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

[cahn]

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

(also, waiting for Yuletide!)

Comments

Re: The Anti-Machiavell

[cahn]

Probably the most Machiavellian contemporary I can think of is only 10 years old when you started this, and you haven't married her off to the Russian heir yet, so that she can start a Russian golden age like a WOMAN. :P

Ha! (Also, btw, I'm going through Massie's Peter -- Peter is 22 right now -- and kind of taken aback at the state of Russian women at the time. And I thought 18th-century Western Europe was bad! Go Catherine, is what I'm saying :P and i think Massie says explicitly that it helped a ton that she wasn't Russian. But also, go Sophia whom I had a more than sneaking sympathy for :PP )

Re: The Anti-Machiavell

[mildred_of_midgard]

and kind of taken aback at the state of Russian women at the time. And I thought 18th-century Western Europe was bad!

Right?

But also, go Sophia whom I had a more than sneaking sympathy for :PP

Yes! Massie got me interested (she was only a name to me before), and I would love to have someone else read more about her.

Re: The Anti-Machiavell

[mildred_of_midgard]

Also, I'm delighted that you're reading Massie! Is he not entertaining?

Re Catherine, though, I should point out that she's 100 years after Sophia, and that the position of noble and royal women in Russia had changed significantly. Before Sophia, there had been no women publicly wielding power. Before Catherine, there had been not only Sophia, but Catherine I, Anna Ivanovna, Anna Leopoldovna (as regent), and Elizaveta. There was a huge amount of social change, especially at the top, in those hundred years. Not that the odds weren't still against Catherine and it wasn't impressive that she managed what she did! But Sophia really lived in a different world.