Speaking of people prone to use euphemisms, I had dimly recalled Stratemann, otherwise FW Fan No.1. among the envoys, does mention Gundling's ghastly funeral, though I hadn't translated the passage in question in my big Stratemann write up, just mentioned it. So I looked it up again right now, and wow. Stratemann has all the horrid details, and his editor Wolff, otherwise also a FW fan who doesn't lose an opportunity to chide Wilhelmine for being a bad, unloving daughter, grudgingly adds a footnote that the recent Hohenzollern Jahrbuch essay by Schneider "proving" that the barrel of wine burial has to be a legend since FW would never has thus been made redundant due to an impeccable contemporary witness.
Stratemann first mentions Gundling's death at the end of his dispatch from April 14th:
Last Wednesday, the famous Baron v. Gundling has left this world at 10 in the morning, and the well known writer of entertainments, Faßmann, now has his post, though he has made it a condition: that he was to have familiar conversations only with the King, and with no one else.
"Familiäre Conversation", eh? That's one way to describe it. In the next dispatch, dated April 28th 1731, Stratemann offers much more detail. He starts the dispatch by saying FW entertains himself with daily par force hunting, taking along not just the younger kids, the Queen and his fave officers, but now for the first time Gundling's successor Faßmann.
Said Faßmann will be introduced, like his predecessor, in all local colleges, the financial directory and will be made Geheimer Rat, and will be presented to the Academy of Sciences as their next President. He also enjoys the complete Gundling salary of 1200 or 1500 Reichstaler per annum and fodder for two horses. As the King approached him for the job, he has argued with His Majesty: That he should be treated at court on a completely different footing from Gundling. The King was his lord and master, and he would suffer anything from him, but! all the others should keep out of his face and should pay him the respect due to a royal Geheimer Rat, otherwise he would forego all respect towards no matter which person and would take up St. Peter's sword.* Whereupon he was given the reaussurance: that he would be protected against everyone, and it wouldn't be allowed that anyone should harm him or do anything else.
He's also being given the favor: that in the royal lunch room, a small table has been set up and that he is to share food on it served to the royal table. He's now working at his latest entertainment, a "Conversation among the Dead" featuring the famous Saxonian Taubmann and the lately died Gundling.
Of the later, his predecessor, the following story has reached me from Potsdam: the preachers there have decidedly not wanted to join the procession; whereupon the larger part of their funding has been withdrawn from them; the generals and officers, on the other hand, have put all scruples aside and have done the King's will in this.
( ...) by editor Wolff. The next printed part of the dispatch deals with Küstrin rumors about Fritz getting food and drink delicacies mailed to him by the sympathetic population. However, Stratemann also attachs the news agent report about Gundling's funeral to his dispatch, and Wolff quotes it in the footnote.
News Agent report: Last Thursday, the funeral rites of Geheimer Rat Gundling took place, which were remarkable indeed. For as soon as Gundling had died, his wife, who had been here throughout his illness, had to leave again. Following this, the King had (Gundling) dressed up in his proper robes, put on a stretch and had him carried across the market in public by two fellows into a citizen's house. There, he was put into a coffin which had been an ordinary barrel of wine, and which still had its pegs and hoops attached, and there until his funeral was exhibited for everyone to gawk at. The barrel of wine had been cut in the middle, since one half had to serve as the top,and on this top was written the following inscription:
Here lies in his skin, half man, half pig, a marvellous thing: Smart in his youth, mad in his age, witty at dawn, at sunset full of rage, thus Bacchus shouts in all this bling: That dear child of his is Gundling!
On Friday afternoon at 2 pm the procession happened thusly: this barrel was put on a stretch and was carried by thirty tailors, and the entire school and his footman were marching in front of the coffin wearing mourning; after the coffin, the castellan and headmaster followed as the bereaved, then all the generals and officers from the regiments, and allpresent Geheime and Kriegs-Räte, doctors and physicians of regiments; then the entire city council, and representatives of the guilds. All this the King had ordered, and the citizens were threatened with five Reichstaler fee to pay if they should stay away. The procession passed the palace and the garnison church, went to the Brandenburg Gate, after which the company returned, while the coffin, or rather, the barrel, was put on a cattle truck, and was buried in Bornstedt. This much about a such a remarkable funeral.
Epitaph Gundling has now drunk his last, can no longer have a blast from the wine this barrel held, and regret he must have felt. Therefore this was his last will: that his belly with wine to fill, should be put in such a hose, in which he'd often put his nose throughout his life. Now readers, if you are not thick: admit this man was nothing but a pig!
Next dispatch, dated May 5th, opens: As I hear from Potsdam, the King isn't feeling well at all, but has been hurt by a boar attacking with his tusks on his foot, which subsequently has swollen up massively. So he has been much inconvenienced.
Small justice. As is Faßmann lasting only until July the same year, at which point he's realised what FW's promises were worth, got into a nasty antisemetic argument with a Jew named Marcus to boot and flees Prussia. The next few attempts to replace Gundling don't last much longer, until Morgenstern. But seriously, the cruelty of it all is breathtaking every time I read about it. FW taking away funding from the five rebels, and fining anyone else who dares to stay away: go figure. Of course, it's also telling of the era's toleration of "pranks" towards an ennobled commoner like Gundling that Stratemann sees no reason to prettify any of this, whereas the Katte saga has such touches like him believing the tribunal wanted a death sentence and FW would pardon him, or that Fritz' release is immminent, or that Wilhelmine got locked up for months only because she was so sick.
It's been over a year since I've read Kloosterhuis, and it's strictly speaking not his subject, but I don't recall him mentioning Gundling anywhere in his book, not just when analysing the escape attempt related documents but when talking about FW's character in general.
*St. Peter's Sword: allusion to Peter cutting off the ear of one of the guards arresting Jesus.
Stratemann, unexpected source. Although I did remember you telling us about his reports on unsuccessful successor recruitment efforts, which read even less lighthearted now.
But seriously, the cruelty of it all is breathtaking every time I read about it.
Totally. I kind of just wanted to stop reading once I encountered the pig detail. :(
And then I got to the money detail, which, really? There's so much effort put into this from FW's side.
Yes, and that makes it really so... I mean, the other awful things FW does and says, I have no trouble to understand the psychological motivation for. With Fritz, he never really gets over the part where as a young father he imagined they'd have the perfect loving father/son relationship and Fritz would be just like him and happy that FW saves from boring Latin and boring ancient history and boring French literature, and then Fritz likes all that and is afraid of FW and lies and WHY IS THE WRETCHED BOY SO UNGRATEFUL? Executing Katte isn't about Katte, it's about punishing Fritz. Exploding at SD is because she, too, is ungrateful (he's faithful to her! Has no mistresses! No bastards! Keeps her with him instead of living apart most of the time! What more does she want?), and the older the children get, the more he blames her for turning them against him. And his mutual hate-on with G2 is just one of those childhood things that can happen within a family, aided and abetted by the fact they're way too much alike. But this systematic tormenting of Gundling even beyond death? If he ever had been in Gundling's power and abused, I'd get where it comes from, but as it is, I'm left with Klepper's and Stade's novelistic theory that in his heart, he knew Gundling had been right in his comments, and therefore Gundling had to be humiliated and shown beyond the shadow of a doubt as being someone whom no one, including FW himself, could possibly believe to be right about anything.
I mean, the other awful things FW does and says, I have no trouble to understand the psychological motivation for.
Yes, this! Like, for all those things I can have a tiny amount of -- idk if I should even call it sympathy, but at least where I see where he's coming from, even if I think he's horrible. But Gundling is just... beyond the pale.
Totally. I kind of just wanted to stop reading once I encountered the pig detail. :(
I knoooow. Katte is the kind of tragedy that's terrible to live through and be affected by, but clean enough to be enjoyable to the romantic fannish mind. Gundling's fate is just nauseating. The poor guy.
And apparently practically *everyone* stops reading when they get to FW and Gundling, and develops selective amnesia, ugh.
selenak, I was going to say, I was incorporating your chronology additions into the master chronology this weekend, and it was really just dizzying watching it go back and forth between "FW tortures Gundling" and "FW ennobles Gundling" and "FW tortures Gundling some more" and "FW appoints Gundling to some prestigious position." It just read like the abuser's playbook (I can't take credit for this term; rachelmanija used it in an email to me, and it's always stuck with me, because there are so many times you see people following this very specific pattern).
it was really just dizzying watching it go back and forth between "FW tortures Gundling" and "FW ennobles Gundling" and "FW tortures Gundling some more" and "FW appoints Gundling to some prestigious position." It just read like the abuser's playbook
Doesn't it just? Though I'm entirely ready to believe FW was acting on instinct, not well thought out long term plans; I mean, we're talking about the man with zero child psychology knowledge who never could figure out why his plan of becoming the fun parent and let SD be the scary discipline parent did not work out, and why his choices to keep his sons chaste and religious teenagers really weren't best suited for such an endeavour.
But when it came to providing just enough incentive to create a state where Gundling could tell himself "it's worth hanging on for" or "I'll be worse off if I leave", and create an atmosphere of perpetual fear, he was dead on. It also makes sense that a younger man like Fassmann, after trying very hard to get the job to begin with, couldn't stand it for more than a few months. Presumably Fassmann had told himself all the humiliations were clearly solely Gundling's fault for being a coward which endured them, that FW by contrasted respected him and would never let him be treated the same way, and when he realised this was self delusion, he called it quits.
And apparently practically *everyone* stops reading when they get to FW and Gundling, and develops selective amnesia, ugh.
Including Wusterhausen guides. I think I told you when I was there the one present said re: the painting showing him "this was the King's fool", and no more.
Katte is the kind of tragedy that's terrible to live through and be affected by, but clean enough to be enjoyable to the romantic fannish mind. Gundling's fate is just nauseating. The poor guy.
THIIIIS.
I don't think it is rachel's original term either; it's a term I've seen used in other places for that kind of abusive pattern. But yes, ugggggh.
the recent Hohenzollern Jahrbuch essay by Schneider "proving" that the barrel of wine burial has to be a legend since FW would never has thus been made redundant due to an impeccable contemporary witness.
Why is "FW would never!" such a common argument??! I know the answer, this is rhetorical frustration. Ugh.
And yeah, #1 fan Stratemann is pretty impeccable for this particular episode.
it's also telling of the era's toleration of "pranks" towards an ennobled commoner like Gundling that Stratemann sees no reason to prettify any of this, whereas the Katte saga has such touches like him believing the tribunal wanted a death sentence and FW would pardon him, or that Fritz' release is immminent, or that Wilhelmine got locked up for months only because she was so sick.
Yep. It doesn't reflect nearly as badly on FW. Ugh all around.
It's been over a year since I've read Kloosterhuis, and it's strictly speaking not his subject, but I don't recall him mentioning Gundling anywhere in his book, not just when analysing the escape attempt related documents but when talking about FW's character in general.
Thanks to searchable pdfs, I can tell you I see no instances of Gundling's name.
*St. Peter's Sword: allusion to Peter cutting off the ear of one of the guards arresting Jesus.
Google tells me there's a sword in Poznan today claiming to be this very sword, though theories as to what it actually is differ.
It doesn't reflect nearly as badly on FW. Ugh all around.
It's a sobering reminder of what is and what isn't regarded as bad behavior of a King at this point. It also reminds me of what you said re: Anna Ivanova: the extraordinary thing isn't that she did the Ice Palace wedding, it's that she could force a Prince Golitzyn to become her fool, and that part is what princes like FW wouldn't have been able to do. Brutality in the guise of "pranks" to commoners and ennobled commoners, otoh? Eh.
It's also interesting when that changes. As Martin Sabrow said in the Gundling biography and as the wiki entry on Gundling copied from him, the change happens ca. mid 19th century, which is when on the one hand you have liberal writers (preparing for the 1848 ill fated revolution) who use the Gundling story as proof of the brutality of the Hohenzollern in particular and the Prussian spirit in general, and when on the other hand you have conservative historians starting to deliberately try to either question the veracity of the worst stories (hence all the "the wine barrel burial did not happen!" efforts) or to state that Gundling brought it upon himself with his drunkenness and his vanity and FW would never have done something like this to a truly honorable man and faithful subject. But there is suddenly justification pressure, as there wasn't before.
Speaking of historians justifying FW: Thanks to searchable pdfs, I can tell you I see no instances of Gundling's name.
Good to know I wasn't misremembering, and go figure. It really does not fit with the general "FW, not the tribunal, was the one obeying the law, and there was no personal cruelty involved in his decision, he wasn't capable of that kind of tyranny due to his dutiful mentality anyway" characterisation.
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Stratemann on Gundling's funeral.
Date: 2021-03-29 07:58 am (UTC)Stratemann first mentions Gundling's death at the end of his dispatch from April 14th:
Last Wednesday, the famous Baron v. Gundling has left this world at 10 in the morning, and the well known writer of entertainments, Faßmann, now has his post, though he has made it a condition: that he was to have familiar conversations only with the King, and with no one else.
"Familiäre Conversation", eh? That's one way to describe it. In the next dispatch, dated April 28th 1731, Stratemann offers much more detail. He starts the dispatch by saying FW entertains himself with daily par force hunting, taking along not just the younger kids, the Queen and his fave officers, but now for the first time Gundling's successor Faßmann.
Said Faßmann will be introduced, like his predecessor, in all local colleges, the financial directory and will be made Geheimer Rat, and will be presented to the Academy of Sciences as their next President. He also enjoys the complete Gundling salary of 1200 or 1500 Reichstaler per annum and fodder for two horses. As the King approached him for the job, he has argued with His Majesty: That he should be treated at court on a completely different footing from Gundling. The King was his lord and master, and he would suffer anything from him, but! all the others should keep out of his face and should pay him the respect due to a royal Geheimer Rat, otherwise he would forego all respect towards no matter which person and would take up St. Peter's sword.* Whereupon he was given the reaussurance: that he would be protected against everyone, and it wouldn't be allowed that anyone should harm him or do anything else.
He's also being given the favor: that in the royal lunch room, a small table has been set up and that he is to share food on it served to the royal table. He's now working at his latest entertainment, a "Conversation among the Dead" featuring the famous Saxonian Taubmann and the lately died Gundling.
Of the later, his predecessor, the following story has reached me from Potsdam: the preachers there have decidedly not wanted to join the procession; whereupon the larger part of their funding has been withdrawn from them; the generals and officers, on the other hand, have put all scruples aside and have done the King's will in this.
( ...) by editor Wolff. The next printed part of the dispatch deals with Küstrin rumors about Fritz getting food and drink delicacies mailed to him by the sympathetic population. However, Stratemann also attachs the news agent report about Gundling's funeral to his dispatch, and Wolff quotes it in the footnote.
News Agent report: Last Thursday, the funeral rites of Geheimer Rat Gundling took place, which were remarkable indeed. For as soon as Gundling had died, his wife, who had been here throughout his illness, had to leave again. Following this, the King had (Gundling) dressed up in his proper robes, put on a stretch and had him carried across the market in public by two fellows into a citizen's house. There, he was put into a coffin which had been an ordinary barrel of wine, and which still had its pegs and hoops attached, and there until his funeral was exhibited for everyone to gawk at. The barrel of wine had been cut in the middle, since one half had to serve as the top,and on this top was written the following inscription:
Here lies in his skin,
half man, half pig, a marvellous thing:
Smart in his youth, mad in his age,
witty at dawn, at sunset full of rage,
thus Bacchus shouts in all this bling:
That dear child of his is Gundling!
On Friday afternoon at 2 pm the procession happened thusly: this barrel was put on a stretch and was carried by thirty tailors, and the entire school and his footman were marching in front of the coffin wearing mourning; after the coffin, the castellan and headmaster followed as the bereaved, then all the generals and officers from the regiments, and allpresent Geheime and Kriegs-Räte, doctors and physicians of regiments; then the entire city council, and representatives of the guilds. All this the King had ordered, and the citizens were threatened with five Reichstaler fee to pay if they should stay away. The procession passed the palace and the garnison church, went to the Brandenburg Gate, after which the company returned, while the coffin, or rather, the barrel, was put on a cattle truck, and was buried in Bornstedt. This much about a such a remarkable funeral.
Epitaph
Gundling has now drunk his last,
can no longer have a blast
from the wine this barrel held,
and regret he must have felt.
Therefore this was his last will:
that his belly with wine to fill,
should be put in such a hose,
in which he'd often put his nose
throughout his life. Now readers, if you are not thick:
admit this man was nothing but a pig!
Next dispatch, dated May 5th, opens: As I hear from Potsdam, the King isn't feeling well at all, but has been hurt by a boar attacking with his tusks on his foot, which subsequently has swollen up massively. So he has been much inconvenienced.
Small justice. As is Faßmann lasting only until July the same year, at which point he's realised what FW's promises were worth, got into a nasty antisemetic argument with a Jew named Marcus to boot and flees Prussia. The next few attempts to replace Gundling don't last much longer, until Morgenstern. But seriously, the cruelty of it all is breathtaking every time I read about it. FW taking away funding from the five rebels, and fining anyone else who dares to stay away: go figure. Of course, it's also telling of the era's toleration of "pranks" towards an ennobled commoner like Gundling that Stratemann sees no reason to prettify any of this, whereas the Katte saga has such touches like him believing the tribunal wanted a death sentence and FW would pardon him, or that Fritz' release is immminent, or that Wilhelmine got locked up for months only because she was so sick.
It's been over a year since I've read Kloosterhuis, and it's strictly speaking not his subject, but I don't recall him mentioning Gundling anywhere in his book, not just when analysing the escape attempt related documents but when talking about FW's character in general.
*St. Peter's Sword: allusion to Peter cutting off the ear of one of the guards arresting Jesus.
Re: Stratemann on Gundling's funeral.
Date: 2021-03-29 10:58 pm (UTC)But seriously, the cruelty of it all is breathtaking every time I read about it.
Totally. I kind of just wanted to stop reading once I encountered the pig detail. :(
And then I got to the money detail, which, really? There's so much effort put into this from FW's side.
Re: Stratemann on Gundling's funeral.
Date: 2021-03-30 07:14 am (UTC)Re: Stratemann on Gundling's funeral.
Date: 2021-04-01 05:31 am (UTC)Yes, this! Like, for all those things I can have a tiny amount of -- idk if I should even call it sympathy, but at least where I see where he's coming from, even if I think he's horrible. But Gundling is just... beyond the pale.
Re: Stratemann on Gundling's funeral.
Date: 2021-03-30 04:37 pm (UTC)I knoooow. Katte is the kind of tragedy that's terrible to live through and be affected by, but clean enough to be enjoyable to the romantic fannish mind. Gundling's fate is just nauseating. The poor guy.
And apparently practically *everyone* stops reading when they get to FW and Gundling, and develops selective amnesia, ugh.
UGH FOREVER.
Re: Stratemann on Gundling's funeral.
Date: 2021-03-31 08:45 am (UTC)Doesn't it just? Though I'm entirely ready to believe FW was acting on instinct, not well thought out long term plans; I mean, we're talking about the man with zero child psychology knowledge who never could figure out why his plan of becoming the fun parent and let SD be the scary discipline parent did not work out, and why his choices to keep his sons chaste and religious teenagers really weren't best suited for such an endeavour.
But when it came to providing just enough incentive to create a state where Gundling could tell himself "it's worth hanging on for" or "I'll be worse off if I leave", and create an atmosphere of perpetual fear, he was dead on. It also makes sense that a younger man like Fassmann, after trying very hard to get the job to begin with, couldn't stand it for more than a few months. Presumably Fassmann had told himself all the humiliations were clearly solely Gundling's fault for being a coward which endured them, that FW by contrasted respected him and would never let him be treated the same way, and when he realised this was self delusion, he called it quits.
And apparently practically *everyone* stops reading when they get to FW and Gundling, and develops selective amnesia, ugh.
Including Wusterhausen guides. I think I told you when I was there the one present said re: the painting showing him "this was the King's fool", and no more.
Re: Stratemann on Gundling's funeral.
Date: 2021-04-01 05:33 am (UTC)THIIIIS.
I don't think it is rachel's original term either; it's a term I've seen used in other places for that kind of abusive pattern. But yes, ugggggh.
Re: Stratemann on Gundling's funeral.
Date: 2021-03-30 04:31 pm (UTC)Why is "FW would never!" such a common argument??! I know the answer, this is rhetorical frustration. Ugh.
And yeah, #1 fan Stratemann is pretty impeccable for this particular episode.
it's also telling of the era's toleration of "pranks" towards an ennobled commoner like Gundling that Stratemann sees no reason to prettify any of this, whereas the Katte saga has such touches like him believing the tribunal wanted a death sentence and FW would pardon him, or that Fritz' release is immminent, or that Wilhelmine got locked up for months only because she was so sick.
Yep. It doesn't reflect nearly as badly on FW. Ugh all around.
It's been over a year since I've read Kloosterhuis, and it's strictly speaking not his subject, but I don't recall him mentioning Gundling anywhere in his book, not just when analysing the escape attempt related documents but when talking about FW's character in general.
Thanks to searchable pdfs, I can tell you I see no instances of Gundling's name.
*St. Peter's Sword: allusion to Peter cutting off the ear of one of the guards arresting Jesus.
Google tells me there's a sword in Poznan today claiming to be this very sword, though theories as to what it actually is differ.
Re: Stratemann on Gundling's funeral.
Date: 2021-03-31 08:25 am (UTC)It's a sobering reminder of what is and what isn't regarded as bad behavior of a King at this point. It also reminds me of what you said re: Anna Ivanova: the extraordinary thing isn't that she did the Ice Palace wedding, it's that she could force a Prince Golitzyn to become her fool, and that part is what princes like FW wouldn't have been able to do. Brutality in the guise of "pranks" to commoners and ennobled commoners, otoh? Eh.
It's also interesting when that changes. As Martin Sabrow said in the Gundling biography and as the wiki entry on Gundling copied from him, the change happens ca. mid 19th century, which is when on the one hand you have liberal writers (preparing for the 1848 ill fated revolution) who use the Gundling story as proof of the brutality of the Hohenzollern in particular and the Prussian spirit in general, and when on the other hand you have conservative historians starting to deliberately try to either question the veracity of the worst stories (hence all the "the wine barrel burial did not happen!" efforts) or to state that Gundling brought it upon himself with his drunkenness and his vanity and FW would never have done something like this to a truly honorable man and faithful subject. But there is suddenly justification pressure, as there wasn't before.
Speaking of historians justifying FW: Thanks to searchable pdfs, I can tell you I see no instances of Gundling's name.
Good to know I wasn't misremembering, and go figure. It really does not fit with the general "FW, not the tribunal, was the one obeying the law, and there was no personal cruelty involved in his decision, he wasn't capable of that kind of tyranny due to his dutiful mentality anyway" characterisation.
Re: Stratemann on Gundling's funeral.
Date: 2021-04-01 05:29 am (UTC)But seriously, the cruelty of it all is breathtaking every time I read about it.
Yeah, this. :(