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: Fassmann's life of FW - the end

[mildred_of_midgard]

This is useful when FS visits in time to attend Fritz' engagement party, because Fassmann bothers to write down every single official engagement FS had during the three weeks he spent at the Prussian court, so if anyone ever wants to write Murder At the Wusterhausen Express with FS as Poirot, there's some good material there.

Ooh, nice! Page numbers? I have actually considered writing this fic.

And all other kings also draft and gangpress, without being as careful with their soldiers, so there!

I mean, this is true! Fritz would later draft and gangpress with the express intention of getting cannon fodder for his high-casualty battles, especially with desertion rates so high! And don't even get me started on the British.

Still not cool (moment of silence for the shepherd). Also, less importantly but hilariously, I think FW started more international incidents with his neighbors over his recruiting practices than anyone else. :P

Why, there was this husband who killed his slut of a wife, and he'd have gotten the death penalty for that, but when FW heard what a slut the wife was, he pardoned the guy!

...

For all Fritz's misogyny, his willingness to let the woman cheat as long as the man cheats first is a breath of relatively fresh air. (Misogyny still not cool, Fritz.)

Also, FASSMANN. I know you are a product of your time BUT STILL. Some people managed to be LESS AWFUL.

(Which would explain how Gundling survived being locked in a room with young bears and firecrackers to frighten them.)

Yep, makes a lot of sense.

b) Poor bears. Teeth knocked out, forelegs tied to the back? Ugh.

Yeah. Poor bears. :/

since he was a bright kid, the basic "Oldest Brother got arrested" principle might have sunk down. And FW pretends to have him put under arrest, and makes him go through asking for a pardon, like Big Brother had done for real that same year? L'autre moi-meme indeed.

ZOMG. I knew you would find all the best anecdotes here! I was not expecting a faux arrest from Heinrich's childhood while Fritz was in arrest himself. Yeah, that must have been stressful, and wow. One could work that into a fanfic. ;)

Now remember which language FW's children used near exclusively when grown up, and also (most of) their religious commitment in adulthood.

Yep, and their great interest in forbidden philosophy. FW really knew how to make his kids love things, didn't he.

"One is tempted to call this the logical consequence of a childhood where German was rammed down one's throat."

Yep! As I've recounted, I had the same violently allergic reaction to unsuccessful attempts to ram Spanish down my throat as a child.

Thank you for reading this so we didn't have to! (What a find re Heinrich's faux arrest, too.)

Re: Fassmann's life of FW - the end

[selenak]

Page numbers? I have actually considered writing this fic.

FS shows up on page 426. (BTW, FS' schedule includes dining chez Grumbkow. This made me conclude Seckendorff must have informed the Imperial court that Grumbkow had the best cook in Berlin.) (Reminder: after Grumbkow's death in 1739, SD writes to Fritz that she made FW hire Grumbkow's cook, and "since then, we dine better".)

I was not expecting a faux arrest from Heinrich's childhood while Fritz was in arrest himself.

Me neither. I mean, I was familiar with part of that story, not from Ziebura, but from that dissertation about Heinrich as a military leader which I read a year or so ago; early on when summing up his pre 7 Years War life, the author did include a story about how he stumbled over his sword as a child and how FW therefore sent him back to his mother. But without Fassmann's phrasing, there is no indication this was played out as a faux arrest/pardon seeking. Again, 5 years old kids might have a short memory, but if as we suspect Heinrich was the original source for Catt's version of FW's August 1730 homecoming (children, urged by SD plead, FW shouts, children hide, Heinrich specifically hides under the table (which makes us think he's the one narrating the story) and he can remember this stuff in 1758, he sure as hell could in 1731.

BTW, something else I was also familiar with from the dissertation is Fassmann claiming when Heinrich got out of the baby stage he shared the favourite position with AW, because Morgenstern - who only joined the court in 1736, i.e. when Ferdinand was a year older than Heinrich was in 1731 which was Fassmann's cut-off - says the exact same thing about Ferdinand, leading me to the conclusion that second favourite was always the youngest boy once he's past the toddler stage but before the point where he starts to have opinions.