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

[mildred_of_midgard]

Friedrich Ahasverus Heinrich, which is the most Lehndorffian thing to do....

Hee! But it's worth reminding cahn that Lehndorff *also* had Heinrich in his name: Ernst Ahasverus Heinrich Lehndorff, so family tradition as well.

Just like little Friedrich Ludwig/Frideric Louis von Keith was presumably named after godfather Fritz *and* maternal grandfather Friedrich Ernst zu Innhausen und Knyphausen (no, these people are really, really not creative).

And, lest we forget, the least creative family of all, the Reuss, where naming your son Heinrich is obligatory. "The House of Reuss practises a unique system of naming and numbering the male members of the family, every one of whom for centuries has borne the name "Heinrich", followed by a Roman numeral."

where do we think the occasional Ludwig (including among the names of "our" Heinrich) comes from? It would be ooc for FW, surely, to do a homage to the French king?

George I, SD's dad, was named Georg Ludwig. He shows up in some of the books I read on the Hanover family as such (or George Louis), in order to distinguish him from all the other Georgs. Just as his son, George II, often shows up as Georg(e) August(us).

So I assume that at least in FW & SD's descendants, the name goes back to G1.

Speaking of names, a neat connection between the book I was reading on the history of the Hohenzollerns (which I have yet to finish but still intend to--it will get more interesting as we move forward in time and records become less sparse and more full of shenanigans), and the podcast I was listening to, was:

1. Friedrich is one of the favorite names of the Hohenstaufen emperors.
2. Friedrich is one of the favorite names of the Hohenzollerns in Brandenburg.
3. The Hohenstaufen were from Swabia.
4. The Hohenzollerns started out in Swabia, expanded to Franconia, then to Brandenburg.

So our Fritz's name and the names of Friedrich Barbarossa and your fave Friedrich II (stupor mundi), all come from Friedrich being a popular name in Swabia almost a thousand years ago, as far as I can tell.

It's also cool seeing the Babenbergers keep using the name Leopold, attested all the way back to the 10th century, and being margraves of Austria, later dukes of Austria, and then, when they die out, being replaced by the Habsburgs, who also continue to use the name Leopold for centuries.

Someone like Peter who married the daughter of a noble family would, for a healthy child, surely have had a noble godparent at hand?

For the non-healthy child Friedrich Ludwig, we have the list of godparents, helpfully identified by felis when cahn turned up the record:

Now, godfathers and -mothers! Male ones are Fritz (! although not too surprising with that name) and Frederic Henry de Cheusses, who was the Danish envoy in Berlin from 1743 to 1746 and came from a Huguenot family, just like the preacher. (He's mentioned in the Political Correspondence a couple of times and was envoy to Russia afterwards.)

ETA: Friedrich de Cheusses - the 1745 address calendar says he lived next to the Ilgen's house, which was the family of Peter's mother-in-law and might be where the connection comes from. Also, I had to smile at this description in his wiki record: He did not excel in excellent ability or rich initiative, but he looked good, was very reliable and especially extremely careful. These were precisely the qualities needed opposite Frederick II of Prussia and later opposite Pyotr Bestushev.

Female: Peter's mother-in-law, who apparently wasn't present, as it says she was represented by Ariane's younger sisters, Hyma Maria (the one who married Hertzberg later, but not yet) and Hedwig Charlotte.

Some supporting evidence for asking your boss: From my studies of Count Rottembourg and his estates at Masevaux, I know he acted as godfather to at least two of the people who managed the estates (not servants, but like bailiffs and stewards and whatnot). The most famous of his godchildren, Conrad-Alexandre Gérard, who was named Conrad-Alexandre after Rottembourg himself, ended up following in his footsteps and going into the diplomatic service. He was sent to the United States by France, and became the first ambassador to the newly founded (and still fighting for independence) United States. There's a portrait of Gérard in Philadelphia, and a college named after him in Masevaux.

While Rottembourg died when he was a little kid, and thus can't have directly mentored him in his career, I wouldn't be surprised if there were connections that Gérard senior was able to make use of (France at the time being one big network where you milked your connections for all they were worth, because there was almost no other way to advance).