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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

mildred_of_midgard

Selena's recent comment on Heinrich as Fritz's l'autre moi-meme reminded me of two French cases I was going to mention here:

1. Fleury and Chauvelin. To quote from my original writeup:

Chauvelin: I'm Fleury's second-in-command in 1730. Everyone, even my enemies (and unlike Fleury, I have a lot), agrees I'm intelligent and hard-working. My specialty is public law. In 1727, I got the job of foreign minister, along with a lot of other important positions, at the relatively young age of 42, without any diplomatic or administrative experience, because Fleury wanted someone to work closely with.

I play bad cop to his good cop. It works especially well with British ambassadors! Any time Fleury does anything they don't like, he blames me. Since I'm personally abrasive and outspoken about my political opinions, and he's very soft-spoken and plays his cards close to his chest, they believe him!

This will lead not just British ambassadors but also future historians to believe that I had way more power and influence than I probably did. But eventually, historians will come to the conclusion that Fleury made the policy while I implemented it, and that we just did a really, really good good-cop bad-cop act that fooled everyone for centuries. Hey, Fleury called me his "autre moi-même"!

...

Chauvelin: Meanwhile, though. Even as second-in-command and appointed successor, my ambitions are outstripping my position. I really just want Fleury's job. I will conduct secret correspondence with a number of the ambassadors who report to me in other countries. One of which is a certain Count Rottembourg.

Unfortunately, Fleury catches on to all this conspiring, and I get dismissed and exiled in disgrace in 1737. I make a bid for his job in 1743 after Fleury dies, but it fails. I die a private citizen and an object lesson in hubris.

To this day (2022), my papers have never been found, despite Fleury ordering a search for them after my fall. This makes it hard to tell what I was thinking, which gives the writer of fiction a lot of leeway.

2. Belle-Isle and his brother.

So, Belle-Isle was this ambitious, charming guy whose motto in life was "THINK BIG." Eveline Cruickshanks' description:

Something should now be said of the character of the comte de Belle-Isle as it appeared to his contemporaries. The evidence is conflicting, for he possessed in high degree the capacity of attracting unbounded devotion or bitter hatred. The best and most vivid portrait of him is drawn by Saint-Simon, who was a friend of his. Saint-Simon described Belle-Isle as handsome, tall, a polished courtier with as much honesty as inordinate ambition allows. He possessed the very qualities necessary to serve his ambition: he was very adaptable and able to take just the right tone with everyone. His great personal charm, which was the main trait of his character, opened many doors to him, and he took full advantage of it: 'He wanted to please the masters, and the servants, the bourgeoisie and the parish or seminary priest when chance brought him to meet some, a fortiori the general and his squire, the ministers and the last clerks'. Throughout his life he made a practice of carefully selecting those who could help him, conciliating them, and then obtain the maximum advantage from them. He never made, adds Saint-Simon, 'a step, a visit, even a party or a trip of pleasure except by considered choice, for the advancement of its sights and its fortune, and, en route, applies himself unceasingly to informing himself of everything, without seeming to do so at all'. He was able to pursue the most complicated schemes and intrigues without ever crossing the threads. To these talents, Belle-Isle added a vivid imagination and an enormous capacity for work. He could never be still: 'he asked nothing better than to act in whatever way he could. His life was spent in continual activity. I heard him say that for thirty-four years he slept only four hours a night.' The danger of his temperament was a propensity to be carried away by his imagination.

But, he has an autre moi-meme to balance him out!

The career of the comte de Belle-Isle may be compared to that of a fine ship riding the high seas. The ship, however, was not without ballast. The steadying influence was provided by his younger brother, the chevalier de Belle-Isle. It is difficult for the chevalier to emerge as anything more than a mere shadow of his brother; yet his role was an important one. The chevalier was in some respects like the count, but in others the exact opposite. He was not as handsome nor as sympathetic. He had a rather biting and contradictory manner, but could please when he was so minded. He was more intelligent: 'nevertheless more accurate and discerning than his brother and incomparably more difficult to deceive, perhaps also less perfectly honest man, but much more capable and intelligent in all sorts of affairs'. His judgement, was much cooler and more restrained than that of his brother. It was fortunate for the count that from the earliest times, the chevalier had subordinated his own career to his. Indeed Belle-Isle habitually referred to the chevalier as ’un autre moi-meme'. The chevalier took over the detailed administration of their financial, legal and domestic affairs. 'The union of these two brothers made of the two but one heart and one soul, without the slightest lacuna, and in the most perfect indivisibility, and everything common between them, goods, secrets, advice, without division or reserve, the same will in everything, the same undivided domestic authority, all their lives.' The combination, as contemporaries recognised, was fortunate. D'Argenson wrote of Belle-Isle 'he has a sensible and ponderous brother; without this brother, he would be a madman; without him, his brother would be an ordinary man'. Frederick II, when he knew him, remarked: 'his genius was vast, his mind brilliant, his courage audacious; his metier was his passion, but he gave himself up to his imagination; he made the plans, his brother drew them up; the marshal was called imagination, and his brother common sense.'

Edited Date: 2022-11-20 05:43 am (UTC)

From:

cahn

Gosh, I think people saying of someone else that they're l'autre moi-même is possibly just catnip to me in general? Because these guys sound amazing and I would love all the fics where they are spinning out amazing plots that only work because they work together so precisely.

But eventually, historians will come to the conclusion that Fleury made the policy while I implemented it, and that we just did a really, really good good-cop bad-cop act that fooled everyone for centuries.

But also (as you can tell by how much I adore Voltaire) I super admire people who trolled future historians for ages :D That's awesome!

Unfortunately, Fleury catches on to all this conspiring, and I get dismissed and exiled in disgrace in 1737. I make a bid for his job in 1743 after Fleury dies, but it fails. I die a private citizen and an object lesson in hubris.

Whoops, Chauvelin.

'The union of these two brothers made of the two but one heart and one soul, without the slightest lacuna, and in the most perfect indivisibility, and everything common between them, goods, secrets, advice, without division or reserve, the same will in everything, the same undivided domestic authority, all their lives.' The combination, as contemporaries recognised, was fortunate.

This is amazing. I am such a fan of super close sibling/friend relationships like this <3 (I know, in this fandom it's mostly my love for the dysfunctional sibling relationships that's in play, but I love these too. Basically, I just love sibling/friend relationships with Strong Feelings, and even more if there's a vassal/lord loyalty relationship added into the mix!)

From:

mildred_of_midgard

I know, these are catnip for me too! 'S why we both loved Karl XII (I've decided he's Karl now, too many Charleses already) and Görtz trolling everyone with their wonderful partnership and complementary skills annd ruthlessness! I still want fic of them! Görtz was truly Karl's autre moi-meme, whether Karl used that phrase or not.

Basically, I just love sibling/friend relationships with Strong Feelings, and even more if there's a vassal/lord loyalty relationship added into the mix!)

Oh, then do I have a brother-brother relationship for you! It always makes me sad that they're secondary/tertiary characters, they're among my favorite brother-brother relationships ever.

From Diana Gabaldon's Outlander (historical fiction revolving around the
Jacobites in the 1740s), I give you Colum and Dougal MacKenzie (Jacob is their father's name):

“There was a wee bit o’ confusion when Jacob died, d’ye see. Colum was heir to Leoch, to be sure, but he…” The lawyer paused, looking ahead and behind to see that no one was close enough to listen. The man-at-arms had ridden forward, though, to catch up with some of his mates, and a good four lengths separated us from the wagon-driver behind.

“Colum was a whole man to the age of eighteen or so,” he resumed his story, “and gave promise to be a fine leader. He took Letitia to wife as part of an alliance with the Camerons—I drew up the marriage contract,” he added, as a footnote, “but soon after the marriage he had a bad fall, during a raid. Broke the long bone of his thigh, and it mended poorly.”

I nodded. It would have, of course.

“And then,” Mr. Gowan went on with a sigh, “he rose from his bed too soon, and took a tumble down the stairs that broke the other leg. He lay in his bed close on a year, but it soon became clear that the damage was permanent. And that was when Jacob died, unfortunately.”

The little man paused to marshal his thoughts. He glanced ahead again, as though looking for someone. Failing to find them, he settled back into the saddle.

“That was about the time there was all the fuss about his sister’s marriage too,” he said. “And Dougal…well, I’m afraid Dougal did not acquit himself so verra weel over that affair. Otherwise, d’ye see, Dougal might have been made chief at the time, but ’twas felt he’d not the judgment for it yet.” He shook his head. “Oh, there was a great stramash about it all. There were cousins and uncles and tacksmen, and a great Gathering to decide the matter.”

“But they did choose Colum, after all?” I said. I marveled once again at the force of personality of Colum MacKenzie. And, casting an eye at the withered little man who rode at my side, I rather thought Colum had also had some luck in choosing his allies.

“They did, but only because the brothers stood firm together. There was nae doubt, ye see, of Colum’s courage, nor yet of his mind, but only of his body. ’Twas clear he’d never be able to lead his men into battle again. But there was Dougal, sound and whole, if a bit reckless and hot-headed. And he stood behind his brother’s chair and vowed to follow Colum’s word and be his legs and his sword-arm in the field. So a suggestion was made that Colum be allowed to become laird, as he should in the ordinary way, and Dougal be made war chieftain, to lead the clan in time of battle.”

And there's another passage that's just as good, but it's spoilery, so I'll let you decide if you want spoilers or not.

ETA: But I really want to share it with you, so please want spoilers!

Edited Date: 2022-11-22 08:43 pm (UTC)