18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 37

[cahn]

More diaries of our favorite 18th-century Prussian diary-keeper have been unearthed and have been synopsized!

January 18th: Blessed be thou to me! Under your light, my Prince Heinrich was born!

Comments

Re: "Empress Elizabeth" and "Five Empresses" by Evgenii Anisimov - II

[cahn]

Something I did not know or had forgotten: Anton Ulrich, EC's brother, Anna's unwanted husband and father of her children, fathered a lot of other children as well during those decades of imprisonment. On the female servants. Who then become servants to the imprisoned family.

OMG!!!! So, I used to feel sorry for Anton Ulrich, but now I... really... don't as much :( (I mean, I still feel sorry for the imprisonment and his family and all that! But definitely WAY less sorry about him being with a wife who wasn't into him.)

Because one of the things Catherine says which the pro-Peter historians doubt is that he tormented animals in her presence. (Including dogs.) So Catherine's need to vilify her late husband not withstanding, these instructions made me believe the animals thing could very well have been true.

*nods* I had that same reaction when reading her words, without knowing exactly what Catherine had said about Peter -- that it's exactly the kind of thing you would say if you had actually seen someone do that and were terrified of your kids (or, well, your grandkids that you stole from their mom) turning out like that, and I wondered if that was a specific thing Peter had done. So, yeah, I agree totally with you here.

Re: "Empress Elizabeth" and "Five Empresses" by Evgenii Anisimov - II

[selenak]

OMG!!!! So, I used to feel sorry for Anton Ulrich, but now I... really... don't as much :( (I mean, I still feel sorry for the imprisonment and his family and all that! But definitely WAY less sorry about him being with a wife who wasn't into him.)

Same here. I mean, sadly servants being molested and raped was probably all too common even in households where the people they served weren't state prisoners limited to a few rooms, but that's no excuse.

that it's exactly the kind of thing you would say if you had actually seen someone do that and were terrified of your kids (or, well, your grandkids that you stole from their mom) turning out like that

Especially since Catherine's son Paul had dealt with his insecurity about his biological descent by trying to be as much like Peter as possible. I mean, a harsh upbringing doesn't necessarily lead to tormenting animals (you can also, like Fritz, become an animal lover and kick your servants instead), but it's not exactly unheard of, either. Anisimov, who as mentioned is a firm believer in the traditional image of Peter, says he "amused himself by tormenting dogs" even into his 30s.