Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 40

[cahn]

I'm trying to use my other account at least occasionally so I posted about my Yuletide gifts there, including the salon-relevant 12k fic that features Fritz, Heinrich, Voltaire, Fredersdorf, Saint Germain, Caroline Daum (Fredersdorf's wife), and Groundhog Day tropes! (Don't need to know canon.)

Comments

Re: Peter Keith in the archives!

[selenak]

So Peter actually made Fritz (provisional?) godfather and then asked for acceptance afterward? Was that how it worked with royal godparents, you waited to see if it was going to survive, had them baptized with the royal's name in the register, and then asked to see if said royal would accept? Is that what Trenck did with Joseph?

On the one hand: if you think about it, it makes sense in that with the mail needing sometimes months to arrive unless you're a royal with a special courier of your own at hand, in an age with high children mortality and were you believe the child's soul is at stake, you want that baptizing done quickly. So I bet that's how Trenck did it, not just with Joseph but also Amalie, only asking after the fact, so to speak. Plus in the Peter and Fritz case, Fritz is at war, so who knows when the letter will find him.

On the other hand: a pregnancy takes nine months. You'd think it makes sense to ask potential high ranking godfatahers and -mothers before the kid is born during the seven or so months you know about the impending arrival?

I dimly seem to recall something about FW changing his mind with Ferdinand, not on the godfathers but which one the kid was to be called after in daily life, with him first being called August after August the Strong, and then Ferdinand after *mind blanks* But that doesn't say anything as to when permission was asked even among royals.

Oh, and Leopold is called Peter Leopold because MT in an effort to win Elizaveta over to the cause against Fritz and for Austria asked her to be godmother to Leopold, with the name "Peter" taken from Elizaveta's father since they hardly could call the kid "Elisabethus".

I'm glad Peter has such legible handwriting! And I have another, not that important queston. I'm just curious as to whether he ever found out he was suggested as a candidate for Prussian envoy in London and that Fritz rejected this idea?

Re: Peter Keith in the archives!

[mildred_of_midgard]

That's exactly what I thought! Yes, it makes sense that you might not bother a busy royal every time you have the prospect of a kid that might be miscarried/stillborn/die within 24 hours, and also that you would baptize your kid as quickly as possible*, but I was very surprised to see that you would put down a royal right away and ask permission later! What if they said no? Did you go back and update the church register?

* Except not in France, at least according to Horowski! Where they would sometimes wait years, and this one noble didn't even get a first name until he was 20-something and finally needed an official name to put down in the register so he could hold some office. How the French squared that with infant mortality and Catholicism, idk. Maybe all their babies just went to limbo!

Ferdinand after *mind blanks*

Ooh, good question. Who were the royal Ferdinands of 1730? There was future Ferdinand VI of Spain (mentally ill guy who almost got married to poor niece Isabella of Parma), who I think would have been Prince of Asturias (Spanish equivalent of crown prince) at the time? He's the only one coming to mind, though there are enough minor German princes running around that there's probably one there I'm forgetting.

ETA: Oh, duh, there's a Ferdinand of Brunswick, much closer to home!

I'm glad Peter has such legible handwriting!

My decision to choose Peter as my research subject is vindicated! <3

And I have another, not that important queston. I'm just curious as to whether he ever found out he was suggested as a candidate for Prussian envoy in London and that Fritz rejected this idea?

Ooh, yes, I have many questions that are not that important for my essay-in-progress but are actually of more personal interest to me than the death of his younger son. I just feel like I need that one to check all the boxes and feel like the essay is complete.

If I ever find out the answer to the envoy question, you'll be the first to know!

Re: Peter Keith in the archives!

[selenak]

Ferdinand of Brunswick, of course! And now I think it might have been mentioned in Stratemann's reports, when both the Charlotte and the Fritz/EC marriage were nearing completion, that FW decided his youngest would now be called Ferdinand in honor of the Duke instead of August.

Re: Peter Keith in the archives!

[mildred_of_midgard]

When I remembered he existed, I had to break my own rule and get out of bed and go get my phone to share the duh moment. ;) It makes so much more sense now.

Btw, I heard back from prinzsorgenfrei, and they are busy with university but going to help out with decipherment when they have time!