Now that's just a cheesey way of turning 25. :) Though seriously, your theory sounds like the correct one. Still doesn't explain Ferdinand the coming menace and worst child of FW, though! (Unless he hit Fitz' dog by accident not in Ruppin or Rheinsberg but at Wusterhausen?) (Did Fritz have a dog at Wusterhausen?)
Hmm. Not sure, but tentatively leaning toward him not bringing any dogs home during the winter visits. That said, at least one young portrait of Fritz and Wilhelmine does include a dog, so maybe when he came to visit there were dogs who lived there, other than Dad's hunting dogs, that he did like. (I'm guessing based on a letter about Dad's hunting dogs that Fritz was not a fan and would not have objected that strongly to Ferdinand hitting them.)
But maybe! How do we think FW would feel about wretched effeminate petit-maître son bringing a lap dog home for the holidays?
Well, he could always claim it's a present for one of his sisters, since ladies having lapdogs at any age is totally the done thing. Or younger princes, for that matter. Or Charles II. Otoh, given FW was aware Fritz didn't care for his hunting dogs - which is why someone else gets them in his last will - maybe he'd regard Fritz liking a different breed of dog as a personal insult?
But then wouldn't he have to give the dog away? Or would FW not follow up? Personally, I wouldn't bring my lap dog home for the holidays and put it at the mercy of FW, but since it's his emotional support animal, maybe he did and found a way.
Otoh, given FW was aware Fritz didn't care for his hunting dogs - which is why someone else gets them in his last will - maybe he'd regard Fritz liking a different breed of dog as a personal insult?
The Old Dessauer, iirc. And yes, I assume that it's a personal insult. The question is whether this makes it dangerous (for Fritz and/or the dog) to bring it on a holiday visit, enough to override the therapeutic benefits, and I just don't know. Poor Fritz.
Poor five-year-old Ferdinand, whatever he did. He was five! He was in a dysfunctional family!
Speaking of Ferdinand, and ramping up the gossipy sensationalism to eleven, is there any evidence for the main claim of this blog post, or are they/their sources confusing Ferdinand's wife's alleged infidelity with the anecdote about Fritz encouraging EC2 to take lovers to ensure the succession? (I inquire not about the minor claims, like that Ferdinand went by "Augustus", that Mina "chose" to separate from Heinrich, or that people have claimed Fritz's ultimate sexual persuasion was sodomy of the *other* kind (news to me, but I'm sure someone in a couple hundred years has said something to that effect!)).
For starters, he gets everyone's name wrong - she went by Luise, not Elisabeth. I don't recall Ziebura mentioning anything about her supposed infidelity, but then it might simply have been outside of her fields of interest. Lehndorff doesn't like her much, but mainly becaue he blames her for Ferdinand changing after his marriage and being so focused on her. Also he thinks she's young and silly in the 7 Years War years diaries. In the 1799 diary, I don't recall him mentioning any gossip about her children not being Ferdinand's, and the last glimpse I recall he provides on her is of her and Heinrich both taking care to tug the hypochondriac Ferdinand into warm shawls in winter when all the family is in Berlin. However: since Lehndorff wasn't as close to Ferdinand anymore as to the other two brothers after Ferdinand's marriage, he most likely would not have been told such spicy information. Then again: he does describe Ferdinand's reaction to his first child, where after having been disgruntled with Ferdinand for having turned against Mina he likes him again for being so overjoyed about his daughter (Ferdinand is described as taking Lehndorff by the hand and saying "my dear Count, come and see my little one!", showing him the baby.)
The Wiki entry on Mrs. Ferdinand claims "it is assumed" the later kids are by Schmettau without footnoting who does the assuming. The German wiki entry on this particular Schmettau, otoh, doesn't mention anything about him being the bio dad of Ferdinand's kids and is mainly about him as a major map maker, but does mention his bff-ness with Ferdinand and Ferdinand repeatedly trying to get Fritz to promote him to Major until Fritz finally grants it, only for Schmettau to fall out with Fritz and leave the army anyway in 1778 (and reentering when FW2 becomes King). (Schmettau ultimately dies as the result of a Napoleonic battle.)
And then we have good old Fontane, who includes this Schmettau in the Wanderungen in the Köpenick chapter, where he says: Dieser Graf Schmettau, ein besonderer Liebling Friedrichs II., ist derselbe, der von seiten des großen Königs zum Adjutanten seines jüngsten Bruders, des Prinzen Ferdinand von Preußen, ernannt ward und in dieser intimen Stellung zu einer Fülle pikanter Anekdoten und Ondits Veranlassung gab, an denen das preußische Hofleben jener Zeit so reich war. Zu untersuchen, wieviel Wahrheit oder überhaupt ob irgendwelche Wahrheit diesen anekdotischen Überlieferungen zugrunde liegt, liegt jenseits unserer Aufgabe; wir begnügen uns damit, das zu konstatieren, worüber Freunde und Feinde des Grafen, wenn er Feinde hatte, zu jeder Zeit einig waren: seine Gelehrsamkeit und seine weltmännische Bildung, seine militärischen Kenntnisse und seine Tapferkeit.
So here Schmettau starts out as a particular favourite of Fritz' and a Ferdinand intimate later; "a lot of suggestive anecdotes and ondits" presumably is referring to Schmettau-as-the-lover/biodad, with "ondit" being derived from "on dit", "one says", but if I hadn't read the wiki entries and the english blog entry before, the way Fontane phrases it would have had me assume Schmettau/Ferdinand or Schmettau/Fritz rather than Schmettau/Mrs. Ferdinand. ("Luise" could be misleading given the other Luises.) In any event, no source given for the claim, either.
What makes me really doubt Fritz had given an outright order is that other story you've come across recently where Heinrich and Ferdinand supposedly tell Fritz they won't handwave their succession rights for a bastard. The obvious rejoinder to any such action from Ferdinand would have been "well, what about your own kids?"., and since Heinrich was childless (and would make his nephew Louis Ferdinand his main heir), this would have been a rejoinder to his claim as well. If, that is ,the two of them made it, and if Fritz was in a position to know Ferdinand's children weren't his biologically.
So basically, right now, we're left with wiki entries and a blog post. Maybe the Hohenzollern Jahrbuch knows more? Otoh, censorship definitely would have applied there, I guess. I mean, even if you assume Ferdinand's kids weren't his biologically, they still were Hohenzollern since his wife was also his niece.
Yeah, I found *so* many mistakes that that's why I was like, "So, ASIDE from all the minor stuff I'm side-eyeing, how about the main claim?"
The obvious rejoinder to any such action from Ferdinand would have been "well, what about your own kids?".
Devil's advocate: at that point, there was only the eight-year-old daughter who, according to this story, was supposed to be his, and the first son that is supposed to be Schmettau's was born the year of the divorce. Also, assuming that any of this VERY VERY sketchy story happened, it's not unlikely Fritz and Luise didn't actually tell Ferdinand and didn't want him believing his kids might not be his.
So basically, right now, we're left with wiki entries and a blog post.
Yeah, I'm skeptical. But since the blog post ends with an alleged quote, I thought it was worth bringing up in case we run into corroborating evidence or counterevidence later.
re: alleged quote from "a young debutante", that's the least convincing element of it all, because it's a variation of the punchline to so many "Royal X really a bastard/changeling!" stories. The oldest version I know features one of my favourite medieval characters, the other Friedrich II. (the Emperor), being told "of course I know who you are, you're the son of a butcher of Jesi!"
Because his mother Constanze had conceived him in her 30s, the "he's not really the baby of Constanze and her much hated husband Emperor Heinrich! The pregnancy was fake, and he's the baby of the butcher of Jesi, where he was born!" story was used as part of the papal propaganda in Friedrich's multiple clashes with the papacy. People on the pro-Friedrich side then came up with the story of Constanze, predicting this, had her labours in the middle of the Jesi market place attended by all the wives of the local burghers so they could see it was really her giving birth to this baby. The one thing true about either story was that Constanze, en route to Sicily, gave birth to Friedrich in Jesi. And that this was an event attended by a lot of people, because she was the Empress, in her later 30s, and thus didn't just have one midwive but several, as well as several physicians.
Another variation of the same story Edward IV. (of York and England) being told "of course I know who you are, you're the son of an archer of Rouen!" by a lady he hits on because of the "Cecily cheated on her husband with an archer!" Lancaster tale. And then there's Charles the Dauphin who'd be crowned by Jeanne d'Arc, who was told, "of course I know who you are, you're the son of..." etc, da capo, al fine.
The one thing plausible about the tale is Fritz obsessed securing the succession and not too fussy about who gets the siring done, as long as there are babies, but I would really prefer a contemporary mentioning the story in a letter or diary or memoir, preferably someone who actually is on good enough terms with any of the participants, or at least their staff, to make it likely someone slipped, or confided in them.
Ah, okay, I didn't realize that was a trope. I knew the stories of Constanze giving birth in a tent (and knew it wasn't true), and Joan of Arc, etc., of course, but not the punchline. Thank you for clarifying.
I would really prefer a contemporary mentioning the story in a letter or diary or memoir, preferably someone who actually is on good enough terms with any of the participants, or at least their staff, to make it likely someone slipped, or confided in them.
Oh, I agree, I don't believe a thing until we have an actual source that isn't Wikipedia or some random blog post that gets a dozen minor details wrong.
Obviously a geriatric woman in her 30's could not possibly have a real pregnancy! *sigh*
Though this is fascinating that it's such a common trope, wow.
Fritz obsessed securing the succession and not too fussy about who gets the siring done
But didn't you guys say before (when we were talking about MT/Fritz crackfic, and MT using FS as her stud) that he probably would be picky about the siring?
Well, for starters, we knew less then than we do know about the sheer number of Fritz quotes sympathizing with women whose men cheat on them having affairs as well. Now, while both the "he told Elisabeth, wife of FW2, to pick a suitable biodad and do it discreetly, and Elisabeth replied "oh yeah? Well, if I'm to fuck on the King's command, how about you do the same and do it with me now?" to the messenger, who in the story is is George Keith, Lord Marechal, and runs away" and now this "Ferdinand, his adjutant and his wife" tale could be entirely apocryphal and untrue, if either one is correct it would support the idea of lack of fussiness.
All this said? We still don't have evidence that Fritz would have kept up a "live and let live" stance if his OWN wife - EC or in the crack fic MT - would have taken him up on this enlightened position, taken a lover and supplied an heir which he would have known without the shadow of a doubt not to be his kid. Given the double standards he had elsewhere (as in "when I'm grieving, all of Europe needs to cry with me; if you're grieving, be a philosopher and get over it!"), who knows?
This thread. I misremembered, it was Catt's diary, not a letter.
To summarize, he says that when forced to hunt, "j'arrêtais les chiens," which selenak translated as "I would slow down the dogs" (they were supposed to be running), and then he had to be careful not to step on them, because, "le Roi aurait crié."
Now, this is very, very speculative, but as you can see from that thread, I, as an inveterate dog lover, was immediately struck by Fritz the dog lover going, "I had to be careful not to step on the dogs, because the King would have yelled," not "because I like dogs and don't want to step on them." Which makes me think that if Ferdinand had accidentally hit one of Dad's dogs, Fritz would have shrugged it off in a way that he wouldn't have if you'd hit his precious Biche or whoever.
BUT.
Fritz is perfectly capable of going, "Well, *I* managed not to step on the dogs without even liking them, and if *I* can do it, you can do it," as many examples throughout his life show, *and* of holding people to standards other than his own ("Producing heirs, it's for everyone except me!"). So whether or not he ever stepped on a dog while hunting himself and the dog howled and he was extra careful after that, he might well have decided Ferdinand was the coming menace after accidentally hitting one of Dad's dogs! (Or one of the other ladies' lap dogs running around the place, even if he left his own favorites out of Dad's eye.)
In an undated letter to AW - Volz suggests it's from February 1739 - Fritz writes:
Give my regards to the sisters, the energetic Ulrike and the sanguineous Amalie. Don't forget the court fixture, the learned and chaste Montbail, my brother Narcissus, and my brother Boreas.
I knew the Narcissus quote of course (didn't realize that Heinrich was probably only thirteen at the time, though) but I'd never heard of the Boreas moniker for Ferdinand! So he's ... stormy?? Maybe he did manage to accidentally hurt someone/a dog, or to knock something over when visiting, or to make a mess of Fritz' papers, or... ?
LOL! I hadn‘t come across the Boreas moniker, either, but yes to all of the above - probably he managed to accidentally hurt a dog AND knock over Fritz‘ papers and books AND somehow indicate he would be an FW clone when grown up? (Which he wasn‘t, but between being the only one of the boys to really like hunting and - according to Morgenstern - being among the favored children in 1739 together with AW and Ulrike, I can see why Fritz could think he might be?)
Heinrich being My Brother Narcissus at 13 already sure is.... something. Start with the mirror imagery early, Fritz, why don‘t you?
This may be unfounded slander, but is it possible Ferdinand broke wind a lot? I have no evidence for this other than a MacDonogh comment, "Ferdinand, Frederick’s ten-year-old brother, the ‘trouser-trumpeter’, a boy of legendary incontinence." MacDonogh tends to draw on Pangels for his sibling hatred and is extremely unfair to them, so I have no idea whether this is supported by any actual sources. But I wanted to put it out there.
Boreas is also the *north* wind, so it could be a reference to some coldness perceived by Fritz, who is always happy to accuse others of coldness.
Narcissus: faint memory and I'm in a meeting so I can't check, but didn't Ziebura say that Heinrich was vain about his appearance in the pre-smallpox scar days? And this is definitely pre-smallpox. 13 is also the age at which it's common to start worrying about your appearance, so it would make sense.
Heinrich being My Brother Narcissus at 13 already sure is.... something. Start with the mirror imagery early, Fritz, why don‘t you?
Five-year-old Ferdinand as the worst of the Hohenzollerns is also something. He's five, Fritz!
This may be unfounded slander, but is it possible Ferdinand broke wind a lot?
Would be as good an explanation for the "Boreas" nickname as any. I don't recall it from Pangels, but then I only skimmed the Ferdinand chapter, and what I do recall is her complaining about Ferdinand getting all his opinions from Heinrich and being totally ungrateful towards Fritz. Bielfeld doesn't mention it in the letters about becoming Ferdinand's teacher in 1740, but then Bielfeld wouldn't. We should get our hands on Dechamps' memoirs anyway; he might mention it, being angry at Fritz & Co.
Boreas is also the *north* wind, so it could be a reference to some coldness perceived by Fritz, who is always happy to accuse others of coldness.
But Ferdinand has always shown him friendship!
didn't Ziebura say that Heinrich was vain about his appearance in the pre-smallpox scar days?
I just checked, and as far as I can see, she mentions it once, when describing the effects of the smallpox itself, i.e. saying that smallpox the scars left in his face "were a blow to the vain boy". This is some years after Fritz is writing the letter, which doesn't mean Heinrich couldn't have been vain before, and you're right, 13 is a classic time for starting to pay attention to how you look. Btw, if you're right about the reason for "Boreas", that means both monikers Fritz hands out to his younger brothers are decidedly on the sharp tongued side, as opposed to how he describes Ulrike and Amalie. I also recall that when he writes to Heinrich from the first Silesian war a very early letter, he says to give his love to "Wilhelm the Tall", which again is complimentary. So we have another bit of evidence that in the 1730s and 1740s, Heinrich (and Ferdinand at least in the 1730s) were the least favourite siblings.
I really don't know, I'm just throwing speculations out there. Maybe Ferdinand was just a hyperactive six-year-old running around knocking things over like a normal six-year-old! And maybe Heinrich was acting like a normal thirteen-year-old hitting puberty and looking in the mirror a lot.
We should get our hands on Dechamps' memoirs anyway; he might mention it, being angry at Fritz & Co.
Have added it to my to-find list, if felis doesn't beat me to it. :)
So what about this "sanguineous Amalie" thing? Does that mean "bloodthirsty" or more like "sanguine"? (And yes, I know about the humours :) ) Neither of those really seems to fit Amalie...?
...I didn't realize that Fritz was talking about his Brother Narcissus that far back!
Given Amalie supposedly was something of tomboy as a girl, who knows, she might have gotten into a physical fight with Ulrike (over piano practicing?), or with one of the boys, and the meaning is "blood thirsty" because of that. Or Fritz means it the traditional four humours way and sees her as a quick tempered optimist. Keep in mind he basically only sees the younger sibs during the winter holidays at this point, and his impressions of them are bound to be superficial anyway.
It's "sanguinisch" in German and I can't look up the original French because the letter is not at Trier, but I've never heard that German word used for bloodthirsty before? So I'd lean towards the humours meaning.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Birthday cheeses
Date: 2021-03-28 06:45 am (UTC)Re: Birthday cheeses
Date: 2021-03-28 01:00 pm (UTC)Hmm. Not sure, but tentatively leaning toward him not bringing any dogs home during the winter visits. That said, at least one young portrait of Fritz and Wilhelmine does include a dog, so maybe when he came to visit there were dogs who lived there, other than Dad's hunting dogs, that he did like. (I'm guessing based on a letter about Dad's hunting dogs that Fritz was not a fan and would not have objected that strongly to Ferdinand hitting them.)
But maybe! How do we think FW would feel about wretched effeminate petit-maître son bringing a lap dog home for the holidays?
Re: Birthday cheeses
Date: 2021-03-28 02:53 pm (UTC)Dogs and Ferdinand
Date: 2021-03-28 03:12 pm (UTC)Otoh, given FW was aware Fritz didn't care for his hunting dogs - which is why someone else gets them in his last will - maybe he'd regard Fritz liking a different breed of dog as a personal insult?
The Old Dessauer, iirc. And yes, I assume that it's a personal insult. The question is whether this makes it dangerous (for Fritz and/or the dog) to bring it on a holiday visit, enough to override the therapeutic benefits, and I just don't know. Poor Fritz.
Poor five-year-old Ferdinand, whatever he did. He was five! He was in a dysfunctional family!
Speaking of Ferdinand, and ramping up the gossipy sensationalism to eleven, is there any evidence for the main claim of this blog post, or are they/their sources confusing Ferdinand's wife's alleged infidelity with the anecdote about Fritz encouraging EC2 to take lovers to ensure the succession? (I inquire not about the minor claims, like that Ferdinand went by "Augustus", that Mina "chose" to separate from Heinrich, or that people have claimed Fritz's ultimate sexual persuasion was sodomy of the *other* kind (news to me, but I'm sure someone in a couple hundred years has said something to that effect!)).
Re: Dogs and Ferdinand
Date: 2021-03-28 04:41 pm (UTC)The Wiki entry on Mrs. Ferdinand claims "it is assumed" the later kids are by Schmettau without footnoting who does the assuming. The German wiki entry on this particular Schmettau, otoh, doesn't mention anything about him being the bio dad of Ferdinand's kids and is mainly about him as a major map maker, but does mention his bff-ness with Ferdinand and Ferdinand repeatedly trying to get Fritz to promote him to Major until Fritz finally grants it, only for Schmettau to fall out with Fritz and leave the army anyway in 1778 (and reentering when FW2 becomes King). (Schmettau ultimately dies as the result of a Napoleonic battle.)
And then we have good old Fontane, who includes this Schmettau in the Wanderungen in the Köpenick chapter, where he says: Dieser Graf Schmettau, ein besonderer Liebling Friedrichs II., ist derselbe, der von seiten des großen Königs zum Adjutanten seines jüngsten Bruders, des Prinzen Ferdinand von Preußen, ernannt ward und in dieser intimen Stellung zu einer Fülle pikanter Anekdoten und Ondits Veranlassung gab, an denen das preußische Hofleben jener Zeit so reich war. Zu untersuchen, wieviel Wahrheit oder überhaupt ob irgendwelche Wahrheit diesen anekdotischen Überlieferungen zugrunde liegt, liegt jenseits unserer Aufgabe; wir begnügen uns damit, das zu konstatieren, worüber Freunde und Feinde des Grafen, wenn er Feinde hatte, zu jeder Zeit einig waren: seine Gelehrsamkeit und seine weltmännische Bildung, seine militärischen Kenntnisse und seine Tapferkeit.
So here Schmettau starts out as a particular favourite of Fritz' and a Ferdinand intimate later; "a lot of suggestive anecdotes and ondits" presumably is referring to Schmettau-as-the-lover/biodad, with "ondit" being derived from "on dit", "one says", but if I hadn't read the wiki entries and the english blog entry before, the way Fontane phrases it would have had me assume Schmettau/Ferdinand or Schmettau/Fritz rather than Schmettau/Mrs. Ferdinand. ("Luise" could be misleading given the other Luises.) In any event, no source given for the claim, either.
What makes me really doubt Fritz had given an outright order is that other story you've come across recently where Heinrich and Ferdinand supposedly tell Fritz they won't handwave their succession rights for a bastard. The obvious rejoinder to any such action from Ferdinand would have been "well, what about your own kids?"., and since Heinrich was childless (and would make his nephew Louis Ferdinand his main heir), this would have been a rejoinder to his claim as well. If, that is ,the two of them made it, and if Fritz was in a position to know Ferdinand's children weren't his biologically.
So basically, right now, we're left with wiki entries and a blog post. Maybe the Hohenzollern Jahrbuch knows more? Otoh, censorship definitely would have applied there, I guess. I mean, even if you assume Ferdinand's kids weren't his biologically, they still were Hohenzollern since his wife was also his niece.
Re: Dogs and Ferdinand
Date: 2021-03-28 09:58 pm (UTC)The obvious rejoinder to any such action from Ferdinand would have been "well, what about your own kids?".
Devil's advocate: at that point, there was only the eight-year-old daughter who, according to this story, was supposed to be his, and the first son that is supposed to be Schmettau's was born the year of the divorce. Also, assuming that any of this VERY VERY sketchy story happened, it's not unlikely Fritz and Luise didn't actually tell Ferdinand and didn't want him believing his kids might not be his.
So basically, right now, we're left with wiki entries and a blog post.
Yeah, I'm skeptical. But since the blog post ends with an alleged quote, I thought it was worth bringing up in case we run into corroborating evidence or counterevidence later.
Re: Dogs and Ferdinand
Date: 2021-03-29 08:30 am (UTC)Because his mother Constanze had conceived him in her 30s, the "he's not really the baby of Constanze and her much hated husband Emperor Heinrich! The pregnancy was fake, and he's the baby of the butcher of Jesi, where he was born!" story was used as part of the papal propaganda in Friedrich's multiple clashes with the papacy. People on the pro-Friedrich side then came up with the story of Constanze, predicting this, had her labours in the middle of the Jesi market place attended by all the wives of the local burghers so they could see it was really her giving birth to this baby. The one thing true about either story was that Constanze, en route to Sicily, gave birth to Friedrich in Jesi. And that this was an event attended by a lot of people, because she was the Empress, in her later 30s, and thus didn't just have one midwive but several, as well as several physicians.
Another variation of the same story Edward IV. (of York and England) being told "of course I know who you are, you're the son of an archer of Rouen!" by a lady he hits on because of the "Cecily cheated on her husband with an archer!" Lancaster tale. And then there's Charles the Dauphin who'd be crowned by Jeanne d'Arc, who was told, "of course I know who you are, you're the son of..." etc, da capo, al fine.
The one thing plausible about the tale is Fritz obsessed securing the succession and not too fussy about who gets the siring done, as long as there are babies, but I would really prefer a contemporary mentioning the story in a letter or diary or memoir, preferably someone who actually is on good enough terms with any of the participants, or at least their staff, to make it likely someone slipped, or confided in them.
Re: Dogs and Ferdinand
Date: 2021-03-30 12:25 pm (UTC)I would really prefer a contemporary mentioning the story in a letter or diary or memoir, preferably someone who actually is on good enough terms with any of the participants, or at least their staff, to make it likely someone slipped, or confided in them.
Oh, I agree, I don't believe a thing until we have an actual source that isn't Wikipedia or some random blog post that gets a dozen minor details wrong.
Re: Dogs and Ferdinand
Date: 2021-04-01 04:01 am (UTC)Though this is fascinating that it's such a common trope, wow.
Fritz obsessed securing the succession and not too fussy about who gets the siring done
But didn't you guys say before (when we were talking about MT/Fritz crackfic, and MT using FS as her stud) that he probably would be picky about the siring?
Re: Dogs and Ferdinand
Date: 2021-04-01 08:12 am (UTC)All this said? We still don't have evidence that Fritz would have kept up a "live and let live" stance if his OWN wife - EC or in the crack fic MT - would have taken him up on this enlightened position, taken a lover and supplied an heir which he would have known without the shadow of a doubt not to be his kid. Given the double standards he had elsewhere (as in "when I'm grieving, all of Europe needs to cry with me; if you're grieving, be a philosopher and get over it!"), who knows?
Re: Birthday cheeses
Date: 2021-03-28 08:17 pm (UTC)Oh, this is new to me, what's that letter?
Dogs
Date: 2021-03-28 10:41 pm (UTC)To summarize, he says that when forced to hunt, "j'arrêtais les chiens," which
Now, this is very, very speculative, but as you can see from that thread, I, as an inveterate dog lover, was immediately struck by Fritz the dog lover going, "I had to be careful not to step on the dogs, because the King would have yelled," not "because I like dogs and don't want to step on them." Which makes me think that if Ferdinand had accidentally hit one of Dad's dogs, Fritz would have shrugged it off in a way that he wouldn't have if you'd hit his precious Biche or whoever.
BUT.
Fritz is perfectly capable of going, "Well, *I* managed not to step on the dogs without even liking them, and if *I* can do it, you can do it," as many examples throughout his life show, *and* of holding people to standards other than his own ("Producing heirs, it's for everyone except me!"). So whether or not he ever stepped on a dog while hunting himself and the dog howled and he was extra careful after that, he might well have decided Ferdinand was the coming menace after accidentally hitting one of Dad's dogs! (Or one of the other ladies' lap dogs running around the place, even if he left his own favorites out of Dad's eye.)
Ferdinand the Coming Menace
Date: 2021-03-30 02:26 pm (UTC)Give my regards to the sisters, the energetic Ulrike and the sanguineous Amalie. Don't forget the court fixture, the learned and chaste Montbail, my brother Narcissus, and my brother Boreas.
I knew the Narcissus quote of course (didn't realize that Heinrich was probably only thirteen at the time, though) but I'd never heard of the Boreas moniker for Ferdinand! So he's ... stormy?? Maybe he did manage to accidentally hurt someone/a dog, or to knock something over when visiting, or to make a mess of Fritz' papers, or... ?
Re: Ferdinand the Coming Menace
Date: 2021-03-30 02:37 pm (UTC)Heinrich being My Brother Narcissus at 13 already sure is.... something. Start with the mirror imagery early, Fritz, why don‘t you?
Re: Ferdinand the Coming Menace
Date: 2021-03-30 04:13 pm (UTC)Boreas is also the *north* wind, so it could be a reference to some coldness perceived by Fritz, who is always happy to accuse others of coldness.
Narcissus: faint memory and I'm in a meeting so I can't check, but didn't Ziebura say that Heinrich was vain about his appearance in the pre-smallpox scar days? And this is definitely pre-smallpox. 13 is also the age at which it's common to start worrying about your appearance, so it would make sense.
Heinrich being My Brother Narcissus at 13 already sure is.... something. Start with the mirror imagery early, Fritz, why don‘t you?
Five-year-old Ferdinand as the worst of the Hohenzollerns is also something. He's five, Fritz!
Re: Ferdinand the Coming Menace
Date: 2021-03-31 01:09 pm (UTC)Would be as good an explanation for the "Boreas" nickname as any. I don't recall it from Pangels, but then I only skimmed the Ferdinand chapter, and what I do recall is her complaining about Ferdinand getting all his opinions from Heinrich and being totally ungrateful towards Fritz. Bielfeld doesn't mention it in the letters about becoming Ferdinand's teacher in 1740, but then Bielfeld wouldn't. We should get our hands on Dechamps' memoirs anyway; he might mention it, being angry at Fritz & Co.
Boreas is also the *north* wind, so it could be a reference to some coldness perceived by Fritz, who is always happy to accuse others of coldness.
But Ferdinand has always shown him friendship!
didn't Ziebura say that Heinrich was vain about his appearance in the pre-smallpox scar days?
I just checked, and as far as I can see, she mentions it once, when describing the effects of the smallpox itself, i.e. saying that smallpox the scars left in his face "were a blow to the vain boy". This is some years after Fritz is writing the letter, which doesn't mean Heinrich couldn't have been vain before, and you're right, 13 is a classic time for starting to pay attention to how you look. Btw, if you're right about the reason for "Boreas", that means both monikers Fritz hands out to his younger brothers are decidedly on the sharp tongued side, as opposed to how he describes Ulrike and Amalie. I also recall that when he writes to Heinrich from the first Silesian war a very early letter, he says to give his love to "Wilhelm the Tall", which again is complimentary. So we have another bit of evidence that in the 1730s and 1740s, Heinrich (and Ferdinand at least in the 1730s) were the least favourite siblings.
But Ferdinand has always shown him friendship!
Re: Ferdinand the Coming Menace
Date: 2021-03-31 01:23 pm (UTC):D
I really don't know, I'm just throwing speculations out there. Maybe Ferdinand was just a hyperactive six-year-old running around knocking things over like a normal six-year-old! And maybe Heinrich was acting like a normal thirteen-year-old hitting puberty and looking in the mirror a lot.
We should get our hands on Dechamps' memoirs anyway; he might mention it, being angry at Fritz & Co.
Have added it to my to-find list, if
Re: Ferdinand the Coming Menace
Date: 2021-04-01 04:20 am (UTC)...okay, I totally laughed :D
Re: Ferdinand the Coming Menace (and Amalie?)
Date: 2021-04-01 04:19 am (UTC)...I didn't realize that Fritz was talking about his Brother Narcissus that far back!
Re: Ferdinand the Coming Menace (and Amalie?)
Date: 2021-04-01 08:16 am (UTC)Re: Ferdinand the Coming Menace (and Amalie?)
Date: 2021-04-01 01:08 pm (UTC)