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

Peter Keith: $$$$$

[mildred_of_midgard]

This is the facsimile of the second document, a letter from 1750.





This is my best attempt at a diplomatic transcription, with some brackets where I'm unsure.

[? ?] Mart 1750

Berlin ce 12me Mars 1750

Sire,

Pendant le sejour que j'ai fait hors de ma Patrie, feu la Reine d'Angleterre m'avoit fixé une pension de deux cents livres sterlings par ans, et lorsque j'etois assez heureux que Vôtre Majesté ordonna mon retour, il m'etoit deü trois annes de cette pension, come il ne faloit pas moins que 4000 ecu pour les fraix de cet longue voyage, et que je n'avois pas pu encore epargner faut de mes simples apointments je me voyois oblige de prendre de Mylord Tirawly ministre alors a la cour de Lisbon̄e 150 moinois d'or, les quelles je contois qu'il seroit rembourssés par la Cour.

Mais je vois par la lettre ci jointe que cela n'est point arrivé come je l'ai esperé, et qu'apres dix annes je me vois encore dans l'impossibilité de repayer cette petite som̄e, quoique la seule dette que j'ai jamais fait[s?]. Ma situation etant con̄üe à Vôtre Majesté, et le peu de bien de me fem̄e etant employé à l'education de les enfens, jai recours a la bonté et charité de Vôtre Majesté qu'Elle me metra en etat d'agire dans cett'affaire aussi en honethome.

La gloire de vous etre attaché, Sire, sert de relief dans les autres Royaumes, et j'espere que ma conduite ne m'en aura pas rendu indigne, je n'aspire qu'a l'honneur d'être utile au plus grand Roi de la terre, et je n'ai d'autre ambition que celle de me rendre digne de Vous servire avec desinteressement et plus d'attachement et de fidelité que beaucoup d'autres.

Je suis avec le plus profond Respect
Sire
de Votre Majesté
le tres humble tres obeissant 
serviteur et sujet Keith

Notes:

1. If you're not familiar with the "m̄" and "n̄", that's a shorthand for a following m or n, so read as "mm" and "nn". This one I know from grad school!

2. "moinois d'or" I've never seen this, phrase, I've seen "Louis d'or", but I also haven't read a lot of French, so I'm taking "moinois" to be modern "monnaies", meaning "money."

3. Not sure if that's an "s" or just a meaningless squiggle at the end of "fait". The "s" doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but hey.

4. "honethome": That famous "honnete homme" phrase we've seen so many times before!

My best attempt at a translation:

Received March ?, 1750

Berlin, March 12, 1750

Sire,

During the stay that I made outside my country, the late Queen of England had given me a pension at 200 pounds sterling per year, and when I was so fortunate that Your Majesty ordered my return, three years of this pension were owed me; as it took no less than 4000 ecus for the cost of this long trip, and I had not been able to save money because of my modest income, I saw myself compelled to borrow 150 louis? d'or from Mylord Tirawly, then minister at the court of Lisbon, which I was counting on being reimbursed for by the court.

But I see by the letter attached that it hasn't turned out as I hoped, and that after 10 years I still see myself in the impossibility of repaying this small sum, although it's the only debt I've ever made. My situation being known to Your Majesty, and the few possessions of my wife being employed in the education of our children, I am having recourse to the bounty and charity of Your Majesty to put me in a condition to be able to act as an "honnet homme" in this affair.

The glory of being attached to you, Sire, serves as a consolation in other kingdoms, and I hope that my conduct has not rendered me unworthy, I aspire to nothing but the honor of being useful to the greatest king in the world, and I have no other ambition than that of rendering myself worthy of serving you with disinterest and with more attachment and loyalty than many others.

I am with the deepest respect,
Sire
Your Majesty's
very humble and very obedient
servant and subject Keith

Same note about disagreeing, especially since this one was even harder!

Re: Peter Keith: $$$$$

[selenak]

No interpretation suggestions, just a few observations.

1.) I'm glad he got the pension from Caroline in the first place (and stand by my fictional interpretation as to why she might have been motivated to help him), but not surprised it wasn't continued after her death. (She died in 1737, so if he was owed three years of pension in 1740 when Fritz ascended to the throne, the payment must have stopped with her death exactly.) Peter might have been able to win a great many people on a personal level when interacting with them, but he was still without any big connections once Caroline was gone, and I can just see some court official deciding that yeah, no, let's use this as a saving item.

2.) There is something very sad in "I hope that my conduct has not rendered me unworthy" - because methinks it does reveal Peter being seriously afraid that having helped Crown Prince Fritz the way he did makes him look bad to King Fritz.

3.) Peter signing himself "Keith" is very era typical - i.e. just the use of the family name - , but given the sheer number of other Keiths in Fritz' life, I think one can make the case Fritz probably did not think of him as "Keith" the way Katte was "Katte". Or was Peter the primary Keith, Keith Prime, and the rest of the Keiths were the Keiths-plus-other-name?

Re: Peter Keith: $$$$$

[mildred_of_midgard]

She died in 1737

Ahh, you're right! I knew she had died in the late 1730s, but I had forgotten the exact year. Okay, then, yeah, somebody decided to save on that expense after she died, and Peter had no other sufficient connections. :/ Poor Peter.

methinks it does reveal Peter being seriously afraid that having helped Crown Prince Fritz the way he did makes him look bad to King Fritz.

Awww, yes. I wasn't sure what conduct he was referring to, since we know so little about the late 1740s [ETA: except that Fritz thought he was intriguing with the Brits, and we don't know that Peter *didn't* find this out], but yes, you're right that the most likely candidate is the 1730 conduct. Again I say, poor Peter. I'm glad we know Fritz gave him some money in 1750, both because his pension got taken away and because FRITZ.

I think one can make the case Fritz probably did not think of him as "Keith" the way Katte was "Katte". Or was Peter the primary Keith, Keith Prime, and the rest of the Keiths were the Keiths-plus-other-name?

My guess? George was Mylord Marischal (the name by which he's usually known), James was Field Marshal Keith, Peter was Lt. Col. Keith or maybe Stallmeister/Écuyer/Equerry Keith, especially as there was at least one other Lt. Col. Keith that I know of in the early 1750s.

Checking the correspondence on Trier, I see a lot of "mon cher mylord" and "le maréchal Keith", so that corroborates my first two guesses. The letters we have where Fritz refers to Peter just say "Keith", but those are also 1740 and 1742, before the brothers Keith came along. Oh, wait, there's the 1747 letter, but 1) still no brothers Keith until later in the year, 2) that's in response to a letter about Peter, so which Keith it is goes without saying. So I don't think we know what name Fritz thought of Peter by in 1750.

Re: Peter Keith: $$$$$

[mildred_of_midgard]

(and stand by my fictional interpretation as to why she might have been motivated to help him

Forgot to mention, I stand by it so much that it's in a footnote in my essay as a possible explanation!

Re: Peter Keith: $$$$$

[cahn]

There is something very sad in "I hope that my conduct has not rendered me unworthy"

Awwww, yeah, good point <3 Peter! <33333

Tyrawly

[mildred_of_midgard]

So I realized that you guys might not recognize the name Tirawly; it's one I've run into a lot in the course of my research on "Portugal in the years of Peter Keith 1736-1740": Tyrawly (spelled variously) was the British ambassador to Portugal at the time.

I don't have a lot of anecdotes, mostly because these characters are largely foreign to us, but apparently historians think his dispatches "make exceptionally good reading. He had none of the caution of a normal diplomatist, and he wielded a singularly pungent and racy pen."

I haven't done a deep dive, but in browsing through the online catalogue of the British archives looking for records that might contain Peter's name, I've run across a lot of Tyrawly. For example:

Lord Tyrawly to Queen Caroline. Sends copies of letters which have lately passed between Sir John Norris and himself (f. 385). Gives an elaborate justification of his own behaviour and violently criticises that of Norris as rude to both King John V and himself. Latter has not even invited him to the Queen's birthday party today, so Tyrawly will celebrate it `at my own house, with my own friends, and in much better wine than Sir John Norris' table affords.'.

Lol. Norris, remember, is the British admiral who brought the fleet to Lisbon with Peter aboard. He was known for being very good at what he did, and loved by his men, a bluff, unpolished sailor who could not stop swearing even in polite company.

Folio 255: Lord Tyrawly to Duke of Newcastle. Encloses copy of his letter to Lord Waldegrave (f.257). Complains bitterly of the malicious and unfounded reports spread against him by the French Consul, De Montagnac, who should be exposed for the liar and `vile fellow' that he is. Thinks Dom Luis da Cunha's overtures to France have not been as well received as the Portuguese Court hoped.

He sounds like quite a character.

Sadly, the British archives charge a whole lot of up-front money just to tell you how much it will cost to scan your requested records, and the cost per-page is twice what the Prussian archives charge (albeit they will be in English), so I am not ordering Tywrawly's papers, but something to keep in mind, if anyone runs across him (and I will certainly update if I find more tidbits of interest).

Re: Tyrawly

[selenak]

Reading this and the wiki entry you linked, he does sound like an Irishman with quite a temper! Incidentally, I find it both interesting and telling that he's writing to Caroline to explain himself re: Norris and to get her on his side, instead of writing to G2.

I see he's active till into the 7 Years War, so there might be something about him in Andrew Mitchell's papers, but I don't have the time to check right now; I will later.

Re: Tyrawly

[cahn]

apparently historians think his dispatches "make exceptionally good reading. He had none of the caution of a normal diplomatist, and he wielded a singularly pungent and racy pen."

this sounds hilarious!