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rheinsbergSamuel Jacob Morgenstern's Über Friedrich Wilhelm I. was published postumously in 1793. He died in 1785, one year before Fritz, and it's not entirely clear when this memoir was written, but Richard Leineweber, who wrote his doctoral thesis about Morgenstern and this FW biography, narrowed it down to not earlier than 1766 and not later than 1782, due to various references in the text. More about this later. Morgenstern had a very interesting life, about which more below in the review of Leineweber's doctoral work; the preface to Morgenstern's biopgrahy by an anoymous editor yet to be identified touches on that, but manages to get most of it wrong, including the date of Morgenstern's journey to England, which the preface puts in the year 1739, and the reason for the journey, which the preface declares to have been making peace between a Prussia and Britain on the brink of war. (They weren't, not then.) The preface concludes that in his private life, Morgenstern distinguished himself by being a miser, stubborn, a cynic and through some excentricities as well as through considerable scholarly knowledge, and that one could add some well known anecdotes about him but won't because de mortuis nihil nisi bene. After this introduction, and given the key fact that Morgenstern was a successor to the unfortunate Jacob Paul Gundling (i.e. originally a scholar, hired by FW and treated as a court fool during the last four years of FW's life), you'd expect something critical. On the face of it, you'd be wrong. Leineweber has a fascinating theory about that, which he backs up, but first, my original impressions.
The first half of the book certainly makes it sounds like Morgenstern is FW's Zimmermann, starting with the very first page:
The late blessed King Friedrich Wilhelm in his youth must have been a well built and handsome man, because his face was appealing until his last sickness and his eyes not just light, but piercing and, most of the time, friendly (...): Since he could see to the bottom of your heart, he suspected a bad conscience in everyone who didn't look at him freely; or that he could never trust them because of deceitfulness and perfidity of their heart. There are only few occasions where he was wrong in his judgment.
The early impression of Zimmermann-level fannnishness hails not just from all the praise for his high morals, dedication to work, and general geratness but a tinhat "this explains everything!" theory which Morgenstern's case is that young FW fell in love with young Caroline and never really got over it. Unlike Jochen Klepper in his novel, Morgenstern avoids saying whether or not he thinks she requited his feelings. But he is convinced that Caroline's rejection of FW's proposal was dictated to her by mean sarcastic grandma Sophie or by Sophie Charlotte, but more likely Sophie, wanting Caroline for future G2 instead. Why is he so sure? Because such an excellent woman as the late Queen Caroline surely, surely, would have let down FW gently instead of decisively and sarcastically which is what she apparently did. It's all Grandma's fault! Because Caroline never would have said a harsh word to FW otherwise.
(Lord Hervey, somewhere in the hereafter: *spit take*)
FW's life long pining for Caroline is also one of the reasons why he wasn't as good with his older children as he was with the younger ones. He still hadn't adjusted to his Caroline-less life then. HOWEVER, he was an utterly faithful husband to SD, despite being tempted as a young man. (But then he married the pretty castellan's daughter off post haste before he could be tempted some more.) Further proof that FW never had sex with anyone but SD in his life for Morgenstern is an exchange in the Tobacco College, where FW asked his fellow smokers after having been married to SD for decades already whether if a certain part of the female anatomy - "the source of all joy and procreation", as Morgenstern terms it - smells bad, this is a sign of bad hygiene, or whether this is true for all women. Another companion assures him that his wife Charlotte smells great there, and the poor lady from this point onwards is known as "Sweet Smelling Charlotte" in tout Berlin.
(mildred_of_midgard: Well, if he's specifically referring to her vagina, it could alternately be hygiene or an infection.
...In keeping with the theme of our gossipy salon and the signed testimonies on the state of Fritz's penis, I have now read an article on various vagina smells and what can cause them. Aside from the usual suspects, there was this one I hadn't predicted:
When you are stressed or anxious, the apocrine glands produce a milky fluid. On its own this fluid is odorless. But when this fluid contacts the abundance of vaginal bacteria on your vulva, it can produce a pungent aroma.
Maybe she's unhappy in her marriage, FW!)
Now, always according to Morgensten, G2 ending up with Caroline instead is just one of the many, many things FW held against his cousin and brother-in-law. More serious is that G2 also ended up with three crowns he did not deserve and which FW should have gotten. (At this point, a vague memory made itself known, because yes, in one of the many books I've read this last year it did say William of Orange considered adopting FW as his heir for a while, in which case Britain would have gotten the Hohenzollern Friedrichs and Wilhelms instead of the Hannover Georges.) Morgenstern tells a dramatic tale of how kid FW, who in his twelfth year has been taken by Mother SC on a trip to the Netherlands, gets presented to William of Orange and is much liked by him, to the point where the King wants to kidnap him and take him to Britain, only to be talked out of it in the last minute. FW keeps thinking he missed his destiny there.
"If only I'd been King William, (William of Orange) could have made a great man out of me", (...) The Holsteiner interrupted him with a smile: "But you are a great King, how could being King William have made you greater?" The Master returned with some indignation: "You talk as you know it. Of course he could have gotten me elected as Stateholder, he could have taught me the craft to command the armies of Europe, do you know anything greater?"
Since FW has the same amount of British royal blood in him as G2 does (they're both great-grandsons of Elizabeth Stuart the Winter Queen), it's really not fair that stupd G2 got Britain AND Caroline. Grrr. Argh. Morgenstern also claims that when he was on his secret mission in Britain in 1737, he checked the files and saw that the Scots wanted FW rather than the Hannover gang as well in Queen Anne's time.
Morgenstern also reports the FW-G2 fight when they were kids in Hannover, only in his version it was after they had started to learn to fence, so it was an almost duel already. And the wonderful story of FW on his deathbed telling SD she can write to her brother that he, FW, forgives him. But only after he's dead.
Oh, and then there's this: in 1738 while inspecting Wesel, FW meets the current Prince of Orange, who's married to G2's and Caroline's oldest daughter Anne, and Anne herself. Anne leaves an impression, for FW, returning to Berlin, tells SD: "Fiekchen, if you die, I'm going to remarry within the family. I'm going to marry your brother's daughter. Luckily, she's not like her father at all. She takes after her mother, only she's not pretty.")
(This stuff is all over the book, I'm just putting it thematically together.)
Now, here's the odd thing. While the first half is unrelenting praise for FW, and defense against the various charges against him, including cruelty, the second half offers actually various examples of FW being cruel. I'm not sure whether that means the author hadn't finished working on the manuscript or whether he's not aware there is a contradiction there or what.
(Spoiler: this is exactly what's addressed in Leineweber's doctoral thesis. He thinks it was entirely deliberate on Morgenstern's part.)
The hostility towards both of FW's parents in the biopgraphy is pretty unrelenting. SC is at fault for spoiling him. The anecdote illustrating this is that once when Tiny Terror FW beat up his cousin and name sake Friedrich Wilhelm of Kurland, has the kid under him and both hands in his hair when in comes Mom, but instead - so says Morgenstern FW told the tale - of either punishing him or at least saving the other kid from him, she just says, distraught: "Mon cher fils! Que faites-vous!" Ergo, he had to learn all about childraising himself, since Dad didn't give him any discipline, either, which proves Dad didn't care. Dad was only into kingship, and provided FW with servants but not Christian education, and also he murdered little baby Friedrich Ludwig with his stupid salute shooting, and then he married for a third time when there really was no need, because FW was on the job. Dad F1 was the worst King who ever existed, and our current King says the same thing, readers, so it must be true. For good measure, Morgenstern also reports that Sophie Charlotte told her son he was illegitimate and newly crowned FW when drunk once blurted out "How can you believe such a weak man was my father?" until a general reminded him that if F1 wasn't his father, FW himself was not King.
(The factual basis of this, or the lack of same, is adressed in my Leineweber write-up below.)
When Morgenstern gets to how FW had so seek out his own friends because his parents court was just, ugh, we get this gem of a quote:
So he had to create himself friends, and he found them among all who got to know him, partly through his honesty, partly through his benevolence. And as he was modest in his claims and requests, he did not insist to have his friendship returned in an exemplary manner, to find a Hephaistion as Alexander had done; for he knew how his ancestors had behaved with their Hephaistions.
I am very hard trying to take this solely as referring to Hephaistion as an example of a "good" favourite here, but you're not making it easy, Morgenstern.
No, he was content if others understood half a word from him; if they took a hint through a glance; if they could entertain him, especially in an honest and just fashion.
Morgenstern, as mentioned, defends FW against the charge of cruelty, a misunderstanding which arose, says he, because "of the beatings, because of the recruitment excesses and because of the strict executions". But look, says he: he needed the army in order to get Prussia on a good footing again, executions were for discipline and also to deterr thieves (FW using the death penalty for thieves wasn't a given in German states, unlike in England), and anyway, the poof that FW wasn't a sadist (of course Morgenstern doesn't use this word, the Marquis de Sade is his contemporary, after all, but it's what he means) is that such people delight in watching others suffer, and FW never did that.
"No one can deny that the late King has been more compassionate than anyone else towards the victims of his rage."
He always forgave any sinnner who repented. And okay, so he got angry a few times at his family, BUT he didn't get physical except for what Morgenstern refers to as The Great Incident. (Yep, Morgenstern is definitely Klepper's source for postponing FW being abusive to Fritz until 1730.) Also? "When the Crown Prince was at Küstrin, his father in order to keep him occupied had him review all cirminal trials for either confirmation or rejection of the judgment. How could a suppoosedly so cruel master let go of the opportunity to torment via the law, to make life miserable and to shed blood?"
Now, at this point I thought I had Morgenstern's number, but he will surprise us, gentle readers, somewhat later, and massively so.
Keep also in mind Morgenstern only knew FW during the last four years of his life, too. Everything else he describes, he describes from hearsay. But what he writes about FW's daily routine and personnel in his last years, for example, I guess we can take at face value, and since it's the obvious model and yet a contrast to Fritz' daily routine, here you go:
Friedrich Wilhelm limited himself to two, at most three pages who both served him at the table and followed him everwhere on horseback, and had to live from ten Reichstaler per month. After three or four years, he made them Lieutenants with the equipage coming with that state and a hundred ducats. (...) For his nursing and care, the King had five footmen and one hunter, who did the same servicen when the master got dressed or by sleeping in front of his bed as those who received postmaster offices or other benevolences so they could l ive well with a salary of 400 Reichstaler. When he died, these were:
1.) Abt, who then died twice.
2.) Bramdhorst, who followed Eversmann as Chatelain in Berlin.
3.) Wiedekin, who received the post office in Minden.
4.) Müller (Morgenstern tells a story of him using the opportunity of having to deliver a thank you present from FW to Cardinal Fleury to high tail it out of Prussia)
5.) Hammerstein, who also became a postmaster and
6.) Meyer, who became Oberforstmeister in Torgelow, Upper Pomerania.
Moreover eight chamber footmen, and the same number of hunters, who served at the table in the antechambre and at the King's sickness carriage (Kranken-Wagen, perhaps the wheelchair, perhaps an actual wagon necessary to transport him in his final year), for eight Reichstaler a month, and who were given offices at city halls or at tax offices, or at profitable hunting grounds.
(felis, explaining "Abt, who then died twice": Letter from Fritz to SD, February 22nd, 1745:A very singular adventure has happened here. The old valet Abt, ill in agony, surrounded by priests, doctors, and all the paraphernalia with which the living dress those who want to leave this world, thought he was dying, and persuaded his spectators so well that, after his last sigh, they laid him down on the mattress [in a coffin I suspect]. Three hours after his death, people heard a great noise; a general rumor arose in the house. But who was the most surprised was the wife to see the deceased full of life and very unhappy to see himself at the edge of the tomb, having great appetite and no desire to leave yet. People cry out a miracle, the neighborhood rushes in, the priests arrive, with them the Faculty of surgeons and doctors; in short, it took more than a hundred people to persuade Madame that Monsieur was not dead, and that he should be looked at as full of life. Even better, that the patient approaches convalescence more than death, and that Madame does not appear otherwise edified. I found the singularity of this story worthy of being related to my very dear mother. I wish I could entertain her with something better, but still it is a lot when Potsdam provides such a tale. Felis also discovered that Johann Friedrich Abt was FW's oldest valet, already with him when FW was still crown prince. )
Speaking of money. Let's talk about household expenses:
In order not to need a budget for his and his family's wardrobe, nor for his hunting, he told the Queen, whom he had left her considerable heritage for free use, that she would have to finance from the annual 8000 Reichstaler the following:
- linnen for herself, the princesses, the princes and the King
- also everyone's wardrobe
- powder and bullets for the hunting at Wusterhausen and Mackenow in autumn; in recompense, she was to have any feathery game that didn't get eaten right away
In order to be galant, he did present the Queen and each of the princesess with at least one winter dress each year; but he would not agree to have this put in the contract for which the Queen needed a legal advisor, as (...) in anger against his brother-in-law, he hadn't even wanted to sign it as her marital curator.
FW's Day in the life in the later 1730s:
Morning starts with a prayer (of course it does), washing, cabinet secretaries show up and report about the incoming mail, note down the King's orders/replies. While they're doing this, FW drinks his coffee and gets dressed (by servants). The resolutions from the previous day are read through and signed while FW gets into his boots. After five to six hours administrative work, he's off to soldiering (i.e. inspections, parades), though he combines that with meeting envoys and foreign visitors. Lunch with up to 30 people, for two hours, with a guest getting one or one and a have bottles of wine on avarage. When in Berlin, FW also receives the envoys here as well, which means more wine. If he's in a good mood, the wine flows until he says stop. After lunch: riding with the pages and a few servants; this is when he talks to any subjects trying to meet him directly. If FW can't ride because either his health isn't up to it or the weather is too bad, he paints, with a painter who is Morgenstern's arch enemy. The painter, Johann Adelfing, nickname "Hänsgen" (= little Hans, because Johann) gets 100 Reichstaler per annum, and because of the colors used a Gulden for every day they paint together. "...but for every stroke with the paintbrush which the King didn't manage well, Hänsgen got a rich share of pushes and slaps. The results of these painting lessons weren't much to look at, though the student easily did as well as the master."
So, FW's theatre taste according to Morgenstern: He had liked French comedy during his campaigns in Brabant, but lost the taste for them when he had it staged once and the next day heard the children call each other by the names of the play, especially the youngest son, then 6 or 7 years old, calling himself Policinello. German comedy used to be very bawdy in those days, and so he thought it was too dangerous for the youngsters. Of Italian comedy, he liked slapstick, but he was ready to admit that this was not to everyone's taste.
Puppet play, he regarded justly as childish, but when it was presented at the tavern in Wusterhausen and he heard from his people about the burlesque they were presenting, he ordered it performed in front of the entire court, and the master could never recall the entire performance without laughing heartily.
(mildred_of_midgard: Per Wikipedia, Policinello is the name of a particular comic figure in Italian comedy: Since the time of the Renaissance, this figure has mostly been a sly, cunning--and at the same time simple-minded and foolish--coarse, and voracious servant of peasant origin. The figure mostly had a hump, often a long bird nose, which gave it a fox-like expression.)
And now we get to the surprise, i.e. where Morgenstern suddenly sounds... downright FW critical. Which made me wonder about my original estimation, because the following passage is anything but hagiographic:
The Master liked the custom of the Germans of the times of old to have court fools; but he didn't understand it correctly. For instead of looking for those who would tell him and his entourage the truth in a jest at the right time, when no one else would, he sought clowns and acrobats. If he found them, they were given to supervisors who treated the poor fellows so harshly that they became depressed instead of becoming funny, bright and cheerful. Like one from Siebenbürgen, named Eisenbläser, whom the King nicknamed Cucumene, (...)who'd been put under the supervision of Wachtmeister Lieutenant Buzlaf. He was trashed daily by the later, was given iron balls attached to his feet like the eagles running around the palace, and was tormented to the core, of which the result was that he was found hanged in the attic.
(Result: distinct lack of court fool volunteers.)
The source of all this was: when he had to be in Berlin while being Crown Prince, he was at war with time. In order to kill it, he rode on his pages and footmen and beat them out of the room. Once he was on the throne, this princely pleasure had to be forsaken, and so he assembled his officers in the evening to the tabbaco college instead. But what little knowledge they possessed together was soon exhausted. The reading of newspapers, too, was soon over, and to investigate the likelihood of the reported was something this assembly knew as little about as about cause and effect of a given incident. So the gentlemen smoked and yawned at each other. Despite the marvelous conclusion that everyone who knew something had to be a fool had already been reached, the King decided that they needed someone like this, to tell them stories and give them causes to speak. Everyone suggested a candidate, among them Paul Gundling, who was a member of the Academy which was on the decline then, and it was praised that he was good at talking. (...)Now the assembly had enough to listen to, for this man was a scholar. As at first no one had a competing comment to make, the King started to respect the man. But as a just precaution against the admiration growing too much, it was decided that the man should be tempted. This temptation consisted of drowning him in titles, forcing him to drink until he'd grown a taste for it and even tank the rest of the glasses and mugs after a meal had finished, and once he was drunk, he was treated evilly in words and deeds. At one time, there was a wall built in front of his door, so that when he was looking for his room in the evening, he couldn't find it and had to spend the night searching for it; at another time, young bears (of which many declawed ones were walking around at Wusterhausen and and Potsdam in the court yards) were put into his bed, which welcomed him in their way when he returned drunken and crawling from the tobacco parliament in the night. Because he started to complain about it, it was said he wasn't just a fool, he was a Poltron. (?) Despite of him having surrendered completely to drink, all these evil doings grew too wild for him, and once he ran away, but only to his brother Hieronymus, who was a Professor in Halle. From there, he was brought back like a criminal under guard. There was a debate on how to punish him. But one noted through his unusual silence that he had been brought to depression and that at least his talking at the table and at the tobacco college would be over, which meant they'd be back where they started from, and he wasn't supposed to kill himself, either; so the decision was made that the entire tobacco parliament should go smoking and drinking to him, led by the King, and praise him, tell hm that there never was a greater scholar. So the poor man was won around again, was made to drink again, and now was treated thusly that everyone had their fun with him but his life and his health weren't endangered anymore, and the bears were left out of it from now on. (...) At last, he was buried in a barrel of wine as a coffin in the church at Bornstadt, and a succcessor sought everywhere. Those who accepted either knew not as much as he had done and so disappeared again, or they started to scheme instead, and thus coped better than the dear departed. Others who were put into the position avoided drink, arrogance and cowardice. Moreover, the knowledge of the King and his company had grown, so he now wanted more of the useful conversations and its entertainment than the crude pranks, and he grew fonder of a truth told as a jest, or a story in context than by grimaces and beatings, especially since the Master had now tasted philosophy.
Meaning: of course, I wasn't treat this way, reader! But I will admit thinking about my predecessor makes me a bit queasy.
While I almost couldn't believe the above reported story was written without awareness of how this makes FW sound, I am, sad to say, sure Morgenstern thought this bit of 18th century antisemitism was just jolly, too: FW after hunting sent the killed boars to the Jews who had to buy them at five Reichstaler a piece.
Morgenstern claims SD has promised him protection because he managed on two evenings in a row to be examined by FW about the family without having taken anyone's party or talked badly about anyone. He also reports that Old Desssauer faked the smoking, as mentioned in other books, and confirms FW liked oboists from the military. (Fredersdorf, watch out!)
Not in Morgenstern: back in the day, FW in his earliest instructions to his son's governors and teachers wanted SD to be the disciplining parent. They were never supposed to threaten little Fritz with him, only with his mother. I knew this, but what I hadn't known was that FW kept this up with the younger kids as well, at least according to Morgenstern, who writes:
Yes, even if the sons were already officers and in uniform with him, and if they'd been noughty, he led the criminal himself to be punished by the mother. Since he had never learned to punish or reward the children, his favourites weren't better treated than the other children, and he didn't distinguish one from the other by special surprises or treats. In my time, the favourites were the princes Wilhelm and Ferdinand, and Princess Ulrike. But since they all didn't get anything than friendly looks, addresses, sometimes kisses, and cheek stroking; so the author dares to claim due to the sheer number of such loving yet unprofitable caresses, the last one named was the one most loved, yes, even esteemed for her firm mind, and because she never showed discontentment or mocking laughter, and if she'd been a son, she'd have been preferred.
But FW believed in the superiority of the male sex too much to make a girl the overall favourite. Incidentally, while it's possible his gift-giving habits changed between 1730 and 1735, Stratemann's envoy dispatches list more presents both for the children - of either sex - and for SD than that.
Money heritage for the boys, btw, according to Morgenstern, in 1740:
52 000 Reichstaler for August Wilhelm
26 000 for Heinrich and Ferdinand each.
In 1737, there was talk of marrying Wilhelm to a Danish princess which since she had only one brother would have given him a shot on the throne. FW was all for it until there was a report that the girl was a dwarf, at which point the marriage was cancelled.
FW and the fight against superstition: stopped the last witch trials in the state, thought alchemy was rubbish, was in two minds about ghosts; mostly he didn't think they existed, but he wasn't sure about the White Lady ( the appearance of whom supposedly spelled Hohenzollern doom).
Let's see, what else: ah, yes, travel. Mom and Grandmom and Dad all took him along on journeys to the Netherlands when he grew up, and he was very positively impressed, not least by the hygiene. Morgenstern says FW surpassed the Muslims with their five daily washings, and was really very much into cleanlinesss. (Had an obvious reasult with Fritz and hygiene.) Alas the Netherlands lost their holiday trip allure for him when he once at at an inn, the innkeeper lady recognized him and without improving the quality of the food still when later presenting the bill demanded a kingly price from him, over 1000 Taler. When he gave her 30 ducats instead, she screamed after him that he was stiffing her and made a big scandal by clinging to the carriage. And FW never visited the Netherlands again. Otoh, he enjoyed his travellers from afar: Peter the Great was certainly a favourite. And speaking of Peter: look, says Mr. Morgenstern, Peter may get praise now, but in his day he was hated and called a tyrant by a great many of his subjects, too. Also he gave them more cause than FW. I'm sure FW's reputation will go the way of Peter's and rise through subsequent generations, though!
Having finished the biography, I was in two minds; if it was simply meant as a hagiography, why then more than enough material for the FW prosecution along with all the praise, sometimes directly contradicting the praise? Mildred then discovered the estimable Richard Leineweber, whose dissertation proved to be quite illuminating. Starting with the biographical background on Morgenstern.
So, Morgenstern: born a Saxon in 1706. studied in Leipzig where he achieved Magister, started to lecture there, not many people showed up, so he went to Halle. He wasn't much more successful there; student attendence to his lectures was low. In order to win the students around, he started a newspaper reading and explaining seminar twice a week, which was a bit more of a success, not least because it was combined with smoking, and debates got so loud that a neighbor complained. These newspaper readings prodcued Morgenstern's first original work, according to Nicolai an imperfect attempt at gathering statistics. Leineweber can't judge it because he couldn't track it down, but he's not impressed with Morgenstern's next publication, which is a total copy-and-paste job on Russia (i.e. it plagiarizes a lot of articles printed at the time) combined with lots of flattery of the Czarina (Anna Ivanova). This was because not just Morgenstern but other German scholars hoped to get jobs in Russia because of Anna employing Germans and German being basically the court language due to her lover. It worked in that Morgenstern got 100 Rubel and an offer to teach history in a Moscow school. He set off but when he came to Potsdam, the guards didn't understand the title "Magister legens" and so he ended up interrogated by Captain Nettelhorst, who was impressed by his cheeky replies and told FW about this fellow. FW, as we saw in Stratemann's report, had had a hard time replacing Gundling, with several candidates choosing flight over humiliation. He pounced. Morgenstern got a job offer from him of 500 Reichstaler per annum and free lodgings as well as the title of Hofrat. Probably figuring that this sounded better than teaching kids in Moscow, Morgenstern accepted.
While Morgenstern had enough bite to diss the members of the tobacco college back when they dissed him, he still didn't escape the FW brand of humiliation entirely. Notoriously on that occasion when FW had him lecture and debate in November 1737 on "Scholars are fools" at the university of Frankfurt an der Oder. Said lecture got published later and is Leineweber's exhibit a) for his theory that Morgenstern's FW biography employs Antony's rethorical funeral speech technique from "Julius Caesar" because it shows him capable of subsersivness. Now, the intention on FW's part had been another scholar humiliation. Morgenstern had to wear a parody of the usual university professor get up, blue velvet with read threads and a red waistcoat, a gigantic periwig that went across his entire backside, and instead of the sword which professors then still carried, he wore a fox tail at his side. On royal order, all local professors had to attend. Now, as I said, Morgenstern later, that very same year, published the lecture. It starts with a big whopper, that "Narr" - fool" - hails from the Latin word "narrare", storyteling, and you can feel all the listening professors cringe. The basic theses of the lecture is that every man has his share of wrong opinions leading him to foolish behavior. The world is full of fools, from the simple shephard to priests. Morgenstern goes on about particular exhibits of foolery in all kinds of positions and tries to divide them by national characteristics. ("The foolishness of the British people consists of their longing for innovation beyond any measure or goal, simply because it is new, and thus they are able to betray their king and make themselves footstools to rebels and slaves.") Morgenstern has a go at the princes of this world as well, especially at those ruling small principalities, "who see their country, which can be viewed in its entirety when standing on an ants' hill, as a one big game park and want to do nothing but hunting". Leineweber says this is an obvious diss of FW's pal the Old Dessauer. Kings, too, are fools for "imagining the weight of their subjects' sins lay on their shoulders by the tons, and are pushing them into the abyss". Leineweber sees this as meaning FW. Only then in the last part of the lecture does he address what FW had ordered to be his subject, i.e. scholars as fools. Here Morgenstern has a go at the pietists for not understanding philosophers (allusion to Wolff) and at the theologians only studying in the hope of a rich income. And finally, he justifies his own fool get up and says that he who has been put by life in this position resembles "the first Roman mayor" Brutus, playing the fool when the Tarquinian Kings were still reigning. "As little as sensible clothing can make a fool wise, foolish clothing can confuse a sensible man."
This lecture was a big success with the students who cheered a lot, and with FW, too. Leineweber doubts he made Morgenstern vice chancellor of the university, but thinks he did give him a job there.
As to Agent Morgenstern's various secret missions, for as it turns out, he was used as an agent by not one but two Prussian kings:
1). England. According to Leineweber, his journey there happened neither in 1739 as the preface writer claims nor in 1737 as Morgenstern claims in his books, but in 1738. How do we know this? Because there's a cabinet order from Feburary 4th 1738 in which Morgenstern is ordered to go there, observe everything (but NOT do scholarly stuff), country and people, and then report to FW about his impressions. Under no circumstances was he to say that he was in Prussian service; he was supposed to travel under an alias and keep a diary noting down all he sees and hears. While Leineweber grants this proves Morgenstern had gained a measure of FW's trust and respect, he doubts thrifty FW financed Morgenstern a trip to Britain just to get a travelogue from him, and speculates that it might have been because in 1738, the eternal Jülich-Berg question came up again as the current title holder was suspected of kicking the bucket any time soon and FW might have wanted to find out what the mood in Britain was re: Prussia. His reason to suspect this is that the Prussian representative in London had similar orders, i.e. he was supposed to tell people that in the interest of the Protestant cause, Britain/Hannover should support FW's claim on Jülich and Berg.
2.) Christian Wolff. This, I covered in my Manteuffel write up. It's pretty well documented because of Wolff himself describing the encounter in letters to Manteuffel and Haude after they sent their "WTF? Do not accept!" letters. It does show Morgenstern could be pretty persuasive. Which is presumably why the next thing happened.
3.) Breslau. This is the most fascinating by far. Because it's after FW's death. Morgenstern knew of course that there was no chance Fritz would keep him on the pay roll as a fool/scholar. So he must have offered to work as a secret agent, and the amazing thing is, Fritz accepted and sent him to Breslau. Now, Breslau while Silesia belonged to MT had enjoyed huge privileges. On January 2nd 1741, victorious invader Fritz concluded a neutrality treaty with the city of Breslau, promising not to block any trade, to respect the city privileges and not to put any troops into Breslau. In exchange, he wanted to buy food for his troops at market price and be granted room for troop storage in the suburbs.
However, the leading city councillor, Gutzmar, was a Habsburg loyalist and anti Prussian, and kept sending loyalty messages to MT, declaring that she was the true ruler of Silesia and always would be etc. This would not do. So Morgenstern was sent into the city of Breslau under the alias of Dr. Freyer, with the double mission of turning the mood around. He hit the coffee houses and spread anti-Habsburg, pro-Prussia propaganda. On May 17th, he sent a report to Fritz on the city situation where he strongly advises arresting Gutzmar. That Fritz actually listened to Morgenstern over Podewils, who argued against an arrest of Gutzmar, is fascinating.
Morgenstern's activities didn't go unnoticed; a few months after his arrival the city council complained about the "demagogery" of a Prussian agent colling himself Dr. Freyer but really being called Morgenstern. According to the complaint, this had happened: on June 13, the citizens of Breslau were asked to give 500 000 Reichstaler to Fritz' war effort. The citizens protested, in a protest written by the city council but signed by a lot of important Breslau citizens, pointing to the neutrality treaty. On July 10th, the sum was lessened to 106 000 Gulden.
City of Breslau: But neutrality treaty!
Morgenstern: Guys, this is just the punishment from Fritz for your city council's anti-Prussia rethoric. However, I can help you. If you withdraw your signatures from the protest, Fritz won't want any money from you AT ALL, and only your Habsburg loyal city council will have to pay. Win!
Breslau citiizens: *withdraw signatures*
Fritz: Well, since clearly there are some pro-Prussia citizens in this city, who are in incredibly danger from evil Habsburg loyalists, I must reward their touching faith in me by annexing Breslau to protect them.
Fritz: *annexes Breslau on August 10th, and orders the city of Breslau to pay Morgenstern a life long pension of 500 Reichstaler per annum*
Morgenstern remained in Breslau and made the most of his new reputation as someone who has the ear of their new Prussian Overlord. He also threw his weight around; for example, when an Abbot of one of the largest monasteries died, he told the monks he'd get them all sent to Spandau if they didn't vote for a new pro-Prussia abbot. And then, he got greedy. The years passed, and he wanted more and more money for doing Breslau favours with Fritz, until at last the game was up, courtesy of Chancellor Cocceji (Barbarina's father-in-law). Morgenstern was ordered to leave Breslau and Silesia and return to Potsdam and settle down there. Which he did, and where he lived for the rest of his long life. Why Potsdam? Leineweber wonders whether Fritz wanted to keep an eye on him (well, let others keep an eye on him), due to all Morgenstern knew, at least about the taking of the Silesian capital. (Lest we forget, the official story was that the glorious conqueror was greeted with enthusiasm and joy by all the grateful Silesians, especially the Protestant ones, for saving them from Habsburg tyranny.)
Morgenstern's later years must have been pretty lonely; supposedly, he didn't even clean up the spiders in his room because he liked their company. When Niicolai visited him in 1779, ever hunting for stories, he thought Morgenstern came across as a smart man, if excentric. He went out now and then to play chess, but that was it, and otherwise he lived in his rooms with his books, and wrote the FW manuscript. There are references to events and people from 1780 - to 1782 in it, which would put it really late in Morgenstern's life, but then again there are references to the 7 Years War as recent and to someone who died in 1766 as having died "recently" which could indicate he at least started writing around 1770ish. Or, Leineweber allows, he might have done as old people can do and telescoped the decades when writing in the early 1780s.
Leineweber is a good doctoral thesis writer and compares it with the FW biographies which had appeared until Morgenstern's death, like Mauvillons, but suspects he might not have read them, as the political-biographical backstory on FW's youth is either Fritz-derived (most of the F1 dissing hails from Histoire de la Maison de Brandenburg by Fritz) or just plain wrong (FW learning the art of war directly from Wlliam of Orange, who was dead by the time FW could have done so). Morgenstern also has some evidently wrong conclusions about what he observes. So, the fact that FW while making a point of speaking German was in fact fluent in French (when La Chetardie introduced his successor Valory to him, FW talked to them entirely in French for an hour) made Morgenstern assume he must have learned his good French as a young man when campaigning in Brabant. This was nonsense; FW learned it as a child mainly from his governess Madame de Roucoulles, it was in fact his first language; he made himself adopt German as a primary language later, but, says Leineweber, you can tell from some phrases even in the 1730s cabinet orders that he must have been thinking in French because the expressions and word orders he uses are direct literal translations, not how you'd naturally phrase it in German.
Speaking of Madame de Roucoulles; Leineweber points out that the fact FW appointed his own governess as Fritz' governess demonstrates that his opinion of the education he received can't have been as negative as Morgenstern claims it was. As for SC not interfering in Tiny Terror FW's terrorism: one of her few surviving letters to her confidant Fräulein von Pöllnitiz is all about that. And of course, that is why F1 appointed the strict Calvinist teacher who gave FW such a lasting impression of hellfire and predestination. Far from hating his Dad, says Leineweber, aside from his own affectionate letters (and those of F1 to him) we have the written at the time testiomony of other observers showing him being incredibly supportive through F1's final illness, crying about him, and beating up (naturally) an officer who dared to suggest that hey, at least soon FW will be able to make all those changes he wants to make.
Caroline as FW's One Who Got Away: Morgenstern is the sole biographer to report that story. Leineweber also can't imagine that either Pöllnitz or Wilhelmine would have left it out of their respective memoirs if if the tale of FW's youthful and lasting love had been making the court gossip round. (Then again: it's always possible FW told Morgenstern after deciding to trust him and hadn't told anyone else.)
F1 to blame for baby Friedrich Ludwig dying and baby Friedrich Wilhelm dying as well (the former due to loud canon salutes, the later due to being treated by F1's bad doctor: Leineweber points out that the supposedly bad doctor was in fact one of the very very few F1 officials to not only survive into FW's era but to actually get a PAY RAISE from FW. This definitely argues against FW holding him responsible for the death of his baby son.
FW illegitimate? Nonsense, says Leineweber, for obious reasons. Firstly, SC would not have said this to her son (it's the kind of thing that got her sister-in-law locked up for the rest of her life), and secondly, FW, even drunk, would not have said it to his generals. This was really an incredibly touchy issue for 18th century royals. (Which is why the story of Heinrich and Ferdinand saying they wouldn't handwave their claim on the succession for a bastard is at least plausible, and why Catherine's son Paul was so majorly invested into demonstrating he was, in fact, (P)Russian Pete's son. See also the shenanigans in Sweden under Gustav III.)
(Here's my latest personal theory, not Leineweber's, as to why Morgenstern told that story: not only would it make FW an illegitimate King, but also Fritz, and Morgenstern is feeling bitter about both of them. If FW were a bastard, then the legitimate line of succession would run through F1's half brothers, the Schwedt cousins.)
F1 marrying unnessarily for a third time (as per Fritz and Morgenstern): not true, says Leineweber, since at the time of F1's last marriage the two baby boys had died, FW was without male issue, and F1 definitely did NOT want his Schwedt half brothers, sons of poisoning stepmom, to inherit his new kingdom.
Contradiction between on the one hand claiming FW was the best, and on the other hand including anecdotes in which he's the worst: Leineweber, as mentioned, thinks this was entirely intentional on Morgenstern's part. He's sitting in his Potsdam rooms, being lonely and bitter, but also aware that Fritz' official position on his father is to honor and praise him. So he writes a biography which ostensibly does just that but also delivers plenty of digs and anti-FW material, just like he'd been ordered to talk about scholars being idiots and ended up talking about everyone being fools. And course he was a practiced double talker and spy.
So: FW hagiography or subversive FW critique? Both, says Leineweber.
The first half of the book certainly makes it sounds like Morgenstern is FW's Zimmermann, starting with the very first page:
The late blessed King Friedrich Wilhelm in his youth must have been a well built and handsome man, because his face was appealing until his last sickness and his eyes not just light, but piercing and, most of the time, friendly (...): Since he could see to the bottom of your heart, he suspected a bad conscience in everyone who didn't look at him freely; or that he could never trust them because of deceitfulness and perfidity of their heart. There are only few occasions where he was wrong in his judgment.
The early impression of Zimmermann-level fannnishness hails not just from all the praise for his high morals, dedication to work, and general geratness but a tinhat "this explains everything!" theory which Morgenstern's case is that young FW fell in love with young Caroline and never really got over it. Unlike Jochen Klepper in his novel, Morgenstern avoids saying whether or not he thinks she requited his feelings. But he is convinced that Caroline's rejection of FW's proposal was dictated to her by mean sarcastic grandma Sophie or by Sophie Charlotte, but more likely Sophie, wanting Caroline for future G2 instead. Why is he so sure? Because such an excellent woman as the late Queen Caroline surely, surely, would have let down FW gently instead of decisively and sarcastically which is what she apparently did. It's all Grandma's fault! Because Caroline never would have said a harsh word to FW otherwise.
(Lord Hervey, somewhere in the hereafter: *spit take*)
FW's life long pining for Caroline is also one of the reasons why he wasn't as good with his older children as he was with the younger ones. He still hadn't adjusted to his Caroline-less life then. HOWEVER, he was an utterly faithful husband to SD, despite being tempted as a young man. (But then he married the pretty castellan's daughter off post haste before he could be tempted some more.) Further proof that FW never had sex with anyone but SD in his life for Morgenstern is an exchange in the Tobacco College, where FW asked his fellow smokers after having been married to SD for decades already whether if a certain part of the female anatomy - "the source of all joy and procreation", as Morgenstern terms it - smells bad, this is a sign of bad hygiene, or whether this is true for all women. Another companion assures him that his wife Charlotte smells great there, and the poor lady from this point onwards is known as "Sweet Smelling Charlotte" in tout Berlin.
(
mildred_of_midgard: Well, if he's specifically referring to her vagina, it could alternately be hygiene or an infection....In keeping with the theme of our gossipy salon and the signed testimonies on the state of Fritz's penis, I have now read an article on various vagina smells and what can cause them. Aside from the usual suspects, there was this one I hadn't predicted:
When you are stressed or anxious, the apocrine glands produce a milky fluid. On its own this fluid is odorless. But when this fluid contacts the abundance of vaginal bacteria on your vulva, it can produce a pungent aroma.
Maybe she's unhappy in her marriage, FW!)
Now, always according to Morgensten, G2 ending up with Caroline instead is just one of the many, many things FW held against his cousin and brother-in-law. More serious is that G2 also ended up with three crowns he did not deserve and which FW should have gotten. (At this point, a vague memory made itself known, because yes, in one of the many books I've read this last year it did say William of Orange considered adopting FW as his heir for a while, in which case Britain would have gotten the Hohenzollern Friedrichs and Wilhelms instead of the Hannover Georges.) Morgenstern tells a dramatic tale of how kid FW, who in his twelfth year has been taken by Mother SC on a trip to the Netherlands, gets presented to William of Orange and is much liked by him, to the point where the King wants to kidnap him and take him to Britain, only to be talked out of it in the last minute. FW keeps thinking he missed his destiny there.
"If only I'd been King William, (William of Orange) could have made a great man out of me", (...) The Holsteiner interrupted him with a smile: "But you are a great King, how could being King William have made you greater?" The Master returned with some indignation: "You talk as you know it. Of course he could have gotten me elected as Stateholder, he could have taught me the craft to command the armies of Europe, do you know anything greater?"
Since FW has the same amount of British royal blood in him as G2 does (they're both great-grandsons of Elizabeth Stuart the Winter Queen), it's really not fair that stupd G2 got Britain AND Caroline. Grrr. Argh. Morgenstern also claims that when he was on his secret mission in Britain in 1737, he checked the files and saw that the Scots wanted FW rather than the Hannover gang as well in Queen Anne's time.
Morgenstern also reports the FW-G2 fight when they were kids in Hannover, only in his version it was after they had started to learn to fence, so it was an almost duel already. And the wonderful story of FW on his deathbed telling SD she can write to her brother that he, FW, forgives him. But only after he's dead.
Oh, and then there's this: in 1738 while inspecting Wesel, FW meets the current Prince of Orange, who's married to G2's and Caroline's oldest daughter Anne, and Anne herself. Anne leaves an impression, for FW, returning to Berlin, tells SD: "Fiekchen, if you die, I'm going to remarry within the family. I'm going to marry your brother's daughter. Luckily, she's not like her father at all. She takes after her mother, only she's not pretty.")
(This stuff is all over the book, I'm just putting it thematically together.)
Now, here's the odd thing. While the first half is unrelenting praise for FW, and defense against the various charges against him, including cruelty, the second half offers actually various examples of FW being cruel. I'm not sure whether that means the author hadn't finished working on the manuscript or whether he's not aware there is a contradiction there or what.
(Spoiler: this is exactly what's addressed in Leineweber's doctoral thesis. He thinks it was entirely deliberate on Morgenstern's part.)
The hostility towards both of FW's parents in the biopgraphy is pretty unrelenting. SC is at fault for spoiling him. The anecdote illustrating this is that once when Tiny Terror FW beat up his cousin and name sake Friedrich Wilhelm of Kurland, has the kid under him and both hands in his hair when in comes Mom, but instead - so says Morgenstern FW told the tale - of either punishing him or at least saving the other kid from him, she just says, distraught: "Mon cher fils! Que faites-vous!" Ergo, he had to learn all about childraising himself, since Dad didn't give him any discipline, either, which proves Dad didn't care. Dad was only into kingship, and provided FW with servants but not Christian education, and also he murdered little baby Friedrich Ludwig with his stupid salute shooting, and then he married for a third time when there really was no need, because FW was on the job. Dad F1 was the worst King who ever existed, and our current King says the same thing, readers, so it must be true. For good measure, Morgenstern also reports that Sophie Charlotte told her son he was illegitimate and newly crowned FW when drunk once blurted out "How can you believe such a weak man was my father?" until a general reminded him that if F1 wasn't his father, FW himself was not King.
(The factual basis of this, or the lack of same, is adressed in my Leineweber write-up below.)
When Morgenstern gets to how FW had so seek out his own friends because his parents court was just, ugh, we get this gem of a quote:
So he had to create himself friends, and he found them among all who got to know him, partly through his honesty, partly through his benevolence. And as he was modest in his claims and requests, he did not insist to have his friendship returned in an exemplary manner, to find a Hephaistion as Alexander had done; for he knew how his ancestors had behaved with their Hephaistions.
I am very hard trying to take this solely as referring to Hephaistion as an example of a "good" favourite here, but you're not making it easy, Morgenstern.
No, he was content if others understood half a word from him; if they took a hint through a glance; if they could entertain him, especially in an honest and just fashion.
Morgenstern, as mentioned, defends FW against the charge of cruelty, a misunderstanding which arose, says he, because "of the beatings, because of the recruitment excesses and because of the strict executions". But look, says he: he needed the army in order to get Prussia on a good footing again, executions were for discipline and also to deterr thieves (FW using the death penalty for thieves wasn't a given in German states, unlike in England), and anyway, the poof that FW wasn't a sadist (of course Morgenstern doesn't use this word, the Marquis de Sade is his contemporary, after all, but it's what he means) is that such people delight in watching others suffer, and FW never did that.
"No one can deny that the late King has been more compassionate than anyone else towards the victims of his rage."
He always forgave any sinnner who repented. And okay, so he got angry a few times at his family, BUT he didn't get physical except for what Morgenstern refers to as The Great Incident. (Yep, Morgenstern is definitely Klepper's source for postponing FW being abusive to Fritz until 1730.) Also? "When the Crown Prince was at Küstrin, his father in order to keep him occupied had him review all cirminal trials for either confirmation or rejection of the judgment. How could a suppoosedly so cruel master let go of the opportunity to torment via the law, to make life miserable and to shed blood?"
Now, at this point I thought I had Morgenstern's number, but he will surprise us, gentle readers, somewhat later, and massively so.
Keep also in mind Morgenstern only knew FW during the last four years of his life, too. Everything else he describes, he describes from hearsay. But what he writes about FW's daily routine and personnel in his last years, for example, I guess we can take at face value, and since it's the obvious model and yet a contrast to Fritz' daily routine, here you go:
Friedrich Wilhelm limited himself to two, at most three pages who both served him at the table and followed him everwhere on horseback, and had to live from ten Reichstaler per month. After three or four years, he made them Lieutenants with the equipage coming with that state and a hundred ducats. (...) For his nursing and care, the King had five footmen and one hunter, who did the same servicen when the master got dressed or by sleeping in front of his bed as those who received postmaster offices or other benevolences so they could l ive well with a salary of 400 Reichstaler. When he died, these were:
1.) Abt, who then died twice.
2.) Bramdhorst, who followed Eversmann as Chatelain in Berlin.
3.) Wiedekin, who received the post office in Minden.
4.) Müller (Morgenstern tells a story of him using the opportunity of having to deliver a thank you present from FW to Cardinal Fleury to high tail it out of Prussia)
5.) Hammerstein, who also became a postmaster and
6.) Meyer, who became Oberforstmeister in Torgelow, Upper Pomerania.
Moreover eight chamber footmen, and the same number of hunters, who served at the table in the antechambre and at the King's sickness carriage (Kranken-Wagen, perhaps the wheelchair, perhaps an actual wagon necessary to transport him in his final year), for eight Reichstaler a month, and who were given offices at city halls or at tax offices, or at profitable hunting grounds.
(
felis, explaining "Abt, who then died twice": Letter from Fritz to SD, February 22nd, 1745:A very singular adventure has happened here. The old valet Abt, ill in agony, surrounded by priests, doctors, and all the paraphernalia with which the living dress those who want to leave this world, thought he was dying, and persuaded his spectators so well that, after his last sigh, they laid him down on the mattress [in a coffin I suspect]. Three hours after his death, people heard a great noise; a general rumor arose in the house. But who was the most surprised was the wife to see the deceased full of life and very unhappy to see himself at the edge of the tomb, having great appetite and no desire to leave yet. People cry out a miracle, the neighborhood rushes in, the priests arrive, with them the Faculty of surgeons and doctors; in short, it took more than a hundred people to persuade Madame that Monsieur was not dead, and that he should be looked at as full of life. Even better, that the patient approaches convalescence more than death, and that Madame does not appear otherwise edified. I found the singularity of this story worthy of being related to my very dear mother. I wish I could entertain her with something better, but still it is a lot when Potsdam provides such a tale. Felis also discovered that Johann Friedrich Abt was FW's oldest valet, already with him when FW was still crown prince. ) Speaking of money. Let's talk about household expenses:
In order not to need a budget for his and his family's wardrobe, nor for his hunting, he told the Queen, whom he had left her considerable heritage for free use, that she would have to finance from the annual 8000 Reichstaler the following:
- linnen for herself, the princesses, the princes and the King
- also everyone's wardrobe
- powder and bullets for the hunting at Wusterhausen and Mackenow in autumn; in recompense, she was to have any feathery game that didn't get eaten right away
In order to be galant, he did present the Queen and each of the princesess with at least one winter dress each year; but he would not agree to have this put in the contract for which the Queen needed a legal advisor, as (...) in anger against his brother-in-law, he hadn't even wanted to sign it as her marital curator.
FW's Day in the life in the later 1730s:
Morning starts with a prayer (of course it does), washing, cabinet secretaries show up and report about the incoming mail, note down the King's orders/replies. While they're doing this, FW drinks his coffee and gets dressed (by servants). The resolutions from the previous day are read through and signed while FW gets into his boots. After five to six hours administrative work, he's off to soldiering (i.e. inspections, parades), though he combines that with meeting envoys and foreign visitors. Lunch with up to 30 people, for two hours, with a guest getting one or one and a have bottles of wine on avarage. When in Berlin, FW also receives the envoys here as well, which means more wine. If he's in a good mood, the wine flows until he says stop. After lunch: riding with the pages and a few servants; this is when he talks to any subjects trying to meet him directly. If FW can't ride because either his health isn't up to it or the weather is too bad, he paints, with a painter who is Morgenstern's arch enemy. The painter, Johann Adelfing, nickname "Hänsgen" (= little Hans, because Johann) gets 100 Reichstaler per annum, and because of the colors used a Gulden for every day they paint together. "...but for every stroke with the paintbrush which the King didn't manage well, Hänsgen got a rich share of pushes and slaps. The results of these painting lessons weren't much to look at, though the student easily did as well as the master."
So, FW's theatre taste according to Morgenstern: He had liked French comedy during his campaigns in Brabant, but lost the taste for them when he had it staged once and the next day heard the children call each other by the names of the play, especially the youngest son, then 6 or 7 years old, calling himself Policinello. German comedy used to be very bawdy in those days, and so he thought it was too dangerous for the youngsters. Of Italian comedy, he liked slapstick, but he was ready to admit that this was not to everyone's taste.
Puppet play, he regarded justly as childish, but when it was presented at the tavern in Wusterhausen and he heard from his people about the burlesque they were presenting, he ordered it performed in front of the entire court, and the master could never recall the entire performance without laughing heartily.
(
mildred_of_midgard: Per Wikipedia, Policinello is the name of a particular comic figure in Italian comedy: Since the time of the Renaissance, this figure has mostly been a sly, cunning--and at the same time simple-minded and foolish--coarse, and voracious servant of peasant origin. The figure mostly had a hump, often a long bird nose, which gave it a fox-like expression.)And now we get to the surprise, i.e. where Morgenstern suddenly sounds... downright FW critical. Which made me wonder about my original estimation, because the following passage is anything but hagiographic:
The Master liked the custom of the Germans of the times of old to have court fools; but he didn't understand it correctly. For instead of looking for those who would tell him and his entourage the truth in a jest at the right time, when no one else would, he sought clowns and acrobats. If he found them, they were given to supervisors who treated the poor fellows so harshly that they became depressed instead of becoming funny, bright and cheerful. Like one from Siebenbürgen, named Eisenbläser, whom the King nicknamed Cucumene, (...)who'd been put under the supervision of Wachtmeister Lieutenant Buzlaf. He was trashed daily by the later, was given iron balls attached to his feet like the eagles running around the palace, and was tormented to the core, of which the result was that he was found hanged in the attic.
(Result: distinct lack of court fool volunteers.)
The source of all this was: when he had to be in Berlin while being Crown Prince, he was at war with time. In order to kill it, he rode on his pages and footmen and beat them out of the room. Once he was on the throne, this princely pleasure had to be forsaken, and so he assembled his officers in the evening to the tabbaco college instead. But what little knowledge they possessed together was soon exhausted. The reading of newspapers, too, was soon over, and to investigate the likelihood of the reported was something this assembly knew as little about as about cause and effect of a given incident. So the gentlemen smoked and yawned at each other. Despite the marvelous conclusion that everyone who knew something had to be a fool had already been reached, the King decided that they needed someone like this, to tell them stories and give them causes to speak. Everyone suggested a candidate, among them Paul Gundling, who was a member of the Academy which was on the decline then, and it was praised that he was good at talking. (...)Now the assembly had enough to listen to, for this man was a scholar. As at first no one had a competing comment to make, the King started to respect the man. But as a just precaution against the admiration growing too much, it was decided that the man should be tempted. This temptation consisted of drowning him in titles, forcing him to drink until he'd grown a taste for it and even tank the rest of the glasses and mugs after a meal had finished, and once he was drunk, he was treated evilly in words and deeds. At one time, there was a wall built in front of his door, so that when he was looking for his room in the evening, he couldn't find it and had to spend the night searching for it; at another time, young bears (of which many declawed ones were walking around at Wusterhausen and and Potsdam in the court yards) were put into his bed, which welcomed him in their way when he returned drunken and crawling from the tobacco parliament in the night. Because he started to complain about it, it was said he wasn't just a fool, he was a Poltron. (?) Despite of him having surrendered completely to drink, all these evil doings grew too wild for him, and once he ran away, but only to his brother Hieronymus, who was a Professor in Halle. From there, he was brought back like a criminal under guard. There was a debate on how to punish him. But one noted through his unusual silence that he had been brought to depression and that at least his talking at the table and at the tobacco college would be over, which meant they'd be back where they started from, and he wasn't supposed to kill himself, either; so the decision was made that the entire tobacco parliament should go smoking and drinking to him, led by the King, and praise him, tell hm that there never was a greater scholar. So the poor man was won around again, was made to drink again, and now was treated thusly that everyone had their fun with him but his life and his health weren't endangered anymore, and the bears were left out of it from now on. (...) At last, he was buried in a barrel of wine as a coffin in the church at Bornstadt, and a succcessor sought everywhere. Those who accepted either knew not as much as he had done and so disappeared again, or they started to scheme instead, and thus coped better than the dear departed. Others who were put into the position avoided drink, arrogance and cowardice. Moreover, the knowledge of the King and his company had grown, so he now wanted more of the useful conversations and its entertainment than the crude pranks, and he grew fonder of a truth told as a jest, or a story in context than by grimaces and beatings, especially since the Master had now tasted philosophy.
Meaning: of course, I wasn't treat this way, reader! But I will admit thinking about my predecessor makes me a bit queasy.
While I almost couldn't believe the above reported story was written without awareness of how this makes FW sound, I am, sad to say, sure Morgenstern thought this bit of 18th century antisemitism was just jolly, too: FW after hunting sent the killed boars to the Jews who had to buy them at five Reichstaler a piece.
Morgenstern claims SD has promised him protection because he managed on two evenings in a row to be examined by FW about the family without having taken anyone's party or talked badly about anyone. He also reports that Old Desssauer faked the smoking, as mentioned in other books, and confirms FW liked oboists from the military. (Fredersdorf, watch out!)
Not in Morgenstern: back in the day, FW in his earliest instructions to his son's governors and teachers wanted SD to be the disciplining parent. They were never supposed to threaten little Fritz with him, only with his mother. I knew this, but what I hadn't known was that FW kept this up with the younger kids as well, at least according to Morgenstern, who writes:
Yes, even if the sons were already officers and in uniform with him, and if they'd been noughty, he led the criminal himself to be punished by the mother. Since he had never learned to punish or reward the children, his favourites weren't better treated than the other children, and he didn't distinguish one from the other by special surprises or treats. In my time, the favourites were the princes Wilhelm and Ferdinand, and Princess Ulrike. But since they all didn't get anything than friendly looks, addresses, sometimes kisses, and cheek stroking; so the author dares to claim due to the sheer number of such loving yet unprofitable caresses, the last one named was the one most loved, yes, even esteemed for her firm mind, and because she never showed discontentment or mocking laughter, and if she'd been a son, she'd have been preferred.
But FW believed in the superiority of the male sex too much to make a girl the overall favourite. Incidentally, while it's possible his gift-giving habits changed between 1730 and 1735, Stratemann's envoy dispatches list more presents both for the children - of either sex - and for SD than that.
Money heritage for the boys, btw, according to Morgenstern, in 1740:
52 000 Reichstaler for August Wilhelm
26 000 for Heinrich and Ferdinand each.
In 1737, there was talk of marrying Wilhelm to a Danish princess which since she had only one brother would have given him a shot on the throne. FW was all for it until there was a report that the girl was a dwarf, at which point the marriage was cancelled.
FW and the fight against superstition: stopped the last witch trials in the state, thought alchemy was rubbish, was in two minds about ghosts; mostly he didn't think they existed, but he wasn't sure about the White Lady ( the appearance of whom supposedly spelled Hohenzollern doom).
Let's see, what else: ah, yes, travel. Mom and Grandmom and Dad all took him along on journeys to the Netherlands when he grew up, and he was very positively impressed, not least by the hygiene. Morgenstern says FW surpassed the Muslims with their five daily washings, and was really very much into cleanlinesss. (Had an obvious reasult with Fritz and hygiene.) Alas the Netherlands lost their holiday trip allure for him when he once at at an inn, the innkeeper lady recognized him and without improving the quality of the food still when later presenting the bill demanded a kingly price from him, over 1000 Taler. When he gave her 30 ducats instead, she screamed after him that he was stiffing her and made a big scandal by clinging to the carriage. And FW never visited the Netherlands again. Otoh, he enjoyed his travellers from afar: Peter the Great was certainly a favourite. And speaking of Peter: look, says Mr. Morgenstern, Peter may get praise now, but in his day he was hated and called a tyrant by a great many of his subjects, too. Also he gave them more cause than FW. I'm sure FW's reputation will go the way of Peter's and rise through subsequent generations, though!
Having finished the biography, I was in two minds; if it was simply meant as a hagiography, why then more than enough material for the FW prosecution along with all the praise, sometimes directly contradicting the praise? Mildred then discovered the estimable Richard Leineweber, whose dissertation proved to be quite illuminating. Starting with the biographical background on Morgenstern.
So, Morgenstern: born a Saxon in 1706. studied in Leipzig where he achieved Magister, started to lecture there, not many people showed up, so he went to Halle. He wasn't much more successful there; student attendence to his lectures was low. In order to win the students around, he started a newspaper reading and explaining seminar twice a week, which was a bit more of a success, not least because it was combined with smoking, and debates got so loud that a neighbor complained. These newspaper readings prodcued Morgenstern's first original work, according to Nicolai an imperfect attempt at gathering statistics. Leineweber can't judge it because he couldn't track it down, but he's not impressed with Morgenstern's next publication, which is a total copy-and-paste job on Russia (i.e. it plagiarizes a lot of articles printed at the time) combined with lots of flattery of the Czarina (Anna Ivanova). This was because not just Morgenstern but other German scholars hoped to get jobs in Russia because of Anna employing Germans and German being basically the court language due to her lover. It worked in that Morgenstern got 100 Rubel and an offer to teach history in a Moscow school. He set off but when he came to Potsdam, the guards didn't understand the title "Magister legens" and so he ended up interrogated by Captain Nettelhorst, who was impressed by his cheeky replies and told FW about this fellow. FW, as we saw in Stratemann's report, had had a hard time replacing Gundling, with several candidates choosing flight over humiliation. He pounced. Morgenstern got a job offer from him of 500 Reichstaler per annum and free lodgings as well as the title of Hofrat. Probably figuring that this sounded better than teaching kids in Moscow, Morgenstern accepted.
While Morgenstern had enough bite to diss the members of the tobacco college back when they dissed him, he still didn't escape the FW brand of humiliation entirely. Notoriously on that occasion when FW had him lecture and debate in November 1737 on "Scholars are fools" at the university of Frankfurt an der Oder. Said lecture got published later and is Leineweber's exhibit a) for his theory that Morgenstern's FW biography employs Antony's rethorical funeral speech technique from "Julius Caesar" because it shows him capable of subsersivness. Now, the intention on FW's part had been another scholar humiliation. Morgenstern had to wear a parody of the usual university professor get up, blue velvet with read threads and a red waistcoat, a gigantic periwig that went across his entire backside, and instead of the sword which professors then still carried, he wore a fox tail at his side. On royal order, all local professors had to attend. Now, as I said, Morgenstern later, that very same year, published the lecture. It starts with a big whopper, that "Narr" - fool" - hails from the Latin word "narrare", storyteling, and you can feel all the listening professors cringe. The basic theses of the lecture is that every man has his share of wrong opinions leading him to foolish behavior. The world is full of fools, from the simple shephard to priests. Morgenstern goes on about particular exhibits of foolery in all kinds of positions and tries to divide them by national characteristics. ("The foolishness of the British people consists of their longing for innovation beyond any measure or goal, simply because it is new, and thus they are able to betray their king and make themselves footstools to rebels and slaves.") Morgenstern has a go at the princes of this world as well, especially at those ruling small principalities, "who see their country, which can be viewed in its entirety when standing on an ants' hill, as a one big game park and want to do nothing but hunting". Leineweber says this is an obvious diss of FW's pal the Old Dessauer. Kings, too, are fools for "imagining the weight of their subjects' sins lay on their shoulders by the tons, and are pushing them into the abyss". Leineweber sees this as meaning FW. Only then in the last part of the lecture does he address what FW had ordered to be his subject, i.e. scholars as fools. Here Morgenstern has a go at the pietists for not understanding philosophers (allusion to Wolff) and at the theologians only studying in the hope of a rich income. And finally, he justifies his own fool get up and says that he who has been put by life in this position resembles "the first Roman mayor" Brutus, playing the fool when the Tarquinian Kings were still reigning. "As little as sensible clothing can make a fool wise, foolish clothing can confuse a sensible man."
This lecture was a big success with the students who cheered a lot, and with FW, too. Leineweber doubts he made Morgenstern vice chancellor of the university, but thinks he did give him a job there.
As to Agent Morgenstern's various secret missions, for as it turns out, he was used as an agent by not one but two Prussian kings:
1). England. According to Leineweber, his journey there happened neither in 1739 as the preface writer claims nor in 1737 as Morgenstern claims in his books, but in 1738. How do we know this? Because there's a cabinet order from Feburary 4th 1738 in which Morgenstern is ordered to go there, observe everything (but NOT do scholarly stuff), country and people, and then report to FW about his impressions. Under no circumstances was he to say that he was in Prussian service; he was supposed to travel under an alias and keep a diary noting down all he sees and hears. While Leineweber grants this proves Morgenstern had gained a measure of FW's trust and respect, he doubts thrifty FW financed Morgenstern a trip to Britain just to get a travelogue from him, and speculates that it might have been because in 1738, the eternal Jülich-Berg question came up again as the current title holder was suspected of kicking the bucket any time soon and FW might have wanted to find out what the mood in Britain was re: Prussia. His reason to suspect this is that the Prussian representative in London had similar orders, i.e. he was supposed to tell people that in the interest of the Protestant cause, Britain/Hannover should support FW's claim on Jülich and Berg.
2.) Christian Wolff. This, I covered in my Manteuffel write up. It's pretty well documented because of Wolff himself describing the encounter in letters to Manteuffel and Haude after they sent their "WTF? Do not accept!" letters. It does show Morgenstern could be pretty persuasive. Which is presumably why the next thing happened.
3.) Breslau. This is the most fascinating by far. Because it's after FW's death. Morgenstern knew of course that there was no chance Fritz would keep him on the pay roll as a fool/scholar. So he must have offered to work as a secret agent, and the amazing thing is, Fritz accepted and sent him to Breslau. Now, Breslau while Silesia belonged to MT had enjoyed huge privileges. On January 2nd 1741, victorious invader Fritz concluded a neutrality treaty with the city of Breslau, promising not to block any trade, to respect the city privileges and not to put any troops into Breslau. In exchange, he wanted to buy food for his troops at market price and be granted room for troop storage in the suburbs.
However, the leading city councillor, Gutzmar, was a Habsburg loyalist and anti Prussian, and kept sending loyalty messages to MT, declaring that she was the true ruler of Silesia and always would be etc. This would not do. So Morgenstern was sent into the city of Breslau under the alias of Dr. Freyer, with the double mission of turning the mood around. He hit the coffee houses and spread anti-Habsburg, pro-Prussia propaganda. On May 17th, he sent a report to Fritz on the city situation where he strongly advises arresting Gutzmar. That Fritz actually listened to Morgenstern over Podewils, who argued against an arrest of Gutzmar, is fascinating.
Morgenstern's activities didn't go unnoticed; a few months after his arrival the city council complained about the "demagogery" of a Prussian agent colling himself Dr. Freyer but really being called Morgenstern. According to the complaint, this had happened: on June 13, the citizens of Breslau were asked to give 500 000 Reichstaler to Fritz' war effort. The citizens protested, in a protest written by the city council but signed by a lot of important Breslau citizens, pointing to the neutrality treaty. On July 10th, the sum was lessened to 106 000 Gulden.
City of Breslau: But neutrality treaty!
Morgenstern: Guys, this is just the punishment from Fritz for your city council's anti-Prussia rethoric. However, I can help you. If you withdraw your signatures from the protest, Fritz won't want any money from you AT ALL, and only your Habsburg loyal city council will have to pay. Win!
Breslau citiizens: *withdraw signatures*
Fritz: Well, since clearly there are some pro-Prussia citizens in this city, who are in incredibly danger from evil Habsburg loyalists, I must reward their touching faith in me by annexing Breslau to protect them.
Fritz: *annexes Breslau on August 10th, and orders the city of Breslau to pay Morgenstern a life long pension of 500 Reichstaler per annum*
Morgenstern remained in Breslau and made the most of his new reputation as someone who has the ear of their new Prussian Overlord. He also threw his weight around; for example, when an Abbot of one of the largest monasteries died, he told the monks he'd get them all sent to Spandau if they didn't vote for a new pro-Prussia abbot. And then, he got greedy. The years passed, and he wanted more and more money for doing Breslau favours with Fritz, until at last the game was up, courtesy of Chancellor Cocceji (Barbarina's father-in-law). Morgenstern was ordered to leave Breslau and Silesia and return to Potsdam and settle down there. Which he did, and where he lived for the rest of his long life. Why Potsdam? Leineweber wonders whether Fritz wanted to keep an eye on him (well, let others keep an eye on him), due to all Morgenstern knew, at least about the taking of the Silesian capital. (Lest we forget, the official story was that the glorious conqueror was greeted with enthusiasm and joy by all the grateful Silesians, especially the Protestant ones, for saving them from Habsburg tyranny.)
Morgenstern's later years must have been pretty lonely; supposedly, he didn't even clean up the spiders in his room because he liked their company. When Niicolai visited him in 1779, ever hunting for stories, he thought Morgenstern came across as a smart man, if excentric. He went out now and then to play chess, but that was it, and otherwise he lived in his rooms with his books, and wrote the FW manuscript. There are references to events and people from 1780 - to 1782 in it, which would put it really late in Morgenstern's life, but then again there are references to the 7 Years War as recent and to someone who died in 1766 as having died "recently" which could indicate he at least started writing around 1770ish. Or, Leineweber allows, he might have done as old people can do and telescoped the decades when writing in the early 1780s.
Leineweber is a good doctoral thesis writer and compares it with the FW biographies which had appeared until Morgenstern's death, like Mauvillons, but suspects he might not have read them, as the political-biographical backstory on FW's youth is either Fritz-derived (most of the F1 dissing hails from Histoire de la Maison de Brandenburg by Fritz) or just plain wrong (FW learning the art of war directly from Wlliam of Orange, who was dead by the time FW could have done so). Morgenstern also has some evidently wrong conclusions about what he observes. So, the fact that FW while making a point of speaking German was in fact fluent in French (when La Chetardie introduced his successor Valory to him, FW talked to them entirely in French for an hour) made Morgenstern assume he must have learned his good French as a young man when campaigning in Brabant. This was nonsense; FW learned it as a child mainly from his governess Madame de Roucoulles, it was in fact his first language; he made himself adopt German as a primary language later, but, says Leineweber, you can tell from some phrases even in the 1730s cabinet orders that he must have been thinking in French because the expressions and word orders he uses are direct literal translations, not how you'd naturally phrase it in German.
Speaking of Madame de Roucoulles; Leineweber points out that the fact FW appointed his own governess as Fritz' governess demonstrates that his opinion of the education he received can't have been as negative as Morgenstern claims it was. As for SC not interfering in Tiny Terror FW's terrorism: one of her few surviving letters to her confidant Fräulein von Pöllnitiz is all about that. And of course, that is why F1 appointed the strict Calvinist teacher who gave FW such a lasting impression of hellfire and predestination. Far from hating his Dad, says Leineweber, aside from his own affectionate letters (and those of F1 to him) we have the written at the time testiomony of other observers showing him being incredibly supportive through F1's final illness, crying about him, and beating up (naturally) an officer who dared to suggest that hey, at least soon FW will be able to make all those changes he wants to make.
Caroline as FW's One Who Got Away: Morgenstern is the sole biographer to report that story. Leineweber also can't imagine that either Pöllnitz or Wilhelmine would have left it out of their respective memoirs if if the tale of FW's youthful and lasting love had been making the court gossip round. (Then again: it's always possible FW told Morgenstern after deciding to trust him and hadn't told anyone else.)
F1 to blame for baby Friedrich Ludwig dying and baby Friedrich Wilhelm dying as well (the former due to loud canon salutes, the later due to being treated by F1's bad doctor: Leineweber points out that the supposedly bad doctor was in fact one of the very very few F1 officials to not only survive into FW's era but to actually get a PAY RAISE from FW. This definitely argues against FW holding him responsible for the death of his baby son.
FW illegitimate? Nonsense, says Leineweber, for obious reasons. Firstly, SC would not have said this to her son (it's the kind of thing that got her sister-in-law locked up for the rest of her life), and secondly, FW, even drunk, would not have said it to his generals. This was really an incredibly touchy issue for 18th century royals. (Which is why the story of Heinrich and Ferdinand saying they wouldn't handwave their claim on the succession for a bastard is at least plausible, and why Catherine's son Paul was so majorly invested into demonstrating he was, in fact, (P)Russian Pete's son. See also the shenanigans in Sweden under Gustav III.)
(Here's my latest personal theory, not Leineweber's, as to why Morgenstern told that story: not only would it make FW an illegitimate King, but also Fritz, and Morgenstern is feeling bitter about both of them. If FW were a bastard, then the legitimate line of succession would run through F1's half brothers, the Schwedt cousins.)
F1 marrying unnessarily for a third time (as per Fritz and Morgenstern): not true, says Leineweber, since at the time of F1's last marriage the two baby boys had died, FW was without male issue, and F1 definitely did NOT want his Schwedt half brothers, sons of poisoning stepmom, to inherit his new kingdom.
Contradiction between on the one hand claiming FW was the best, and on the other hand including anecdotes in which he's the worst: Leineweber, as mentioned, thinks this was entirely intentional on Morgenstern's part. He's sitting in his Potsdam rooms, being lonely and bitter, but also aware that Fritz' official position on his father is to honor and praise him. So he writes a biography which ostensibly does just that but also delivers plenty of digs and anti-FW material, just like he'd been ordered to talk about scholars being idiots and ended up talking about everyone being fools. And course he was a practiced double talker and spy.
So: FW hagiography or subversive FW critique? Both, says Leineweber.
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Date: 2021-03-18 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-03-19 08:07 am (UTC)