Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 45

[cahn]

Unfortunately, there was then at Berlin a King who pursued one policy only, who deceived his enemies, but not his servants, and who lied without scruple, but never without necessity.

(from The King's Secret - by Duke de Broglie, grand-nephew of the subject of the book, Comte de Broglie, and grandfather of the physicist) )

Comments

Re: FS in three biographies: An Overview (1)

[selenak]

Me: ...what??
Is this Goldstone's source??

Not directly; I very much doubt Nancy Goldstone consulted the Prussian State Archive or the Trier collection. But of course the report by Podewils is an important source to everyone in the last centuries who wrote MT biographies, and I bet she has read excerpts from this in, say, the also very FS critical recent MT biography by Elisabeth Balantier (she who does not speak German). In fairness, Renate Z. leaves out what both Hennings and Schreiber quote, the reports on schoolboy FS whose father Leopold wasn't satisfied with his academic progress, either. (Though both point out this is from when teenage FS is expected to hang out with Emperor Charles all the time, and win him over, which he does, so for a teenager to not show much interest in theology, ortohography, and Latin is hardly unheard of. As opposed to MT, who wen addressed by someone in a speech in Latin could reply in Latin later FS could not, and was mocked by Gotter for saying "facti" instead of the correct "facta" in the transcript of their "why invading Silesia was an act of friendship" conversation, but he was very interested in medical progress and geography and sciences as an adult man and read up on this.