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: Lehndorff Diaries: 1787 - No Job, No Money: Grrrr, Argh!

[mildred_of_midgard]

This meeting has to be deeply embarassing to both regarding what has happened between them twenty years ago.

Huh. Lehndorff, do you mean you actually believe Kalckreuth/Mina was a thing?

Weren't things awkward enough that it would be embarrassing regardless? Though I see later on that it does kind of read like he thinks Kalckreuth/Mina was a thing.

Translation: neither Heinrich nor Lehndorff manage stoicism about the increasingly obvious truth they’re regarded as useless antiquities.

Yep. But this is also what Lehndorff says about himself repeatedly in the early 1750s, his inability to deal with the emotional rollercoaster of unrequited love, or of being tantalized with large fortunes.

Firstly, Lehndorff, you didn’t meet Kalckreuth in 1764, you met and complained about him and Heinrich already in 1756.

Lehndorff: Clearly not expecting his diaries to be cross-referenced by 21st century salongoers!

Six bloodlettings at the age of 16, at a time where he grows the most, are able to destroy one’s health!

Exactly! Stop bloodletting!

More seriously, that passage is painful. I'm glad Karl recovered (especially since I wrote fic about him recovering at a younger age!)

Wow, Amalie. I didn't realize she had an eye removed!

Eighteen years ago, she had all the trees removed from her garden because she wanted to have an English Garden. People hinted she would not live to see the new garden, given her bad health, but her strong will kept her going, and I have seen her walk among the new plants.

That sounds like her, and I'm glad she managed to get joy out of her garden. (cahn, English gardens, which were more naturalistic than the rigid geometric French gardens of Louis XIV time, were in vogue on the Continent in the later 18th century.)

The whole Amalie write-up is really something.

unfortunately, there’s still the rant from which I already quoted the du Rosey/Marschall relevant passage. It’s one long outburst about how much life has screwed him over:

Indeed, but ever since you posted it yesterday, I've been thinking, thank goodness he ranted in 1787 and not 1788! Otherwise, Marschall von Bieberstein and the Mystery of the Two Lost Cousin Fortunes would still be driving me crazy. ;)

Re: Lehndorff Diaries: 1787 - No Job, No Money: Grrrr, Argh!

[selenak]

Weren't things awkward enough that it would be embarrassing regardless?

Maaaaaayyyybe, but as you say, the later passage also reads like Lehndorff believes Kalckreuth/Mina happened. BTW, is Mrs. Kalkreuth Mina's ex lady-in-waiting (who provided the excuse for why Kalckreuth was on his knees in front of Mina), or did she die already and this is his second wife?

More seriously, that passage is painful. I'm glad Karl recovered (especially since I wrote fic about him recovering at a younger age!)

Karl really had several near death experiences, it seems. Do we know what became of him in the long term?

Wow, Amalie. I didn't realize she had an eye removed!

I think a distorted version of this shows up in Thiébault; didn't he claim she plucked her eyes out for love of Trenck? Or was that one of the later writers?

Anyway, I'm glad her death was relatively quick and painless, and her funeral arrangements are definitely Fritzian. Without the dog factor.

Re: Lehndorff Diaries: 1787 - No Job, No Money: Grrrr, Argh!

[mildred_of_midgard]

Another quick genealogical note before bed: second wife. The poor ex-lady-in-waiting died in 1768; Kalckreuth married again in 1781.

Karl: lived to be 83, had several long-lived children, and had a successful military career, making it all the way to Lt. General. But also wounded in the head in a battle in 1807 and made a POW.

Re: Lehndorff Diaries: 1787 - No Job, No Money: Grrrr, Argh!

[cahn]

([personal profile] cahn, English gardens, which were more naturalistic than the rigid geometric French gardens of Louis XIV time, were in vogue on the Continent in the later 18th century.)

Ah, I didn't realize that was what that meant, thank you!

I saw quite a few English gardens before I saw any French gardens, and I was shocked the first time I came across a French garden! I'm with Amalie, English gardens are nicer :) (I realize you're saying it was also the style, but also!)

Re: Lehndorff Diaries: 1787 - No Job, No Money: Grrrr, Argh!

[luzula]

I have recently seen both an English garden (at Stowe House) and a French garden (at Versailles)! There were things I liked at Versailles, but on the whole I preferred the English one.

I was puzzled by the extremely high hedges in parts of the garden at Versailles, which were three or four times the height of a person. Does anyone know the reasoning behind that?