18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 38

[cahn]

Gonna go ahead and make this post even though Yuletide is coming...

But in the meantime, there has been some fic in the fandom posted!

Holding His Space (2503 words) by felisnocturna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF, 18th Century CE Frederician RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf/Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Characters: Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Additional Tags: Protectiveness, Domestic, Character Study
Summary:

Five times Fredersdorf has to stay behind - and one time Friedrich doesn't leave.

Using People (3392 words) by prinzsorgenfrei
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great/Hans Hermann von Katte
Characters: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great, Hans Hermann von Katte
Additional Tags: Fluff, Idiots in Love, reading plays aloud while gazing into each others eyes
Summary:

Friedrich had started to talk to him because he had thought of him as a bit of a ditz.
And now here he was. Here he was months later, bundled up in this very same man’s blankets with a cup of hot coffee in front of him, its scent mixing with that of Katte’s French perfume.
_
Fluffy One Shot about one traitorous Crown Prince and the sycophant he accidentally fell for.

Comments

Re: More Peter Keith findings: Berlinische Nachrichten

[mildred_of_midgard]

Yep!

Makes it all the more interesting that Fritz didn't want him to go, even though he was an officer already.

I do still wonder why not! I mean, it obviously wasn't a compliment, in that Fritz clearly wasn't thinking, "You'd make a great addition to my army!" a la James Keith in a few years. But if he was concerned about Peter's youthful indiscretions reflecting on his commitment, surely he would *want* Peter to go to war. And he did give him a rank and a position as stallmeister (possibly with SD), so it wasn't a situation like AW where he didn't want him in his army at all. Which makes me wonder if maybe my initial speculation that Fritz felt some guilt and wanted Peter safely in Berlin and not dying as soon as he got back has any truth to it.

I would give a lot to know what was said in that first October meeting. Whatever it was, it didn't seem like it went especially well.

Therapy for everyone.

Re: More Peter Keith findings: Berlinische Nachrichten

[selenak]

I vote for a whole variety of contradictory emotions on both parts. For Fritz, I think your original speculation can be true alongside something else, to wit, a massive need to prove that FW had been WRONG WRONG WRONG in fearing for so long Fritz would be the plaything of his favourites and bring the kingdom to ruin etc. And making an example of Peter by NOT letting him join in the big war which will prove that King Fritz is different from Crown Prince Fritz and will get glory etc. is the way to make that point to dead FW. (I don't think Fritz ever stopped making points to dead FW, see also his need to work until his dying day.) If you think about it, Peter is unfortunately the one most qualified to make that point. Because Duhan is a lovely old fellow, with a proven military reputation, and while FW was angry with him about the secret library, he had been personally selected by FW as Fritz' teacher to begin with. Keeping a distance from nice old Duhan would prove nothing to dead FW, so calling him back immediately is fine. Algarotti isn't someone connected with the military part of Fritz being King anyway, and while he's just the type of friend who'd make dead FW go mental (or not? back when I was reading the Algarotti essays book, I was surprised to learn Algarotti actually had lunch with FW as part of the big wedding of Anna Ivanova delegation when it passed through Berlin before he ever met Fritz), de facto FW had no voiced opinion about him. But Peter, as the only one involved in the escape plot who actually escaped, as the successful deserter and as the one who knew Crown Prince Fritz as his most vulnerable? Peter is just whom dead FW had expected to become the new Wartensleben and Brühl rolled in one. So there, Dad. I'm worthy!

(Sidenote: actually, plenty of 19th and early 20th century biographies of Fritz do point out how the fact Peter never became a fave at his court proves that Küstrin Made Frederick Great.)

Plus I'm pretty sure that Peter, who hasn't seen Fritz for a decade and had him fixed in his memory as the desperate 18-years-old, was probably showing up ready for a real emotional reunion, complete with hugs, and when not getting that might have thought his worst fears are true, King Fritz now thinks less of him for having helped Crown Prince Fritz and/or resents him for living where Katte died, or what not.

And that's leaving aside any Hohenzollern paranoia about Peter being susceptible to English influence (as seen later when Fritz didn't want him as envoy); after all, GB is MT's ally at this point!

Re: More Peter Keith findings: Berlinische Nachrichten

[mildred_of_midgard]

This all makes a lot of sense. I do think there must have been a lot of contradictory emotions, conscious and subconscious.

I don't think Fritz ever stopped making points to dead FW

So very true.

AW: *sob*

I was surprised to learn Algarotti actually had lunch with FW as part of the big wedding of Anna Ivanova delegation when it passed through Berlin before he ever met Fritz)

I didn't know the details, but I knew he'd met FW first. Fritz mentions him obliquely to FW in their correspondence: "Hier ist der englische Mylord durchpassiret, welcher in Potsdam gewesen ist," with a footnote by Preuss that this is Lord Baltimore, in company with Algarotti.

That must be Anna Leopoldovna, though, right?

Sidenote: actually, plenty of 19th and early 20th century biographies of Fritz do point out how the fact Peter never became a fave at his court proves that Küstrin Made Frederick Great.

Oh, ugh, of course they do. Ugh, stop having opinions, 19th and early 20th century biographers! Stick to meticulous documentation of facts so I can admire your work ethics.

Plus I'm pretty sure that Peter, who hasn't seen Fritz for a decade and had him fixed in his memory as the desperate 18-years-old, was probably showing up ready for a real emotional reunion

Oh, yes, I'm pretty sure this is true...unless maybe Peter's son's letter is correct and he and Fritz already been wrangling over favors owed by letter beforehand, at which point Peter might have known to expect little when he arrived. (Keith Jr.'s letter is full of inaccuracies, but if this part is correct, it *would* explain the rumor that Felis found that Fritz was annoyed at Peter for coming back without permission. He came back with permission, as we know, but Fritz was so secretive about that that even Peter's mother thought Fritz had forgotten about him, so the report-writers can be forgiven for not knowing that. And if Fritz and Peter had already been wrangling by letter, Fritz might have been annoyed before Peter arrived, leading people to draw reasonable if inaccurate conclusions about why.)

complete with hugs

And I feel like Peter, even if they hadn't already had a conflict behind them during that first meeting, didn't have the effusive Keyserlingk/Katte/Algarotti personality needed to hit the right emotional note for Fritz. Like you, I assume he started out formal around King Fritz but fully expecting Fritz to make the first move, and things could have gone sour quickly when neither of them got what they were looking for.

Well, that's why I wrote a wish-fulfillment/wishful thinking fix-it fic where they got to kiss and make up in the 1750s. :/

Re: More Peter Keith findings: Berlinische Nachrichten

[cahn]

I vote for a whole variety of contradictory emotions on both parts. For Fritz, I think your original speculation can be true alongside something else, to wit, a massive need to prove that FW had been WRONG WRONG WRONG in fearing for so long Fritz would be the plaything of his favourites and bring the kingdom to ruin etc. And making an example of Peter by NOT letting him join in the big war which will prove that King Fritz is different from Crown Prince Fritz and will get glory etc. is the way to make that point to dead FW.

Ohh, that makes way too much sense. Poor Peter, and Fritz. :(

(I don't think Fritz ever stopped making points to dead FW, see also his need to work until his dying day.)

:(