He says they're being persecuted; since he's used to being top dog, I wonder if this means "actually persecuted" or "just not able to persecute others any more".
Probably the later. Also, don't forget, this is when Christian Wolff comes back. And of course now is top dog and superstar of the Halle university, even if he's not Fritz' mentor as Manteuffel intended.
During the 18th century, lots of Germans go to Denmark.
Since cahn is now listening to the History of the Germans podcast, she may or may not have already reached the episode where Dirk explains the origin of the Schleswig-Holstein question, i.e. possession of this much contested region wavering as much as the one of Lothringia/Lorraine does, plus the numbers of Danish-speaking and German-speaking communities in it changing as well. This is also a bone of contention then, and when in such a situation Germans start to dominate the court and the cultural life, to the point where the royal family itself is basically German, and the birth of nationalism waits around the late 18th century, early 19th century corner, you have an incendiary situation.
At this time, Gustav is married to Christian VII's sister
Not happily so, as I recall. Is this before or after he drafts the Finnish Sex Machine for reproductive help?
Struensee: I used to live next door to the Jewish ghetto and visit it. I agree, some Jews at court would be nice.
Hang on. He used to do this where, exactly? Because I seem to recall he lived in Hamburg post Halle and pre Denmark. And Hamburg, famously, had a large Jewish community, but no ghetto. Pöllnitz the chatty memoirists bitches about this in his travelogue which I haven't forgotten I'm supposed to read for salon. He's rather indignant that Catholics are under harder restrictions in Hamburg than Jews, who have synagogues and are allowed to live everywhere, shock horror.
(How the 18th century Jewish community fared in Halle, I have no idea, I admit.)
I can summarize the whole Struensee reforms for you in one word: Joseph.
They do sound like mental twins! And I agree, if the author doesn't make that obvious comparison, plus makes the FS mistake, he most likely had no idea what was going on with the Austrians in that era.
he never realized by going too fast was how much the luxury of the nobles was supporting the economy.
As I recall, FW initially made the same mistake for identical reasons - it comes up in the Gundling books - but managed to repair some of the damage with all the state boosting of clothing manufacturing now directed at army support. Of course, FW being a legitimate monarch, he didn't have to worry about being deposed. And he did manage to keep the nobility on his side.
Finally, the author expresses his disappointment in Voltaire, Diderot, Lessing, and the rest. Fritz satirizing Struensee is only to be expected of Fritz in his cynical old age, but where are the rest of the philosophes? Where's the outrage? Why didn't they try to protect him, if not his life, then at least rehabilitate his reputation posthumously?
Good question. Given we have Lehndorff's diaries as undoctored examples of a contemporary reaction, we know the way the story reached Prussia at least was that Caroline Mathilda (Lehndorff's latest "Messalina!!!!") and her evil lover intended to dope the poor King forever, if not actually poison him, and that heroic Juliana saved her stepson from this fate. Now, Lehndorff is working for Juliana's older sister, so it's not surprising this is how he heard the story. I recall some quotes from the Anna Amalia biography where her mother Charlotte mentions these events; again, Charlotte is married to Juliana's older brother, so she, too, has heard it this way. And Lessing works directly for Charlotte as a librarian. He gets his income from her.
Now you would expect the philosophes, as opposed to royalty and nobility, to be a bit more sceptical towards what to us sounds like blatant propaganda against a man of the enlightenment, but then again, that's spoken in an age for several sources of information are easily available. Remember, the way Voltaire first heard about the Calas affair was that indeed an evil Protestant Dad had offed his poor Catholic-attracted son, and he didn't doubt it but saw it as an example of how Protestants, too, could be fanatical. He only started to doubt it after members of the remaining Calas family approched him and presented him with more facts, and even then he did his research first before arriving at the "this is an outrageous miscarriage of justice!" conclusion. On the other hand, you have a number of enterprising Russian royal ladies in this very century who did manage a coup: Anna Ivanova, Elizabeth and Catherine. So, if you only have the official declaration to go on and are cynical about royals and their favourites to boot, I'd say the conclusion that maybe Caroline Mathilda and Struensee did intend to do away with Christian and rule with Caroline Mathilda as Regent for the kid son and Struensee as the string puller behind the scenes does not exactly sound unlikely. Especially considering that the free Danish press, while it existed, had presented Struensee as THE WORST, so it's not just Juliana who is saying this.
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Re: Danish kings and their favorites: Struensee
Date: 2023-02-12 11:14 am (UTC)Probably the later. Also, don't forget, this is when Christian Wolff comes back. And of course now is top dog and superstar of the Halle university, even if he's not Fritz' mentor as Manteuffel intended.
During the 18th century, lots of Germans go to Denmark.
Since
At this time, Gustav is married to Christian VII's sister
Not happily so, as I recall. Is this before or after he drafts the Finnish Sex Machine for reproductive help?
Struensee: I used to live next door to the Jewish ghetto and visit it. I agree, some Jews at court would be nice.
Hang on. He used to do this where, exactly? Because I seem to recall he lived in Hamburg post Halle and pre Denmark. And Hamburg, famously, had a large Jewish community, but no ghetto. Pöllnitz the chatty memoirists bitches about this in his travelogue which I haven't forgotten I'm supposed to read for salon. He's rather indignant that Catholics are under harder restrictions in Hamburg than Jews, who have synagogues and are allowed to live everywhere, shock horror.
(How the 18th century Jewish community fared in Halle, I have no idea, I admit.)
I can summarize the whole Struensee reforms for you in one word: Joseph.
They do sound like mental twins! And I agree, if the author doesn't make that obvious comparison, plus makes the FS mistake, he most likely had no idea what was going on with the Austrians in that era.
he never realized by going too fast was how much the luxury of the nobles was supporting the economy.
As I recall, FW initially made the same mistake for identical reasons - it comes up in the Gundling books - but managed to repair some of the damage with all the state boosting of clothing manufacturing now directed at army support. Of course, FW being a legitimate monarch, he didn't have to worry about being deposed. And he did manage to keep the nobility on his side.
Finally, the author expresses his disappointment in Voltaire, Diderot, Lessing, and the rest. Fritz satirizing Struensee is only to be expected of Fritz in his cynical old age, but where are the rest of the philosophes? Where's the outrage? Why didn't they try to protect him, if not his life, then at least rehabilitate his reputation posthumously?
Good question. Given we have Lehndorff's diaries as undoctored examples of a contemporary reaction, we know the way the story reached Prussia at least was that Caroline Mathilda (Lehndorff's latest "Messalina!!!!") and her evil lover intended to dope the poor King forever, if not actually poison him, and that heroic Juliana saved her stepson from this fate. Now, Lehndorff is working for Juliana's older sister, so it's not surprising this is how he heard the story. I recall some quotes from the Anna Amalia biography where her mother Charlotte mentions these events; again, Charlotte is married to Juliana's older brother, so she, too, has heard it this way. And Lessing works directly for Charlotte as a librarian. He gets his income from her.
Now you would expect the philosophes, as opposed to royalty and nobility, to be a bit more sceptical towards what to us sounds like blatant propaganda against a man of the enlightenment, but then again, that's spoken in an age for several sources of information are easily available. Remember, the way Voltaire first heard about the Calas affair was that indeed an evil Protestant Dad had offed his poor Catholic-attracted son, and he didn't doubt it but saw it as an example of how Protestants, too, could be fanatical. He only started to doubt it after members of the remaining Calas family approched him and presented him with more facts, and even then he did his research first before arriving at the "this is an outrageous miscarriage of justice!" conclusion. On the other hand, you have a number of enterprising Russian royal ladies in this very century who did manage a coup: Anna Ivanova, Elizabeth and Catherine. So, if you only have the official declaration to go on and are cynical about royals and their favourites to boot, I'd say the conclusion that maybe Caroline Mathilda and Struensee did intend to do away with Christian and rule with Caroline Mathilda as Regent for the kid son and Struensee as the string puller behind the scenes does not exactly sound unlikely. Especially considering that the free Danish press, while it existed, had presented Struensee as THE WORST, so it's not just Juliana who is saying this.