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: Secret library

[cahn]

Excellent deduction! and I share the "wow, 3774 books!!" reaction. Where did he keep them all?? (says the person who doesn't have that many because we don't have enough room!)

Re: Secret library

[mildred_of_midgard]

I thought we knew this in salon already, but apparently I was the only one who kept running into "more than 3000 books" and "thousands of books" in descriptions of the secret library and neglected to share it! My bad! I only shared it when I got an exact number, because I thought we had already discussed the approximate number.

Anyway! To answer your question, you're in luck, because fortunately for salon (unfortunately for Fritz), Katte included this exact information in his plea bargain: "in des H. Hofrath Peinen Hause gegen das Schloss."

In the house of Herr Councilor Peinen, opposite the palace.

Now, I was hoping to be able to give you more details on where this was! Alas, the Berlin address book for 1730 says that Hr. Julius von Pehnen, secret finance, war, domain, and also school councillor is living "auf der Freiheit" (selenak?) in the chamber councilor Rost's house. The only Rost I can track down is an absent member of the Royal Medical-Surgical College who is living abroad (so no address is given). I don't *think* he's the same guy as the chamber councilor Rost, but if so, our Rost and his address are not mentioned.

So who was this Julius von Pehnen (also spelled Peinen, Pehne, Pehen, and Pechen, just to keep things interesting) and what happened to him after Fritz's secret library turned up in his possession? Guy-Dickens says a French sexton was banished for taking care of Fritz's library, but nothing about this guy?

His son Theodor Julius is more famous, unfortunately. I find Pehne Sr. dying August 13, 1731, but little else (aside from a few hits saying Fritz kept his library in his house). Given the timing, could he have died while imprisoned? Maybe!

Oh, interesting. One (non-contemporaneous) source says the house Fritz put his books in was *rented*. If Pehne was living in a different house and renting out this one (which makes sense of Cahn's question about where they found the space!), he could potentially claim that he had no idea that this was the Prince's illicit library, it was all a middleman who had deceived him!

Anyway, I will keep an eye out for this guy!

Re: Secret library

[cahn]

I mean, it's very possible you said this in salon at some point and I just didn't stop to think that that is rather more books than I own!

Re: Secret library

[mildred_of_midgard]

I...you guys will not be surprised if I say I have a spreadsheet documenting the books I own, will you? It's in character? ;)

Re: Secret library

[selenak]

Naturally!