side her bread was buttered, and with not much solidarity for the (female and/or weaker) family members who were endagering her position in the family pecking order in some way.
Back to Fritz: the Camas wenting from 1739 is fascinating, because Camas' primary loyalty should in theory be to FW, and it's Fritz "stealing of officers' loyalties" that formed a great part of what FW was ranting about in 1730. Though let's not forget, 1739 is when an increasing number of people seem to be willing to risk pissing FW off in order to gain Fritz' favor, see also the Tobacco College guys rising when he enters, and Pesne painting that ceiling. They seem to have been reasonably sure that his days were numbered (despite earlier mistakes in that regard).
Keylserlingk letters: so with you.
In any event: all those negative emotions towards FW didn't suddenly go away in May 1740 just because he died, so if Fritz censored himself completely because de mortuis nihil nisi bonum, it can't have been healthy. So let's home he vented every now and then in circumstances where no future memoirist was present.
(Or else it all went into his subconcious, producing dreams like the one from the 7 Years War where he's brought to Magdeburg and accused of not loving his father enough.)
Charlotte (in the letter announcing Anna Amalia's birth): Had another waste of nature product (this was her second daughter), am willing to drown her if my dear Papa promises to drown my sisters Ulrike and Amalie at the same time.
This family might be dysfunctional!
So let's home he vented every now and then in circumstances where no future memoirist was present.
Let's hope! I fear at that some point, maybe post Seven Years' War, he stopped being able to vent due to everyone having died off.
(Or else it all went into his subconcious, producing dreams like the one from the 7 Years War where he's brought to Magdeburg and accused of not loving his father enough.)
Definitely not mutually exclusive. :/ Let's hope he at least got some venting in between 1740 and 1756.
and Pesne painting that ceiling
Speaking of Pesne painting ceilings, I was googling it not long ago (I was looking for a visual of the ceiling that has a book with Voltaire's and Horace's names on facing pages--do any of you know where I can find a picture? I *know* I've seen it, I have a very clear mental image, but couldn't turn it up, and I didn't see it in Selena's picspams--maybe it wasn't Rheinsberg? It's driving me crazy)--anyway, I turned up this Menzel painting of Pesne painting:
It's entitled "Crown Prince Frederick Pays a Visit to the Painter Pesne on his Scaffold at Rheinsberg". (cahn, keep in mind that Menzel is 19th century, so this is an imaginative reconstruction.)
Menzel is gorgeous as always. I did not know this particular Fritz painting of his!
(Is the violinist supposed to be Benda?
the ceiling that has a book with Voltaire's and Horace's names on facing pages--do any of you know where I can find a picture?
I see two likely possibilities: it's either in Fritz' study room at Rheinsberg, which currently isn't open to the public (because it's too small; you're just allowed to take a quick glimpse across the barrier), or it's in the Sanssouci library room (which you're not allowed to enter even under no covid conditions), or in Fritz' suite in the New Palace which also is currently sealed off to the public. In any event, I did not see it and thus have to guess.
Let's hope he at least got some venting in between 1740 and 1756.
Let's hope. I choose to believe he vented to Fredersdorf, whom he knew would not tell a soul. After 1756, you're right that the people he trusted and who had known FW were gone. (I mean, Pöllnitz might have been the Hohenzollern go to guy for anecdotes, but sure as hell not the guy to rant about Dad at.) However, maybe he allowed himself to express some mixed feelings to later friends like George Keith or Luccesini? (I mean, if he told Lucchesini he loved someone "like Scorates did Alcibioades" shortly before the 7 Years War, he could have told him "a part of me is still angry at Dad". ) In any event, let's also recall the remarkable fact that Fritz made the emotionally healthy and eminently sensible decision to not join the sibling trip to Wusterhausen!
(I think that place must have been opened exactly two times once FW was dead - for the family trip and later in 1799 when Heinrich decded to spend some time there blend out the last twelve years. Unless Fritz rented it to hunting-minded aristos during his reign, which is also possible.
I see two likely possibilities: it's either in Fritz' study room at Rheinsberg
That's what my memory told me, and Blanning confirms:
From his little library in the southern round tower Frederick could look out at lake and gardens on three sides without seeing another building. Immediately adjacent was his main library, followed by a study and a suite of eight further rooms occupying most of the south wing. On the ceiling of the tower room a painting entitled Tranquillity in the Study by the court painter Antoine Pesne depicted Minerva surrounded by personifications of the sciences, arts and literature, one of whom points to an open book in which are written the names of Frederick’s two favorite authors: Horace and Voltaire.
I know I've seen a picture of it! Holmes, I mean felis? :D I want to show cahn, and also it's driving me crazy.
I choose to believe he vented to Fredersdorf, whom he knew would not tell a soul.
I choose to agree!
However, maybe he allowed himself to express some mixed feelings to later friends like George Keith or Luccesini? (I mean, if he told Lucchesini he loved someone "like Scorates did Alcibioades" shortly before the 7 Years War, he could have told him "a part of me is still angry at Dad". )
I was hoping for George Keith, yeah. But if Catt is not totally fictionalizing this part and if he's representative (both doubtful!), what Fritz said was along the lines of, "Wow, growing up under Dad sucked, but also, great man, not as bad as it sounds, don't want you to think ill of the late King!" Which I almost believe just because that is soooo typical of abuse victims. And the diary definitely backs up the dreams of longing for FW's approval.
So...let's hope he got some informal therapy via in-person discussions with Fredersdorf and hopefully Wilhelmine.
I think that place must have been opened exactly two times once FW was dead
My vague, vague memories are telling me Fritz actually paid a visit to a family member for lunch early in his reign, but...ah, yes, MacDonogh this time. 1745, just after the treaty ending the Second Silesian War is concluded:
Frederick returned to his capital on 28 December. He stopped for lunch at the hated house of Wusterhausen, which he had given to William...Prince Henry went to join his brothers at Wusterhausen, and all three drove into town in an open phaeton.
Source, Bielfeld.
Checking Bielfeld, I don't actually see Wusterhausen mentioned by name. I see the open phaeton, and I see Henry going to meet Fritz somewhere south of Berlin for lunch. Which could be Wusterhausen but isn't necessarily. But Rödenbeck agrees: Der König kommt in Wusterhausen an, speist daselbst Mittags bei dem Prinzen von Preußen, und reis't nach Berlin ab.
Fritz: always surprising us, whether it's going to Wusterhausen, or electing not to go to Wusterhausen for the reunion!
Aw, that's a really cool picture! I like it, imaginative or not :) (But glad you told me that so I wouldn't go around thinking that was exactly what everything looked like! clearly every painter needs random violinists in the background
now I'm imagining Heinrich hanging out playing violin just to annoy Fritz
LOL. Maybe Heinrich did. I do think the very successful Renaissance painters in their studiolos had some music, and also baroque superstars like Rubens might have, but don't hold me to it, I'm talking out of very distant memory here.
see also the Tobacco College guys rising when he enters
Which Camas was a part of, too! Fritz mentions it a couple of times and doesn't write to him there in 1737 explicitely because he thinks that might get Camas into trouble. Not so in 1739 apparently.
But that reminds me, Kloosterhuis published a new book about the Tobacco Parliament (a revised version of his chapter in this 2020 FW essay collection, which Gambitten mentioned some time back ), more exactly: about the Lisiewski painting from 1736/37 you linked last post. He unearthed a list of names in the state archive, which had been dismissed as not reliable before, but he thinks it might go back to Heinrich, who owned the painting in the end and talked about it to people (see also this book review). Camas is on the list of participants, but no Grumbkow or Dessauer, which is a bit strange, but who knows. (See the first link for the other people allegedly in the painting.)
producing dreams like the one from the 7 Years War where he's brought to Magdeburg and accused of not loving his father enough
I think during the War, he was also pretty close with d'Argens? I seem to remember that he might have made a couple of Dad-critical comments towards him, but I don't think that counts as venting. And no Fredersdorf anymore. :( Now I'm wondering what the "not feeling good enough" combined with the way the war was going did to his thoughts on FW...
Thank you for all the links. Inner nitpicker alert!
he thinks it might go back to Heinrich, who owned the painting in the end and talked about it to people (see also this book review).
Having read the article you linked, I don't know whether it's Kloosterhuis or the Welt journalist paraphrasing him, but: the claim Heinrich "lived often in Wusterhausen in his old age" - "often" is pushing it. He moved into some rooms in 1799 (when I see he gave the painting to FW3, presumably because he found it moving in) and did intend to spend more time there because it was much closer to Berlin than Rheinsberg, so if he could have moved in more regularly it would have spared him a long way to and thro. But in the end it was too cold, and the whole purpose of another residence in your old age was not to be freezing, so he mostly kept switching between Berlin (winter) and Rheinsberg in the summer. If I remember my Ziebura correctly, he spent some weeks at Wusterhausen in 1799 and some weeks in 1800 there, and then basically gave up. (He died in 1802, at Rheinsberg.) All this being said, he was the methodical type, he knew he probably did not have much more time left, and it would make sense if he'd made a list to identify the people on the painting. There weren't many people left who could have, after all.
2. First link for identification: I see Kloosterhuis doesn't devote a chapter to the hare sitting on the opposite end of the table, and whom he might symbolize. Would probably spoil the image of the Tobacco College as a Sehnsuchtsort and place of comradely relaxation, she says snarkily. No Seckendorff is explainable in 1737/1738 - he was busy fighting with the Turks and then getting locked up because Austria fared badly in that war, only to be freed by MT once she came on the throne. And Seckendorff Jr. the nephew wasn't a Tobbaco Parliament regular. For Grumbkow, I don't have an explanation.
I think during the War, he was also pretty close with d'Argens? I seem to remember that he might have made a couple of Dad-critical comments towards him, but I don't think that counts as venting.
He was pretty close with D'Argens during the war, that's true, but I think - and I might be wrong, of course - he deliberately focused on talking to him about literature (and possip such as Émilie's love life) in order to have an escape from war thoughts. Talking about his father wouldn't have been an escape. Then again, I've never read the D'Argens letters, so what do I know? D'Argens was the one to hear that incredibly telling "...je erais sans souci" remark, after all.
Fritz: Lotte, be a dear and smuggle this super secret letter to my old teacher Duhan for me, you know, the one Dad banished. And don't tell anyone.
Charlotte: *departs with letter*
Fritz. Dear Wilhelmine, Charlotte's the worst, a chronic sibling backstabber who even badmouths her own husband to Mom and Dad to boot!
FRIIIIIITZ
I mean, yes, Charlotte was clearly joking, but I can see why Anna Amalia still minded that designation and didn't forget it.
Oh hey, I recognize that: the "joke" that is more insulting than funny but one gets called sensitive if one objects to it! (I was not, in fact, the one accused of being "sensitive," but it took me more years than I'm comfortable admitting to figure out what was wrong with the whole setup.)
Oh hey, I recognize that: the "joke" that is more insulting than funny but one gets called sensitive if one objects to it!
Oh yes, that mechanism rings very familiar. (Even before Rightwingers on both sides of the Atlantic perfected it, because isn't that behind the whole "snowflake" name calling by Republicans? Our bunch of Neonazis in parliament, the AFD, certainly does it all the time, first insult, then when called on it say that OF COURSE it was meant as a joke, why are people so over the top in their reactions etc etc.)
Anna Amalia was also the second daughter and her older sister was supposedly the brilliant one of her generation, to whom she was constantly compared. Well, in retrospect of course Anna Amalia had the last laugh in that she became the most famous of her generation of the entire family, brothers included, and no, that didn't just happen after her death. In the 1780s, Gleim, who had served in the 7 years War and written ultra patriotic "Fritz Forever!" poems then, wrote one addressed to Anna Amalia praising Weimar and ending on the verse "Berlin, you had your chance - Athens is here!", a judgment with whom posterity agreed for the years between Goethe's arrival and Schiller's death.
A bit more about Amalia the younger: she got married at 16, pregnant with Carl August at 17, pregnant again with her second son at 19 when her husband died, which made her (after some scheming of the most powerful minister to prevent it) regent of the duchy of Weimar. For which, of course, she had not been educated (she'd received a good education in terms of (French) literature and music, and heading a princely household, but not in governing, because woman. And the last will of her husband severely limited the kind of changes she could make during Carl August's minority (despite the fact reform was direly necessary). Then, no sooner had she started to settle into her role as Regent did Uncle Fritz want soldiers post haste because the 7 Years War was in full swing. Her mother Charlotte - whom she otherwise had a distant relationship with, her parent of choice was definitely her father - did help her then to bargain Fritz down to 150 soldiers though Amalia wasn't wrong when saying tiny Weimar couldn't even afford that many young and able men. Prussian recruiters showed up, Weimar men were told to go into hiding and not emerge until Prussian "recruiters" were gone again, and then were assured by their Duchess they wouldn't have to fear retaliations for showing up once more.
When Carl August achieved his majority and fell in love with Goethe befriended Goethe, there was much surprise that Anna Amalia, who had ended up in a state of near constant argument with Carl August's main (political, not cultural) governor during CA's teenage years (either out of maternal jealousy or political reasons or both, depending on whom you ask), didn't object to this, and then Weimar gossip went into overdrive because it was noted young Goethe didn't just flirt with Charlotte von Stein (whom he as subsequent events showed was seriously in love with) but with Annna Amalia as well, within the bounds of courtly behavior, of course, but he was a commoner. And "Maman", as the wife of her arch enemy the political governor nicknamed her, was only in her thirties, because she'd given birth to Carl August so young, so even by the standards of the 1700s, she wasn't yet thought of as an old, over the hill woman. She certainly did flirt back, within courtly behavior. (And set some of Goethe's minor plays written for the court to music later.)
Some years ago, a new tinhat theory emerged declaring that Charlotte von Stein was just the beard for a Goethe/Anna Amalia effair, and that the love letters and poems written during Goethe's first decade in Weimar were really adressed to her, which most biographers (including the one I've just read) make mincemeat of, not least because Goethe's love letters to Charlotte von Stein are very specifically talking to her, addressing matters like her son (called Fritz, btw, and partly raised in Goethe's house, though born long before he came to Weimar, so definitely not his son), and meetings and events at which Anna Amalia had not been present. Also, young Goethe on occasion could be reckless but definitely not suicidal, and one of the few things Carl August would NOT have forgiven him would be compromising his mother! And even Weimar gossip at the time, which was vicious (as poor Christiane later found out) doesn't claim an actual affair or even a mutual platonic relationship; it does claim Anna Amalia was jealous of Charlotte von Stein.
The biographer thinks that Anna Amalia undeniably had a soft spot for Goethe and might have enjoyed the flirting and courtoisie during the first few years with him more than with the other guys at court (for all that Carl August married quickly, his wife was overshadowed by his mother for the first twenty years or so), but then she treated being free of the regency like the first time she was able to enjoy her life anyway (no wonder, given her life so far), and that was as far as it went. Otoh, she did fall in love later when she went to Italy. Whom did she fall in love with? With a Catholic bishop who had scandalized the Vatican by openly campaigning against celibacy, not in a having-affairs-on-the-side way but in a "celibacy is an outdated custom and we need to reform the church and get rid of it!" pamphlet writing way.
Oh, and for context:
Goethe: after a decade in Weimar, takes off to Italy to rediscover himself as a poet and be free for the next two years.
Anna Amalia, after year 1: You know, his letters to Carl August make it sound like living in Italy is great. Maybe I should do that, too.
Weimar gossip: Clearly, she's pining for Goethe. Though competing with Italian beauties is even dumber than competing with Charlotte von Stein.
Goethe: I really like you and will work out a complete travel plan with the addresses of all my new friends for you. *couches the next in a much more diplomatic form, but what it boils down to is*: But please don't start your journey until I'm leaving. The whole point of me being in Italy is being free of all things Weimar.
Anna Amalia: *starts her journey only when Goethe is on his journey back*
She did love it in Italy, though, and really enjoyed that she didn't just have the usual nobility and worthies to talk to, but also all the artists whom Goethe had befriended and connected her with via letters. She remained two years, too, with the main difference to most Germans travelling to Italy in the 18th century being that she liked Naples better than Rome (for the others, it was usually the other way around). Her circle in Naples didn't just include the scandalous Catholic bishop with whom she'd exchange love letters for the rest of their lives once she left Italy, but also Sir William Hamilton and Emma, and she and the bishop visited the evacations at Pompeji and Herculaneum as Wilhelmine had done with La Condamine. Like Wilhelmine, she only returned reluctantly and because her family was on the other side of the Alps. Just in time, though, because Napoleon was on his way to conquer Italy practically the moment she came back.
Not later, same day! He writes to Duhan, March 19th, 1734: You know the risk you run when you can only do things while trembling. This is why I have only been able to answer you now, having a good opportunity through my sister. She will tell you everything I think about you. (After that comes the "I have to be a mirror" quote btw.) So Charlotte has "just left" with this letter in her pocket.
Other Seckendorff is even asked point blank how serious this father/son reconciliaton thing is in his opinion and he basically replies he thinks it's patched up on the surface, hurt feelings boiling underneath.
Right on the nose, Other Seckendorff.
And while by what you've quoted from the Suhm and Duhan correspondences he is ready to write poetry about how those who teach and give knowledge are his spiritual fathers, there is, to my knowledge, no "Dad: still the worst!" outburst towards them, either.)
Nothing like the outbursts to Wilhelmine in the Suhm letters, no. The worst it gets from Fritz to Suhm is:
We kill ourselves here in performing our exercise, but are not advanced either more or less by it ; for to - day, the regiment of Prince Henry was reviewed , and after having done wonders, the King did not appear satisfied ; he even shewed an air of discontent that vexed every body. Give me sufficient reason for his anger. I cannot find one either within or without him ; and the only cause I can suppose for his ill humour, is an accidental one , an overflowing of bile , which made him look upon the poor Prince and his regiment with a misanthropical and hypochondriacal eye. God preserve me from a like fate ! My resolution would be soon taken, if such a thing happened to me . I expect with impatience the minute and moment when I shall depart from hence, and return to repose in the enjoyment of life.
Written May 28, 1736, i.e. during the big reviews.
The worst it gets from Suhm to Fritz on the subject of FW is:
As to what you tell me of Wolf's philosophy, you will be much surprised to hear that his fate is that of the times, and without having a Court thermometer, it is impossible to know what credit he is actually in. But these are things with which I trouble myself but little; for when we know the cause of that uncertainty and diversity, we enquire no more about the reason of things which are governed by arbitrary caprice, and contradictory obstinacy. -- Excuse the terms I beseech you, should you think I have said too much.
Written August 18, 1736, i.e. when Suhm is living in Berlin (although currently in Dresden) and Fritz in Ruppin.
Other than that, there's a couple of passages that could be passed off as "bad advisors":
We have had new cavils these few days past. All come from Bredow's jealousy of Wolden. The first has found means to insinuate to the King, that I am a man without religion; that Manteuffel, and yourself, had greatly contributed to pervert me; that Wolden was a fool, who played the buffoon in our houses, and was my favourite. You know that the accusation of irreligion, is the last resource of calumniators, and that having said this, there is nothing more to say. The King took fire — I kept close, my regiment did wonders; and the brandishment of arms, a little flower [sic: for flour] thrown upon the heads of the soldiers, men six feet high - and many recruits, were arguments stronger, than those of my calumniators. All is quiet at present, and religion, Wolden, my persecutors, and my regiment are no more spoken of.
Written June 22, 1737, i.e. just after the big review of that year.
The news of the day is, that the King reads Wolf's philosophy three hours a day, for which God be praised! Thus we are arrived at the triumph of reason; and I hope that the bigots and their obscure cabal will no more be able to oppress good sense and reason.
It reads like Fritz is pleased with FW and only blaming Wolff's enemies (Lange et al.), but reading between the lines...you can read that as FW being condemned for years of bigotry. But definitely between the lines!
And then there's a lot of complaints about how unhappy and bored Fritz is, during times when you know he's with FW, but again, no more explicit criticism. The worst it gets is this letter from Berlin:
A continued succession of puerile occupations keep us here from day break to sun set, in continual action.
Apparently written in May 1736, i.e. right around the time of Rococo babysitting and "There stands one who will avenge me."
Now, you know and I know and Suhm knows that "puerile occupations" are largely hunting and drinking, but Fritz is not putting that in writing, not like when he wrote to Wilhelmine in 1728:
Tomorrow, hunting to hounds, on Sunday, the day after tomorrow, hunting to hounds, and Monday, hunting to hounds again.
So yeah, the Suhm letters aren't totally free of FW criticism, but nothing like Wilhelmine.
As for Fritz's reports on Charlotte and Karl in 1737 (June 12) to Suhm:
The Duke, and my sister of Brunswick, are here. I find the first much changed, as to his person: he is stern, rigid, and the reigning Duke, as much as his grandfather. That is not very philosophical; what can be done? My sister is always the same, of an even and gay disposition, and notwithstanding the different modification of her waist, her wit is not in the least diminished or changed.
People changing when they come into power, Fritz?
I still mock everything and am in a good mood. I'm not sad
Translation: "I'm desperately sad deep inside but am repressing that and using the coping skills I've got," aka "I'm not crying, you're crying."
Oh, Fritz. :(
Given the sheer level of dysfunction, it's remarkable at all that Fritz and Wilhelmine ended up as allies instead of rivals.
Agreed. It can really go either way in dysfunctional families: "us against the world," or "me against everyone." I'm glad Wilhelmine and Fritz at least had each other as much as they did.
Of course, then he goes on to ruin his Fritz knowing score by answering the next question (about the sincerity of Fritz' friendship with Grumbkow) to the effect that good old Biberius completely won Fritz around, they hang out a lot, and Fritz seeks his advice, after all.
Thank you for all the Suhm quotes. That's certainly enough for someone who knows him as well as Suhm did to get how he feels while also being discreet enough that he won't be accused of high treason, err, not loving his father enough if the courier gets caught, so Private Citizen Suhm isn't in danger of getting strangled by FW after all.
Incidentally, doing some more rereading of the Volz edition, I'm reminded again that in the last one and a half year of FW's reign, SD told her younger children to treat Fritz not as their brother but as the future monarch (which I always translate as "no more kicking under the table, Heinrich!"), and visiting Charlotte expressed the hope that in the event of a certain tragic event, he would be like a second father to her. (Charlotte: doesn't have a large enough age gap to Fritz for that.)
Oh, and during Wilhelmine's eight months visit to Berlin in 1732/1733 which cured her of homesickness for the reminder of FW's life time, one of the ways FW showed her and BayreuthFriedrich (who as you might recall had made the mistake of talking back to FW when FW forced him to drink) his displeasure was to tell them that while he, FW, had to pay for their lunch, he wasn't willing to pay for their supper anymore, so they should do so themselves or just skip it. Punishing your adult children by withholding food: one thing FW and SD can agree on!
To introduce some cheer, while also pointing out sibling parallels, here's Wilhelmine right after her arrival in Berlin, in a letter dated November 22nd 1732 (i.e. over a year before the Fritz letter about Mom, Dad and Charlotte), when she doesn't know yet she will see Fritz all of three times in the next eight months but is expecting to see him soon, and for long:
Listen, dear brother, to the miracles you have accomplished! You were nearly the cause for me turning into an angel, for I neither ate nor drank nor slept in order to see you sooner. I'll soon believe in soul projection and will thus become a Phytagorean, for I don't know how many times I've changed my shape since leaving Bayreuth. In order to tell you of my adventures: I departed as a devil. Through your good inspiration I became an angel. Then I turned into a postillon. After my arrival here, I turned into a Westfalian ham; for all my rooms were filled with so much smoke that one could hardly endure it. Now, I've turned into a philosopher and can cope with anything but your absence. My philosophical principle is like that of Democritos, to mock everything, especially myself.
Conclusion: their defense mechanisms are pretty identical at this point. Incidentally, I had misremembered about the secret meeting on the way back from Philipsburg - the one on the way back was official, but Fritz had arranged a secret meeting on his way to the front, via Knobelsdorff, no less (who is entrusted by Fritz to arrange it while carrying the letter giving FW's official "no meeting!" decree). They meet at a lake in Berneck in a small country residence, and no sooner do I write it that I recall that Berneck is also where Wilhelmine will meet MT a decade later. Um.
Also: why do we think FW is still forbidding meetings between Fritz and Wilhelmine when there's most of the HRE between them anyway, and they have both submitted to him in their marriages? To test their obedience? Because he can?
Of course, then he goes on to ruin his Fritz knowing score by answering the next question (about the sincerity of Fritz' friendship with Grumbkow) to the effect that good old Biberius completely won Fritz around, they hang out a lot, and Fritz seeks his advice, after all.
Uhhhh. *headdesk*
Also: why do we think FW is still forbidding meetings between Fritz and Wilhelmine when there's most of the HRE between them anyway, and they have both submitted to him in their marriages? To test their obedience? Because he can?
My guess would be because he's still worried about coming first with Fritz. Wilhelmine is clearly still the competition here.
Conclusion: their defense mechanisms are pretty identical at this point.
Yeah, my thought as well. But they also share the occasional playfulness coming through here! Smoked Wilhelmine, heh.
Fritz had arranged a secret meeting on his way to the front, via Knobelsdorff, no less
Interesting! Now that I'm more aware of Knobelsdorff, he keeps showing up, be it in Menzel paintings or as Fritz' confidant. Case in point, I came across this letter from EC to her brother from 1745: "I am delighted that Knobelsdorff is going to visit the king. Since he knows him, he can speak more boldly to him; for I am in the utmost worry for the king and I fear that the grief he feels about Keyserlingk's death will damage his health: all letters to his friends concern only Keyserlingk and laments about his loss; some letters are wiped out by tears." (Which fits perfectly with the "1 October, Knobelsdorff visits Fritz on campaign" entry you included in the timeline.) ... aaand I see that Knobelsdorff is another case of basically no surviving letters from Fritz. Hm.
I wonder whether Fritz wanted his letters back? Not from Knobelsdorff, from his life partner, Lotte Schöne. We really have reason to be grateful that Mrs. Fredersdorff cheated when getting that request. This said, the letters from the Crown Prince years might have been destroyed upon receival anyway because FW and the value of discretion.
EC and Knobelsdorff, two thoughts:
1) She kept the profile portrait Knobelsdorff painted of Fritz in Schönhausen with her, where the description text there today says it was her favourite depiction of Fritz. (Since it's less idealized than the Pesne Crown Prince paintings, I'm assuming it's also more similar? Anyway, she probably knew Knobelsdorff from the Rheinsberg days. It's also both touching and sad that she guesses a friend like Knobelsdorff will be able to talk to Fritz and comfort him in a way she can't.
2) HANG ON HANG ON the timing! Just when does she write this letter? Because:
Battle near Soor: 30th September. Knobelsdorff with Fritz: October 1st.
And isn't that also when one of EC's brothers has died and Fritz writes his all time worst record breaking condolence letter?
My philosophical principle is like that of Democritos, to mock everything, especially myself.
Conclusion: their defense mechanisms are pretty identical at this point.
:( But at least they had defense mechanisms, I guess? Seems like a common one for their Hohenzollern generation, anyway...
but Fritz had arranged a secret meeting on his way to the front, via Knobelsdorff, no less (who is entrusted by Fritz to arrange it while carrying the letter giving FW's official "no meeting!" decree). They meet at a lake in Berneck in a small country residence
I gotta say I'm glad that they did get to meet; it made me sad when you said above that they didn't get to.
and no sooner do I write it that I recall that Berneck is also where Wilhelmine will meet MT a decade later. Um.
I gotta say I'm glad that they did get to meet; it made me sad when you said above that they didn't get to.
Wilhelmine, in her written-during-the-breakup memoirs, says "my brother loaded me with caresses" and that "it was the last time we were on the old footing - what a change has taken place since then!"
This doesn't just refer to their 1740s quarrels but to Fritz, when he was on his way back to Berlin after Philipsburg, fully expected to become King (FW having gotten so ill that everyone predicted his imminent death in the autumn/winter of 1734) and came across as "preoccupied and withdrawn", plus he lectured her on what her husband should do for Prussia. Whereas the secret Knobelsdorff-arranged meeting was a no holds bared us-against-the-world reunion. However, like I said: this is written in retrospect in a time when she was arguing with him and venting through memoirs-writing. This said, Fritz in his next letter to Wilhelmine opens by thanking her for the wonderful meeting in the house at the lake, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was significant in his memory, too, enough so to be doubly angry when learning about lunch with MT in the same town! (No idea whether it was also the same place.)
Wow, this was super interesting! /is totally here for the dysfunctional family relationships
though we don't know that as definite because a lot of Wilhelmine's not-addressed-to-Fritz letters are still unpublished
hmph. whyyyyyy
But also because: doesn't Fritz entrust Charlotte with Duhan (and his correspondence with Duhan) none too much later? The most false creature of the world, who will only rat you out to FW and SD?
Oh wow. See, this is the kind of thing that makes me glad that you (and felis below!) are telling me about this stuff, because you make all these connections I just can't. But anyway: wow.
But FW capable of showing affection, praise and tenderness without (much) of the temper tantrums and (as far as we know) the verbal abuse to the favourites like AW, Ulrike or Charlotte demonstrated he was capable of a different type of parenting
:( That family :( In particular: FW!
So a factor in the letter could also be that Fritz knows he'll find open ears with not just the complaints about Mom and Dad but the complaints about Charlotte, not least because they'll reassure Wilhelmine he still loves her best.
That... rings very true. Wow. (I know I'm saying that a lot. There's a lot here, okay :) )
It would have been nice if she'd dealt as kindly with our marriages; it would have spared us much grief.
:(
Oh, and I do suspect that Wilhelmine's positivity about EC in these letters is also the result of Fritz having emphasized in every letter from 1732 and 1733 he mentions her how much he does not love her
Heh, I was wondering about that! given that mildred had told me about her jealousy of EC when I was beta-reading the Wilhelmine parts of her Christmas fic. So thank you for answering :)
Given the sheer level of dysfunction, it's remarkable at all that Fritz and Wilhelmine ended up as allies instead of rivals. For comparison, Lord Hervey's memoirs - which are of course biased, but still, he's an eye witness - make it sound as if there were no sibling alliances among the Hannover cousins, it was all mutual scheming against (and everyone ganging up against FoW, but that didn't mean supporting each other)
Yeah, like mildred says, it could go either way...
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-23 09:06 am (UTC)Now, the 1730s contemporary documents beg to differ. Chiefly the Fritz and Wilhelmine correspondence which show the Fritz & FW relationship post Küstrin was more of a jojo going up and down all the time, but even Other Seckendorff's secret journal (fed by Manteuffel reports) notes the same thing; one day it's "Fritzchen" and Fritz swearing he'd give his right arm for Dad to get better, the next it's "why no babies yet? Also, let me predict AW's future greatness!" and needlings behind close doors. (Once he's ordered to report in person in Austria, Other Seckendorff is even asked point blank how serious this father/son reconciliaton thing is in his opinion and he basically replies he thinks it's patched up on the surface, hurt feelings boiling underneath.) it occurred to me that the emotional release of venting to Wilhelmine about FW, instant of constantly holding himself in check as reported by the later accounts, was another thing that ended (at least in writing - we dont know what they said to each other in person, of course) when Fritz became King. (BTW: just for a compare and contrast: Fritz is careful not to critisize FW towards Voltaire in his 1730s letters even when Voltaire all but baits him to do it, presumably because he knows that correspondence is read by third parties from the get go. And while by what you've quoted from the Suhm and Duhan correspondences he is ready to write poetry about how those who teach and give knowledge are his spiritual fathers, there is, to my knowledge, no "Dad: still the worst!" outburst towards them, either.) So in terms of risking writing (as opposed to whatever he might have said in person to anyone around him from Fredersdorf to visiting Suhm or Manteuffel to painting that rising son, err, sun Pesne), it's Wilhelmine, full stop. (And vice versa, though we don't know that as definite because a lot of Wilhelmine's not-addressed-to-Fritz letters are still unpublished.) Wilhelmine is also the addressee of that single complaint about Mom which stands out to me so much, and it's worth rereading that 1734 letter again, because it's yet another reason why Oncken flatly calling either Knyphausen or Hotham or both a liar because of Hotham reporting in his dispatch Knyphausen quoted FW as saying "I hate him and he hates me" and that they need a break from each other about his oldest son. Looking up this letter again, I just saw that the version in the Volz edition is longer than the one in "Solange wir zu zweit sind", and also has a lengthy passage discussing sister Charlotte which had been edited out there, and which is quite intriguing.
Berlin, March 19th 17354
Dearest Sister! I envy you for not being here; for our gracious monarch and the monarchess have agreed upon taking turns of being in a bad mood. One doesn't know how one stands with them at any given point: today you get overwhelmed with tenderness, and tomorrow there are only sullen faces and unfriendly words. In short, their mood changes from one day to the next. (...) by Gustav Volz. Lotte has spoiled everything I've done for you with the Queen and nearly would have caused distress between her and me as well. Among ourselves I advise you not to put one foot into this direction and to pray for those who have to endure here: for this is the most false, most treasonous court of the world. The King's mood has become unbearable again, he hates me like sin, and the prestige of the Crown Princess has nearly been exhausted. I still mock everything and am in a good mood. I'm not sad and only pity the King who can't bring himself to show his children affection. I advise you to arrange it for the Prince Heir (her husband, serving in one of FW's regiments) to quit the service and to end any relationship with this place. But if you want to do me a favour, drag things out until May 10th when I want to present myself to you. (En route to the Rhine; as it turns out, FW would forbid that.)
To return to Lotte, who has just left (for Braunschweig), she's charming in conversation, funny and in a good mood, much more sophisticated than she used to be. She dances perfectly and always comes up with a new entertainment. At the same time, she's the most false creature of the world, and capable of the worst against those who have the misfortune to provoke her jealousy. I've studied her thoroughly, and unfortunately noticed she has a very bad character. I fear this is more a result of her general disposition than of her temper. The King and the Queen are completely enamored with her. I sooner would dare to insult their majesties than to say anything against Lotte. Which proves yet again that there is no more certain way to insinuate yourself with the Great than to applaud blindly all they want and to banish sincerity and charity from one's heart. A bad character and not worth of anyone with a good heart!
Prince Karl (Charlotte's new husband, the future Duke of Braunschweig, EC's brother) is the exact opposite. He is a good fellow and an honest bloke, a declared enemy to falseness and lies, and incapable of doing anything below his dignity. He's cheerful, can take a joke, knows my sister as well as I do and condemns her falseness for what it is worth. Which is why his dear wife has already found means and ways to badmouth him to the King, and even more to the Queen. Since my sister Charlotte was here, all my other sisters got treated like maid servants, as if they were not her equal.
This, dearest sister, is the truth about how things stand here. As you see, staying here isn't exactly character building. I'll leave sooner or later and would rather risk a shipwreck in order to avoid the other dangers of these stormy seas.
I am thoroughly pleased Benda (his musician) has your esteem. As soon as I'm at the (Rhine) campaign, I'll send you both Grauns, Schardt, Schafrath and the entire company in the hope they will entertain you. Farewell, dearest sister! You are my sole north star, and will find your faithful and truly devoted servant in me, even if this puts me into disgrace with the entire world. But I wouldn't change an inch for this.
Ooookay. Like I said, I remembered the part about FW, SD and EC, but the one about Charlotte was new to me. On the one hand, this not only backs up the claim in Wilhelmine's memoirs of Charlotte's behavior towards her (and EC) around that time. (And fits with what Mildred lets Wilhelmine think about Charlotte in her Christmas story.) Otoh, the claim that Honest Karl, Charlotte's new husband, already sees through her is something else again. Not just because as far as I know, Charlotte had one of the better royal marriages (and sided with her husband over Fritz years later when it came to Fritz' idea that his brothers-in-law were mainly on earth to contribute soldiers to his wars). But also because: doesn't Fritz entrust Charlotte with Duhan (and his correspondence with Duhan) none too much later? The most false creature of the world, who will only rat you out to FW and SD?
Which leads me to the speculation that the case of sibling jealousy depicted here isn't just Charlotte's. I mean, in the same letter, Fritz says he pities FW for not being able to show affection to his children, and that Charlotte is the current petted parental fave. As I said in regards to AW, I think Fritz could have coped better with a FW who was awful to all his children. But FW capable of showing affection, praise and tenderness without (much) of the temper tantrums and (as far as we know) the verbal abuse to the favourites like AW, Ulrike or Charlotte demonstrated he was capable of a different type of parenting, which in turn must have made Fritz secretly wonder again and again it was something about himself that was unlovable. Now, he's writing to the sister who is FW's other unfavourite (and no matter about secret resentment for not encouraging him to run away, he never had to fear she's try to win favour with their parents at his expense) and can vent there, but to continue the theme of sibling jealousy, the fact that Wilhelmine is the recipient of the letter also shouldn't be ignored, because Wilhelmine? Most definitely jealous of her sisters. (Most blatantly so after Fritz becomes King and in the last bit of her memoirs, before they break off, she's sure he dumps her as favourite sister in favour of Friederike in Ansbach.) And of course laboring with the same problem/fear Fritz does - if FW (and SD) can be loving towards the younger sibs, doesn't that prove something is wrong with her? So a factor in the letter could also be that Fritz knows he'll find open ears with not just the complaints about Mom and Dad but the complaints about Charlotte, not least because they'll reassure Wilhelmine he still loves her best. Wilhelmine's reply letter shows her actually pleading EC's case, and directly proving Charlotte really did make that ulcers-in-the-anus allegation from the unbowlderized memoirs.
Bayreuth, March 27th 1734
Dearest Brother! While your letters are always a source of great joy to me, the last one, to be honest, has made me sad: for I can see from it how much grief the Berlin lords and ladies are causing you. You seem to be in exactly the same position I was a year ago, when I was nearly driven mad and my poor health was wrecked to a degree I'm still sensing the aftermath. I wish Lotte would be so kind as to spread all her poison against me and leave you alone. Quarrells without reasons leave me indifferent since I'm not there. But what does sadden me and is the worst is that she has badmouthed the Crown Princess. She has never liked her and had described her to me in such a way I was imagining a mental and physical monstrosity. It was also her who riled up the Queen against (EC); otherwise, one could have calmed (SD) down and reasoned with her.
To be frank with you, dearest brother, your peace and quiet depends on the Crown Princess. If her standing with the King is sunk, I'm afraid you two will experience much grief. Therefore, I think it would be best if she tries everything to regain favour, with the Queen, too, who, if I may say so, due to her thoughtlessness and bias against the Crown Princess could tell the King things which could have evil results. (EC) must make (SD) little presents now and then and pretend to madly love my sister. I pity the poor Crown Princess, who has deserved a better fate. Her good heart and her kind disposition deserve recognition. Should I have the joy to greet you here, I will say some more things in this matter to you which I don't dare to entrust to my pen.
I'm familiar with Prince Karl and his good character. He is to be pitied for being married to such a creature. That she should have badmouthed him to the King and Queen is, in my opinion, the meanest thing she's done so far. But I can assure you that Lotte isn't the only one at fault for this; so is la Montbail, whose low disposition I am familiar with. I'm sure (Montbail) has goaded (Charlotte) into this; for that good lady strongly dislikes both the Crown Princess and myself. And I know why Lotte is angry with you, too. Hopefully she'll acquire a better mindset in time, but only heartbreak can improve her. (...)
Since everything in Berlin changes so quickly, I hope this will, too, and the bad moods will be over (by the time her letter arrives). As far as I can judge, the worst thing is that no one has influence on the Master's mind anymore. Even Grumbkow's and Seckendorff's credit has sunk a great deal. (I'm cutting the discussion as to whether or not Bayreuth Friedrich should quit the regiment and how far Prussia will engage in the Rhine campaign.) For my part, I'm resolved not to return to Berlin again. I know too well how things stand there and what the mood of our sovereigns are to enter the labyrinth once more which I only recall with a shudder. Our old Margrave is currently amiability itself. I f he stays that way, we'll be the happiest of mortals.
No such luck, but he won't live much longer. Anyway, heartbreak improves no one, Wilhelmine, but I'm not surprised you'd think so. The subsequent letters also deal with poor Sophie getting engaged to the Schwedt cousin, for which she's pitied by both Fritz and Wlihelmine. (Justly so, as Sophie's subsquent fate will prove.) Since SD is taking Sophie's marriage to the Margrave Schwedt (which she had explicitly not wanted for Wilhelmine, remember) on the chin and resigns herself to it, without blaming Sophie for it, Wilhelmine risks a pointed Mom obervation in her letter to Fritz from April 27th, saying It would have been nice if she'd dealt as kindly with our marriages; it would have spared us much grief. The Crown Princess deserves all the respect. People of her character are rare to find. I don't understand why the King is still disgruntled with you. Hopefully, the revue will improve this.
No such luck, as the next news is that FW forbids Fritz to visit Wilhelmine en route to the Rhine, though he's still open to a reunion on the way back. (Which Fritz will make happen though FW will have forbidden it by then as well.) Anyway, I don't get how any historian can read through the Fritz and Wilhelmine correspondence from the 1730s and emerge with the conviction that Fritz and FW had settled into a warm father/son relationship post Küstrin, or that family dynamics chez Hohenzollern in general were one bit less dysfunctional. Oh, and I do suspect that Wilhelmine's positivity about EC in these letters is also the result of Fritz having emphasized in every letter from 1732 and 1733 he mentions her how much he does not love her, but even so, it's still interesting that she speaks well of her (and gives good advice, because it's true, of course, FW's benevolence towards EC is one of the few plus factors for Fritz to bargain with). Given the sheer level of dysfunction, it's remarkable at all that Fritz and Wilhelmine ended up as allies instead of rivals. For comparison, Lord Hervey's memoirs - which are of course biased, but still, he's an eye witness - make it sound as if there were no sibling alliances among the Hannover cousins, it was all mutual scheming against (and everyone ganging up against FoW, but that didn't mean supporting each other).
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-23 10:44 am (UTC)But also because: doesn't Fritz entrust Charlotte with Duhan (and his correspondence with Duhan) none too much later?
Not later, same day! He writes to Duhan, March 19th, 1734: You know the risk you run when you can only do things while trembling. This is why I have only been able to answer you now, having a good opportunity through my sister. She will tell you everything I think about you. (After that comes the "I have to be a mirror" quote btw.) So Charlotte has "just left" with this letter in her pocket.
Which certainly suggests that he does know how to deal with her, possibly indeed trading on his future position? Huh.
Also, re: venting about Dad to Duhan, this is as far as it goes, from 1736: When one indulges blindly in one's prejudices, and without examining things thoroughly, one is often prone to be seriously mistaken; hence most of the mistakes that men make. This is why it would be hoped that Father Malebranche's treatise 'The Search after Truth' was better known and read. Blood ties impose silence on me on a subject where I could explain myself more clearly, and where the subtle distinction between hating a bad deed and loving the one who commits it might vanish.
But the correspondence with Duhan was also fraught and risky in general. Looking at a less risky connection, he does vent to Camas! See the January 1739 letter for example, with lines like this: I must see him as my most cruel enemy, who spies on me constantly to find the moment when he thinks he can give me the blow of jarnac [an unexpected blow from behind].
So while I think that the "blood ties" are certainly one reason why he'd mostly talk to Wilhelmine (both the ties to her and the lacking ones to others) and why he didn't speak badly about his father later on (but still didn't go to Wusterhausen with the rest of the sibs :P), he did vent to friends as well, even in writing.
(... and now I'm back to wishing for the Keyserlingk letters. Stupid (suspected) censors.)
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-23 11:57 am (UTC)Wow. So, to recapitulate the order of events on the 19th:
Fritz: Lotte, be a dear and smuggle this super secret letter to my old teacher Duhan for me, you know, the one Dad banished. And don't tell anyone.
Charlotte: *departs with letter*
Fritz. Dear Wilhelmine, Charlotte's the worst, a chronic sibling backstabber who even badmouths her own husband to Mom and Dad to boot!
"Mirrors his surroundings" indeed. More seriously:
Which certainly suggests that he does know how to deal with her, possibly indeed trading on his future position? Huh.
I bet. I mean, Charlotte's not stupid, and she has to know that if she ratted Fritz out to Dad, she might get a pat on the back in the short term, but in the long term, she will have the next King hostile to her. And 1734 is one of those years when FW is in such bad health that everyone thinks he'll die. So it's not like she could assume Fritz' reign to be far, far into the future, with enough time to win his favor. She has to store favors now. Otoh, I also have no problem believing Charlotte kept badmouthing Wilhelmine and EC. Because Wilhelmine is competition (not socially right now; Charlotte has married a Duke of one of the major German duchies, Wilhelmine is Margravine in some Franconian backwater), but in terms of her being Fritz' favourite. As for EC, either this is so early in the marriage that it's still up to debate whether EC might become important to Fritz - especially since he has to fake being a good husband for now - , or it's just the Hohenzollern instinct to punch downwards, combined with smelling vulnerability (the way Dad does), because EC is an easy target.
I've recently read a biography of Anna Amalia (i.e. Charlotte's daughter, not her sister; Carl August's mother), and it does mention right at the start that Anna Amalia took one of Charlotte's jokes very serious, which was a Hohenzollern family joke. The chain went thusly:
FW (when one of his younger daughters was born): too many daughters, they can't all get husbands, "Aussschuß der Natur" (Waste of nature), should start to drown them like kittens.
Charlotte (in the letter announcing Anna Amalia's birth): Had another waste of nature product (this was her second daughter), am willing to drown her if my dear Papa promises to drown my sisters Ulrike and Amalie at the same time.
Anna Amalia's opening of her memoirs: Mom called me a waste of nature.
Biographer: No sense of humor.
I mean, yes, Charlotte was clearly joking, but I can see why Anna Amalia still minded that designation and didn't forget it. And let's not forget Charlotte's willingness to cut off her other daughter, EC the younger (first wife of FW2) immediately and forever instead of taking her back after the scandal when Fritz offers that first as an alternative to locking EC up, and telling FW2 the next time she sees him when visiting Brandenburg how ashamed she was for her daughter. Conclusion: Charlotte strikes one as the type to know on which side her bread was buttered, and with not much solidarity for the (female and/or weaker) family members who were endagering her position in the family pecking order in some way.
Back to Fritz: the Camas wenting from 1739 is fascinating, because Camas' primary loyalty should in theory be to FW, and it's Fritz "stealing of officers' loyalties" that formed a great part of what FW was ranting about in 1730. Though let's not forget, 1739 is when an increasing number of people seem to be willing to risk pissing FW off in order to gain Fritz' favor, see also the Tobacco College guys rising when he enters, and Pesne painting that ceiling. They seem to have been reasonably sure that his days were numbered (despite earlier mistakes in that regard).
Keylserlingk letters: so with you.
In any event: all those negative emotions towards FW didn't suddenly go away in May 1740 just because he died, so if Fritz censored himself completely because de mortuis nihil nisi bonum, it can't have been healthy. So let's home he vented every now and then in circumstances where no future memoirist was present.
(Or else it all went into his subconcious, producing dreams like the one from the 7 Years War where he's brought to Magdeburg and accused of not loving his father enough.)
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-24 12:18 am (UTC)This family might be dysfunctional!
Charlotte (in the letter announcing Anna Amalia's birth): Had another waste of nature product (this was her second daughter), am willing to drown her if my dear Papa promises to drown my sisters Ulrike and Amalie at the same time.
This family might be dysfunctional!
So let's home he vented every now and then in circumstances where no future memoirist was present.
Let's hope! I fear at that some point, maybe post Seven Years' War, he stopped being able to vent due to everyone having died off.
(Or else it all went into his subconcious, producing dreams like the one from the 7 Years War where he's brought to Magdeburg and accused of not loving his father enough.)
Definitely not mutually exclusive. :/ Let's hope he at least got some venting in between 1740 and 1756.
and Pesne painting that ceiling
Speaking of Pesne painting ceilings, I was googling it not long ago (I was looking for a visual of the ceiling that has a book with Voltaire's and Horace's names on facing pages--do any of you know where I can find a picture? I *know* I've seen it, I have a very clear mental image, but couldn't turn it up, and I didn't see it in Selena's picspams--maybe it wasn't Rheinsberg? It's driving me crazy)--anyway, I turned up this Menzel painting of Pesne painting:
It's entitled "Crown Prince Frederick Pays a Visit to the Painter Pesne on his Scaffold at Rheinsberg". (
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-24 06:31 am (UTC)(Is the violinist supposed to be Benda?
the ceiling that has a book with Voltaire's and Horace's names on facing pages--do any of you know where I can find a picture?
I see two likely possibilities: it's either in Fritz' study room at Rheinsberg, which currently isn't open to the public (because it's too small; you're just allowed to take a quick glimpse across the barrier), or it's in the Sanssouci library room (which you're not allowed to enter even under no covid conditions), or in Fritz' suite in the New Palace which also is currently sealed off to the public. In any event, I did not see it and thus have to guess.
Let's hope he at least got some venting in between 1740 and 1756.
Let's hope. I choose to believe he vented to Fredersdorf, whom he knew would not tell a soul. After 1756, you're right that the people he trusted and who had known FW were gone. (I mean, Pöllnitz might have been the Hohenzollern go to guy for anecdotes, but sure as hell not the guy to rant about Dad at.) However, maybe he allowed himself to express some mixed feelings to later friends like George Keith or Luccesini? (I mean, if he told Lucchesini he loved someone "like Scorates did Alcibioades" shortly before the 7 Years War, he could have told him "a part of me is still angry at Dad". ) In any event, let's also recall the remarkable fact that Fritz made the emotionally healthy and eminently sensible decision to not join the sibling trip to Wusterhausen!
(I think that place must have been opened exactly two times once FW was dead - for the family trip and later in 1799 when Heinrich decded to spend some time there
blend out the last twelve years. Unless Fritz rented it to hunting-minded aristos during his reign, which is also possible.Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-24 12:42 pm (UTC)That's what I was wondering!
I see two likely possibilities: it's either in Fritz' study room at Rheinsberg
That's what my memory told me, and Blanning confirms:
From his little library in the southern round tower Frederick could look out at lake and gardens on three sides without seeing another building. Immediately adjacent was his main library, followed by a study and a suite of eight further rooms occupying most of the south wing. On the ceiling of the tower room a painting entitled Tranquillity in the Study by the court painter Antoine Pesne depicted Minerva surrounded by personifications of the sciences, arts and literature, one of whom points to an open book in which are written the names of Frederick’s two favorite authors: Horace and Voltaire.
I know I've seen a picture of it! Holmes, I mean
I choose to believe he vented to Fredersdorf, whom he knew would not tell a soul.
I choose to agree!
However, maybe he allowed himself to express some mixed feelings to later friends like George Keith or Luccesini? (I mean, if he told Lucchesini he loved someone "like Scorates did Alcibioades" shortly before the 7 Years War, he could have told him "a part of me is still angry at Dad". )
I was hoping for George Keith, yeah. But if Catt is not totally fictionalizing this part and if he's representative (both doubtful!), what Fritz said was along the lines of, "Wow, growing up under Dad sucked, but also, great man, not as bad as it sounds, don't want you to think ill of the late King!" Which I almost believe just because that is soooo typical of abuse victims. And the diary definitely backs up the dreams of longing for FW's approval.
So...let's hope he got some informal therapy via in-person discussions with Fredersdorf and hopefully Wilhelmine.
I think that place must have been opened exactly two times once FW was dead
My vague, vague memories are telling me Fritz actually paid a visit to a family member for lunch early in his reign, but...ah, yes, MacDonogh this time. 1745, just after the treaty ending the Second Silesian War is concluded:
Frederick returned to his capital on 28 December. He stopped for lunch at the hated house of Wusterhausen, which he had given to William...Prince Henry went to join his brothers at Wusterhausen, and all three drove into town in an open phaeton.
Source, Bielfeld.
Checking Bielfeld, I don't actually see Wusterhausen mentioned by name. I see the open phaeton, and I see Henry going to meet Fritz somewhere south of Berlin for lunch. Which could be Wusterhausen but isn't necessarily. But Rödenbeck agrees: Der König kommt in Wusterhausen an, speist daselbst Mittags bei dem Prinzen von Preußen, und reis't nach Berlin ab.
Fritz: always surprising us, whether it's going to Wusterhausen, or electing not to go to Wusterhausen for the reunion!
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
From:Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-24 01:19 pm (UTC)And that is one lovely Menzel painting! Hadn't seen that before.
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-24 01:24 pm (UTC)I know I've seen an up-close and readable version of the Horace and Voltaire names, but alas. If anyone runs across it, link me!
I found the Menzel painting totally by accident and had to share it!
Speaking of Paintings...
From:Re: Speaking of Paintings...
From:Re: Speaking of Paintings...
From:Re: Speaking of Paintings...
From:Re: Speaking of Paintings... and Dogs
From:Re: Speaking of Paintings... and Dogs
From:Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-26 05:25 am (UTC)clearly every painter needs random violinists in the backgroundnow I'm imagining Heinrich hanging out playing violin just to annoy FritzRe: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-26 07:50 am (UTC)Maybe Heinrich did. I do think the very successful Renaissance painters in their studiolos had some music, and also baroque superstars like Rubens might have, but don't hold me to it, I'm talking out of very distant memory here.Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-24 05:59 pm (UTC)Which Camas was a part of, too! Fritz mentions it a couple of times and doesn't write to him there in 1737 explicitely because he thinks that might get Camas into trouble. Not so in 1739 apparently.
But that reminds me, Kloosterhuis published a new book about the Tobacco Parliament (a revised version of his chapter in this 2020 FW essay collection, which Gambitten mentioned some time back ), more exactly: about the Lisiewski painting from 1736/37 you linked last post. He unearthed a list of names in the state archive, which had been dismissed as not reliable before, but he thinks it might go back to Heinrich, who owned the painting in the end and talked about it to people (see also this book review). Camas is on the list of participants, but no Grumbkow or Dessauer, which is a bit strange, but who knows. (See the first link for the other people allegedly in the painting.)
producing dreams like the one from the 7 Years War where he's brought to Magdeburg and accused of not loving his father enough
I think during the War, he was also pretty close with d'Argens? I seem to remember that he might have made a couple of Dad-critical comments towards him, but I don't think that counts as venting. And no Fredersdorf anymore. :( Now I'm wondering what the "not feeling good enough" combined with the way the war was going did to his thoughts on FW...
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-24 06:32 pm (UTC)he thinks it might go back to Heinrich, who owned the painting in the end and talked about it to people (see also this book review).
Having read the article you linked, I don't know whether it's Kloosterhuis or the Welt journalist paraphrasing him, but: the claim Heinrich "lived often in Wusterhausen in his old age" - "often" is pushing it. He moved into some rooms in 1799 (when I see he gave the painting to FW3, presumably because he found it moving in) and did intend to spend more time there because it was much closer to Berlin than Rheinsberg, so if he could have moved in more regularly it would have spared him a long way to and thro. But in the end it was too cold, and the whole purpose of another residence in your old age was not to be freezing, so he mostly kept switching between Berlin (winter) and Rheinsberg in the summer. If I remember my Ziebura correctly, he spent some weeks at Wusterhausen in 1799 and some weeks in 1800 there, and then basically gave up. (He died in 1802, at Rheinsberg.) All this being said, he was the methodical type, he knew he probably did not have much more time left, and it would make sense if he'd made a list to identify the people on the painting. There weren't many people left who could have, after all.
2. First link for identification: I see Kloosterhuis doesn't devote a chapter to the hare sitting on the opposite end of the table, and whom he might symbolize. Would probably spoil the image of the Tobacco College as a Sehnsuchtsort and place of comradely relaxation, she says snarkily. No Seckendorff is explainable in 1737/1738 - he was busy fighting with the Turks and then getting locked up because Austria fared badly in that war, only to be freed by MT once she came on the throne. And Seckendorff Jr. the nephew wasn't a Tobbaco Parliament regular. For Grumbkow, I don't have an explanation.
I think during the War, he was also pretty close with d'Argens? I seem to remember that he might have made a couple of Dad-critical comments towards him, but I don't think that counts as venting.
He was pretty close with D'Argens during the war, that's true, but I think - and I might be wrong, of course - he deliberately focused on talking to him about literature (and possip such as Émilie's love life) in order to have an escape from war thoughts. Talking about his father wouldn't have been an escape. Then again, I've never read the D'Argens letters, so what do I know? D'Argens was the one to hear that incredibly telling "...je erais sans souci" remark, after all.
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-26 05:23 am (UTC)Charlotte: *departs with letter*
Fritz. Dear Wilhelmine, Charlotte's the worst, a chronic sibling backstabber who even badmouths her own husband to Mom and Dad to boot!
FRIIIIIITZ
I mean, yes, Charlotte was clearly joking, but I can see why Anna Amalia still minded that designation and didn't forget it.
Oh hey, I recognize that: the "joke" that is more insulting than funny but one gets called sensitive if one objects to it! (I was not, in fact, the one accused of being "sensitive," but it took me more years than I'm comfortable admitting to figure out what was wrong with the whole setup.)
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-26 07:47 am (UTC)Oh yes, that mechanism rings very familiar. (Even before Rightwingers on both sides of the Atlantic perfected it, because isn't that behind the whole "snowflake" name calling by Republicans? Our bunch of Neonazis in parliament, the AFD, certainly does it all the time, first insult, then when called on it say that OF COURSE it was meant as a joke, why are people so over the top in their reactions etc etc.)
Anna Amalia was also the second daughter and her older sister was supposedly the brilliant one of her generation, to whom she was constantly compared. Well, in retrospect of course Anna Amalia had the last laugh in that she became the most famous of her generation of the entire family, brothers included, and no, that didn't just happen after her death. In the 1780s, Gleim, who had served in the 7 years War and written ultra patriotic "Fritz Forever!" poems then, wrote one addressed to Anna Amalia praising Weimar and ending on the verse "Berlin, you had your chance - Athens is here!", a judgment with whom posterity agreed for the years between Goethe's arrival and Schiller's death.
A bit more about Amalia the younger: she got married at 16, pregnant with Carl August at 17, pregnant again with her second son at 19 when her husband died, which made her (after some scheming of the most powerful minister to prevent it) regent of the duchy of Weimar. For which, of course, she had not been educated (she'd received a good education in terms of (French) literature and music, and heading a princely household, but not in governing, because woman. And the last will of her husband severely limited the kind of changes she could make during Carl August's minority (despite the fact reform was direly necessary). Then, no sooner had she started to settle into her role as Regent did Uncle Fritz want soldiers post haste because the 7 Years War was in full swing. Her mother Charlotte - whom she otherwise had a distant relationship with, her parent of choice was definitely her father - did help her then to bargain Fritz down to 150 soldiers though Amalia wasn't wrong when saying tiny Weimar couldn't even afford that many young and able men. Prussian recruiters showed up, Weimar men were told to go into hiding and not emerge until Prussian "recruiters" were gone again, and then were assured by their Duchess they wouldn't have to fear retaliations for showing up once more.
When Carl August achieved his majority and
fell in love with Goethebefriended Goethe, there was much surprise that Anna Amalia, who had ended up in a state of near constant argument with Carl August's main (political, not cultural) governor during CA's teenage years (either out of maternal jealousy or political reasons or both, depending on whom you ask), didn't object to this, and then Weimar gossip went into overdrive because it was noted young Goethe didn't just flirt with Charlotte von Stein (whom he as subsequent events showed was seriously in love with) but with Annna Amalia as well, within the bounds of courtly behavior, of course, but he was a commoner. And "Maman", as the wife of her arch enemy the political governor nicknamed her, was only in her thirties, because she'd given birth to Carl August so young, so even by the standards of the 1700s, she wasn't yet thought of as an old, over the hill woman. She certainly did flirt back, within courtly behavior. (And set some of Goethe's minor plays written for the court to music later.)Some years ago, a new tinhat theory emerged declaring that Charlotte von Stein was just the beard for a Goethe/Anna Amalia effair, and that the love letters and poems written during Goethe's first decade in Weimar were really adressed to her, which most biographers (including the one I've just read) make mincemeat of, not least because Goethe's love letters to Charlotte von Stein are very specifically talking to her, addressing matters like her son (called Fritz, btw, and partly raised in Goethe's house, though born long before he came to Weimar, so definitely not his son), and meetings and events at which Anna Amalia had not been present. Also, young Goethe on occasion could be reckless but definitely not suicidal, and one of the few things Carl August would NOT have forgiven him would be compromising his mother! And even Weimar gossip at the time, which was vicious (as poor Christiane later found out) doesn't claim an actual affair or even a mutual platonic relationship; it does claim Anna Amalia was jealous of Charlotte von Stein.
The biographer thinks that Anna Amalia undeniably had a soft spot for Goethe and might have enjoyed the flirting and courtoisie during the first few years with him more than with the other guys at court (for all that Carl August married quickly, his wife was overshadowed by his mother for the first twenty years or so), but then she treated being free of the regency like the first time she was able to enjoy her life anyway (no wonder, given her life so far), and that was as far as it went. Otoh, she did fall in love later when she went to Italy. Whom did she fall in love with? With a Catholic bishop who had scandalized the Vatican by openly campaigning against celibacy, not in a having-affairs-on-the-side way but in a "celibacy is an outdated custom and we need to reform the church and get rid of it!" pamphlet writing way.
Oh, and for context:
Goethe: after a decade in Weimar, takes off to Italy to rediscover himself as a poet and be free for the next two years.
Anna Amalia, after year 1: You know, his letters to Carl August make it sound like living in Italy is great. Maybe I should do that, too.
Weimar gossip: Clearly, she's pining for Goethe. Though competing with Italian beauties is even dumber than competing with Charlotte von Stein.
Goethe: I really like you and will work out a complete travel plan with the addresses of all my new friends for you. *couches the next in a much more diplomatic form, but what it boils down to is*: But please don't start your journey until I'm leaving. The whole point of me being in Italy is being free of all things Weimar.
Anna Amalia: *starts her journey only when Goethe is on his journey back*
She did love it in Italy, though, and really enjoyed that she didn't just have the usual nobility and worthies to talk to, but also all the artists whom Goethe had befriended and connected her with via letters. She remained two years, too, with the main difference to most Germans travelling to Italy in the 18th century being that she liked Naples better than Rome (for the others, it was usually the other way around). Her circle in Naples didn't just include the scandalous Catholic bishop with whom she'd exchange love letters for the rest of their lives once she left Italy, but also Sir William Hamilton and Emma, and she and the bishop visited the evacations at Pompeji and Herculaneum as Wilhelmine had done with La Condamine. Like Wilhelmine, she only returned reluctantly and because her family was on the other side of the Alps. Just in time, though, because Napoleon was on his way to conquer Italy practically the moment she came back.
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-26 02:53 pm (UTC)Oh, and does scandalous Catholic bishop have a name? I'm curious. :D
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
From:Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-26 05:46 pm (UTC)Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
From:Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
From:Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-26 05:19 am (UTC)omg. FRIIIIITZ!
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-24 12:02 am (UTC)Right on the nose, Other Seckendorff.
And while by what you've quoted from the Suhm and Duhan correspondences he is ready to write poetry about how those who teach and give knowledge are his spiritual fathers, there is, to my knowledge, no "Dad: still the worst!" outburst towards them, either.)
Nothing like the outbursts to Wilhelmine in the Suhm letters, no. The worst it gets from Fritz to Suhm is:
We kill ourselves here in performing our exercise, but are not advanced either more or less by it ; for to - day, the regiment of Prince Henry was reviewed , and after having done wonders, the King did not appear satisfied ; he even shewed an air of discontent that vexed every body. Give me sufficient reason for his anger. I cannot find one either within or without him ; and the only cause I can suppose for his ill humour, is an accidental one , an overflowing of bile , which made him look upon the poor Prince and his regiment with a misanthropical and hypochondriacal eye. God preserve me from a like fate ! My resolution would be soon taken, if such a thing happened to me . I expect with impatience the minute and moment when I shall depart from hence, and return to repose in the enjoyment of life.
Written May 28, 1736, i.e. during the big reviews.
The worst it gets from Suhm to Fritz on the subject of FW is:
As to what you tell me of Wolf's philosophy, you will be much surprised to hear that his fate is that of the times, and without having a Court thermometer, it is impossible to know what credit he is actually in. But these are things with which I trouble myself but little; for when we know the cause of that uncertainty and diversity, we enquire no more about the reason of things which are governed by arbitrary caprice, and contradictory obstinacy. -- Excuse the terms I beseech you, should you think I have said too much.
Written August 18, 1736, i.e. when Suhm is living in Berlin (although currently in Dresden) and Fritz in Ruppin.
Other than that, there's a couple of passages that could be passed off as "bad advisors":
We have had new cavils these few days past. All come from Bredow's jealousy of Wolden. The first has found means to insinuate to the King, that I am a man without religion; that Manteuffel, and yourself, had greatly contributed to pervert me; that Wolden was a fool, who played the buffoon in our houses, and was my favourite. You know that the accusation of irreligion, is the last resource of calumniators, and that having said this, there is nothing more to say. The King took fire — I kept close, my regiment did wonders; and the brandishment of arms, a little flower [sic: for flour] thrown upon the heads of the soldiers, men six feet high - and many recruits, were arguments stronger, than those of my calumniators. All is quiet at present, and religion, Wolden, my persecutors, and my regiment are no more spoken of.
Written June 22, 1737, i.e. just after the big review of that year.
The news of the day is, that the King reads Wolf's philosophy three hours a day, for which God be praised! Thus we are arrived at the triumph of reason; and I hope that the bigots and their obscure cabal will no more be able to oppress good sense and reason.
It reads like Fritz is pleased with FW and only blaming Wolff's enemies (Lange et al.), but reading between the lines...you can read that as FW being condemned for years of bigotry. But definitely between the lines!
And then there's a lot of complaints about how unhappy and bored Fritz is, during times when you know he's with FW, but again, no more explicit criticism. The worst it gets is this letter from Berlin:
A continued succession of puerile occupations keep us here from day break to sun set, in continual action.
Apparently written in May 1736, i.e. right around the time of Rococo babysitting and "There stands one who will avenge me."
Now, you know and I know and Suhm knows that "puerile occupations" are largely hunting and drinking, but Fritz is not putting that in writing, not like when he wrote to Wilhelmine in 1728:
Tomorrow, hunting to hounds, on Sunday, the day after tomorrow, hunting to hounds, and Monday, hunting to hounds again.
So yeah, the Suhm letters aren't totally free of FW criticism, but nothing like Wilhelmine.
As for Fritz's reports on Charlotte and Karl in 1737 (June 12) to Suhm:
The Duke, and my sister of Brunswick, are here. I find the first much changed, as to his person: he is stern, rigid, and the reigning Duke, as much as his grandfather. That is not very philosophical; what can be done? My sister is always the same, of an even and gay disposition, and notwithstanding the different modification of her waist, her wit is not in the least diminished or changed.
People changing when they come into power, Fritz?
I still mock everything and am in a good mood. I'm not sad
Translation: "I'm desperately sad deep inside but am repressing that and using the coping skills I've got," aka "I'm not crying, you're crying."
Oh, Fritz. :(
Given the sheer level of dysfunction, it's remarkable at all that Fritz and Wilhelmine ended up as allies instead of rivals.
Agreed. It can really go either way in dysfunctional families: "us against the world," or "me against everyone." I'm glad Wilhelmine and Fritz at least had each other as much as they did.
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-24 07:15 am (UTC)Of course, then he goes on to ruin his Fritz knowing score by answering the next question (about the sincerity of Fritz' friendship with Grumbkow) to the effect that good old Biberius completely won Fritz around, they hang out a lot, and Fritz seeks his advice, after all.
Thank you for all the Suhm quotes. That's certainly enough for someone who knows him as well as Suhm did to get how he feels while also being discreet enough that he won't be accused of high treason, err, not loving his father enough if the courier gets caught, so Private Citizen Suhm isn't in danger of getting strangled by FW after all.
Incidentally, doing some more rereading of the Volz edition, I'm reminded again that in the last one and a half year of FW's reign, SD told her younger children to treat Fritz not as their brother but as the future monarch (which I always translate as "no more kicking under the table, Heinrich!"), and visiting Charlotte expressed the hope that in the event of a certain tragic event, he would be like a second father to her. (Charlotte: doesn't have a large enough age gap to Fritz for that.)
Oh, and during Wilhelmine's eight months visit to Berlin in 1732/1733 which cured her of homesickness for the reminder of FW's life time, one of the ways FW showed her and BayreuthFriedrich (who as you might recall had made the mistake of talking back to FW when FW forced him to drink) his displeasure was to tell them that while he, FW, had to pay for their lunch, he wasn't willing to pay for their supper anymore, so they should do so themselves or just skip it. Punishing your adult children by withholding food: one thing FW and SD can agree on!
To introduce some cheer, while also pointing out sibling parallels, here's Wilhelmine right after her arrival in Berlin, in a letter dated November 22nd 1732 (i.e. over a year before the Fritz letter about Mom, Dad and Charlotte), when she doesn't know yet she will see Fritz all of three times in the next eight months but is expecting to see him soon, and for long:
Listen, dear brother, to the miracles you have accomplished! You were nearly the cause for me turning into an angel, for I neither ate nor drank nor slept in order to see you sooner. I'll soon believe in soul projection and will thus become a Phytagorean, for I don't know how many times I've changed my shape since leaving Bayreuth. In order to tell you of my adventures: I departed as a devil. Through your good inspiration I became an angel. Then I turned into a postillon. After my arrival here, I turned into a Westfalian ham; for all my rooms were filled with so much smoke that one could hardly endure it. Now, I've turned into a philosopher and can cope with anything but your absence. My philosophical principle is like that of Democritos, to mock everything, especially myself.
Conclusion: their defense mechanisms are pretty identical at this point. Incidentally, I had misremembered about the secret meeting on the way back from Philipsburg - the one on the way back was official, but Fritz had arranged a secret meeting on his way to the front, via Knobelsdorff, no less (who is entrusted by Fritz to arrange it while carrying the letter giving FW's official "no meeting!" decree). They meet at a lake in Berneck in a small country residence, and no sooner do I write it that I recall that Berneck is also where Wilhelmine will meet MT a decade later. Um.
Also: why do we think FW is still forbidding meetings between Fritz and Wilhelmine when there's most of the HRE between them anyway, and they have both submitted to him in their marriages? To test their obedience? Because he can?
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-25 12:53 pm (UTC)Uhhhh. *headdesk*
Also: why do we think FW is still forbidding meetings between Fritz and Wilhelmine when there's most of the HRE between them anyway, and they have both submitted to him in their marriages? To test their obedience? Because he can?
My guess would be because he's still worried about coming first with Fritz. Wilhelmine is clearly still the competition here.
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-25 02:29 pm (UTC)Yeah, my thought as well. But they also share the occasional playfulness coming through here! Smoked Wilhelmine, heh.
Fritz had arranged a secret meeting on his way to the front, via Knobelsdorff, no less
Interesting! Now that I'm more aware of Knobelsdorff, he keeps showing up, be it in Menzel paintings or as Fritz' confidant. Case in point, I came across this letter from EC to her brother from 1745: "I am delighted that Knobelsdorff is going to visit the king. Since he knows him, he can speak more boldly to him; for I am in the utmost worry for the king and I fear that the grief he feels about Keyserlingk's death will damage his health: all letters to his friends concern only Keyserlingk and laments about his loss; some letters are wiped out by tears." (Which fits perfectly with the "1 October, Knobelsdorff visits Fritz on campaign" entry you included in the timeline.) ... aaand I see that Knobelsdorff is another case of basically no surviving letters from Fritz. Hm.
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-25 05:09 pm (UTC)EC and Knobelsdorff, two thoughts:
1) She kept the profile portrait Knobelsdorff painted of Fritz in Schönhausen with her, where the description text there today says it was her favourite depiction of Fritz. (Since it's less idealized than the Pesne Crown Prince paintings, I'm assuming it's also more similar? Anyway, she probably knew Knobelsdorff from the Rheinsberg days. It's also both touching and sad that she guesses a friend like Knobelsdorff will be able to talk to Fritz and comfort him in a way she can't.
2) HANG ON HANG ON the timing! Just when does she write this letter? Because:
Battle near Soor: 30th September.
Knobelsdorff with Fritz: October 1st.
And isn't that also when one of EC's brothers has died and Fritz writes his all time worst record breaking condolence letter?
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
From:Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
From:Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-26 05:31 am (UTC)Conclusion: their defense mechanisms are pretty identical at this point.
:( But at least they had defense mechanisms, I guess? Seems like a common one for their Hohenzollern generation, anyway...
but Fritz had arranged a secret meeting on his way to the front, via Knobelsdorff, no less (who is entrusted by Fritz to arrange it while carrying the letter giving FW's official "no meeting!" decree). They meet at a lake in Berneck in a small country residence
I gotta say I'm glad that they did get to meet; it made me sad when you said above that they didn't get to.
and no sooner do I write it that I recall that Berneck is also where Wilhelmine will meet MT a decade later. Um.
Heh.
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-26 06:55 am (UTC)I gotta say I'm glad that they did get to meet; it made me sad when you said above that they didn't get to.
Wilhelmine, in her written-during-the-breakup memoirs, says "my brother loaded me with caresses" and that "it was the last time we were on the old footing - what a change has taken place since then!"
This doesn't just refer to their 1740s quarrels but to Fritz, when he was on his way back to Berlin after Philipsburg, fully expected to become King (FW having gotten so ill that everyone predicted his imminent death in the autumn/winter of 1734) and came across as "preoccupied and withdrawn", plus he lectured her on what her husband should do for Prussia. Whereas the secret Knobelsdorff-arranged meeting was a no holds bared us-against-the-world reunion. However, like I said: this is written in retrospect in a time when she was arguing with him and venting through memoirs-writing. This said, Fritz in his next letter to Wilhelmine opens by thanking her for the wonderful meeting in the house at the lake, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was significant in his memory, too, enough so to be doubly angry when learning about lunch with MT in the same town! (No idea whether it was also the same place.)
Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
From:Re: More on Hohenzollern family life
Date: 2021-03-26 05:18 am (UTC)though we don't know that as definite because a lot of Wilhelmine's not-addressed-to-Fritz letters are still unpublished
hmph. whyyyyyy
But also because: doesn't Fritz entrust Charlotte with Duhan (and his correspondence with Duhan) none too much later? The most false creature of the world, who will only rat you out to FW and SD?
Oh wow. See, this is the kind of thing that makes me glad that you (and
But FW capable of showing affection, praise and tenderness without (much) of the temper tantrums and (as far as we know) the verbal abuse to the favourites like AW, Ulrike or Charlotte demonstrated he was capable of a different type of parenting
:( That family :( In particular: FW!
So a factor in the letter could also be that Fritz knows he'll find open ears with not just the complaints about Mom and Dad but the complaints about Charlotte, not least because they'll reassure Wilhelmine he still loves her best.
That... rings very true. Wow. (I know I'm saying that a lot. There's a lot here, okay :) )
It would have been nice if she'd dealt as kindly with our marriages; it would have spared us much grief.
:(
Oh, and I do suspect that Wilhelmine's positivity about EC in these letters is also the result of Fritz having emphasized in every letter from 1732 and 1733 he mentions her how much he does not love her
Heh, I was wondering about that! given that mildred had told me about her jealousy of EC when I was beta-reading the Wilhelmine parts of her Christmas fic. So thank you for answering :)
Given the sheer level of dysfunction, it's remarkable at all that Fritz and Wilhelmine ended up as allies instead of rivals. For comparison, Lord Hervey's memoirs - which are of course biased, but still, he's an eye witness - make it sound as if there were no sibling alliances among the Hannover cousins, it was all mutual scheming against (and everyone ganging up against FoW, but that didn't mean supporting each other)
Yeah, like mildred says, it could go either way...