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cahnBackground: The kids' school has a topic for "Unit" every trimester that a lot of their work (reading, writing, some math) revolves around. These topics range from time/geographic periods ('Colonial America') to geography ('Asia') to science ('Space') to social science ('Business and Economics'). (I have some issues with this way of doing things, but that's a whole separate post.) Anyway, for Reasons, they have had to come up with a new topic this year, and E's 7/8 class is doing "World Fairs" as their new topic.
Me: I know E's teacher is all about World Fairs and I know she is great and will do a good job. But I feel like if we had a different teacher who wasn't so into World Fairs, they wouldn't do such a good job and another topic would be better.
Me: Like... the Enlightenment!
D: Heh, you could teach that! But you'd have to restrain yourself from making everything about Frederick the Great.
Me: But that's the thing! Everyone does relate to each other in this time period! Voltaire -- and his partner Émilie du Châtelet, who was heavily involved in the discourse of conservation of energy and momentum -- well, I've told you Voltaire had a thing with Fritz -- and then there's Empress Maria Theresa, who went to war with him a few times -- and Catherine the Great --
D, meditatively: You know --
Me: *am innocently not warned even though this is the same tone of voice that is often followed by, say, a bad pun*
D: -- it's impressive how everyone from this 'the Great' family is so famous!
Me: *splutters*
D, thoughtfully: But of course there's probably selection bias, as the ones who aren't famous don't get mentioned. You never see 'Bob the Great' in the history books...
Me: *splutters more*
Me: I know E's teacher is all about World Fairs and I know she is great and will do a good job. But I feel like if we had a different teacher who wasn't so into World Fairs, they wouldn't do such a good job and another topic would be better.
Me: Like... the Enlightenment!
D: Heh, you could teach that! But you'd have to restrain yourself from making everything about Frederick the Great.
Me: But that's the thing! Everyone does relate to each other in this time period! Voltaire -- and his partner Émilie du Châtelet, who was heavily involved in the discourse of conservation of energy and momentum -- well, I've told you Voltaire had a thing with Fritz -- and then there's Empress Maria Theresa, who went to war with him a few times -- and Catherine the Great --
D, meditatively: You know --
Me: *am innocently not warned even though this is the same tone of voice that is often followed by, say, a bad pun*
D: -- it's impressive how everyone from this 'the Great' family is so famous!
Me: *splutters*
D, thoughtfully: But of course there's probably selection bias, as the ones who aren't famous don't get mentioned. You never see 'Bob the Great' in the history books...
Me: *splutters more*
Maupertuis, my nemesis
Date: 2023-12-28 04:21 am (UTC)Madame Martel had left a book of stories for Anna to read, and she sat down in the dining room and struggled with for a while. But it was meant for children much younger than herself and it was depressing to sit working away with the dictionary by her side, only to discover that Pierre had thrown a stick at his little sister and that his mother had called him a naughty boy.
That's sort of how I feel about all this effort I've put in to deciphering Maupertuis's handwriting, and I've only managed to get one sentence to make sense:
I had planned, Monsieur and dear friend, to sup with you this evening, or to see you sup at my house, I am sorry that these plans prevented you from doing so.
The rest of this letter looks a bit more interesting, but I'm making a lot of guesses and missing a key phrase:
I will let you know you early in order to have you at the Academy on Thursday for the judgment of my trial which has been postponed until today. I [...] to find you there; as the man in the world most filled with justice, enlightenment, and friendship for me. My respects to Madame de Keith.
I'm assuming he's hoping to find Peter there, but the ellipsis contains 3 or 4 words I can't read.
There are three longer letters from Maupertuis that I've been struggling with; wish me luck.
Re: Maupertuis, my nemesis
Date: 2023-12-28 05:45 am (UTC)Thursday evening, the 23rd, there will take place an event in the Academy that [affects me]; I hope Monsieur and dear friend will find himself there. I have wanted to warn you in advance, so that nothing can prevent you from rendering me this service, not in the countryside, not at court, and not in town. I would very much like to see you Wednesday or Thursday morning; I would go to your place if I dared to go out, but my chest does not permit it.
[You have informed me?] of the politeness with which Monsieur de Tyrconnell has received your packet. Farewell. My respects to Madame de Keith and to [all your dear ones?].
ETA: Oh, I should also point out that the chronology tells us this is right around the time of the principle of least action, and I'm assuming that the affair at the Academy that Maupertuis reeeeally wants Peter there for, is the vote on König's document claiming to be from Leibniz and whether it's a forgery or not. Peter, as we know, read Maupertuis's letter aloud to the gathering and collected the vote.
Though interestingly, salon chronology tells me the vote took place on April 13, 1752, and Wikipedia tells me Tyrconnell died March 12, 1752. And this is dated "Lundy 20". So either Tyrconnell is dead and Maupertuis is referring to someone who died a week ago, or else it's February and the vote got pushed off over a month, to April. Well, bureaucracy: my performance review with my boss was supposed to take place in early November, and is now scheduled for next week. :P And Maupertuis did say his has been postponed already.
Next letter:
I have carried out your commission, and if you send the letter [and want?] the king to take it well, I will say to you that your cousin will surely pay court to the king in writing in French; and we do not finish our letters [as if to an equal, but by a respectful formula that is at least a little respectful]. To the king, it's necessary to show very profound respect. You understand, of course, that this remark doesn't come from our monarch, who is of all the kings in the world the one who pays the least attention to these things; it is the advice of a friend that I give to your relative; more for the public than for the king.
You are very lucky to be at Britz with your wife and children, very lovable and who love you. Enjoy, dear friend, this good fortune and [...]. My respects to everyone, and give a little friendship to them from me.
Britz is the Knyphausen estate that Ariane inherited from her mother, and which was sold soon after, but remained in the family.
So! I wonder which cousin this was. Clearly Peter's relatives are minor nobility who write in German and don't know how to address a king (remember Peter's mother writing in German).
Btw, the bit about Fritz not caring is probably Fritz caring, or at least Maupertuis wanting to be on the safe side. From everything I've read, Fritz made a big show of not caring about ceremony, but then wasn't totally consistent on that point. He didn't care, except when he did.
P.S. The trick to reading his handwriting is to stare at the page directly above the word you're trying to read and look at that word with your peripheral vision. This forces your brain to parse it holistically, and then sometimes the shape of a whole word that makes sense in context emerges. Whereas individual characters are so indecipherable that they would never add up to a whole word. This technique is responsible for about 50% of the words I deciphered, and is basically the exact opposite of the way I read Kurrent, where I go character by character.
TL;DR: I am asking everyone to be impressed with my dedication to the cause. :P
P.P.S. And a shout-out to
Re: Maupertuis, my nemesis
Date: 2023-12-28 08:36 am (UTC)Anyway, it makes sense that Maupertuis wants to ensure Peter (and all his other supporters) are there for the König showdown, and yes, I can see it being postponed and delayed for any number of reasons. Re: the death of Tyrconnel, wasn't Tyrconnel (along with LaMettrie) also a source through which Fritz and Voltaire learned of the respective "dirty laundry" and "squeezing like an orange" remarks.
From everything I've read, Fritz made a big show of not caring about ceremony, but then wasn't totally consistent on that point. He didn't care, except when he did.
Like Dad in that way. And yes, I'm with Maupertuis, better to be on the safe side. BTW, that Peter's family writes in German, not French, really is a marker of them as being minor and countryside nobility, without the access to Huguenot French servants that nobles with residences in the capital and more status have. And it underlines again the extraordinariness of Fredersdorf corresponding and talking with Fritz in German throughout his life. Everyone else who wants something from Fritz (if they're not an army soldier or a country judge somewhere) is supposed to make the effort with the French. (All FW's fault.)
Re: Maupertuis, my nemesis
Date: 2023-12-28 09:13 am (UTC)Thank you to you as well, for prodding me by email to return to my Peter and Fredersdorf essay work!
I would have given up on Maupertuis ages ago. A dull written biography and terrible handwriting - truly, has Voltaire cursed him?
Lol! To be fair to Maupertuis, his handwriting is probably perfectly legible if you're fluent; I'm just not. And there's a big difference between a command of French that allows you to look at 'p-o-i-t-r-i-n-e' and know it means "chest", and a command of French that allows you to look at a sprawl of ink and think, "Obviously that's 'poitrine'!"
Re: the death of Tyrconnel, wasn't Tyrconnel (along with LaMettrie) also a source through which Fritz and Voltaire learned of the respective "dirty laundry" and "squeezing like an orange" remarks.
I think so, yes. Sounds right.
Everyone else who wants something from Fritz (if they're not an army soldier or a country judge somewhere) is supposed to make the effort with the French.
One of the scholarly essays I read on Prussian diplomacy earlier this year said he made exceptions for some envoys. On the one hand, there was:
...the decision, on the second day of the new reign, that Prussian diplomats should henceforth correspond with their superiors in French and not in German.
But on the other hand,
This was, however, far from universally enforced in Prussian diplomacy. Throughout Frederick's reign, favoured individuals (often from a military background) who knew little or no French were allowed to correspond in German, which seems also to have been extensively used - logically enough for policy in the Reich. See, for one example, the 'Instructions' for Friedrich Sebastian Wunibald Graf von Waldburg-Zeil, who went on a mission to George II when he was at Hanover: these were drawn up in German, dated 10 June 1740, and are in GStPK, Rep. 96.31A.
Peter's cousin, though, is not a favored individual. Sorry, Peter!
Re: Maupertuis, my nemesis
Date: 2023-12-28 11:48 am (UTC)Forgot to say: this probably goes without saying, but I would have given up on him too, if the letters were to anyone but Peter! (Or Fredersdorf, I suppose.)
Also probably goes without saying, but: lots of guesses, I reserve the right to revise any of my readings. Also, anything in [] is not so much a reading, as me filling in words that make sense, so that you can read the letter and get the gist.
Re: Maupertuis, my nemesis
Date: 2023-12-31 04:34 pm (UTC)Heh, Maupertuis strikes me as one of those plodders you find in academia -- it's not that one does bad research, but it's not particularly inspired and really nothing one does is particularly inspired, although one would like it to be... though one is potentially very good at threading bureaucracy and hierarchies.
Re: Maupertuis, my nemesis
Date: 2023-12-31 07:51 am (UTC)The most interesting part is that it's April 3, 1741, meaning Maupertuis must be in camp with Fritz, since the battle of Mollwitz is about to take place April 10, and he will be captured.(That's the one where Fritz leaves the field at Schwerin's suggestion,
It has already been some time, my dear sir, since I received your letter, and nothing will give me more pleasure than receiving one as often as you can write to me. I know the value of your friendship and preserve it for me; do be sure of mine, and count on it, if you ever have need of a man who knows all that you are worth, you have found it in me. I received a charming letter from Mme. de Knyphausen assuring me me that I have been remembered to? by? Misses Oriane and Hedwick.
Reminder that "Oriane" is the most common spelling of Ariane in the actual contemporary documents; to the point where I'm going to have to use that in my essay. Hedwig is one of her sisters. They are respectively just turned 20 and about to turn 19, and presumably both unmarried and living at home. Oriane will marry Peter in about a year and a half.
Then some kind of politeness about the Knyphausens that I haven't quite deciphered, and then politeness to Peter:
When I received your letter, I found terms in it that I did not expect; if friendship were enough for such compliments it would be up to me to satisfy you, but I must thank you for a friendship that gives me the greatest pleasure, and say that it is not possible to lack it for you as soon as one knows you.
I have all received marks of kindness from their Majesties the Queens, which I take the liberty of writing to them to thank them for, I have left my letters to Mesdames Finke and de Katch. Here is one for Madam Margrave Albert, who I really wanted to address to La Fresle, whom I only got to know the day before my departure, and who is on the verge of overturning all my resolutions with a wink. If it is convenient, give her my letter, and ask her to return it to HRH, otherwise give it to her yourself, and pay court to this charming princess, for whom I have conceived the greatest respect and the greatest attachment.
Mildred: There is a Friedrich Albert, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, whose widow is still alive. I'm guessing La Fresle is one of her ladies in waiting.
Please give my friendship to Messieurs Keyserling and Knobelsdorff. [Ask?] the former to pass on to the King a book that König dedicated to him and which he had asked me to present to him. I asked Monsieur de Keyserling to do so when I was leaving. Adieu, mon cher monsieur [some Rokoko politeness I'm missing two key words of].
So! It's early 1741, Maupertuis and Peter are already on corresponding terms, and Peter already knows Ariane and Knobelsdorff. The Knobelsdorff thing is of interest because
And hopefully that's all the Maupertuis deciphering I have to do.
Re: Maupertuis, my nemesis
Date: 2023-12-31 08:54 am (UTC)La Fresle: any chance this is a nickname for his future wife who might have been in the Schwedt widow's household? I know that as Madame de Maupertuis, she'll end up in Amalie's household by the time of the 7 Years War, though she might have been with EC in between.
Maupertuis sending "The Queens" his regards, i.e. both SD and EC, would also indicate people aren't yet clear on the fact Fritz will never live with EC again. Understandable - he has become King in early summer of 17540, so it's not even a year, and a year filled with a lot of resettling and household movements, and now he's on campaign, and in the SD/FW marriage, she did have her own palace of Monbijou to retreat to every now and then.
Re: Maupertuis, my nemesis
Date: 2023-12-31 09:34 am (UTC)Yep, and early 1741 at that! The letter also corroborates what's in the eulogy, that Maupertuis and Peter were friendly, to the point where Maupertuis later sponsored his Academy membership and curatorship.
That Peter already knows Ariane shows they had the time to befriend and court each other: good for them!
<3
La Fresle: any chance this is a nickname for his future wife who might have been in the Schwedt widow's household?
Maybe, but since Fresle is an actual last name, and he won't marry Eleanore Borcke until 1745, I was assuming it was simply a different lady.
Maupertuis sending "The Queens" his regards, i.e. both SD and EC, would also indicate people aren't yet clear on the fact Fritz will never live with EC again.
Yep, same thought I had!