Le Diable: The Political Biography
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rheinsbergThea von Seydewitz' " Ernst Christoph Graf von Manteuffel, Kabinettsminister Augusts des Starken. Persönlichkeit und Wirken (Aus Sachsens Vergangenheit 5), Dresden 1926 filled in those gaps about Manteuffel's political career, for the first explained to me where the weird "that time Grumbkow was in a scheme to assassinate FW" story from Wilhelmine's memoirs hails from, actually mentions Suhm a couple of times, and does a good job presenting a picture of its subject based on the sources available at the time (which include Other Seckendorff's diary, since this was published in 1926).
On the downside, there's that early 20th century... everything. She's not as nationalistic as, say, Richter, and thankfully there isn't an anti semitic remark in sight, but between describing the German nobility's habit of raising their kids bilingual, with French as the dominating language, which is described as "unfortunate" at the beginning and in her final "Manteuffel: Pros and Cons" summary listing as a pro that he tried to wrest Fritz out of the arms of the perfidious French (that's one way of putting it...), you definitely get the impression she didn't care for our neighbour across the Rhine. (Not withstanding presenting all the longer quotes in French and translating only the shorter ones in to German, which means I still haven't worked my way through the longer quotes.) She also while noting Manteuffel had a pretty good idea of the genius that was Fritz regrets he didn't quite realize the genius that was misunderstood FW, allowing the Tall Guys fetish and some of the "rougher" attitudes to blind Manteuffel for his true greatness.
Oh, and then there's this bit which made me go ????.
Seydewitz: Wilhelmine says Manteuffel and Frau von Blaspiel were lovers, but her memoirs aren't always reliable, and also Wilhelmine is a malicious gossip.
Self: Okay?
Seydewitz: Though Manteuffel was totally in love with Blaspiel. In fact, she may have been the only woman he truly loved, as evidenced in this lengthy French passage from a letter of his to Flemming which I'll now quote. All his other relationships with women were shallow or, like his marriage, for money and continuation of the family, but he was really into this one.
Self: So what is the malicious gossip part of Wilhelmine's take on the relationship again?
(Probable reason, though I'm speculating here in letting our author reply: Seydewitz: Sex. Just because he loved her and she loved him, there's no proof they ever had it. They were both married, after all. Wilhelmine says they were lovers, thus insinuating they had sex.)
With this advance warning and with an emphasis on the parts of Manteuffel's life not already covered by Bronisch (i.e. no Wolff saga, he had that investigated much more thoroughly than Seydewitz does here), let's have a look and the life and times of Le Diable: the political side.
So, here were go again. Born a Pomeranian noble with thirteen siblings, most of which died as babies, and none of whom actually played a role in his life. His last sibling, a sister, dies when he's the Saxon envoy in Berlin, and Flemming basically congratulates him that he now gets all his father's money in the "condolence" letter. (Fritz: no longer the worst condolence letter writer of the 18th century!) Manteuffel forms a couple of long lasting relationships through his life and proves to be a good friend capable of loyalty and strong affections, and also while being a lousy husband he'll be a good father to his daughters, but as far as his parents and the siblings were concerned, there seems to have been just polite respect.
(Seydewitz: Also, let me generalize here about Pomeranians, who are down to earth, honest folk incapable of deception as a rule. Manteuffel traded on that reputation when winning FW around despite being not a military guy (he never, not even for a hot second, served in any army) and being very much into culture. FW bought that "honest Pomeranian" image, too, but look, most Pomeranians are like that!
Self: Hang on. Even leaving aside that assigning characteristics to provinces is nonsense, let's have a look at some 18th century examples. Wasn't Grumbkow from Pomerania, too? Also, of course, Fredersdorf. I'll give you "down to earth", possibly, though there's the alchemy interest, but look, the guy did lead Fritz' spy ring.)
Young Manteuffel studies and gets his degree in Leipzig. This leaves him with a lasting fondness for the academic life and sciences far beyond the fashionable interest of his era. When he moves back to Leipzig for his final years, he'll celebrate his 50 years degree anniversary at his alma mater by re-enrolling and attending lectures. Then he goes on the Grand Tour, which in his case means the Netherlands, including a term at Utrecht, Belgium and France. He stays in Paris in a year, perfecting his French to Parisian levels. Like Fritz, his life long love for the French language and for (some) French literature won't mean he doesn't see France the political entity as an enemy. Unlike Fritz, it also won't mean he won't read and befriend German writing Germans authors, notably Wolff and both Gottscheds.
Once he's back in Prussia, Dad gets him a job at F1's court as Kammerjunker. Alas young Manteuffel blows this by unwise satire on the Countess Wartenberg, wife of one of the three Ws and mistress to F1 (because a King has to have one). The Wartenbergs sue, and the ongoing trial - which lasts until Count Wartenberg is toppled from favour by Crown Prince FW - has one very inconvenient condition - Dad Manteuffel promises he won't support cheeky son Manteuffel financially until it's over. This means young Diable shows up in Saxony basically broke. However, in a stroke of luck, he meets and impresses the current most powerful minister in August the Strong's cabinet, Flemming, who takes him on as a protegé. Manteuffel learns all about politics from him, including the unsavoury parts, but as opposed to to many a mentor/protegé relationship in politics which ends up with the protegé turning against the mentor or even replacing him, Manteuffel will remain loyal to Flemming for the rest of Flemming's life, even when he doesn't need him anymore. Not Seydewitz but yours truly is tempted to speculate that Flemming is the actual father figure in Manteuffel's life.)
Flemming gets Manteuffel his first diplomatic appointment, at the Danish court.
(Seydewitz: Let me make here a style critique. Manteuffel's reports and letters are informative and contain good anecdotes, but the manly to the point brevity of a Suhm is beyond him, and he even admits in a letter he tends to ramble. This is the first mention of Suhm in this book, but not the last.)
Rambling aside, Manteuffel has other problems. Because after some brief splendid years as King of Poland, August the Strong is currently reduced to being just Prince Elector of Saxony again courtesy of the double whammy of the French backing Stanislas Lecysnski (not for the last time) and Charles of Sweden invading and treating Saxony as his backyard. Being the young envoy of a defeated prince isn't fun, not to mention Manteuffel doesn't get his salary for the longest time. In a very 18th century noble way, he complains about his money woes in his report home by painting a picture of his creditors now wanting to pawn his underwear from his laundress, his wardrobe from his tailor and his carriage from his table. After he has to sell the kitchen silver, money finally arrives. And he goes on to prove he's worth it; he manages to talk the Danish King around to a neutrality treaty with Saxony, with the long term goal of making this neutrality treaty a friendship and alliance treaty, which since Denmark is next door to Sweden has obvious implications. This achievement is celebrated in Dresden, and Manteuffel's literal and metaphorical credit both in Saxony and in Denmark rises.
Seydewitz: A word about bribery here. To us, accepting any money sounds skeevy, but in terms of the 18th century, Manteuffel actually shows ethics when writing to Flemming he's decided that taking money from foreign governments is cool, as long as you never fleece and rob your own, not least because he'll stick to that.
Alas, Manteuffel's second stint as envoy in Denmark is not as successful, not least because his greater confidence means he makes the mistake of lecturing the Danish King ("Denmark is a truly Christian country, since the Danish administration seems to believe God will do all the necessary work"), who basically kicks him out.
Seydewitz: Just before that, he writes another untranslated lengthy French passage to Flemming which makes him sound like a French revolutionary about how absolute monarchy sucks. I could not believe my eyes the first time I read that, both because Manteuffel wrote it and because whom he wrote it to - Flemming, a life long career courtier and enabler of an absolute monarch, who doesn't seem to disagree much. Guys, if you thought that way, why didn't you say so out loud? Okay, I understand, it would have been career suicide, but still. It would have been manly and noble.
Flemming and August don't blame Manteuffel for this, though, not least because what he lectured King Christian on was the truth, and since the three Ws are out of power by now (with Grandpa Wartensleben the sole one not disgraced), Manteuffel gets a really plum asiggnment as envoy next: Berlin! F1 is still King, and he and Manteuffel now hit it off famously. Then he dies, much to Manteuffel's initial regret, FW becomes King, and Manteuffel for the first time proves how good he really can be when challenged: despite not being into FW for a whole variety of reasons - the cheapness, the military fetish, the tall guys, the drinking - Manteuffel actually isn't a natural born drinker, but both FW and August are, so whenever he's with them, he has to fake it - , the rudeness - and despite being an unpromising candidate aside from being tall (not a soldier, never has been! Into culture and hedonism!), he manages to win FW over not just to himself as Saxon envoy, but to himself. He does this partly through altering his public persona somewhat - as mentioned earlier, he suddenly plays up his Pomeranian origins, and retunes his conversation to less culture, more jokes, and partly by becoming buddies with Grumbkow.
Seydewitz: Let me observe here that in his reports to Flemming, he was honestly impressed with some of FW's traits, the workoholism and some of the reforms, though regretably he did not recognize FW's true greatness. Also, as an example of how our standards for Kings have altered, look no further than Manteuffel never getting over his dislike for FW's cheapness, err, thriftiness, while never once complaining about August's gigantic waste of money.
Self: August was his boss, complaining about that to Flemming who enabled the expenses would have been counterproductive, but I still see your point. Baroque and Rokoko folk expected Kings to be generous and throw money around, and one reason why FW was regarded as such a freak was that he didn't.
Manteuffel also won over Frau von Baspiel, SD's lady-in-waiting, wife to FW's pre Grumbkow minister of war, Baspiel, for the Saxon cause, not just to his own personal charms. From this point onwards, she'll correspond not just with him but with Flemming, which becomes a pot point. As mentioned, he confesses to Flemming of being actually in love with her. She's beautiful, she's smart, cultured, and when SD is made regent by FW during his first lengthy absence, she, acting on Manteuffel's suggestion, talks SD into demanding protocols for every council session, protocols which Frau von Baspiel then shares with her lover and Flemming, so they really know exactly what's going on.
(Seydewitz: Though the claim that they were lovers, just because they were in love, is malicious gossip on Wilhelmine's part.)
Needless to say, this all makes Flemming & August very happy with Manteuffel indeed, and Manteuffel gets a promotion, from envoy to minister of the interior in August's cabinet. About the last thing he has to do as Saxony's envoy in Berlin, though, is carrying out Flemming's instructions to have FW arrest Countess Cosel in exchange for some tall deserters (which will end up in Cosel being imprisoned for the rest of her life).
Manteuffel to Flemming: I know she's your arch enemy and thus also mine, and she sure as hell didn't do anything for me while she was still in favour, but nonetheless, this seems a bit harsh, no?
Seydewitz: Look, I'm not uncritically fond of you, Manteuffel, but waxing on sentimentally about something you participate in is cheap.
Self: I'm with you on that one.
Hanging out with August directly means more drinking, so it's a good thing Manteuffel is FW-trained by now. It also means not handing over a note from one of August's many one night stands to August when he's in the company of the current Maitresse en titre, Countess Dönhoff. And it means working towards an ever closer Saxony-Prussia-Austria alliance within the HRE, a long term goal which sufferes a temporary heavy blow when the Clement Affair happens in 1719. Which is when I get my explanation as to where Wilhelmine got her story about a near FW assassination from. Not, as I guessed, from Mom, or not only; most likely, she got it from Dad. How so? Well, brace yourself. It's going to be wild ride...
Michael Klement or Clement: I'm an Hungarian conman in training. For some reason, a 19th century publication will call me Jakob, but my first name as listed by the Secret Prussian State Archive is Michael, so Michael it shall be. Anyway, after selling out my first boss Prince Racocsky to Prince Eugene, I get to work for Eugene for a while, long enough to get the hang of his writing, because I'm also a gifted forger. Unfortunately, Eugene just refused to make me his right hand man, so before he could fire me, which he eventually did, I kept an eye out for other opportunities, and became a spy for Flemming for a while. Flemming, like Eugene, was first impressed and then less so, probably because my spy tells tended to be a bit on the colorful and less on the factual side. So Flemming fired me as well, but not before I didn't get a good hard look on the who is who of his spy network. Which came in handy, because by now I was pissed off and wanted REVENGE. So I went to FW.
FW: In the autumn of 1718, I'm less paranoid than I will be, but this will now change, because Honest Clement, a Hungarian who is NOT a Catholic, tells me a terrible tale. Prince Eugene, Grumbkow and others at my court have hatched a plot to kill me, and via controlling my Schwedt cousin become regent for my son, little Fritz, who will be raised A CATHOLIC and a tool of Rome. I'm now only sleeping with pistols at my side for a while. Those letters from Eugene Clement presented were declared really Eugene's handwriting by other courtiers who know it. I'm now ordering everyone's letters to be opened, which is how I discover that Frau von Baspiel is corresponding with Manteuffel and Fleming. Not only is she clearly a traitorous WHORE, she dares to compare me to Tiberius, and even though I hated my Latin and ancient history lessons, I know that wasn't a compliment. I'm sending her to Spandau and firing her husband. Wait, Clement says there's more?
Clement: This is where I make my mistake. I claim Old Dessauer is part of the conspiracy as well.
FW and Old Dessauer: *have a scene of manly tears where old Dessauer says if FW believes this of him, he should kill him right away. Take up your sword again or take up me!*
FW: *takes up Dessauer*
Old Dessauer: I can't stand Grumbkow, or Flemming, or Manteuffel, and I'm gonna slap that whore Baspiel, literally, but maybe you should demand an explanation from Vienna and Dresden before proceding any further?
Prince Eugene: Oh, FFS. Listen, FW, if the boss says to make war on you, I will, but I'm not going to plot your assassination. And no one wants to make your kid a Catholic. Why do I have an inkling this subject might come up again in my life? Anyway, you know me from Malplaquet. I give you my word as a fellow soldier.
Flemming: Fuck, fuck, fuck. This will set us back decades.
Manteuffel: But we're innocent?
Flemming: Regarding assassination and conversion plans, sure, but we did spy on him via Baspiel. He won't forgive that.
Manteuffel: We'll see about that. Concentrate on denying what we can honestly deny for now. In fact, take the initiative. Let's demand that our good name gets cleared by FW personally! That will impress him, I tell you.
Clement: I get interrogated three times. The third time, I get shown instruments of torture, which is when I confess all.
FW: I don't think threatening torture to find out the truth is a good idea. Poor Clement clearly spoke out of fear. I'm now going to visit him every day in prison, because I still believe there's a conspiracy against me to put my kid on the throne. Thiwill become a fixed idea for me from this point onwards. My scepticism regarding the use of torture or the threat of torture as a truth finding instrument will not come up again in 1730, though.
Grumbkow: Doesn't the bond of manly comrades count anymore? Do I look like a regicide to you? Just read Eugene's letter, boss.
FW: ...Okay. You're innocent. Eugene is, too. BUT SOMEONE CONSPIRED AGAINST ME, I JUST KNOW IT. Just look at Vienna and Dresden insisting that Clement be punished. That just smells like a patsy to me.
Clement: I get poked with glowing iron and then hanged, but because FW really feels sorry for me, the hangman strangles me before having a go with the glowing iron. A plus compassionate ruler, FW! My last speech will emphasize that, and also that while I did con you, I did it because I wanted you to be alert to all the CATHOLIC skeeviness going on in Vienna and Saxony.
Flemming & Manteuffel: We're both Protestants. Also, we're still demanding FW clears our good name.
SD: And I demand you release my favourite lady-in-waiting from Spandau.
FW: *releases Frau von Baspiel in early 1719 from Spandau, but banishes her and her husband to Kleve*
Seydewitz: I know Wilhelmine says she ended up as governess of the younger princesses, but that won't happen until Fritz comes to the throne, which is when he'll do his mother the favour of recalling and reinstalling her.
Grumbkow: Let me phrase the name clearing for you in a subtle way that satisfy their demands so we can go back to politics as usual yet also make it sound as if you're still not convinced, Sire.
Official FW letter to August in June 1719: "I, FW, declare to bear no grudge against Manteuffel and Flemming, and to respect them in the way their qualities deserve."
Manteuffel: That was...amazingly subtle for him. Still. It's a start. Let some time pass and let me work on reconstructing the relationship network, and he'll come around.
Self: Incidentally, aren't the intervening years when Suhm is Saxon envoy and FW hates his guts?
Manteuffel: works his magic, so that when FW and Fritz visit Dresden in 1728, they actually stay at his house. (Fritz' first preserved letter to Wilhelmine, which contains a "hot or not?" report on August, was written there.) This is also when the "Society against Sobriety" is founded, with Grumbkow as President, August as "patron", FW as "compatron" , and Manteuffel as, what else, Le Diable. At this point, FW likes him so much again that he writes him in French. (!) (Seydewitz quotes a letter dated December 23rd 1729 from Wusterhausen from, sic, "Votre tres Affectionne Amy FW". (Fritz came by his spelling honestly.) And FW borrows him 5000 Reichstaler so Manteuffel can attend and shop at the Leipzig Book Fair, for ten years without interest. Manteuffel-concerning letters to the Prussian envoy in Dresden sound thusly (in January 1730): "Dites de Ma part au Diable qu'il change de vie, touchant le bouteille, ou il souccombera, quel malheur pour la cause commune, et tres fidele serviteur du Patron et ami du Compatron."
Good to know for Manteuffel, because as mentioned in Bronisch's books, 1730 is when his career takes a turn for the worse and officially ends because Flemming is dead and Hoym has taken over. Flemming died in 1728, and from 1728 to 1730, Manteuffel was also cabinet minister for Foreign Affairs. As a reminder, the main point of clash between Manteuffel and Hoym was that Manteuffel was favouring a Saxony-Prussia-Austria alliance, now also including Russia, wile Hoym had no time for the HRE and thought Saxony should ally for France and Hannover/Britain instead. (Manteuffel correctly thought France would push Stanislas' Lescyinski's claim for the Polish throne again as soon as August the Strong died and so definitely saw it as the main enemy.) So between 1728 and 1730, Mantteuffel was in a struggle with Hoym about whose ideas would prevail with August. And then this happened:
Summer of 1729: FW and G2 have their almost-duel, Prussia and England growl at each other.
Manteuffel: Excellent. If August offers to support FW militarily, not only will FW remain our ally but Hoym's idea of alliances with France and Britain is shot down, since France, for a breahttaking change, is currently on the same page as England in this matter.
Suhm in Berlin: FW, August could totally negotiate between you and Hannover and reconcile you with your brother-in-law.
Manteuffel: WTF, Suhm? WTF?
Seydewitz doesn't say so, she just says he was indignant, but I think the timing works: this is when Suhm is recalled as envoy.
Manteuffel: goes to Berlin himself in September, at least that's the intention
Manteuffel: unfortunately also gets sick in Breslau, en route; by the time he has recovered, FW has calmed down, and neither a duel or a war happen, without August having had the chance to support FW militarily.
Manteuffel: Grr. Argh. Okay, if that's the case: look, FW, Saxony has gotten on a war footing because of you. We had expenses. Please pay same?
FW: Nope, but good try, and I still like you. Pray keep up the good work against Team France!
Manteuffel: I don't think so. I can see where the wind is blowing. Starting to evacuate my papers to Pomerania now, will hand in my resignation in the summer.
Since, however, even a retired to Pomerania Manteuffel has a correct instinct as to whom to befriend, he becomes buddies with young Brühl, which means, as reported elsewhere, that when Hoym falls, he's in contact with an up and coming power again. As Bronisch told as well, in 1733, Private Citizen Manteuffel moves to Berlin and gets lots of invites from FW.
FW: But you're not again in service, are you?
M: Nope. Total private citizen, me.
FW: I'm glad, because I couldn't talk to you as frankly as I do if you were still working for Saxony. But now we're just honest countrymen!
(Manteuffel in 1733: was instrumental in Brühl's campaign to bribe enough Poles to get August III. elected as King of Poland, due to his old connections with the Polish nobility.)
Seydewitz offers more details for how Mantteufel got into Fritz' circle. FW had one of his serious illnesses where everyone predicted his death in 1734. Now Manteuffel had known Fritz before, of course - as mentioned, FW and Fritz were guests in his Dresden palace during the 1728 trip - , but he hadn't sought out a relationship with him earlier, not least because he hadn't been in Berlin during the 1720s when Fritz was getting old enough to have a relationship with, Suhm was. Now, however, it was another matter.
Seydewitz: Manteuffel's letters to Brühl through the 1730 offer a great look at the goings on of the Berlin court, and it's a shame they haven't been published so far, except in excerpts in Weber's two essays. Note that Manteuffel doesn't just write what the Saxonian court would love to hear; if FW is disgruntled with August III., he says so, and also when a Saxon action is perceived badly by other influential people. He also had a better idea than Brühl of how powerful Saxony was and wasn't, to wit, that there was no way it could go to war with Prussia and win anymore, so being allies and friends was quintessential, and tried to hammer that down. This, Seydewitz approves of, but she strongly disapproves of initially sinister ways Manteuffel uses to get from Team FW to Team Fritz. For starters, he asks Brühl for money to buy presents for various ladies (!) who could win Fritz' favour and/or have influential husbands, and for the various young men around Fritz who look like they could have lasting power. Then, he mentions le Chetardie and he are after the same prostitute ("grisette") whom Fritz supposedly visited in Ruppin and who could be a really useful channel, and anyway, it's prostitutes in general, not ladies in general.
Now, since Manteuffel later will have no doubt Fitz doesn't swing that way ("Hadrian"), it's interesting that at this point, when his knowledge is that of an avarage good courtier but not yet intimate, he sees Fritz as someone into women enough that this could work as an in. And of course it actually fits with all the stories of young Fritz "debauching" himself with prostitutes. The girls don't pay off, but the various gents in Fritz' social circle do. (Seydewitz doesn't name names, but I'm eyeing young Wartensleben.) FW shows he's not dying yet after all, but Manteuffel now has his in and Seydewitz is relieved that "we're breathing cleaner air again" in the reports, i.e. no more prostitutes on the payroll, instead, it's philosophical and cultural debate time, and she's also glad Manteuffel sounds honestly impressed.
Bronisch covered the rest. Three things in Seydewitz which he either didn't mention, or not in detail, or I skipped re: the Manteuffel/Fritz breakup in the fall of 1736:
1.) Formey in his write up of Manteuffel says Old Dessauer (who disliked him of old) scored a point with Fritz by saying how ridiculous it looked for a prince at Fritz' age to still need a teacher to guide him.
2.) Other Seckendorff's secret journal contains this bit: "The Devil confided in me that Suhm has talked to him about Junior, and that (Junior) said to Suhm he'd heard during his journey through East Prussia news of the Devil's" troublemaking and thus has ended the correspondence in order not to have trouble inflicted on him."
(Side note: this is probably the less euphemistically put same explanation Suhm gives in his write-up of Fritz to Brühl later. BTW, it also shows that despite the 1729 clash, there wasn't long term animosity between Suhm and Manteuffel.)
3.) The matter with the painting of Manteuffel by Matthieu. This in itself was an unusual portrait for a German nobleman because it doesn't show him in official wardrobe but in a dressing gown, sans wig, and with alll the surroundings coding him as a scholar rather than a noble. The trouble, though, is that the painting shows the letter Manteuffel is writing starting with "Monseigneur". (It's not readable anymore.) Seydewitz says the painting today (1926) hangs in the book-loaning hall of the university of Leipzig. Who knows whether it's still there, but given that Manteuffel remained connected to his alma mater all his life, I wouldn't be surprised if he left it to them. Anyway, neither Fritz nor FW were amused when they learned of this "through an indiscretion of the painter" (i.e. Matthieu), though Seydewitz doesn't source this info to an original document but to Gurlitt's "Beschreibende Darstellung der Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler".
FW's reaction, btw, reminds me of something in Bronisch which I forgot to mention in my write up there: FW, like his son with the Sanssouci tableround, liked the fantasy that in the tobacco parliament, he could be relaxed among friends without any formality, so as opposed to everywhere else, people did not have to rise for the King if he entered or left. Now, remember how we found out that as late as1739, there was yet another FW/Fritz crisis, along with speculation about a change of the succession? I think I found a reason. Bronisch said that in 1739, FW invited Fritz to the Tobacco Parliament again. Fritz enters. Everyone rises.
FW: *death glare at all his tobacco chums*
FW: *does not visit the tobacco college ever again*
FW: *does not forgive if people give him the impression they are ditching him for the rising sun, not ever*
Oh, one more Seydewitz trivia: she claims Manteuffel was nominated by Fritz of Wales to the Royal Society in the 1740s. I'm going to trust the latest Andrew Mitchell dissertation has done its homework on this and that it was Andrew M., not Fritz of Wales. At any event, she says this does show that while Manteuffel was not a power factor anymore in the 1740s, he had become a name in the world of letters and scholars. Also, while a lousy husband, he had his daughters (his sole son didn't survive; the title went to a distant relation he adopted) educated very well and the surviving letters show he enjoyed debating with them on a high level. Basically, Manteuffel in his silver fox years comes across as good with young people in general (see also Formey still being starry eyed about him decades later), only with Fritz he'd bitten off more than he could chew.
On the downside, there's that early 20th century... everything. She's not as nationalistic as, say, Richter, and thankfully there isn't an anti semitic remark in sight, but between describing the German nobility's habit of raising their kids bilingual, with French as the dominating language, which is described as "unfortunate" at the beginning and in her final "Manteuffel: Pros and Cons" summary listing as a pro that he tried to wrest Fritz out of the arms of the perfidious French (that's one way of putting it...), you definitely get the impression she didn't care for our neighbour across the Rhine. (Not withstanding presenting all the longer quotes in French and translating only the shorter ones in to German, which means I still haven't worked my way through the longer quotes.) She also while noting Manteuffel had a pretty good idea of the genius that was Fritz regrets he didn't quite realize the genius that was misunderstood FW, allowing the Tall Guys fetish and some of the "rougher" attitudes to blind Manteuffel for his true greatness.
Oh, and then there's this bit which made me go ????.
Seydewitz: Wilhelmine says Manteuffel and Frau von Blaspiel were lovers, but her memoirs aren't always reliable, and also Wilhelmine is a malicious gossip.
Self: Okay?
Seydewitz: Though Manteuffel was totally in love with Blaspiel. In fact, she may have been the only woman he truly loved, as evidenced in this lengthy French passage from a letter of his to Flemming which I'll now quote. All his other relationships with women were shallow or, like his marriage, for money and continuation of the family, but he was really into this one.
Self: So what is the malicious gossip part of Wilhelmine's take on the relationship again?
(Probable reason, though I'm speculating here in letting our author reply: Seydewitz: Sex. Just because he loved her and she loved him, there's no proof they ever had it. They were both married, after all. Wilhelmine says they were lovers, thus insinuating they had sex.)
With this advance warning and with an emphasis on the parts of Manteuffel's life not already covered by Bronisch (i.e. no Wolff saga, he had that investigated much more thoroughly than Seydewitz does here), let's have a look and the life and times of Le Diable: the political side.
So, here were go again. Born a Pomeranian noble with thirteen siblings, most of which died as babies, and none of whom actually played a role in his life. His last sibling, a sister, dies when he's the Saxon envoy in Berlin, and Flemming basically congratulates him that he now gets all his father's money in the "condolence" letter. (Fritz: no longer the worst condolence letter writer of the 18th century!) Manteuffel forms a couple of long lasting relationships through his life and proves to be a good friend capable of loyalty and strong affections, and also while being a lousy husband he'll be a good father to his daughters, but as far as his parents and the siblings were concerned, there seems to have been just polite respect.
(Seydewitz: Also, let me generalize here about Pomeranians, who are down to earth, honest folk incapable of deception as a rule. Manteuffel traded on that reputation when winning FW around despite being not a military guy (he never, not even for a hot second, served in any army) and being very much into culture. FW bought that "honest Pomeranian" image, too, but look, most Pomeranians are like that!
Self: Hang on. Even leaving aside that assigning characteristics to provinces is nonsense, let's have a look at some 18th century examples. Wasn't Grumbkow from Pomerania, too? Also, of course, Fredersdorf. I'll give you "down to earth", possibly, though there's the alchemy interest, but look, the guy did lead Fritz' spy ring.)
Young Manteuffel studies and gets his degree in Leipzig. This leaves him with a lasting fondness for the academic life and sciences far beyond the fashionable interest of his era. When he moves back to Leipzig for his final years, he'll celebrate his 50 years degree anniversary at his alma mater by re-enrolling and attending lectures. Then he goes on the Grand Tour, which in his case means the Netherlands, including a term at Utrecht, Belgium and France. He stays in Paris in a year, perfecting his French to Parisian levels. Like Fritz, his life long love for the French language and for (some) French literature won't mean he doesn't see France the political entity as an enemy. Unlike Fritz, it also won't mean he won't read and befriend German writing Germans authors, notably Wolff and both Gottscheds.
Once he's back in Prussia, Dad gets him a job at F1's court as Kammerjunker. Alas young Manteuffel blows this by unwise satire on the Countess Wartenberg, wife of one of the three Ws and mistress to F1 (because a King has to have one). The Wartenbergs sue, and the ongoing trial - which lasts until Count Wartenberg is toppled from favour by Crown Prince FW - has one very inconvenient condition - Dad Manteuffel promises he won't support cheeky son Manteuffel financially until it's over. This means young Diable shows up in Saxony basically broke. However, in a stroke of luck, he meets and impresses the current most powerful minister in August the Strong's cabinet, Flemming, who takes him on as a protegé. Manteuffel learns all about politics from him, including the unsavoury parts, but as opposed to to many a mentor/protegé relationship in politics which ends up with the protegé turning against the mentor or even replacing him, Manteuffel will remain loyal to Flemming for the rest of Flemming's life, even when he doesn't need him anymore. Not Seydewitz but yours truly is tempted to speculate that Flemming is the actual father figure in Manteuffel's life.)
Flemming gets Manteuffel his first diplomatic appointment, at the Danish court.
(Seydewitz: Let me make here a style critique. Manteuffel's reports and letters are informative and contain good anecdotes, but the manly to the point brevity of a Suhm is beyond him, and he even admits in a letter he tends to ramble. This is the first mention of Suhm in this book, but not the last.)
Rambling aside, Manteuffel has other problems. Because after some brief splendid years as King of Poland, August the Strong is currently reduced to being just Prince Elector of Saxony again courtesy of the double whammy of the French backing Stanislas Lecysnski (not for the last time) and Charles of Sweden invading and treating Saxony as his backyard. Being the young envoy of a defeated prince isn't fun, not to mention Manteuffel doesn't get his salary for the longest time. In a very 18th century noble way, he complains about his money woes in his report home by painting a picture of his creditors now wanting to pawn his underwear from his laundress, his wardrobe from his tailor and his carriage from his table. After he has to sell the kitchen silver, money finally arrives. And he goes on to prove he's worth it; he manages to talk the Danish King around to a neutrality treaty with Saxony, with the long term goal of making this neutrality treaty a friendship and alliance treaty, which since Denmark is next door to Sweden has obvious implications. This achievement is celebrated in Dresden, and Manteuffel's literal and metaphorical credit both in Saxony and in Denmark rises.
Seydewitz: A word about bribery here. To us, accepting any money sounds skeevy, but in terms of the 18th century, Manteuffel actually shows ethics when writing to Flemming he's decided that taking money from foreign governments is cool, as long as you never fleece and rob your own, not least because he'll stick to that.
Alas, Manteuffel's second stint as envoy in Denmark is not as successful, not least because his greater confidence means he makes the mistake of lecturing the Danish King ("Denmark is a truly Christian country, since the Danish administration seems to believe God will do all the necessary work"), who basically kicks him out.
Seydewitz: Just before that, he writes another untranslated lengthy French passage to Flemming which makes him sound like a French revolutionary about how absolute monarchy sucks. I could not believe my eyes the first time I read that, both because Manteuffel wrote it and because whom he wrote it to - Flemming, a life long career courtier and enabler of an absolute monarch, who doesn't seem to disagree much. Guys, if you thought that way, why didn't you say so out loud? Okay, I understand, it would have been career suicide, but still. It would have been manly and noble.
Flemming and August don't blame Manteuffel for this, though, not least because what he lectured King Christian on was the truth, and since the three Ws are out of power by now (with Grandpa Wartensleben the sole one not disgraced), Manteuffel gets a really plum asiggnment as envoy next: Berlin! F1 is still King, and he and Manteuffel now hit it off famously. Then he dies, much to Manteuffel's initial regret, FW becomes King, and Manteuffel for the first time proves how good he really can be when challenged: despite not being into FW for a whole variety of reasons - the cheapness, the military fetish, the tall guys, the drinking - Manteuffel actually isn't a natural born drinker, but both FW and August are, so whenever he's with them, he has to fake it - , the rudeness - and despite being an unpromising candidate aside from being tall (not a soldier, never has been! Into culture and hedonism!), he manages to win FW over not just to himself as Saxon envoy, but to himself. He does this partly through altering his public persona somewhat - as mentioned earlier, he suddenly plays up his Pomeranian origins, and retunes his conversation to less culture, more jokes, and partly by becoming buddies with Grumbkow.
Seydewitz: Let me observe here that in his reports to Flemming, he was honestly impressed with some of FW's traits, the workoholism and some of the reforms, though regretably he did not recognize FW's true greatness. Also, as an example of how our standards for Kings have altered, look no further than Manteuffel never getting over his dislike for FW's cheapness, err, thriftiness, while never once complaining about August's gigantic waste of money.
Self: August was his boss, complaining about that to Flemming who enabled the expenses would have been counterproductive, but I still see your point. Baroque and Rokoko folk expected Kings to be generous and throw money around, and one reason why FW was regarded as such a freak was that he didn't.
Manteuffel also won over Frau von Baspiel, SD's lady-in-waiting, wife to FW's pre Grumbkow minister of war, Baspiel, for the Saxon cause, not just to his own personal charms. From this point onwards, she'll correspond not just with him but with Flemming, which becomes a pot point. As mentioned, he confesses to Flemming of being actually in love with her. She's beautiful, she's smart, cultured, and when SD is made regent by FW during his first lengthy absence, she, acting on Manteuffel's suggestion, talks SD into demanding protocols for every council session, protocols which Frau von Baspiel then shares with her lover and Flemming, so they really know exactly what's going on.
(Seydewitz: Though the claim that they were lovers, just because they were in love, is malicious gossip on Wilhelmine's part.)
Needless to say, this all makes Flemming & August very happy with Manteuffel indeed, and Manteuffel gets a promotion, from envoy to minister of the interior in August's cabinet. About the last thing he has to do as Saxony's envoy in Berlin, though, is carrying out Flemming's instructions to have FW arrest Countess Cosel in exchange for some tall deserters (which will end up in Cosel being imprisoned for the rest of her life).
Manteuffel to Flemming: I know she's your arch enemy and thus also mine, and she sure as hell didn't do anything for me while she was still in favour, but nonetheless, this seems a bit harsh, no?
Seydewitz: Look, I'm not uncritically fond of you, Manteuffel, but waxing on sentimentally about something you participate in is cheap.
Self: I'm with you on that one.
Hanging out with August directly means more drinking, so it's a good thing Manteuffel is FW-trained by now. It also means not handing over a note from one of August's many one night stands to August when he's in the company of the current Maitresse en titre, Countess Dönhoff. And it means working towards an ever closer Saxony-Prussia-Austria alliance within the HRE, a long term goal which sufferes a temporary heavy blow when the Clement Affair happens in 1719. Which is when I get my explanation as to where Wilhelmine got her story about a near FW assassination from. Not, as I guessed, from Mom, or not only; most likely, she got it from Dad. How so? Well, brace yourself. It's going to be wild ride...
Michael Klement or Clement: I'm an Hungarian conman in training. For some reason, a 19th century publication will call me Jakob, but my first name as listed by the Secret Prussian State Archive is Michael, so Michael it shall be. Anyway, after selling out my first boss Prince Racocsky to Prince Eugene, I get to work for Eugene for a while, long enough to get the hang of his writing, because I'm also a gifted forger. Unfortunately, Eugene just refused to make me his right hand man, so before he could fire me, which he eventually did, I kept an eye out for other opportunities, and became a spy for Flemming for a while. Flemming, like Eugene, was first impressed and then less so, probably because my spy tells tended to be a bit on the colorful and less on the factual side. So Flemming fired me as well, but not before I didn't get a good hard look on the who is who of his spy network. Which came in handy, because by now I was pissed off and wanted REVENGE. So I went to FW.
FW: In the autumn of 1718, I'm less paranoid than I will be, but this will now change, because Honest Clement, a Hungarian who is NOT a Catholic, tells me a terrible tale. Prince Eugene, Grumbkow and others at my court have hatched a plot to kill me, and via controlling my Schwedt cousin become regent for my son, little Fritz, who will be raised A CATHOLIC and a tool of Rome. I'm now only sleeping with pistols at my side for a while. Those letters from Eugene Clement presented were declared really Eugene's handwriting by other courtiers who know it. I'm now ordering everyone's letters to be opened, which is how I discover that Frau von Baspiel is corresponding with Manteuffel and Fleming. Not only is she clearly a traitorous WHORE, she dares to compare me to Tiberius, and even though I hated my Latin and ancient history lessons, I know that wasn't a compliment. I'm sending her to Spandau and firing her husband. Wait, Clement says there's more?
Clement: This is where I make my mistake. I claim Old Dessauer is part of the conspiracy as well.
FW and Old Dessauer: *have a scene of manly tears where old Dessauer says if FW believes this of him, he should kill him right away. Take up your sword again or take up me!*
FW: *takes up Dessauer*
Old Dessauer: I can't stand Grumbkow, or Flemming, or Manteuffel, and I'm gonna slap that whore Baspiel, literally, but maybe you should demand an explanation from Vienna and Dresden before proceding any further?
Prince Eugene: Oh, FFS. Listen, FW, if the boss says to make war on you, I will, but I'm not going to plot your assassination. And no one wants to make your kid a Catholic. Why do I have an inkling this subject might come up again in my life? Anyway, you know me from Malplaquet. I give you my word as a fellow soldier.
Flemming: Fuck, fuck, fuck. This will set us back decades.
Manteuffel: But we're innocent?
Flemming: Regarding assassination and conversion plans, sure, but we did spy on him via Baspiel. He won't forgive that.
Manteuffel: We'll see about that. Concentrate on denying what we can honestly deny for now. In fact, take the initiative. Let's demand that our good name gets cleared by FW personally! That will impress him, I tell you.
Clement: I get interrogated three times. The third time, I get shown instruments of torture, which is when I confess all.
FW: I don't think threatening torture to find out the truth is a good idea. Poor Clement clearly spoke out of fear. I'm now going to visit him every day in prison, because I still believe there's a conspiracy against me to put my kid on the throne. Thiwill become a fixed idea for me from this point onwards. My scepticism regarding the use of torture or the threat of torture as a truth finding instrument will not come up again in 1730, though.
Grumbkow: Doesn't the bond of manly comrades count anymore? Do I look like a regicide to you? Just read Eugene's letter, boss.
FW: ...Okay. You're innocent. Eugene is, too. BUT SOMEONE CONSPIRED AGAINST ME, I JUST KNOW IT. Just look at Vienna and Dresden insisting that Clement be punished. That just smells like a patsy to me.
Clement: I get poked with glowing iron and then hanged, but because FW really feels sorry for me, the hangman strangles me before having a go with the glowing iron. A plus compassionate ruler, FW! My last speech will emphasize that, and also that while I did con you, I did it because I wanted you to be alert to all the CATHOLIC skeeviness going on in Vienna and Saxony.
Flemming & Manteuffel: We're both Protestants. Also, we're still demanding FW clears our good name.
SD: And I demand you release my favourite lady-in-waiting from Spandau.
FW: *releases Frau von Baspiel in early 1719 from Spandau, but banishes her and her husband to Kleve*
Seydewitz: I know Wilhelmine says she ended up as governess of the younger princesses, but that won't happen until Fritz comes to the throne, which is when he'll do his mother the favour of recalling and reinstalling her.
Grumbkow: Let me phrase the name clearing for you in a subtle way that satisfy their demands so we can go back to politics as usual yet also make it sound as if you're still not convinced, Sire.
Official FW letter to August in June 1719: "I, FW, declare to bear no grudge against Manteuffel and Flemming, and to respect them in the way their qualities deserve."
Manteuffel: That was...amazingly subtle for him. Still. It's a start. Let some time pass and let me work on reconstructing the relationship network, and he'll come around.
Self: Incidentally, aren't the intervening years when Suhm is Saxon envoy and FW hates his guts?
Manteuffel: works his magic, so that when FW and Fritz visit Dresden in 1728, they actually stay at his house. (Fritz' first preserved letter to Wilhelmine, which contains a "hot or not?" report on August, was written there.) This is also when the "Society against Sobriety" is founded, with Grumbkow as President, August as "patron", FW as "compatron" , and Manteuffel as, what else, Le Diable. At this point, FW likes him so much again that he writes him in French. (!) (Seydewitz quotes a letter dated December 23rd 1729 from Wusterhausen from, sic, "Votre tres Affectionne Amy FW". (Fritz came by his spelling honestly.) And FW borrows him 5000 Reichstaler so Manteuffel can attend and shop at the Leipzig Book Fair, for ten years without interest. Manteuffel-concerning letters to the Prussian envoy in Dresden sound thusly (in January 1730): "Dites de Ma part au Diable qu'il change de vie, touchant le bouteille, ou il souccombera, quel malheur pour la cause commune, et tres fidele serviteur du Patron et ami du Compatron."
Good to know for Manteuffel, because as mentioned in Bronisch's books, 1730 is when his career takes a turn for the worse and officially ends because Flemming is dead and Hoym has taken over. Flemming died in 1728, and from 1728 to 1730, Manteuffel was also cabinet minister for Foreign Affairs. As a reminder, the main point of clash between Manteuffel and Hoym was that Manteuffel was favouring a Saxony-Prussia-Austria alliance, now also including Russia, wile Hoym had no time for the HRE and thought Saxony should ally for France and Hannover/Britain instead. (Manteuffel correctly thought France would push Stanislas' Lescyinski's claim for the Polish throne again as soon as August the Strong died and so definitely saw it as the main enemy.) So between 1728 and 1730, Mantteuffel was in a struggle with Hoym about whose ideas would prevail with August. And then this happened:
Summer of 1729: FW and G2 have their almost-duel, Prussia and England growl at each other.
Manteuffel: Excellent. If August offers to support FW militarily, not only will FW remain our ally but Hoym's idea of alliances with France and Britain is shot down, since France, for a breahttaking change, is currently on the same page as England in this matter.
Suhm in Berlin: FW, August could totally negotiate between you and Hannover and reconcile you with your brother-in-law.
Manteuffel: WTF, Suhm? WTF?
Seydewitz doesn't say so, she just says he was indignant, but I think the timing works: this is when Suhm is recalled as envoy.
Manteuffel: goes to Berlin himself in September, at least that's the intention
Manteuffel: unfortunately also gets sick in Breslau, en route; by the time he has recovered, FW has calmed down, and neither a duel or a war happen, without August having had the chance to support FW militarily.
Manteuffel: Grr. Argh. Okay, if that's the case: look, FW, Saxony has gotten on a war footing because of you. We had expenses. Please pay same?
FW: Nope, but good try, and I still like you. Pray keep up the good work against Team France!
Manteuffel: I don't think so. I can see where the wind is blowing. Starting to evacuate my papers to Pomerania now, will hand in my resignation in the summer.
Since, however, even a retired to Pomerania Manteuffel has a correct instinct as to whom to befriend, he becomes buddies with young Brühl, which means, as reported elsewhere, that when Hoym falls, he's in contact with an up and coming power again. As Bronisch told as well, in 1733, Private Citizen Manteuffel moves to Berlin and gets lots of invites from FW.
FW: But you're not again in service, are you?
M: Nope. Total private citizen, me.
FW: I'm glad, because I couldn't talk to you as frankly as I do if you were still working for Saxony. But now we're just honest countrymen!
(Manteuffel in 1733: was instrumental in Brühl's campaign to bribe enough Poles to get August III. elected as King of Poland, due to his old connections with the Polish nobility.)
Seydewitz offers more details for how Mantteufel got into Fritz' circle. FW had one of his serious illnesses where everyone predicted his death in 1734. Now Manteuffel had known Fritz before, of course - as mentioned, FW and Fritz were guests in his Dresden palace during the 1728 trip - , but he hadn't sought out a relationship with him earlier, not least because he hadn't been in Berlin during the 1720s when Fritz was getting old enough to have a relationship with, Suhm was. Now, however, it was another matter.
Seydewitz: Manteuffel's letters to Brühl through the 1730 offer a great look at the goings on of the Berlin court, and it's a shame they haven't been published so far, except in excerpts in Weber's two essays. Note that Manteuffel doesn't just write what the Saxonian court would love to hear; if FW is disgruntled with August III., he says so, and also when a Saxon action is perceived badly by other influential people. He also had a better idea than Brühl of how powerful Saxony was and wasn't, to wit, that there was no way it could go to war with Prussia and win anymore, so being allies and friends was quintessential, and tried to hammer that down. This, Seydewitz approves of, but she strongly disapproves of initially sinister ways Manteuffel uses to get from Team FW to Team Fritz. For starters, he asks Brühl for money to buy presents for various ladies (!) who could win Fritz' favour and/or have influential husbands, and for the various young men around Fritz who look like they could have lasting power. Then, he mentions le Chetardie and he are after the same prostitute ("grisette") whom Fritz supposedly visited in Ruppin and who could be a really useful channel, and anyway, it's prostitutes in general, not ladies in general.
Now, since Manteuffel later will have no doubt Fitz doesn't swing that way ("Hadrian"), it's interesting that at this point, when his knowledge is that of an avarage good courtier but not yet intimate, he sees Fritz as someone into women enough that this could work as an in. And of course it actually fits with all the stories of young Fritz "debauching" himself with prostitutes. The girls don't pay off, but the various gents in Fritz' social circle do. (Seydewitz doesn't name names, but I'm eyeing young Wartensleben.) FW shows he's not dying yet after all, but Manteuffel now has his in and Seydewitz is relieved that "we're breathing cleaner air again" in the reports, i.e. no more prostitutes on the payroll, instead, it's philosophical and cultural debate time, and she's also glad Manteuffel sounds honestly impressed.
Bronisch covered the rest. Three things in Seydewitz which he either didn't mention, or not in detail, or I skipped re: the Manteuffel/Fritz breakup in the fall of 1736:
1.) Formey in his write up of Manteuffel says Old Dessauer (who disliked him of old) scored a point with Fritz by saying how ridiculous it looked for a prince at Fritz' age to still need a teacher to guide him.
2.) Other Seckendorff's secret journal contains this bit: "The Devil confided in me that Suhm has talked to him about Junior, and that (Junior) said to Suhm he'd heard during his journey through East Prussia news of the Devil's" troublemaking and thus has ended the correspondence in order not to have trouble inflicted on him."
(Side note: this is probably the less euphemistically put same explanation Suhm gives in his write-up of Fritz to Brühl later. BTW, it also shows that despite the 1729 clash, there wasn't long term animosity between Suhm and Manteuffel.)
3.) The matter with the painting of Manteuffel by Matthieu. This in itself was an unusual portrait for a German nobleman because it doesn't show him in official wardrobe but in a dressing gown, sans wig, and with alll the surroundings coding him as a scholar rather than a noble. The trouble, though, is that the painting shows the letter Manteuffel is writing starting with "Monseigneur". (It's not readable anymore.) Seydewitz says the painting today (1926) hangs in the book-loaning hall of the university of Leipzig. Who knows whether it's still there, but given that Manteuffel remained connected to his alma mater all his life, I wouldn't be surprised if he left it to them. Anyway, neither Fritz nor FW were amused when they learned of this "through an indiscretion of the painter" (i.e. Matthieu), though Seydewitz doesn't source this info to an original document but to Gurlitt's "Beschreibende Darstellung der Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler".
FW's reaction, btw, reminds me of something in Bronisch which I forgot to mention in my write up there: FW, like his son with the Sanssouci tableround, liked the fantasy that in the tobacco parliament, he could be relaxed among friends without any formality, so as opposed to everywhere else, people did not have to rise for the King if he entered or left. Now, remember how we found out that as late as1739, there was yet another FW/Fritz crisis, along with speculation about a change of the succession? I think I found a reason. Bronisch said that in 1739, FW invited Fritz to the Tobacco Parliament again. Fritz enters. Everyone rises.
FW: *death glare at all his tobacco chums*
FW: *does not visit the tobacco college ever again*
FW: *does not forgive if people give him the impression they are ditching him for the rising sun, not ever*
Oh, one more Seydewitz trivia: she claims Manteuffel was nominated by Fritz of Wales to the Royal Society in the 1740s. I'm going to trust the latest Andrew Mitchell dissertation has done its homework on this and that it was Andrew M., not Fritz of Wales. At any event, she says this does show that while Manteuffel was not a power factor anymore in the 1740s, he had become a name in the world of letters and scholars. Also, while a lousy husband, he had his daughters (his sole son didn't survive; the title went to a distant relation he adopted) educated very well and the surviving letters show he enjoyed debating with them on a high level. Basically, Manteuffel in his silver fox years comes across as good with young people in general (see also Formey still being starry eyed about him decades later), only with Fritz he'd bitten off more than he could chew.
