cahn: (Default)
cahn ([personal profile] cahn) wrote2021-12-03 09:11 am

18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 33

And, I mean, it doesn't have to be just 18th century characters, either!

(also, waiting for Yuletide!)
mildred_of_midgard: (Default)

Re: Derek Beales: Joseph II, Volume 1: In the Shadow of Maria Theresia 1741 - 1780

[personal profile] mildred_of_midgard 2022-01-08 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
it might be that Beales, who was the first to use the correspondence between Eleonore and her sister, is using this exclusively

That does make sense. Let me know what you think when you read the passage. I still haven't read the Five Princesses book, because--tiiiiiime!

Forced second marriage: absolutely, and I think the "Der Kaiser reist incognito" author mentions it, too.

In that case, I had forgotten, probably from the cognitive load of reading it in German. I've noticed that a lot of times I understand a sentence as I parse it, but it doesn't get loaded into memory very well, as my brain is too busy trying to parse the next sentence!

well, MT and FS both had really good personal cause to know how important a secured (male) line of succession is, and what political danger can follow if it's not there

True! And Catherine the Throne-Seizer definitely wanted a grandson before she would even let the Ivan VI siblings go into house arrest in Denmark. Which is why the chronology goes like this:

1776, April: Paul's first wife dies.
1776, September: Paul remarries, under pressure.
1777: First son of Paul, future Alexander I, born.
1779: Second son of Paul born.
1780: The surviving Ivan VI siblings get to go live in Denmark (even though at this point they'd rather stay in familiar surroundings!)

what makes him think she'd have managed it beyond the few years they were married? During which she already clearly was depressed. If he's right, and Maria Christina would have withdrawn from her in any case to marry Albert, this would have made her even more depressed

Yeah, makes sense. Ugh.

I've wondered whether Maupertuis wasn't a bit miffed that they didn't try to poach him and hence had to invent some stories to make up for that.

Ha! This is now my headcanon. :D