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cahnStarting 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:
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:
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.
Re: Lehndorff
Date: 2022-07-11 05:04 am (UTC)The death is sad, but I totally laughed at this.
Re: Lehndorff
Date: 2022-07-11 05:12 am (UTC)Re: Lehndorff
Date: 2022-07-11 05:37 am (UTC)Aww, Lehndorff finding religious comfort in the idea that there is a God who makes all these things happen according to his will.
Heinrich: the dearest of mortals. <3
Oh, wow, now he's the only friend Lehndorff has in the world.
Oh, wait, wait, wait! Another mystery is cleared up (I think).
Okay, remember back when I was reading volume 1, and Lehndorff lost a fortune to a hated Katte rival that was supposed to come to him from his "cousin"? I assumed this was cousin du Rosey, whom he was supposed to marry, but Selena pointed out that the German says "Vetter," which is male cousin. We agreed, "What are the odds that Lehndorff lost two fortunes from two cousins between 1750 and 1755 to a hated Katte rival?" and Selena speculated that the French "cousine" had an illegible -e.
Now that I've put together the entries from the two volumes (seriously, I think I'm going to have to start reading them in conjunction), the male cousin must be Marschall!
Okay, this grudge against the Katte family is starting to make sense. Ludolf gets the woman Lehndorff wanted to marry *and* her fortune, and his younger brother Heinrich Christoph, the Staatsminister, gets the fortune Lehndorff was supposed to inherit from beloved cousin Marschall von Bieberstein!
I'm still just terribly curious how Lehndorff lost out on this fortune in favor of a Katte. Fritz intervening again?
ETA: No, it can't be. It would make sense of why Lehndorff's so upset about a Katte getting the inheritance (if it was at his expense), but it doesn't work for several reasons:
1. The timing doesn't work. His hopes re his cousin's fortune are "disappearing" on March 20. On March 11, Marschall's fortune has already gone to Katte. Furthmore, Lehndorff says that the fortune has been promised to him for a long time, and cousin Marschall was only 23 and died unexpectedly of smallpox.
2. The emotions don't work: Lehndorff says he was so happy because he was going to be rich, but that doesn't fit with the unexpected pox of a beloved 23-year old whose sickbed he's been visiting regularly. (It fits with Fritz and Wilhelmine waiting for FW to kick the bucket.)
The emotional language fits much more with the female cousin marriage:
There is really nothing sadder for a person than to be in the situation of achieving good or very good circumstances, and with one blow to be robbed of this prospect. I was pleased with my situation, I had the hope of becoming rich; everything was looking good for me. Then, in the moment in which I thought to have it all, I see myself condemned to a modest fate, which is hard to bear.
So we're back to thinking "cousine" might have been misread as "cousin."
Lehndorff, your cousin relationships are very confusing, and also, why did Staatsminister Katte get Marschall's fortune? I still wonder if his had to do with Fritz, since I'm not seeing a relationship through the female line (but I also can't get a full family tree, so I could easily be missing a connection).
But man, Lehndorff seeing Staatsminister Katte get a fortune on March 11 and Ludolf on March 20...the resentment is understandable!
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-11 09:56 am (UTC)Dieselben Erfahrungen habe ich in Geldangelegenheiten gemacht. Als ich 20 Jahre alt war, sollte ich ein sehr reiches Fräulein du R o s e y heiraten. Ihre Familie wünschte durchaus diese Verbindung, und die meinige nötigte mich beinahe mit Gewalt dazu. Im letzten Augenblick brachte aber eine böse Schwiegermutter die Sache zum Scheitern. Das junge Fräulein hatte einen Halbbruder, Marschall v.Biberstein, der mir sehr zugetan war, während er seine Schwester nicht leiden konnte. Er beabsichtigte, mir sein ganzes Vermögen zu hinterlassen. Da kommt er nach Berlin, bekommt die Pocken, will ein Testament zu meinen Gunsten machen, verliert den Kopf und stirbt. Nun heirate ich das reiche Fräulein v. H à s e l e r. Sie macht mich glücklich und schenkt mir vier Kinder, von denen zwei leben und wohlauf sind. Sie hat eine einzige Schwester, die Blut speit, und eine schlagflüssige Mutter, die mir schwerlich die Reichtümer der ganzen Familie gegönnt hätte. Da ereilt mich im Verlauf von acht Monaten ein schreckliches Geschick. Meine beiden reizenden Kinder sterben binnen 24 Stunden am Keuchhusten. Meine Frau, die gerade schwanger ist, bekommt Nervenkrämpfe, kommt zu früh nieder, wird immer schwächer und stirbt in Koblenz, und ich bleibe im größten Herzeleid und des ganzen großen Vermögens beraubt zurück
Translation: I've made the same experience in money matters. When I was twenty, I was supposed to marry a very rich Fräulein du Rosey. Her family was all for the match while mine nearly had to force me into it. But in the last moment, an evil mother-in-law ruined everything. The young miss had a half brother, Marschall v. Bieberstein, who had much affection for me while he couldn't stand his sister. He wanted to leave all his fortune to me. Then he comes to Berlin, wants to make a last will in my favor, gets small pox, loses his head and dies. Then I marry rich Fräulein von Hasel. She makes me happy and gives me four children, of whom two live and are well. She has only one sister who spits blood and a mother who keeps having strokes and who isn't likely to want me to have the family fortune. Then I suffer a horrible fate within eight months. My two charming children die within twenty four hours of diphteria. My wife, who is pregnant at the time, gets nervous attacks, gets into labor too early, keeps weakening and dies in Koblenz, and I remain alone with the greatest suffering of the heart and without all the enormous fortune.
Okay, Lehndorff. Firstly, if you had to be practically forced into the engagement, what were all those complaints about Frau von Katte, the one who got away, who'd suited you perfectly all about? And all the entries about how Ludolf is the worst, and so are his other family members, and your poor cousin etc? Conversely, does that mean you changed your opinion about Cousin du Rosey twice, because as I recall there's an early entry in volume 1 about seeing the one "I was supposed to marry" at the opera and how happy you feel you didn't have to marry her? Was this perhaps a case of sore grapes? What was going on?
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-11 10:05 am (UTC)Okay, so I'm still a little confused. There are two separate inheritances? Hers (from her parents) and his? Because she was rich before he died unexpectedly, right?
Also, I seem to recall Fontane said Ludolf was supposed to pick up the rich heiress for one of his brothers, and ended up marrying her instead. I guess Staatsminister von Katte (who never married) was the one who was supposed to marry her, and then he was screwed over by his older brother?
"Never let fraternal ties get in the way of grabbing a fortune," said every Katte ever. (
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-11 10:09 am (UTC)Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-11 10:15 am (UTC)In today's episode of the Katte family soap opera... :P
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-12 04:38 am (UTC)Btw, even with this explanation, it did seem a bit weird to me that Lehndorff was so "I'm going to be rich!" over being made the heir to a healthy 23-yo's fortune (it was only the sudden smallpox that killed Marschall before he had time to make a will), but then I remembered that in the 18th century, nobles living on credit in the name of the fortunes they're *going* to inherit was a thing. Do you think that's what Lehndorff's reasoning was?
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-12 07:32 am (UTC)Oh, same, since there is a big difference to having prospects to inherit from a rich aunt or someone like that. However, it's worth remembering that at this point, Lehndorff is a younger son - he's the youngest of his family, and his brother who will die after Hochkirch is still alive and the owner of the Steinort estates - , and has just fallen in with a hard partying crowd. That must have been expensive, even if we assume the Divine Trio paid for much. In the normal course of things, Lehndorff's brother would have produced an heir and Lehndorff would never have inherited the estate, and Lehndorff is given to hyperbole. (See also "Achilles", or "prospect of the highest office" courtesy of FW2 liking him. I mean, come on. Heinrich might have had some reason to expect getting a top job from his nephew before the unpleasant awakening, but Lehndorff?) So what I can see happening is this:
1) Lehndorff lives in high style on the prospect of a rich marriage
2) The marriage falls through; however, Cousin Marschall, whom he has befriended, says something cheerful like "hey, no sweat, tell you what, until I get married you're going to be my heir, tell the creditors that"
3) Lehndorff takes this far more seriously than Marshall means it. (And yes, tells his creditors that.) It's not that he expects or wants Marschall to die, but once Marschall does die unexpectedly, he fully expects being the heir and is is rapidly disillusioned.
Also, all practical considerations aside, getting money works as a sign of affection in Lehndorff's subconscious, I suspect. I mean, he's not just the youngest kid but the one who is crippled and deemed a disappointment by Mum, who keeps giving him a hard time well into adulthood, and raised by Grandmum until she dies. Being made someone's heir = this person thinks you're important, you count, you mean something to them. I think that's also another reason why Meseberg for Kaphengst drives him crazy. He's never 100% sure that he means something important to Heinrich, because Heinrich never did something like that to him, or even something less spectacular but still out of the ordinary. Heinrich keeps inviting him and writing to him, and when they do quarrel, they make up, but Heinrich's favorites, from Reisewitz onwards who has made away with some of Heinrich's money in a bad way, the favourites get forgiven outrageous behavior and get extraordinary gifts, and Lehndorff, who undoubtedly means it when swearing he'd do anything for Heinrich, gets holiday invites. (And okay, in their old age permission to live in Heinrich's Berlin residence for free with his family because he can't afford a town house anymore.) So money is money but it is also independence and affection and counting instead of being deemed a disappointment.
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-12 07:47 am (UTC)Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-16 01:11 pm (UTC)Also, all practical considerations aside, getting money works as a sign of affection in Lehndorff's subconscious, I suspect
I mean! He's not wrong! Meseberg for Kaphengst and no palaces for Lehndorff does mean something about how Heinrich feels about the two of them!
or at least about sex with the two of themSo money is money but it is also independence and affection and counting instead of being deemed a disappointment.
:( <3 I'm glad that he did have a family he cared for deeply, even if it wasn't Heinrich.
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-16 01:27 pm (UTC)Well, yes. And let's not forget that Heinrich was willing to postpone his much longed for first trip to Paris, something he had spent literally a life time looking forward to, in order to pay off Kaphengst's debts.
What exactly Heinrich felt for Lehndorff is one big mystery anyway, because in terms of direct statements, we only have that one snarky remark in old age after an unsuccessful visit where Lehndorff complained about the last of the boyfriends, the Comte. Which is hardly representative of the entire relationship. Otoh, as Lehndorff consoles himself now and then, the fact remains that the boyfriends came and went, and Lehndorff stayed. Heinrich was quite capable of cutting off people when he didn't want to remain in contact with them anymore, no matter how close they were at one time (as Kalckreuth could testify), and he never cut ties with Lehndorff, he kept inviting him, hanging out with him and writing to him, and since Lehndorff was never anyone important at court, it's hard to see any benefit of this for Heinrich except Lehndorff's company. (Even if you assume he used Lehndorff as a good source for court gossip, well, that ended in 1775 when Lehndorff retired from his post as Chamberlain.) So clearly Lehndorff must have meant something to him. What, though, we'll never know!
I'm glad that he did have a family he cared for deeply, even if it wasn't Heinrich.
Me too, and that he was able to have a harmonious relationship with both his wives, and not only was the type of father to care deeply for his children but also the type who takes into account what those children want in life (thus when Karl whom Lehndorff has imagined as a scholar and envoy, in short, the kind of career he himself would have liked to have had, prefers the military, the military it is), despite having had a strained relationship with his mother, a dead father, and a physical handicap proves that you don't have to turn into a bastard to others if life treats you badly in some departments.
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-16 01:30 pm (UTC)Why oh why did Meusel either not publish their correspondence or publish it in a place so obscure I haven't found it yet?!
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-16 03:19 pm (UTC)And I'm glad to hear that Lehndorff was actually a decent person when it came to his wives and children!
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-16 04:11 pm (UTC)I mean, unrequited love must be so much harder to get over if you actually get to have sex once in a while with the object of your crush!
And an argument can be made Lehndorff, despite two wives and at least one other loved boyfriend, never really got over him. I mean, it's one thing to write when you're in your twenties and newly in love stuff like this: I rise early. The Prince writes a letter to me which makes me melt into tears. I jump on a horse and want to rush to him. When I see his carriage from afar, I hide behind a house; for my heart would have burst into pieces if I had seen him. I go to Schönhausen, where I walk full of sadness. I return home and write a very sad letter to another person.* I could never have believed that it is possible to be so devoted to another man. But what a man it is I have to leave! In pagan times, they would have made him a god, in our time, all who know him build altars to him in their hearts.
(Explanation: Heinrich has to leave Berlin for a while to attend brother Fritz in nearby Potsdam. Really, that's all.)
And quite another to write over thirty years (arguments and reconciliations included), two marriages and another boyfriend on Lehndorff's part vs lots of boyfriends on Heinrich's later an entry like:
From there, I hurry home, change my clothing and jump, after I had talked for a moment with my wife and her visitor, into the post carriage. In order to avoid the heat, I drive through the entire night and arrive on the 6th in the evening at Rheinsberg. I always experience a particular sensation whenever I get close to this charming place, when I think of the fact that in an hour, in half an hour, in a quarter of an hour I shall see Prince Heinrich again, who when it comes down to it has been for as long as I can remember the Prince whom I love best. I had all reason to be satisfied with his greeting. I cannot adequately render the emotion that moves inside me, but I am his, utterly and completely. (Ich bin auf jeden Fall ganz sein eigen.)
What his wives made of this, I have no idea, but unlike the royal brothers or some other bisexual or gay men of his era, he did like being married to both of them. His first wife and all their children (four in all) dying makes for heartrendering reading, and unsurprisingly, he was extra worried whenever the children from his second marriage got sick. Those passages are among the most moving of his diaries.
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-16 10:05 pm (UTC)Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-16 09:59 pm (UTC)<3 I'm glad that Heinrich and Lehndorff stayed friends and that they meant something to each other. Even if we don't know exactly what and even if it wasn't exactly what Lehndorff wanted.
proves that you don't have to turn into a bastard to others if life treats you badly in some departments.
<3333
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-11 10:14 am (UTC)Maybe, or maybe the positive opinions were influenced by rose-colored glasses because she came with money. I'm not saying he only cared about money, but I am seeing a theme here:
"My poor cousin died at age 23!" "Damn, I was supposed to get his money."
"My wonderful cousin I could have happily married." "Damn, I was supposed to get her money."
"My wonderful wife who died at the same time as our children." "Damn, I was supposed to get her money."
As I recall, they seemed to get along after she married Ludolf, but, it's a lot easier to be friends with someone from a distance than to live happily ever after.
I'm inclined to agree with you that the money is skewing his opinion on Cousin du Rosey in one direction (sour grapes) or the other (rose-colored glasses), I'm just not sure which.
Re: Lehndorff - the inheritence business
Date: 2022-07-11 06:52 pm (UTC)I mean, Elizabeth Bennet didn't just change her opinion of Mr. Darcy when he changed his manners and revealed the truth about Wickham, she also changed it at the sight of his considerable estate. :) Lehndorff definitely had both made sensible matches for an aristocrat of his era (i.e. he was looking for a wealthy wife), and conversely, while he hated most of Heinrich's faves for being Heinrich's faves, the fact that he had it in for Kaphengst in particular certainly is related to the fact Heinrich spent all that money on him. Money matters, either way.