18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 36

[cahn]

Starting a couple of comments earlier than usual to mention there are a couple of new salon fics! These probably both need canon knowledge.

felis ficlets on siblings!

Siblings (541 words) by felisnocturna
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great, Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758), Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758)
Summary:

Three Fills for the 2022 Three Sentence Ficathon.

Chapter One: Protective Action / Babysitting at Rheinsberg (Frederick/Fredersdorf, William+Henry+Ferdinand)
Chapter Two: Here Be Lions (Wilhelmine)

Unsent Letters fic by me:

Letters for a Dead King (1981 words) by raspberryhunter
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great & Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen (1726-1802)
Characters: Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Love/Hate, Talking To Dead People, Canonical Character Death, Dysfunctional Family
Summary:

Just because one's king and brother is dead doesn't mean one has to stop writing to him.

Comments

Re: Katte execution

[selenak]

Yuletide: the fic I corrected in my comment had in its original version death by firing squad, and the author graciously changed it then. My current theory re: firing squads is that there's no movie or tv depiction of Katte getting executed this way, but between Goya's paintings and a lot of historical and fictional characters getting shot in subsequent centuries, people not so familiar with the era when they hear of an officer getting executed for desertion automatically think "gun".

Incidentally, my mental protest two nights ago also continued "besides, you're making it sound as if Fritz and Katte ran away together, and they really really REALLY did not, but then, you're in the company of many a published author, and also, the actual way Katte was arrested was way too complicated to summarize for a throwaway comment about the ghastliness of Prussian education.

Re: Katte execution

[mildred_of_midgard]

Yuletide: the fic I corrected in my comment had in its original version death by firing squad, and the author graciously changed it then

Your comment, which the author quoted and graciously mentioned making the change, reads, "Katte was executed by sword, not axe," but I'll take your word for it, since you were there and I wasn't! I suppose it could have been a typo where you were thinking of the other Yuletide fic, which you didn't correct and which still has the axe (and FW present).

but between Goya's paintings and a lot of historical and fictional characters getting shot in subsequent centuries, people not so familiar with the era when they hear of an officer getting executed for desertion automatically think "gun".

Interesting! Make sense. When did death by firing squad start, anyway? When I think of firing squads, the Duc d'Enghien (1804) comes to mind, but I just realized I don't know when the practice became common.

"besides, you're making it sound as if Fritz and Katte ran away together, and they really really REALLY did not, but then, you're in the company of many a published author

Agreed. I think that's even one of the things we ragged on Goldstone for. I still think we could offer beta-reading services on Prussian history, if people only knew they should ask us. :D