Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 44

[cahn]

Not only are these posts still going, there is now (more) original research going on in them deciphering and translating letters in archives that apparently no one has bothered to look at before?? (Which has now conclusively exonerated Fritz's valet/chamberlain Fredersdorf from the charge that he was dismissed because of financial irregularities and died shortly thereafter "ashamed of his lost honor," as Wikipedia would have it. I'M JUST SAYING.)

Comments

Re: Archive updates

[mildred_of_midgard]

Brief notes on the first batch, which is letters from Fritz, mostly in French, which is why I started there. :P

January 1749, Peter asks Fritz to reimburse him for the goods belonging to him that were confiscated in Wesel in 1730. Fritz recompenses him by giving him a canonicat in Xanten (which, as we learned earlier in salon, is near Wesel) that has recently become vacant.

In 1755, when Samuel Cocceji (major minister who reformed the Prussian legal system and became the father-in-law of Barberina) died, Fritz put Peter in charge of supervising the work on a marble bust he'd commissioned to commemorate Cocceji.

In mid November 1756, as we know, Peter has a stroke and spends his last weeks arranging his affairs. We have a letter (in French) from Fritz to Peter on December 3, saying formally but warmly that he's sorry to hear the news and hopes Peter recovers, that of course he, Fritz, will grant the favor Peter asked and has given the General Directory his orders, and that it's always a pleasure to have Peter's family under his protection and give them signs of his goodwill.

We also have the letter (in German) to the General Directory, which tells us the favor is exactly what I anticipated: Peter asked if his family could keep living in the Jägerhof after his death, and Fritz said yes. As we know from Lehndorff, but now we know this was something Peter asked for, and not something Fritz and Ariane worked out after Peter's death.

There's also a random letter in German. It's signed by Fritz (the signature matches the Gröben letters), has no date and no recipient, but is in the middle of about 1 dozen letters from Fritz to Peter, but it's the only one in German. I want to do a second pass at the transcription before I say more, but the tone strikes me as markedly more personal. The others, all in French, are formal business letters, usually of the "I need money," "Yes, please wait until it's convenient for me" type that we've seen already.

Re: Archive updates

[selenak]

Peter asked if his family could keep living in the Jägerhof after his death, and Fritz said yes. As we know from Lehndorff, but now we know this was something Peter asked for, and not something Fritz and Ariane worked out after Peter's death.

In either case, it's good Fritz granted it, but in this scenario, it's extra touching - also on a "Peter looking out for his wife and kids" front.

Re: Archive updates

[mildred_of_midgard]

Yesss. I mean, that's what Formey said he did in his last weeks, but it's good to have concrete evidence! Plus awww at Fritz knowing Peter was sick/dying--we didn't know if he only found out when he came back to Berlin after Peter's funeral had already taken place.

I will also add that if Peter's letter went out from Berlin on November 30, and Fritz was replying (albeit via secretary) on December 3 in Dresden, that's a pretty quick reply from Fritz. Looks like he didn't put that response off, despite being busy with war crimes in Saxony.