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: II. Ferdinand

[mildred_of_midgard]

He doesn't add that Lehndorff's opinion of Ferdinand changes once Ferdinand gets married; there is a complete lack of mentioning this in the essay, which I found weird, given in the diaries this is the main reason Lehndorff gives.

Yeah, I glanced at the passage and saw that he said the two takes on Ferdinand are difficult to reconcile. I'm betting he just forgot Lehndorff said that.

though Meusel tells us he couldn't cut out this stuff altogether without falsifying history, and we're not to forget people weren't as moral then as they are now

Oh, this is interesting, given what I'm about to share in my next comment!

Ferdinand is stationed at Ruppin, i.e. in safe distance from Fritz most of the time, but also therefore in need of hot court gossip.

Lol, I love this description!

if I should lose an arm or a leg one day, I shall at least get regular messages from you.

Lol!

I still had the joy to remain with him until he went to bed and had fallen asleep. Oh, who would have said then that I was to leave him without ever seeing him again!

Awwww. :'-(

One thing both essays make clear that Lehndorff's relationships with the divine trio really weren't a one way road; the siblings did care for him as well, and valued his friendship.

Yeah, these letters were really interesting to see! Thank you for the write-ups.