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cahnLast post, we had (among other things) Danish kings and their favorites; Louis XIV and Philippe d'Orléans; reviews of a very shippy book about Katte, a bad Jacobite novel, and a great book about clothing; a fic about Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire; and a review of a set of entertaining Youtube history videos about Frederick the Great.
Fritz of Hervey
Date: 2023-04-05 07:28 am (UTC)So: Frederick was bff with none other than Sir William Hamilton, future husband of Emma, envoy in Naples, and son of Lady Achibald Hamilton whom Hervey the memoirist, Frederick's Dad, was entertainingly and jealously bitchy about in his memoirs, accusing her of having an affair with Fritz of Wales. Be that as it may, Frederick Hervey and William both started out as youngest sons of younger sons and thus without any prospects but came to inherit regardless. They met in school when they were 16 and formed a life long bond, not least about their shared love of antiquities, volcanoes and travelling. When Fred Hervey was still a younger brother, he visited Sir William in Naples for the first time and saw the fact Vesuvious had a cloud hanging of itself not as discouragement but as the signal to make a climb right then and there. He got burned at his arm for his trouble but watched the lava in awe.
During that Naples visit, the oldest Hervey brother of that generation, George (destined to die without an heir, thus making Augustus the next Lord Bristol, otherwise only known for objecting to his mother's Jacobitism) scored by being appointed as Lord Lietenant of Ireland. This meant that he did something for brother Frederick, who'd become a member of the Anglican clergy mostly because for a youngest son of the gentry, that's one way to have at least an income. (Frederick, like his father, had also married for love and thus not a rich heiress, and, like his father, had fallen out of love after the marriage, which didn't stop him from procreating.) Now that George was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, he made brother Fred the Bishop of Derry, which at once improved Frederick's living prospects to no end.
As we've seen, Frederick entertained himself by being a controversial (Anglo)Irish prelate who supports American rebels, wants requal rights for Catholics and makes his portly clergy do midnight sprints if they want to get promoted. An indignant G3, told about these shenanigans, took to calling him "the wicked prelate". Once not only brother George but also brother Augustus were dead, and thus Frederick the next Lord (and Earl of) Bristol, he returned to his globetrotting ways with a vengeance, just in time to not only visit his old mate Sir William in Naples again, where William had scandalized the world by actually marrying Emma the blacksmith's daughter and likely former teenage prostitute, and making her Lady Hamilton, but also to visit Rome when FW2's favourite mistress (and daughter of an army trumpeteer) Wilhelmine Countess of Lichtenau was there. Lord Bristol introduced Wilhelmine to Emma, Horowski says, and a good time was had by all. He also fell for her, and since she wasn't travelling alone but had hers and FW3's daughter Diederike (really, Diederike, not Friederike), aka "Riekchen" with her, Frederick suddenly had a brainwave: how about marrying Diederike to his own son, young Frederick (future Victorian scissors employer to Hervey's memoirs and Augustus' journal)? Hervey/Hohenzollern OTP!
Alas, not yet Victorian Frederick did not fancy marrying a child of sin. He instead wanted to marry a proper English nobility girl, for love, who again didn't have any money. This caused Lord Bristol to write a warning letter pointing out that marrying for love instead of money had caused misery in three generations of Herveys and did he really want to add a fourth? What was wrong with marrying an almost princess and daughter of a Prussian King, is what Frederick the globetrotting Bishop wants to know, while simultanously putting the moves on her mother, writing her letters praising her "dangerous white decoltee", her mouth, and other parts, and following her back to Berlin. (He also uses the opportunity to arrange a sale of his buddy Sir William Hamilton's vases to FW2.) But Frederick the future Victorian remains stubborn, and Wilhelmine has had enough, and marries Riekchen to some Prussian nobleman instead. With a sigh, Frederick the Bishop leaves Prussia, and not a moment too soon, because then FW2 dies, which means bad times for Wilhelmine the good time girl, whom FW3 goes after with an unbecoming vengeance, putting her on a show trial, stripping her of all possessions and banishing her to Glogau in Silesia, where however the irrepressible Wilhelmine charms her next young man and next husband, a student pal of E.T.A. Hoffmann's.
Meanwhile, Fred the travelling bishop has of course not returned to Derry or the family seat Ickworth, but to lovely Italy. Except who else is in lovely Italy? Napoleon with lots of French armies. Lord Bristol discovers his inner patriot and entering the "Cisalpine Republic" whose foundation Napoleon has just strongly encouraged, he writes a long spying report, fancying himself the Scarlet Pimpernel. But he's really not, so the report never reaches England and is intercepted, and thus Frederick sends the next 18 months languishing in Milanese custody until being released again. Fred Hervey heads towards Rome, and en route falls sick, like his late father, of "gout of the stomach". At first, the Albano peasant who takes him in is amused and flattered by the English milord, but then Frederick makes the mistake of mentioning he's an Anglican bishop. A HERETIC! Fie, thinks the Albano peasant, no English heretics under my roof, and chucks Hervey outdoors, where Frederick dies. His body is brought back to be buried in Ickworth, and so they can get it through the various quaranteene and other customs rules, it's declared to be a statue.
In conclusion, what a family. And I must admit, I'm really curious what a child carrying the Hervey and the Hohenzollern genes would have been like...
Re: Fritz of Hervey
Date: 2023-04-05 11:33 am (UTC)This is the boring guy? Come on, Lucy Worsley!
This caused Lord Bristol to write a warning letter pointing out that marrying for love instead of money had caused misery in three generations of Herveys and did he really want to add a fourth? What was wrong with marrying an almost princess and daughter of a Prussian King, is what Frederick the globetrotting Bishop wants to know, while simultanously putting the moves on her mother
Wow, I had forgotten all of this, probably because I had little idea who these Herveys were.
At first, the Albano peasant who takes him in is amused and flattered by the English milord, but then Frederick makes the mistake of mentioning he's an Anglican bishop. A HERETIC! Fie, thinks the Albano peasant, no English heretics under my roof, and chucks Hervey outdoors, where Frederick dies.
Woooow.
His body is brought back to be buried in Ickworth, and so they can get it through the various quaranteene and other customs rules, it's declared to be a statue.
Also wow.
In conclusion, what a family. And I must admit, I'm really curious what a child carrying the Hervey and the Hohenzollern genes would have been like...
Ha! Yeah, that would have been an interesting AU.
Re: Fritz of Hervey
Date: 2023-04-05 01:55 pm (UTC)I hadn’t really remembered from Horowski before looking it up, either, it was more something that tugged on my mind ever since Erskine’s introduction to Augustus’ diary mentioned Frederick was the globetrotting Lord Bristol whom all the Bristol hotels in Europe are named after. Because Horowksi only refers to him as Frederick Hervey when he introduces the guy, and in all the passages afterwards as Lord Bristol, and so I didn’t connect him with his father until this reread.
Re: Fritz of Hervey
Date: 2023-04-17 12:18 am (UTC)Aw YESSSS
So: Frederick was bff with none other than Sir William Hamilton, future husband of Emma, envoy in Naples, and son of Lady Achibald Hamilton whom Hervey the memoirist, Frederick's Dad, was entertainingly and jealously bitchy about in his memoirs, accusing her of having an affair with Fritz of Wales.
Better and better! I knew this guy would be entertaining :D
They met in school when they were 16 and formed a life long bond, not least about their shared love of antiquities, volcanoes and travelling.
I laughed at the "volcanoes." I mean, my second thought (even before reading the rest of the paragraph) was that Mt. Vesuvius was a thing and so it's not as weird as it sounds, it just... from my US 21st-century perspective it does sound like an incredibly niche interest :D
This caused Lord Bristol to write a warning letter pointing out that marrying for love instead of money had caused misery in three generations of Herveys and did he really want to add a fourth?
I mean! He's not wrong! (Though the Herveys also seem to make a habit of never staying in love, either.)
What was wrong with marrying an almost princess and daughter of a Prussian King, is what Frederick the globetrotting Bishop wants to know, while simultanously putting the moves on her mother
Me, reading the first half of that sentence: You know, sounds like what my parents used to tell me: it's just as easy to fall in love with a rich guy as a poor guy. (I mean, this was their claim, anyway.)
Me, reading the second half of that sentence and doing a spittake: ...okay, NOT like my parents.
he writes a long spying report, fancying himself the Scarlet Pimpernel. But he's really not, so the report never reaches England and is intercepted, and thus Frederick sends the next 18 months languishing in Milanese custody until being released again.
:D I laughed again. THIS GUY.
Fie, thinks the Albano peasant, no English heretics under my roof, and chucks Hervey outdoors, where Frederick dies.
Wow. I mean, too bad he died, but, like, he died like he lived: in a way that is entertaining to me :P
His body is brought back to be buried in Ickworth, and so they can get it through the various quaranteene and other customs rules, it's declared to be a statue.
This is an AWESOME detail.
OMG, this was everything I wanted out of learning more about Frederick Hervey! Thank you again :DDDDD
So did Horowski say what happened to not-yet-Victorian Frederick and his fourth generational non-moneyed love?
Re: Fritz of Hervey
Date: 2023-04-17 12:54 am (UTC)Huh, that doesn't strike this 21st-century USian as an incredibly niche interest or weird at all. Some people are just into volcanoes.
OMG, this was everything I wanted out of learning more about Frederick Hervey! Thank you again :DDDDD
It whetted my appetite for more! ;)