1740 and All That

If you're new to the Frederician era and have at best read one biography or two, then congratulations if you remember the name Jacob Paul (von) Gundling at all. If you do, chances are that you've read a sentence or two claiming he was the court fool under Friedrich Wilhelm I., and was made head of the Academy of Sciences by him and thus was the symbol of in how low regard FW held the sciences. (If this comes up at all in Fritz biographies, it usually does when the author explains how the restructuring and refunding of the Academy in the Frederick the Great era was a symbol of the rebirth of Enlightenment and culture in Prussia.) While all of this is technically correct, it describes who Gundling was and what was done to him by Friedrich Wilhelm about as accurately as if I were to describe our antihero Frederick as "a maladjusted flute player who had a subsequent military career" . In fact, despite the huuuuge competition in the field, Gundling has a good head start in the race of being the most mistreated victim of the Soldier King. How so? Let me review a novel, a film and a non-fiction biography to explain.

( The novel: Intellect vs Absolute Power, or: How a Scholar becomes a Fool )

( The movie: In which Götz George and Wolfgang Kieling are brilliant )

( Screencaps supporting this claim )

( The biography: in which Martin Sabrow traces down Gundling's real life )

( The funeral: The Contemporary Acccount )

In conclusion: a completely harrowing tale, and infuriating in that for such a long time, it was written off as mildly embarrassing to FW at best, not as the testimony to cruelty it is.