As mentioned, our author is a fan. It therefore very much grieves him that Fritz developed a low opinion of Denmark during his reign, which leads to Fritz snarking in that excellent work of history, Histoire de mon temps: "Under Frederick IV., Denmark had taken the Duchy Schleswig from the House of Holstein; under Christian VI., one wanted to conquer the Kingdom of Heaven. (...) If the imagination of a Prince is delighted by the heavenly Jerusalem, he despises the shit of this world. All moments devoted to the execution of state business, he regards as wasted."
Hartmann thinks this is unfair and mostly due to Fritz developing an intense dislike to Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, de facto Danish PM for much of Fritz' reign, including the 7 Years War, and a firm believer in diplomacy over war and in Denmark staying neutral instead of supporting Fritz. Bernstorff is the only person whom Hartmann fanboys as much as he fanboys Fritz, and he very much regrets Fritz wasn't able to see that Bernstorff was his only equal as a statesman in Europe at the time, the only other genius in a top position.
Bernstorff, who was in fact German, from Mecklenburg, (and didn't learn Danish in 20 years of ruling Denmark), also wasn't fan of Fritz, but he didn't let it get personal, nor did he try to use the kind of negative propaganda tactics Fritz used early on to attempt to get rid of Bernstorff. (About whom early on his envoy in Denmark had given him a report to the effect Bernstorff was a lightweight and all vanity, and Hartmann admists that he thinks the envoy was just writing what Fritz wanted to hear.) Now, one problem Denmark had was from the moment HolsteinPete became (P)RussianPete, i.e. was appointed by Elizaveta as her successor, there was the possibility that a member of the House of Holstein with the backup of Russian might would try to take back Schleswig once his aunt was dead. Said problem only grew because Peter, growing up, made no secret he intended to do just this. Since he also made no secret of his Fritz fanboying, the Danes did try to win Fritz around as a mediator, which wasn't made easier by the fact both Denmark and Prussia wanted Ostfriesland (and Prussia put its troops there once th elast native Prince was dead). And then there was the Bentinck Affair.
Renember Countess Bentinck, she of Mission: Seduce Heinrich!fame, young Sophie's horse riding heroine, she who first shocked and then befriended Lehndorff, and palled around with Voltaire? The reason why she'd come to Prussia in the first place hadn't been to seduce Heinrich, it was to win Fritz as an ally because she was engaged in a serious territory involving argument with her ex husband. How did this involve the Danes? Well, to quote the wiki summary (the one in the book is way more complicated and longer): . Since she herself exercised the government over Varel and Kniphausen, she delayed the payment of the apanage due to the divorced Count Bentinck and also led the interest rates due for the capital of 337,000 gulden to the other Dutch creditors. Bentinck asked the Danish King Christian V., who had guaranteed the marriage contract between the now-enemy spouses to mediate. With the consent of the Emperor, Christian V took over the chairmanship of an inquiry commission to determine the debts of the Grievite Aldenburg House. This found that Charlotte Sophie had incurred debts of more than 60,000 talers in seven to eight years, three times as much as she was allowed to spend due to her income. In order to be able to satisfy the demands of the creditors at least partially partially, the Commission put the Aldenburg estates, as far as the Danish Government had access to them, finally under forced management.
Charlotte Sophie could first retain Kniphausen, which wasn't under Danish control. After William Bentinck had called the Danish king to help, she also used the friendship to Albrecht Wolfgang to be able to process with his support as a German Reichsfürstin in front of the Reichshofrat. Albrecht Wolfgang's sudden death on September 24, 1748 was therefore a heavy blow. His son Wilhelm succeeded and began to renovate the almost bankrupt country. Charlotte Sophie was then forced to leave the court in Bückeburg and to look for a new protector.
Fritz was her choice. Now, the entire affair dragged on for years, and the Danish envoy's report offers a tiny glimpse at another Fritz boyfriend, for, in August 1752:
The Danish envoy Thienen reported depressedly to Copenhagen that 'he didn't take his eyes of the Bentinck matter, but the Countess Bentinck had found many good friends in his absence here, and with her, even persuasion would not accomplish anything. In such circumstances, he would have to resort to trying the channel Fredersdorf. He asked for direction of how far he could go, as he guesses he won't get taken seriously below 1000 pistols.
After explaining that bribery wasn't unusual in that century (you think?), Hartmann continues: The sources, however, are silent as to whether the Danish court listened to Thielen's advice. Moreover, not only Fredersdorf seems to have been the target of bribery attempts. On September 1752, Thienen reports that "he had sounded out a friend of Fredersdorf's, who had said that the Countess in question was handing out very good pensions to cabinet members, which meant that it would be very expensive to outbid her".
In the end, in August 1754 Countess Bentinck, having received no further aid from Fritz and strong signals that she should accept the compromise the two French envoys had negotiated, she did accept it (this included her two sons getting all her German estates and her getting a yearly allowance). But there is no more Fredersdorf mention, not even, as Hartman says, whether or not Thienen spoke to him directly or just to a "friend of Fredersdorf's", and whether or not the Danish court sprang the money for the bribe.
When Peter becomes Czar, the Danes spent six very uncomfortable months, but they don't twiddle their thumbs; Bernstorff manages to get an army led aby a French General in place, but before there is a battle, Catherine overthrows Peter, and there is much Danish rejoicing. The basic problem didn't completely go away, since her son Paul inherited Peter's claim to the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig, but Paul is a kid for now, and Catherine isn't interested in starting a war with Denmark. Which doesn't mean she's going to leave her son's heritage to the Danes who generously offer to rule Holstein for Paul while he's a kid, btw. Catherine appoints none other than Uncle Georg Ludwig (aka the former niece molestor, but also a born HOlstein-Gottorf) as Regent of Holstein, but also appoints Caspar von Saldern to do the the actual governing instead of Uncle Bad Touch, evidently not trusting his abilities. The Danes withdraw their commissioners from Holstein and are content that they won't get attacked by a Russian army.
I already told you the way Hartmann interprets the Prussian part of the Partitioning of Poland. Now, remember Lehndorff had a "Messalina!!!" candidate other than EC2, to wit, Caroline Mathilde, sister to G3, Danish Queen, also heroine of the movie "A Royal Affair"? Well, Hartmann's presentation of the story of Struensee is similarly... interesting. Struensee, as a reminder, is a German physician and Enlightenment believer who befriends mentally and emotionally unstable Danish King Christian VII and his Queen, probably has a love affair with the Queen, in any case ousts not just Hartmann's fave genius Bernstorff from government but completely overhauls said government, becoming essentially Danish PM himself and subjects the country to the most radical reforms this side of FW in 1713 Prussia, only without the military fetish and the Protestantism. He then learns that freeing the press also means you can get bashed by fake news left right and center, becomes hated as a sinister German atheist in pious Denmark, and is the victim of a palace coup in which he and Caroline Mathilda get arrested by army officers in the pay of King Christian's stepmother Juliana Maria. This is retrospectively justified when Juliana Maria makes the King sign the warrent. The people and the rest of the world are told that Struensee intended to declare Christian insane and himself Regent with the help of the evil adulterous Queen (this is how Lehndorff heard the story), with his stepmother and noble friends saving the King in the nick of time. Struensee gets executed after a show trial, Caroline Mathilda gets exiled to Hannover because no one wants to risk war with the Brits and G3 is her brother.
Now, how is this story told by Hartmann? As Struensee for entirely selfish reasons scheming his way to power and toppling masterful politician Bernstorff, and then thankfully getting his just deserts at the hands of Fritz fan Juliana. Why is Juliana a Fritz fan? Because Juliana is Juliana of Braunschweig-Wolffensbüttel, (much younger) sister to EC and Louise (Juliana was born in 1729). Fritz hasn't been keen on either Bernstorff or Struenseen, but he's not going to waste the opportunity of another fan on the throne of a neigboring country. He's writing Juliana about 300 letters for the rest of her life, treating her better than any other family member (with the arguable exception of Louise in the post AW years) and certainly way better than his wife. Juliana remains a fan. Since her son also becomes Regent for his half brother King Christian, who of course is declared insane practically as soon as Struensee is dead and Caroline Mathilda banished, this means Juliana is the power behind the throne for the next years... until Caroline Mathilda's son has grown up and really really Really is not a fan of step grandmother, retiring her to a palace in the provinces.
Now, what truly gets me is the presentation of Struensee as a selfish schemer taking over Denmark purely to enrich himself. As a reminder, these are the reforms, completely unmentioned by Hartmann and all revoked by Juliana, for which Struensee is responsible:
abolition of torture abolition of unfree labor (corvée) abolition of the censorship of the press abolition of the practice of preferring nobles for state offices abolition of noble privileges abolition of "undeserved" revenues for nobles abolition of the etiquette rules at the Royal Court abolition of the Royal Court's aristocracy abolition of state funding of unproductive manufacturers abolition of several holidays introduction of a tax on gambling and luxury horses to fund nursing of foundlings ban of slave trade in the Danish colonies rewarding only actual achievements with feudal titles and decorations criminalization and punishment of bribery re-organization of the judicial institutions to minimize corruption introduction of state-owned grain storages to balance out the grain price assignment of farmland to peasants re-organization and reduction of the army university reforms reform of the state-owned medical institutions
Yep, sounds like a selfish schemer, alright. If I hadn't already been amused at the presentation of the Fritz/MT feud and stunned at the presentation of the Prussian part in the Polish Partioning, this alone retrospectively would have made me question everything else Hartmann wrote before. In conclusion: no, Mildred, you don't have to buy the book. But we do know a bit more than we did before.
ETA: One nice thing Juliana did: she took in the surviving siblings of locked up Czar Ivan IV. who were after all her nieces and nephews when Catherine finally released them from the end of the world. But she did have Catherine pay for their upkeep.
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Prussian/Danish Relations according to Stephan Hartmann: The Fritz Era
Date: 2021-11-27 09:59 am (UTC)Hartmann thinks this is unfair and mostly due to Fritz developing an intense dislike to Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, de facto Danish PM for much of Fritz' reign, including the 7 Years War, and a firm believer in diplomacy over war and in Denmark staying neutral instead of supporting Fritz. Bernstorff is the only person whom Hartmann fanboys as much as he fanboys Fritz, and he very much regrets Fritz wasn't able to see that Bernstorff was his only equal as a statesman in Europe at the time, the only other genius in a top position.
Bernstorff, who was in fact German, from Mecklenburg, (and didn't learn Danish in 20 years of ruling Denmark), also wasn't fan of Fritz, but he didn't let it get personal, nor did he try to use the kind of negative propaganda tactics Fritz used early on to attempt to get rid of Bernstorff. (About whom early on his envoy in Denmark had given him a report to the effect Bernstorff was a lightweight and all vanity, and Hartmann admists that he thinks the envoy was just writing what Fritz wanted to hear.) Now, one problem Denmark had was from the moment HolsteinPete became (P)RussianPete, i.e. was appointed by Elizaveta as her successor, there was the possibility that a member of the House of Holstein with the backup of Russian might would try to take back Schleswig once his aunt was dead. Said problem only grew because Peter, growing up, made no secret he intended to do just this. Since he also made no secret of his Fritz fanboying, the Danes did try to win Fritz around as a mediator, which wasn't made easier by the fact both Denmark and Prussia wanted Ostfriesland (and Prussia put its troops there once th elast native Prince was dead). And then there was the Bentinck Affair.
Renember Countess Bentinck, she of Mission: Seduce Heinrich!fame, young Sophie's horse riding heroine, she who first shocked and then befriended Lehndorff, and palled around with Voltaire? The reason why she'd come to Prussia in the first place hadn't been to seduce Heinrich, it was to win Fritz as an ally because she was engaged in a serious territory involving argument with her ex husband. How did this involve the Danes? Well, to quote the wiki summary (the one in the book is way more complicated and longer): . Since she herself exercised the government over Varel and Kniphausen, she delayed the payment of the apanage due to the divorced Count Bentinck and also led the interest rates due for the capital of 337,000 gulden to the other Dutch creditors. Bentinck asked the Danish King Christian V., who had guaranteed the marriage contract between the now-enemy spouses to mediate. With the consent of the Emperor, Christian V took over the chairmanship of an inquiry commission to determine the debts of the Grievite Aldenburg House. This found that Charlotte Sophie had incurred debts of more than 60,000 talers in seven to eight years, three times as much as she was allowed to spend due to her income. In order to be able to satisfy the demands of the creditors at least partially partially, the Commission put the Aldenburg estates, as far as the Danish Government had access to them, finally under forced management.
Charlotte Sophie could first retain Kniphausen, which wasn't under Danish control. After William Bentinck had called the Danish king to help, she also used the friendship to Albrecht Wolfgang to be able to process with his support as a German Reichsfürstin in front of the Reichshofrat. Albrecht Wolfgang's sudden death on September 24, 1748 was therefore a heavy blow. His son Wilhelm succeeded and began to renovate the almost bankrupt country. Charlotte Sophie was then forced to leave the court in Bückeburg and to look for a new protector.
Fritz was her choice. Now, the entire affair dragged on for years, and the Danish envoy's report offers a tiny glimpse at another Fritz boyfriend, for, in August 1752:
The Danish envoy Thienen reported depressedly to Copenhagen that 'he didn't take his eyes of the Bentinck matter, but the Countess Bentinck had found many good friends in his absence here, and with her, even persuasion would not accomplish anything. In such circumstances, he would have to resort to trying the channel Fredersdorf. He asked for direction of how far he could go, as he guesses he won't get taken seriously below 1000 pistols.
After explaining that bribery wasn't unusual in that century (you think?), Hartmann continues: The sources, however, are silent as to whether the Danish court listened to Thielen's advice. Moreover, not only Fredersdorf seems to have been the target of bribery attempts. On September 1752, Thienen reports that "he had sounded out a friend of Fredersdorf's, who had said that the Countess in question was handing out very good pensions to cabinet members, which meant that it would be very expensive to outbid her".
In the end, in August 1754 Countess Bentinck, having received no further aid from Fritz and strong signals that she should accept the compromise the two French envoys had negotiated, she did accept it (this included her two sons getting all her German estates and her getting a yearly allowance). But there is no more Fredersdorf mention, not even, as Hartman says, whether or not Thienen spoke to him directly or just to a "friend of Fredersdorf's", and whether or not the Danish court sprang the money for the bribe.
When Peter becomes Czar, the Danes spent six very uncomfortable months, but they don't twiddle their thumbs; Bernstorff manages to get an army led aby a French General in place, but before there is a battle, Catherine overthrows Peter, and there is much Danish rejoicing. The basic problem didn't completely go away, since her son Paul inherited Peter's claim to the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig, but Paul is a kid for now, and Catherine isn't interested in starting a war with Denmark. Which doesn't mean she's going to leave her son's heritage to the Danes who generously offer to rule Holstein for Paul while he's a kid, btw. Catherine appoints none other than Uncle Georg Ludwig (aka the former niece molestor, but also a born HOlstein-Gottorf) as Regent of Holstein, but also appoints Caspar von Saldern to do the the actual governing instead of Uncle Bad Touch, evidently not trusting his abilities. The Danes withdraw their commissioners from Holstein and are content that they won't get attacked by a Russian army.
I already told you the way Hartmann interprets the Prussian part of the Partitioning of Poland. Now, remember Lehndorff had a "Messalina!!!" candidate other than EC2, to wit, Caroline Mathilde, sister to G3, Danish Queen, also heroine of the movie "A Royal Affair"? Well, Hartmann's presentation of the story of Struensee is similarly... interesting. Struensee, as a reminder, is a German physician and Enlightenment believer who befriends mentally and emotionally unstable Danish King Christian VII and his Queen, probably has a love affair with the Queen, in any case ousts not just Hartmann's fave genius Bernstorff from government but completely overhauls said government, becoming essentially Danish PM himself and subjects the country to the most radical reforms this side of FW in 1713 Prussia, only without the military fetish and the Protestantism. He then learns that freeing the press also means you can get bashed by fake news left right and center, becomes hated as a sinister German atheist in pious Denmark, and is the victim of a palace coup in which he and Caroline Mathilda get arrested by army officers in the pay of King Christian's stepmother Juliana Maria. This is retrospectively justified when Juliana Maria makes the King sign the warrent. The people and the rest of the world are told that Struensee intended to declare Christian insane and himself Regent with the help of the evil adulterous Queen (this is how Lehndorff heard the story), with his stepmother and noble friends saving the King in the nick of time. Struensee gets executed after a show trial, Caroline Mathilda gets exiled to Hannover because no one wants to risk war with the Brits and G3 is her brother.
Now, how is this story told by Hartmann? As Struensee for entirely selfish reasons scheming his way to power and toppling masterful politician Bernstorff, and then thankfully getting his just deserts at the hands of Fritz fan Juliana. Why is Juliana a Fritz fan? Because Juliana is Juliana of Braunschweig-Wolffensbüttel, (much younger) sister to EC and Louise (Juliana was born in 1729). Fritz hasn't been keen on either Bernstorff or Struenseen, but he's not going to waste the opportunity of another fan on the throne of a neigboring country. He's writing Juliana about 300 letters for the rest of her life, treating her better than any other family member (with the arguable exception of Louise in the post AW years) and certainly way better than his wife. Juliana remains a fan. Since her son also becomes Regent for his half brother King Christian, who of course is declared insane practically as soon as Struensee is dead and Caroline Mathilda banished, this means Juliana is the power behind the throne for the next years... until Caroline Mathilda's son has grown up and really really Really is not a fan of step grandmother, retiring her to a palace in the provinces.
Now, what truly gets me is the presentation of Struensee as a selfish schemer taking over Denmark purely to enrich himself. As a reminder, these are the reforms, completely unmentioned by Hartmann and all revoked by Juliana, for which Struensee is responsible:
abolition of torture
abolition of unfree labor (corvée)
abolition of the censorship of the press
abolition of the practice of preferring nobles for state offices
abolition of noble privileges
abolition of "undeserved" revenues for nobles
abolition of the etiquette rules at the Royal Court
abolition of the Royal Court's aristocracy
abolition of state funding of unproductive manufacturers
abolition of several holidays
introduction of a tax on gambling and luxury horses to fund nursing of foundlings
ban of slave trade in the Danish colonies
rewarding only actual achievements with feudal titles and decorations
criminalization and punishment of bribery
re-organization of the judicial institutions to minimize corruption
introduction of state-owned grain storages to balance out the grain price
assignment of farmland to peasants
re-organization and reduction of the army
university reforms
reform of the state-owned medical institutions
Yep, sounds like a selfish schemer, alright. If I hadn't already been amused at the presentation of the Fritz/MT feud and stunned at the presentation of the Prussian part in the Polish Partioning, this alone retrospectively would have made me question everything else Hartmann wrote before. In conclusion: no, Mildred, you don't have to buy the book. But we do know a bit more than we did before.
ETA: One nice thing Juliana did: she took in the surviving siblings of locked up Czar Ivan IV. who were after all her nieces and nephews when Catherine finally released them from the end of the world. But she did have Catherine pay for their upkeep.