Rebenac seems to have all sorts of interesting gossip!
I thought so, too. I mean, evidently colored by bias and wishful thinking (Kurprinz F1 on his deathbed, "feeble-minded" Danckelmann - even his worst enemies would not have accused Danckelmann of being feeble minded -, presumably because he wasn't a fan of Louis XIV, future F1 "a miser", which, again, his worst enemies would not have accused this notorious spendrift of - I take it this translates into "did not bribe me"), but he seems to be yet another proof that the envoys are where the good sensational gossip is to be had.
WHAT. UGH.
I know. To be fair, Rebenac swears in the further quotes from his reports that the Elector was stunned and heartbroken afterwards as he really seems to have believed his son Ludwig was faking it until then, but that also is telling about how badly relationships between him and the sons of his first marriage had gotten.
Also. Err. Think Fritz and AW. (Though poor Ludwig seems to have done nothing to piss off Dad but side with future F1.)
F1 blaming Stepmom because he couldn't blame Dad directly: Mind you, I think if that's what he did, it was more a subconscious decision. The "You know I know what a stepmother is" remark in his letter to Sophie, reassuring her Wife 3 won't be mean to SD and FW, is testimony to the fact he at the very least even years later did not like his stepmother much. But it's true, he didn't do anything against her once the Elector was dead. Which could also be because he got along with his younger half brothers (the youngest of whom was basically of an age with FW and thus partly co-raised by F1), and she was their mother. I would say "or because F1 was more of a forgiving type", but then again, Danckelmann. (Where I think Werner Schmidt has a point that the unusual harshness of his fall and punishment was due to unhealed wounds from F1's childhood, despite his admiration for Danckelmann's gifts and dedication to the state.)
Yep- It's also yet another factor why I think Fritz later fixated so on bashing F1 - grandparents are another issue, especially grandparents whose entire way of like has been thouroughly condemned by Dad. And let's not forget, those same historians condemning Wilhelmine for being a bad daughter due to the way she wrote about her parents, especially F1, in her memoirs, applaud Fritz for being "an honest historian" for the way he bashes F1 and lauds FW. If, by contrast, he'd have gone for a full on FW critique, I think they'd have felt uneasy and not known what to do, because on the one hand, legendary King and der Einzige, on the other, filial disrespect. I'm basing this on the way even later 19th and early 20th century historians are uneasy by his FW hostile comments from his letters to Wilhelmine in the 1730s. (Not least because they go against the treasured Hohenzollern image of FW & Fritz being entirely reconciled post August 1731.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Once Upon A Time in Brandenburg: The Affair of the Poisons (Prussian Edition)
Date: 2021-08-12 07:18 am (UTC)I thought so, too. I mean, evidently colored by bias and wishful thinking (Kurprinz F1 on his deathbed, "feeble-minded" Danckelmann - even his worst enemies would not have accused Danckelmann of being feeble minded -, presumably because he wasn't a fan of Louis XIV, future F1 "a miser", which, again, his worst enemies would not have accused this notorious spendrift of - I take it this translates into "did not bribe me"), but he seems to be yet another proof that the envoys are where the good sensational gossip is to be had.
WHAT. UGH.
I know. To be fair, Rebenac swears in the further quotes from his reports that the Elector was stunned and heartbroken afterwards as he really seems to have believed his son Ludwig was faking it until then, but that also is telling about how badly relationships between him and the sons of his first marriage had gotten.
Also. Err. Think Fritz and AW. (Though poor Ludwig seems to have done nothing to piss off Dad but side with future F1.)
F1 blaming Stepmom because he couldn't blame Dad directly: Mind you, I think if that's what he did, it was more a subconscious decision. The "You know I know what a stepmother is" remark in his letter to Sophie, reassuring her Wife 3 won't be mean to SD and FW, is testimony to the fact he at the very least even years later did not like his stepmother much. But it's true, he didn't do anything against her once the Elector was dead. Which could also be because he got along with his younger half brothers (the youngest of whom was basically of an age with FW and thus partly co-raised by F1), and she was their mother. I would say "or because F1 was more of a forgiving type", but then again, Danckelmann. (Where I think Werner Schmidt has a point that the unusual harshness of his fall and punishment was due to unhealed wounds from F1's childhood, despite his admiration for Danckelmann's gifts and dedication to the state.)
Re: Once Upon A Time in Brandenburg: The Affair of the Poisons (Prussian Edition)
Date: 2021-08-16 05:23 am (UTC)Also. Err. Think Fritz and AW.
Yeeeeah, true. Though I don't think this makes it better! :P
F1 blaming Stepmom because he couldn't blame Dad directly: Mind you, I think if that's what he did, it was more a subconscious decision.
Ohhhhh, sure, I buy that. I mean, like you've said before, there was a lot of societal pressure not to criticize one's parents, right?
Re: Once Upon A Time in Brandenburg: The Affair of the Poisons (Prussian Edition)
Date: 2021-08-16 01:54 pm (UTC)