According to Trier, it was Darget. He left in March 1752 (for health reasons, tried and true I guess), and while Algarotti apparently started to ask for permission to leave around the same time, he only got it in 1753.
Sweet, my memory was correct! I was going to say this, but with the caveat that it was from memory and I don't remember where I read this.
Ah, but that Czarina died in 1740, and Keith only left in 1747.
Now this I was going to say with far more confidence, or at least that the chronology only sort of works. Because the chronology, per Wikipedia, goes like this:
1730-1740: Anna Ivanovna Czarina. 1740, February: Ice palace wedding. 1740, October: Anna Ivanovna dies. Ivan VI becomes Czar and Anna Leopoldovna regent. 1741: James Keith participates in the coup that puts Elizaveta in power. 1741-1743: James Keith one of the main commanders in the Russo-Swedish war, occupies Finland, meets his mistress Eva Merthen. 1747: James Keith joins Fritz.
Now, I really wish I had a reliable source on what was going on in Russia at the time, because German wiki says:
Keith enjoyed the favor of the Empress Anna Ivanovna, who distinguished him several times and appointed general of the infantry. After the death of his patroness in 1740, his luck turned. In order to avoid the stalking [" Nachstellungen"--is she hitting on him?] of her successor Elisabeth and the intrigues of her Chancellor Alexei Pyotrovich Bestuschew, he finally asked for his release, which he was granted in July 1747.
, while English wiki has such howlers as
Frederick also travelled incognito with Keith throughout Germany and Hungary.
and
Frederick commemorated Keith on the Rheinsberg Obelisk
alongside interesting remarks as
Keith developed a game of chess for Frederick, life-sized, that the two would play
which I would like to know if they were true. (If he was incognito in Hungary, then he was *really* incognito, because I for one don't recall any incognito Fritz-in-Hungary stories, and we've seen how bad he is at incognito! Supposedly even in the Netherlands he was outed, although not as badly as Strasbourg.
German wiki predictably gets Heinrich as the creator of the Rheinsberg monument right, but I'm not sure how reliable it is on Elizaveta stalking James and Bestuschev's intriguing as James' motives for leaving, since German wiki relies on a 19th century German source (von Ense) as usual. (James' memoirs, remember, only go up to ~1735.) Btw, does Nachfolgerin mean "next successor but one"? Because German wiki is skipping Ivan. Understandably, but they are telescoping.
Anyway, contemporary Russian sources and modern scholarship comparable to what we've collected for Prussia would be greatly interesting to me. Did James Keith help put Elizaveta on the throne? I would like a better source on that.
To go back to our original topic, the reason I say the chronology only "sort of" works is that James may well have, after witnessing/hearing about the Ice Wedding, have been a little unnerved at the fact that the Russian czarinas had this much power over people. Elizaveta famously never executed anyone during her reign, but, a few years into her reign, nobody knows what she's going to do.
Also, speaking of James, I can't remember if I mentioned it when I first encountered it, but I recently ran into it again: the Prussian archives have a "manner of living of the King of Prussia" manuscript authored by James Keith. That's something I'd like to see!
Nachstellungen: yes, my first interpretation would be that she's hitting on him. But you're right, 19th century sources are less than reliable especially when it comes to female monarchs. Though I suppose sooner or later, I'll have work my way through Varnhagen von Ense's numerous Prussian biographies, though I am really interested only in the one about his wife, Rahel, who was one of the most compelling of Berlin salonnieres of her time.
LOL on Fritz commemorating anyone on the Rheinsberg Monument. And travelling through Hungary. Hey, this is a way for him getting captured that I haven't considered at all until now! I mean, sure, presumably these tours would have taken place between wars, not in war time, but wellllll....
See, Andrew Bisset, since you were such a James Keith fanboy, you should have written his biography as well, then we'd know more!
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Voltaire: will you stay or will you go?
Date: 2021-03-30 12:11 pm (UTC)Sweet, my memory was correct! I was going to say this, but with the caveat that it was from memory and I don't remember where I read this.
Ah, but that Czarina died in 1740, and Keith only left in 1747.
Now this I was going to say with far more confidence, or at least that the chronology only sort of works. Because the chronology, per Wikipedia, goes like this:
1730-1740: Anna Ivanovna Czarina.
1740, February: Ice palace wedding.
1740, October: Anna Ivanovna dies. Ivan VI becomes Czar and Anna Leopoldovna regent.
1741: James Keith participates in the coup that puts Elizaveta in power.
1741-1743: James Keith one of the main commanders in the Russo-Swedish war, occupies Finland, meets his mistress Eva Merthen.
1747: James Keith joins Fritz.
Now, I really wish I had a reliable source on what was going on in Russia at the time, because German wiki says:
Keith enjoyed the favor of the Empress Anna Ivanovna, who distinguished him several times and appointed general of the infantry. After the death of his patroness in 1740, his luck turned. In order to avoid the stalking [" Nachstellungen"--is she hitting on him?] of her successor Elisabeth and the intrigues of her Chancellor Alexei Pyotrovich Bestuschew, he finally asked for his release, which he was granted in July 1747.
, while English wiki has such howlers as
Frederick also travelled incognito with Keith throughout Germany and Hungary.
and
Frederick commemorated Keith on the Rheinsberg Obelisk
alongside interesting remarks as
Keith developed a game of chess for Frederick, life-sized, that the two would play
which I would like to know if they were true. (If he was incognito in Hungary, then he was *really* incognito, because I for one don't recall any incognito Fritz-in-Hungary stories, and we've seen how bad he is at incognito! Supposedly even in the Netherlands he was outed, although not as badly as Strasbourg.
German wiki predictably gets Heinrich as the creator of the Rheinsberg monument right, but I'm not sure how reliable it is on Elizaveta stalking James and Bestuschev's intriguing as James' motives for leaving, since German wiki relies on a 19th century German source (von Ense) as usual. (James' memoirs, remember, only go up to ~1735.) Btw, does Nachfolgerin mean "next successor but one"? Because German wiki is skipping Ivan. Understandably, but they are telescoping.
Anyway, contemporary Russian sources and modern scholarship comparable to what we've collected for Prussia would be greatly interesting to me. Did James Keith help put Elizaveta on the throne? I would like a better source on that.
To go back to our original topic, the reason I say the chronology only "sort of" works is that James may well have, after witnessing/hearing about the Ice Wedding, have been a little unnerved at the fact that the Russian czarinas had this much power over people. Elizaveta famously never executed anyone during her reign, but, a few years into her reign, nobody knows what she's going to do.
Also, speaking of James, I can't remember if I mentioned it when I first encountered it, but I recently ran into it again: the Prussian archives have a "manner of living of the King of Prussia" manuscript authored by James Keith. That's something I'd like to see!
Re: Voltaire: will you stay or will you go?
Date: 2021-03-30 12:27 pm (UTC)LOL on Fritz commemorating anyone on the Rheinsberg Monument. And travelling through Hungary. Hey, this is a way for him getting captured that I haven't considered at all until now! I mean, sure, presumably these tours would have taken place between wars, not in war time, but wellllll....
See, Andrew Bisset, since you were such a James Keith fanboy, you should have written his biography as well, then we'd know more!