Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 30

[cahn]

In which, despite the title, I would like to be told about the English Revolution, which is yet another casualty of my extremely poor history education :P :)

Also, this is probably the place to say that RMSE opened with three Fritz-fics, all of which I think are readable with minimum canon knowledge:

The Boy Who Lived - if you knew about the doomed escape-from-Prussia-that-didn't happen and tragic death of Fritz's boyfriend Hans Hermann von Katte, you may not have known about Peter Keith, the third young man who conspired to escape Prussia -- and the only one who actually did. This is his story. I think readable without canon knowledge except what I just said here.

Challenge Yourself to Relax - My gift, I posted about this before! Corporate AU with my problematic fave, Fritz' brother Heinrich, who's still Fritz's l'autre moi-meme even in corporate AU. Readable without canon knowledge if one has familiarity with the corporate world and the dysfunctions thereof.

The Rise and Fall of the RendezvousWithFame Exchange - Fandom AU with BNF fanfic writer Voltaire, exchange mod Fritz, and the inevitable meltdown. (I wrote this one and am quite proud of the terrible physics-adjacent pun contained within.) Readable without canon knowledge if one has familiarity with fandom and the dysfunctions thereof :P

Comments

Re: The English Civil War: C2 - Most Famous Escape Story of the War

[mildred_of_midgard]

So while I knew the general outlines of this part of history, I certainly didn't know this level of detail, so thank you for teaching us, and especially thank you for telling it in gripping narrative form!

One big problem. As in, a huge problem. You, C2, are a man so tall that unborn FW's heart would beat faster and he'd conscript you immediately.

I laughed SO hard.

Cook: You, wind up the jack! (Used to roast the meat in the fireplace)

C2: *has never done this before*

Cook: What kind of loser servant are you?

C2: I'm the son of people so poor that we hardly ever eat meat! That's why I've never used a roasting jack before!

Cook: *accepts that story*

This is greeeeat! And of course reminds me of Alfred the Great getting his ears boxed.

Mr. Norton: Jane Lane, as a woman, you'll surely stay and help my wife, won't you?

Jane: Err...

Pope the butler, the Jeeves of his time: *forges a letter from Jane's father saying he's seriously ill and she needs to come to him IMMEDIATELY+

Hahaha, good for 17th century Jeeves.

C2 also visits Stonehenge, because why not

Lol, omg, I was not expecting this!

Fritz: Some people have all the luck!

:(((

So I probably won't be able to reply in detail to the other posts, because German + 18C reading + my own post backlog (omg), but as always, I read and I learn and I admire! <3 (And as always, I'm grateful to cahn for the indispensible contribution of asking all the questions I never knew I always wanted answered. :D)

Re: The English Civil War: C2 - Most Famous Escape Story of the War

[selenak]

Re: C2's height, to be more precise and less funny, he was 6' 2" tall (1.88 metres), at a time when average male height in England was 5' 6". He also had inherited Mediterrenean coloring from the maternal side of the family, i.e. he didn't just have black hair, he also had skin coloring that was described as "swarthy" by contemporaries and "olive-skinned" by novelists, also something less than usual in England at this point in history. All of which was noted in the "Wanted!" descriptions given, so him posing as a servant really must have been a life saver.

Since you are a fan of maps. Today, Charles' convoluted 40 days escape route makes for a popular hiking trip, and a website detailing it has a map:



Some more detailed accounts of Charles' escape online: See here and here.

Slight parallels to the Alfred story: LOL, yes. Conclusion: don't hire escaping royals to do the cooking! If you do write your Fritz escapes AU, keep him far from the kitchen.

Stonehenge: Yeah, I know. When I read "Though sleeping at Heale, Charles spent his days at Stonehenge, returning to the house each evening after dark", I knew I had to include this touristy escapade. I mean, I sympathize. Stonehenge is quite something! And he may have been aware he'd never get the chance again, even if he regained his throne. (Salisbury: not a typical place to visit for Kings on progress.) But still.

Re: The English Civil War: C2 - Most Famous Escape Story of the War

[mildred_of_midgard]

Re: C2's height, to be more precise and less funny, he was 6' 2" tall (1.88 metres), at a time when average male height in England was 5' 6".

Which, to be more precise and less funny, is just over the 6' cutoff for the Potsdam Giants, so while FW would definitely have kidnapped him, C2 wouldn't have stood out in the crowd of giants.

I am a fan of maps, thank you!

Slight parallels to the Alfred story: LOL, yes. Conclusion: don't hire escaping royals to do the cooking! If you do write your Fritz escapes AU, keep him far from the kitchen.

A shame Louis XV never had to escape! He was, as we learned, the monarch who took up cooking as his hobby and learned, among other things, to make omelettes.