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: Letters and Journals of Mrs Calderwood

[selenak]

Oh, good point! I was wondering why Poland/Saxony, given his feelings about them. This makes sense.

Yes, his first attempt at travelling incognito, to Straßburg, blew up not least because he had no idea of how the kind of avarage nobleman he was trying to play would act. He must have believed he could at least impersonate Quantz for a few days, having known him for a long time.

I mean, we say that now, but the one thing salon has taught me is that two years from now, we'll find that little known factoid of the time Alcmene and Glasow conspired to steal royal seals to issue an royal decree ordering all the cats exterminated. :P

LOL, great point. Given all the other unlikely stuff that turned out to be true, I could believe it. Then again, I think if Fritz had gone after the Saxon cats, Poniatowski would have mentioned it in his takedown on Fritz' using Saxony and Poland to finance his war. :)

Re: Letters and Journals of Mrs Calderwood

[mildred_of_midgard]

He must have believed he could at least impersonate Quantz for a few days, having known him for a long time.

Headcanon accepted. This makes soooo much sense!

Poniatowski would have mentioned it in his takedown on Fritz' using Saxony and Poland to finance his war

Wasn't Poniatowski a dog person, though? Or am I thinking of someone else? :P

Right, yes, Catherine's memoirs:

When we entered my cabinet, my bolognese pet dog raced towards us and barked angrily at Count Horn. But when it noticed Count Poniatowski, the animal was visibly overwhelmed with joy and affection. Since my cabinet was rather small, no one other than Leo Naryshkin, his sister-in-law and myself noticed. But Count Horn wasn't deceived, and when I returned to the dining room, he grabbed Count Poniatowski at his coat and said: "My friend, there's no worse traitor than a Bolognese spaniel. Whenever I fell in love with a woman, I always gave her such a dog as a gift. Through the animals I always learned if anyone was more favoured than I was. This rule never fails. (...)

I mean, I'm being thoroughly silly, I doubt Fritz exterminated Saxon cats or that Poniatowski's apparent good relationship with Catherine's lap dog would have prevented him from caring!

But it *is* true that ever since I joined salon, my life has turned into a series of episodes of "You're Wrong About." ;)