![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnSome awesome historical RPF candyheartsex stories for meeeeee (or by me, in one tiny case) with historical characters! I'm just going to note whom the stories are about here. They are all so good!!
Anne Boleyn/Catherine of Aragorn
Frances Howard and Frances Coke (or: James I's court was basically a HOTBED of scandal, omg)
And two that are also historical RPF but also consistent with the Jude Morgan novel The King's Touch, which is an excellent historical novel narrated by James ("Jemmy") Scott, Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son.
Princess Henrietta of England (Charles II's sister and wife of Philippe I duc d'Orleans)
James of Monmouth/William/Mary
candyheartsex stories for meeeeee (or by me, in one tiny case) with historical characters! I'm just going to note whom the stories are about here. They are all so good!!Anne Boleyn/Catherine of Aragorn
Frances Howard and Frances Coke (or: James I's court was basically a HOTBED of scandal, omg)
And two that are also historical RPF but also consistent with the Jude Morgan novel The King's Touch, which is an excellent historical novel narrated by James ("Jemmy") Scott, Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son.
Princess Henrietta of England (Charles II's sister and wife of Philippe I duc d'Orleans)
James of Monmouth/William/Mary
Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-06-24 02:17 am (UTC)The important thing is we can tell what's going on!
Most Serene,
Most Mighty King,
Most Gracious Lord.
To Your Royal Majesty, I sent my most humble report in last Tuesday's post as to how far I was able to execute the most gracious order received from Your Royal Majesty last night concerning the arrest of the escaped Lieutenant Keith.
At approximately 4 o'clock this afternoon, the attached resolution from Holland was presented to you by the Renesse Commission, instructing them, the Chamberlain or Majordomo Binsbergen, to arrest the aforementioned Lieutenant Keith as soon as I arrive wherever he is, and to the best of my ability to keep him in safe custody until you give your further orders.
After receiving this resolution, I immediately sent for the aforementioned chamberlain, but as I did not find him at home and he also lives quite far away from me, it was around 6 o'clock when he came to me, and I then handed him the resolution of the Council, which he promised to execute with all promptitude as soon as I could find out exactly where the aforementioned Keith was staying, so that he could find him.
However, of my spies, whom I had sent all over the city this morning, both in private and other lodgings, to search for a Count Sparr (because I assume from the circumstances that the person who, according to the information I received, was with Baron Keppel under this name, must be this same lieutenant), no one came back with any reliable information.
Then I agreed with the said chamberlain that he should bring the two messengers immediately and be ready with them in his house, so that when the first arrived he could advise me and then come to me.
Then at about eight in the evening I received news from one of my people that the pretender Count Sparr was staying in an inn on the Speu [?] called The Three Swifts, but that it was said at home that he was expecting a gentleman, and that he arrived from there in the evening and intended to leave immediately.
After receiving this news, I immediately sent the chamberlain without further notice to come here, who also came, and when I showed him the place, as well as the person and how they were approaching, so that there would be no mistake, [the chamberlain] went to fetch his two assistants. In the meantime, I sent an authorized person directly to the covered inn to watch on the street in front of the door to see if anyone would come out during this time and which way they would take, in order to warn the chamberlain upon his arrival with his assistants.
After a man had stood guard there for a good quarter of an hour without seeing anyone come in or go out of the house, the chamberlain arrived with his two men, when it was about nine o'clock, and after ordering the men he had with him to take off their badges, which they usually wear, from their chests, and put them in their sacks, he knocked on the door and asked if Count Sparr was at home, making a gesture as if he [the chamberlain] had been told to do so by him himself [Count Sparr], but he [the chamberlain] was told that he [Count Sparr] had left about half an hour ago and had been picked up by Baron Keppel's valet, but would probably be found at his house here in the Haag, not far from this inn.
Then I with the aforementioned chamberlain went straight to Keppel's house and asked for the Baron under a pretext that I had found. A black man opened the door and said that Baron Keppel was not at home but was with Baron Spörcke, the Hanoverian minister.
The chamberlain then came to me and gave me a verbal report of the above based on the information he had found in writing and then went back home with his people, agreeing to be ready all night in case I could get any further news about the person. Since the chamberlain at Baron Keppel's house received the answer that he was with Baron Sporcken, this got me thinking about whether his valet might have accompanied the pretender Count Sparr to the inn in order to be safe there as if he were in the house of a public minister.
For this reason, without wasting a moment, I brought together four men and had them posted from various locations along the canal on which Baron Spörcke's house was located, with orders to keep a close eye on who was going in or out there during the night. And that if they heard anyone stopping, whether on foot or in a chaise, they should run and report to them which street the people coming to the house had taken.
But that the rest of them were to follow the people coming up the street until the chamberlain's assistant had arrived with them.
These men of mine remained at their posts until half past six in the morning, when I sent someone from time to time during the night to find out whether they had heard anything at all, so that we could then take further measurements.
But all night they heard nothing other than that they had heard in the house for a good while on the ??? by Baron Spörcken's servants, and at about 2 o'clock two of them came up on foot and dressed up a little in the empty carriage and went to pick up their masters, without anything else happening the whole night, which then agreed with what others who I had sent out that evening had reported to me, namely that Baron Spörcke had been with the Countess von Wartenberg and Baron Keppel with Lady Albemarle at the assembly, and therefore neither of them could be at home. In addition, I sent someone during the day who is with the servants' families there to find out unnoticed whether any strangers had been staying there, but from his report I had to conclude that no one was in his house.
But after all this happened that same day and the following night, without me being able to make any further discoveries, where this man had previously retreated so that I could have him followed, for which I had carriages ready, I could not send the chamberlain himself to Brill and Hellevoetsluis (as these are the only routes by which he [Peter Keith] can get to England most quickly, from whence he intends to go), but had to keep him [the chamberlain] here by hand in case Lieutenant Keith happened to be here (as was suspected) and had delayed awaiting a convenient opportunity to escape.
In the meantime, I have taken such precautions on the route to England, as letters and orders have been received from the appointed councillors to Mayor Almonde in Briel (who is also the bailiff of the whole country) from the port of Hellevoet-Sluys, where Hellevoetsluis is located, and who is the postmaster there, so that no one can embark on the packet boat (which always leaves from Hellevoetsluis) without giving up his identity.
With this, early in the morning, I dispatched an assistant and appointed bailiff, and gave him a separate letter of recommendation with orders to keep an eye on everything that happens there in Hellevoetsluis, and to keep me informed of everything, including how the orders are executed.
I sent another to Rotterdam with orders to inquire at the ferry there, as well as the bridge-crossing, whether anyone had passed through there during the night, and also to inquire at all the ships moored there whether anyone had embarked or whether a ship had sailed some way away.
The latter man from Rotterdam had already finished his work around evening (after Colonel du Moulin had arrived in the morning), as he could clearly see in advance that none of those who had passed there had any resemblance to the person I was looking for. I received a report from my servants at Brill this afternoon in a letter which I have enclosed in the original, but he arrived in Brill around noon yesterday, handed over the order from the appointed councillors in the appropriate manner and travelled with the gunner and two bailiffs to Hellevoetsluis, where they found the packet boat, just as I had calculated that it could not set sail before 5 p.m. because of the ??, and took care of those who had embarked, among whom there was no one who resembled Lieutenant Keith.
Since all necessary precautions had already been taken on these routes, I discussed with Colonel du Moulin what we could do to uncover where he might have hidden himself here in The Hague, just as we had reason to suspect, and since we received further information from the servant in the inn where the aforementioned Keith was staying, and where Colonel du Moulin had also stayed since his arrival, that Keith's [baggage?] was supposed to have been picked up by two men from the kitchen of Milord Chesterfield and brought to his hotel, we thought we could do nothing better than to keep a close eye on this house and have it observed, and we made all the arrangements for this, so that the two officers and two of my men would position themselves in such a way that they could occupy it from the front and the back, so that in case someone wanted to come out, one of them could run after them and observe their route, two others, however, run after their carriages, which are standing ready, and the servants of the commissioner's council (who are supposed to arrest him) could pursue him.
Our men remained at their posts all night, but did not see anyone, either from the back or the front, and as they could not be sure that the fugitive had not already hidden himself in the house, we discussed together whether it would not be advisable, in order to get even more help from all sides in our discovery, to give the Pensionary Councilor, who had no other idea than that we were dealing with a mere deserter, some information about the importance of the crime of which this man was guilty.
Just as I then went to him according to our agreement, and after he had firmly promised me to keep the secret, I revealed to him in great detail why it was of the utmost importance to Your Royal Majesty that this person should be apprehended, immediately explaining to him how he would oblige Your Royal Majesty even more dearly if he contributed everything possible to this. He then declared with great cordiality that he would not let up in the slightest and would gladly do everything that could be thought of, even if there was a presumption that he had thus carried out the arrest order, since they knew of nothing other than a simple desertion, although this was against the local maxims, rather he would have every means possible used in a crime of high treason to lure the guy in, but he did not know what further precautions could be taken than had already been taken, asking me what else I could give, whereupon I suggested to him whether–as according to all suspicions, the guy might be hiding here and might find an opportunity to escape somewhere else–the chamberlain could act alone here in The Hague, and could be given more assistants, so that if he were exposed, people would be on hand everywhere to arrest him.
And whether he further (because from the report of the chamberlain who administered the exploit, as the report subsequently confirmed, it is clear that Baron Keppel's valet had brought the man, I also learned for certain that the pretender Count Sparre had lunch with Baron Keppel last Saturday and had great reason to believe that he or at least his valet knew where the man had gone) wanted to be kind enough to sound out Baron Keppel himself to see whether he had any knowledge of it and would give information as to where the man had gone or might be staying.
And whether he also wanted to sound out the English Secretary Holtzendorff, who was handling the affairs in Lord Chesterfield's absence, because according to the information the baggage had been brought there, whether the man was hiding there, and if so, persuade him not to protect him any further. He agreed to do both.
Now that I have returned from the Pensionary Councilor, I have considered with Colonel du Moulin whether it might not be useful to get information as soon as possible, or perhaps give an opportunity to get to the bottom of the matter better, to speak to him that same evening, when we sought out Baron Keppel himself the day before yesterday, and to see whether he would give us some information. Just as we did so in order not to lose any time, when we came to him, we told him how we had been informed that his valet had picked up a certain escaped lieutenant of Your Royal Majesty's troops, whom we had orders to arrest, at the very moment when he was about to be arrested and had him taken to his lodgings and taken to another place.
We therefore thought that we should address ourselves to him in the hope that he would be able to give us some clarification on the matter.
Baron Keppel, however, acted completely strangely and claimed to know nothing about the fact that the lieutenant in question had been sought and had escaped, much less that his valet had been there, that someone calling himself Count Sparr who had been a page and was now a lieutenant, had been with him and had eaten with him. He said that he had seen him in Berlin, but without knowing where he had been since then, that he wanted to ask his valet about it and what he could find out from him, so that he could either report it that evening by letter or send the valet to us so that he could examine him himself, which we then accepted. After we had returned home, the valet in question arrived here some time later, to whom we then asked whether he did not know Lieutenant Keith, who had been the page before, and whether he had not come to pick him up from the inn called The Three Swifts the previous evening.
To which he replied that he had known Keith as a page in Berlin, and that, without knowing that he was here, he had asked him to go to the inn called The Three Swifts the previous evening. He said that he had gone there and found him; Keith had only told him that he was only here in Holland on business and was leaving for Amsterdam at that exact hour, and therefore did not want to leave without saying goodbye to him first, so he went with him to the house, said goodbye to him a few steps away from the house, and left without knowing where he had gone next. Although we have now turned over the matter in all sorts of ways and pointed out to him the absurdity of trying to make people believe in such stories that contradict all probability, he still refused to let himself be put to anything else and stuck to what he had already told us, without admitting to knowing any more. He said he had been in Amsterdam last week and only returned the evening before yesterday and was not aware (as I also pointed out to him, among other things) that Keith had eaten at Baron Keppel's and had therefore not seen him there. For this reason, we must once again denounce this man, who seemed to have a great arrogance in concealing the truth, and we cannot believe anything other than that, by all appearances, he knows more than he is willing to say.
The pensionary councillor, as he communicated to me yesterday evening when I came to see him again to find out what he had learned from Baron Keppel and Secretary Holtzendorff, had replied in exactly the same way, and Secretary Holtzendorf had testified that he knew nothing of such people.
The pensionary councillor did not seem to be pleased with Baron Keppel's answer about his valet, and did not disapprove of the reasons which I further put to him which augmented our suspicion, which I had urged as strongly as possible, and which I must now take my leave of in the hope that he would come closer to approving the matter.
To be continued, because of character limits...
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-06-24 02:24 am (UTC)I, who remain in the most humble veneration and firm loyalty for life,
Meinerzhagen
Google wants "Die Drey Schnellen" to be "The Three Swifts". Since I'm not any more familiar with "schnell" as a noun than Google is, I'm open to better translations.
My main takeaway from all this is that there was nothing about a light on in Chesterfield's house, and given all the detail, I suspect if that had played a role, Meinerzhagen would have said so. He certainly didn't skimp on rest of the detail! (He's got a pointy-haired boss and no results to show, so he's got to work extra hard to show that, no really, he's doing *everything* humanly possible here! It's not his fault Peter hasn't turned up!)
However, since Nicolai is getting his story from the son of a guy who knew Peter in Berlin, I'm betting Peter, like Fritz, *did* have a habit of reading at night, for the same reasons. Also, Peter is not going to be a great firsthand source for what Du Moulin and Meinerzhagen were thinking (since he was doing his utmost to avoid them), so what I could see happen is that Peter was up late at night reading, someone in Chesterfield's house came to him and said, "Hey, you'd better put out that light, this room is usually dark this time of night and someone's going to notice we've got a guest hiding in the attic," and Peter had to snuff out his candle. I could see that getting conflated with the more exciting version where that's what actually gave him away.
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-06-25 04:54 pm (UTC)A "Schnelle" is something mountain rivers have. It makes for dramatic scenes in movies (think the second Hobbit movie's big river escape sequence (of the dwarves and Bilbo from Thranduil's cells). I think the English expression might be "rapids"?
However, since Nicolai is getting his story from the son of a guy who knew Peter in Berlin, I'm betting Peter, like Fritz, *did* have a habit of reading at night, for the same reasons. Also, Peter is not going to be a great firsthand source for what Du Moulin and Meinerzhagen were thinking (since he was doing his utmost to avoid them), so what I could see happen is that Peter was up late at night reading, someone in Chesterfield's house came to him and said, "Hey, you'd better put out that light, this room is usually dark this time of night and someone's going to notice we've got a guest hiding in the attic," and Peter had to snuff out his candle. I could see that getting conflated with the more exciting version where that's what actually gave him away.
Yes, sounds plausible to me. I.e. that Peter might have thought this did give him away and told the guy who told his son.
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-06-25 05:32 pm (UTC)Ah, The Three Rapids! Got it, I'll fix it in all the translations before posting to Rheinsberg. Thank you.
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-06-25 04:49 pm (UTC)Would that be a free black man or a slave, what do we think? Also always intriguing to get tidbits about the tiny black population Europe was acquiring. I still would love to know who the black boy was holding the umbrella over toddlers Wilhelmine and Fritz in that painting of them, especially since a younger black boy, possibly the same person, is seen doing just that two years earlier for FW's and SD's first baby (before the later died).
Baron Keppel, however, acted completely strangely and claimed to know nothing about the fact that the lieutenant in question had been sought and had escaped, much less that his valet had been there, that someone calling himself Count Sparr who had been a page and was now a lieutenant, had been with him and had eaten with him. He said that he had seen him in Berlin, but without knowing where he had been since then
Keppel pretending to not have had dinner with Peter: Do we know whether FW believed him? (I doubt it.) Anyway, clearly Peter the page must have made a good impression back in the day if Peter the Fugitive is wined and dined and helped.
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-06-25 05:44 pm (UTC)Interesting question. Both England and the Netherlands claimed that there were no slaves in their countries, only in their colonies abroad, but this was exaggerated. So: probably free, maybe a slave.
I still would love to know who the black boy was holding the umbrella over toddlers Wilhelmine and Fritz in that painting of them, especially since a younger black boy, possibly the same person, is seen doing just that two years earlier for FW's and SD's first baby (before the later died).
Agreed. He's the one wearing a silver collar that probably means he was a slave, as I recall.
Keppel pretending to not have had dinner with Peter: Do we know whether FW believed him? (I doubt it.)
I'd be shocked, given the sheer amount of repetition in these documents that he *totally did*, and given FW's need to blame people for helping Wretched Son and Wretched Son's Accomplices.
Anyway, clearly Peter the page must have made a good impression back in the day if Peter the Fugitive is wined and dined and helped.
Yeah, I get the impression Peter was not outgoing and charismatic in the way Katte, Algarotti, and Keyserling were, but quietly likeable. He collects friends and helpers.
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-06-26 07:48 am (UTC)Seriously, though, between this and Knobelsdorff, who by all accounts was a "doesn't suffer fools gladly" type of person, liking Peter enough to leave him his library and so forth, not to mention Caroline sponsoring him not just that one time upon arrival but until he's off to Portugal, he clearly came across as very sympathetic and even improved upon acquaintance. (As opposed to wowing people at once like more extrovert people do, but not necessarily forever.) It occurs to me that the only one who didn't like him was Wilhelmine, and she has an obvious bias when it comes to her brother's boyfriends (except Voltaire ;) ).
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-06-26 03:27 pm (UTC)Also, Jordan liked him enough to be chatting about baby talk with him in that one letter.
And both Lehndorff and Hanway independently report that when Fritz gave Peter money on two separate occasions (1750 and 1753), "this incident gained the king applause, in proportion to the great love and esteem which every one has for Mr. KEITH," (Hanway) or that it "especially pleases all decent people" that Peter received a gift (Lehndorff). I did always wonder from Lehndorff's wording if some people Lehndorff didn't like *weren't* pleased, or if that's just a way of saying, "Everyone I talked to was pleased, because they're decent!" And of course both Lehndorff and Hanway are Peter's friends and biased.
But regardless, neither Lehndorff nor Hanway had to comment that a lot of other people were made happy by Keith getting rewarded if it weren't true. They could have just said they themselves were happy. Especially Lehndorff writing in his diary for himself.
So I'm getting the impression that yeah, Peter clearly came across as very sympathetic and even improved upon acquaintance.
It occurs to me that the only one who didn't like him was Wilhelmine, and she has an obvious bias when it comes to her brother's boyfriends (except Voltaire ;) ).
Haha. Sadly, historians have been less kind, since he was always complaining about their einzige king. I remember Carlyle in particular being pretty harsh to Peter.
But even Wilhelmine gave him credit for being intelligent and genuinely devoted to Fritz (as opposed to using him cold-bloodedly).
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-07-20 04:10 am (UTC)aw that's great, i love that, especially the Hanway quote.
heh, Lehndorff, i wonder if there was, like, one person who was mean-spirited about it?
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-07-20 01:34 pm (UTC)Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-07-21 12:11 pm (UTC)Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-07-21 12:15 pm (UTC)Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-07-21 12:27 pm (UTC)Wartenberg: I don't know, but since he's older than Lehndorff who once called him "the Queen's eternal Count von Wartenberg", I bet he was.
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-07-21 12:30 pm (UTC)Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-06-28 01:00 am (UTC)Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-07-20 04:08 am (UTC)Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-07-21 12:20 pm (UTC)(Selena: Your biographer says you two got along well in ye early days.)
Guy-Auguste de Rohan: I had my servants beat him up when that bastard got cheeky and dared to reply "Je commence mon nom, monsieur, vous finissez le vôtre“ to my question where he got his silly new name from!
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: I never met him, but I wrote to my Dad I was glad he died a painful death when I got the news anyway. Just because I couldn't stand my boss the Prince Bishop doesn't mean I wasn't a died-in-the-wool Catholic!
Fredersdorf: Je ne parle pas le Francais.
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-07-24 04:44 am (UTC)i bet Fredersdorf liked him for the first five minutes!
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-07-20 04:07 am (UTC)aw i really like this
Re: Hunting Peter Keith: Meinerzhagen, August 18
Date: 2024-07-20 01:33 pm (UTC)