Re: Peter's sons

Date: 2025-01-21 01:08 pm (UTC)
mildred_of_midgard: (Default)
From: [personal profile] mildred_of_midgard
Ah, interesting! I just found Hertzberg, back in 1764, saying that young Karl hardly ever leaves his house or his aunts'. There's more on his career ambitions, but I'll have to mark this letter to come back to finish transcribing.

Sadly, brother Friedrich is dying. In May, Hertzberg wrote that he was spitting blood, so much that his life was in danger. Now it's June and he's no longer coughing blood, but suffering from so much languor that Hertzberg doesn't think he'll recover (he's correct, the boy has 5 more months to live).

Hertzberg says much the same thing as when he eulogizes Friedrich, but with more compare and contrast with the older brother:

It is a pity, because he is a young man, who had a very handsome face, a lot of spirit and of achivements. The elder has less vivacity, but he is very well accomplished in his studies, and is of an almost excessive sagesse, not going far from home or from his aunts'.

Now, I originally translated "sagesse" as "studiousness", but a little digging shows it can mean "good behavior", "quietness", or "modesty", so I'm now thinking it goes with "never leaves home" more than "accomplished in his studies." Of course, as I am living proof, these two things go together! So it's probably along the lines of "quiet, studious homebody, not the life of the party like his brother."

Incidentally, I think I can narrow down when Friedrich got sick: Hertzberg's last letter before he mentions Friedrich being sick dates to January, and in May, he says the last letter he received from his correspondent (I think Oriane's youngest brother, the modest-lifestyle non-diplomat one) was February 29th. So I think Friedrich fell sick sometime between January and May of 1764, and then he died in November 1764.

More details on the development of Karl's thoughts on what he wanted to do with his career when I have time!

(Also, I think Oriane is able to rent out rooms in the Jägerhof, contrary to what we thought back in early salon, but I could be wrong. I sight-read and didn't transcribe and translate the whole thing. So much to read, so little time!)

Re: Peter's sons

Date: 2025-01-22 12:23 pm (UTC)
mildred_of_midgard: (Default)
From: [personal profile] mildred_of_midgard
(Also, I think Oriane is able to rent out rooms in the Jägerhof, contrary to what we thought back in early salon, but I could be wrong. I sight-read and didn't transcribe and translate the whole thing. So much to read, so little time!)

Yes! She has been renting out the first floor to Hertzberg, for 500 units of currency (I hate abbreviations :P). According the address books, he moved there sometime between 1758 and 1760 (I don't see where he's living in 1759).

Also, Fritz only gave Oriane 2 weeks' notice to move out of the Jägerhof so he could found his bank.

This is good, because it's relevant to the stuff I put in about why Oriane and sons moved to the Jägerhof, her financial situation after Peter's death, etc. I *thought* she was renting space in it, I just couldn't prove it!

Re: Peter's sons

Date: 2025-01-22 12:33 pm (UTC)
mildred_of_midgard: (Default)
From: [personal profile] mildred_of_midgard
Oh, now Hertzberg is complaining that he, Madame de Keith, and...20 disabled hunters? are being thrown out to make way for some little banker merchants. (The class snobbery is rising off the page.)

He's in luck, he can rent a floor from the house of something for 600 (I think it's Reichstalers), and Madame de Keith is still without (tear and hole in the page).

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