There is more than enough about the Great Northern War to satisfy Mildred
Excellent! I look forward to reading this as soon as I have the time.
In terms of August's private life, Blanning announces he has no intention to cover every mistress and provides just details on the most important ones...Ditto for the kids, which, alas, means nothing about the Countess Orzelska.
Understandable, but too bad!
So Augustus put her on trial as a witch, I kid you not. He let it go as far as torture via thumbscrews, and then her sentence was commuted, i.e. she was not executed, but had to wear gloves for the rest of her life, and of course she'd lost her money.
Yikes. I see what you mean about the Countess Cosel, but if he was otherwise so nice to his exes, there's still the open question of why her? Not, what made him capable of treating someone badly, but what made him decide to do it on this occasion? If Blanning doesn't think the marriage promise was sufficient, I can see why he's still baffled.
While observing the outward pieties, he's never going to become a serious Catholic, either, notoriously putting a rosary the Pope has send him in his last year of life around his dog's neck.
Lolololol!
So he wastes the next SIX YEARS (I had forgotten or wasn't aware it took that long) with campaigns in Poland instead of Russia
YEP. He delivered a knockout punch to Peter's army pretty quickly at Narva in 1700, and his invasion of Russia wasn't until the great winter of 1708, with Poltava in 1709. Peter had all that time to recover, build an army, occupy the area around St. Petersburg (coastal terrain! a port!), and generally get ready to demote Sweden from major power to has-been.
Blanning repeatedly calls Augustus an artist, despite, as he said, the man never having written a book, or composed a piece of music, or painted a painting. Why? Because as bad as his military and political instincts were, he had an unfailing one for art, for culture, for presentation and beauty. It was more than just hiring good architects and painters and musicians etc, it's a matter of hiring the right ones who achieve overall harmony.
That makes a lot of sense!
(Fritz and Caroline Fredersdorf in rare unitiy: Absolutely!)
Lol. They also agreed Michael Gabriel was one of the wittiest, most charming men ever!
Fredersdorf: As for me, I had a thing for intense blue eyes.
Biographers of F1: Yeah, yeah, but then why gets our guy bashed?
Blanning: Because Augustus didn't have Fritz as a grandson.
Hahaha, well, F1, you should see how Augustus's son Augustus III gets bashed! All thanks to Fritz.
Oh, does A3 get covered at all, or is he Sir Not Appearing in This Book?
No, he shows up, as his conversion and marriage are big deals. But there‘s nothing new, so I didn‘t mention it. (I.e. he‘s nice, also has good taste re: art, but a good politician, he‘s not, either, though as opposed to Dad a good husband and a sincere (Catholic) Christian. Basically the bland second act to Dad‘s flamboyant first act.)
Countess Cosel: to be fair, his other exes didn‘t insist he had promised to marry them. And didn‘t have her interest in politics. Aurora von Königsmarck did, and went on diplomatic missions for Augustus long after she was an ex, but she didn‘t voice political opinions other than his own. At a guess, Cosel was perceived as dangerous in a way the others weren’t, not just by August but by Flemming who was her enemy No.1 and the most important politician at court, and maybe either or both were afraid that if if she did get free again, she’d either be able to charm Augustus once more if she got into his presence or work against him in a way that hurt. Or: if we accept the marriage pledge as genuine, a good lawyer could use this to legitimize her kids and thus muddy the Saxonian succession, hence also A3 not letting her out. BTW, all of this is me speculating, not Blanning. Blanning is especially baffled since Cosel survived even A3, i.e. her imprisonment didn‘t even end when Augustus died. (He doesn‘t mention it did technically end years before her death - see also Heinrich showing up mid war - but that at this point she didn‘t want to leave anymore.) So he just says he can‘t explain.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Tim Blanning: Augustus the Strong: A Study in Artistic Greatness and Political Fiasco
Date: 2025-01-04 04:37 pm (UTC)There is more than enough about the Great Northern War to satisfy Mildred
Excellent! I look forward to reading this as soon as I have the time.
In terms of August's private life, Blanning announces he has no intention to cover every mistress and provides just details on the most important ones...Ditto for the kids, which, alas, means nothing about the Countess Orzelska.
Understandable, but too bad!
So Augustus put her on trial as a witch, I kid you not. He let it go as far as torture via thumbscrews, and then her sentence was commuted, i.e. she was not executed, but had to wear gloves for the rest of her life, and of course she'd lost her money.
Yikes. I see what you mean about the Countess Cosel, but if he was otherwise so nice to his exes, there's still the open question of why her? Not, what made him capable of treating someone badly, but what made him decide to do it on this occasion? If Blanning doesn't think the marriage promise was sufficient, I can see why he's still baffled.
While observing the outward pieties, he's never going to become a serious Catholic, either, notoriously putting a rosary the Pope has send him in his last year of life around his dog's neck.
Lolololol!
So he wastes the next SIX YEARS (I had forgotten or wasn't aware it took that long) with campaigns in Poland instead of Russia
YEP. He delivered a knockout punch to Peter's army pretty quickly at Narva in 1700, and his invasion of Russia wasn't until the great winter of 1708, with Poltava in 1709. Peter had all that time to recover, build an army, occupy the area around St. Petersburg (coastal terrain! a port!), and generally get ready to demote Sweden from major power to has-been.
Blanning repeatedly calls Augustus an artist, despite, as he said, the man never having written a book, or composed a piece of music, or painted a painting. Why? Because as bad as his military and political instincts were, he had an unfailing one for art, for culture, for presentation and beauty. It was more than just hiring good architects and painters and musicians etc, it's a matter of hiring the right ones who achieve overall harmony.
That makes a lot of sense!
(Fritz and Caroline Fredersdorf in rare unitiy: Absolutely!)
Lol. They also agreed Michael Gabriel was one of the wittiest, most charming men ever!
Fredersdorf: As for me, I had a thing for intense blue eyes.
Biographers of F1: Yeah, yeah, but then why gets our guy bashed?
Blanning: Because Augustus didn't have Fritz as a grandson.
Hahaha, well, F1, you should see how Augustus's son Augustus III gets bashed! All thanks to Fritz.
Oh, does A3 get covered at all, or is he Sir Not Appearing in This Book?
Re: Tim Blanning: Augustus the Strong: A Study in Artistic Greatness and Political Fiasco
Date: 2025-01-04 04:42 pm (UTC)Countess Cosel: to be fair, his other exes didn‘t insist he had promised to marry them. And didn‘t have her interest in politics. Aurora von Königsmarck did, and went on diplomatic missions for Augustus long after she was an ex, but she didn‘t voice political opinions other than his own. At a guess, Cosel was perceived as dangerous in a way the others weren’t, not just by August but by Flemming who was her enemy No.1 and the most important politician at court, and maybe either or both were afraid that if if she did get free again, she’d either be able to charm Augustus once more if she got into his presence or work against him in a way that hurt. Or: if we accept the marriage pledge as genuine, a good lawyer could use this to legitimize her kids and thus muddy the Saxonian succession, hence also A3 not letting her out. BTW, all of this is me speculating, not Blanning. Blanning is especially baffled since Cosel survived even A3, i.e. her imprisonment didn‘t even end when Augustus died. (He doesn‘t mention it did technically end years before her death - see also Heinrich showing up mid war - but that at this point she didn‘t want to leave anymore.) So he just says he can‘t explain.