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: Wallenstein and Kepler

[selenak]

No, if you're talking of biographers either in Schiller's time or ours, but then Schiller didn't come up with that one, it was, in fact, a story circulating in Philipp's life time, and part of the Black Spanish Legend. (Also it wasn't meant to make Elisabeth sympathetic, au contraire. Adultery with a step son from a 16th century perspective is incest, and anti Philipp along with anti Valois pamphleteers smacked their lips while telling this story. (Elisabeth: just as bad as her evil Mom and immoral sister Margot!)

However, pamphlets aside, the (good) way Philipp treated his Queen before and after his son's death and the fact historical Don Carlos had a terrible reputation meant that while the story was making the rounds, it wasn't widely believed even in the 15th century, let alone later. Though in later centuries, with Carlos getting a historical hero upgrade as memories of his personality faded while Philip remained in public conscious as the evil Catholic king par excellence, the idea of an actual Carlos/Elisabeth romance gained more and more track long before Schiller wrote his play.