mildred_of_midgard: (Default)
[personal profile] mildred_of_midgard
Author: [personal profile] selenak, [personal profile] cahn
Original discussion: https://cahn.dreamwidth.org/221655.html?thread=5432535#cmt5432535

[personal profile] selenak: I mean, I can't imagine a more stressful position than having to fulfill both Fritz' and Heinrich's sexual and emotional needs at the same time, honestly. Which is probably why it never happened - I mean, real Marwitz may very well have been Heinrich's first love, i.e. before Heinrich got into the poly habit, but he definitely was never Fritz' sole pretty distraction. (Also, in the relevant era, post Silesia 2, Fredersdorf was of course alive and (relatively) well.) Meanwhile, even boastful Kalckreuth who is convinced he could have had Fritz (and that Heinrich should have been more grateful) doesn't imply he could have managed Fritz and Heinrich at the same time, let alone without any other boytoys. And Fritz loathed Kaphengst, who might have had the self confidence and lack of common sense to try such a mighty feat.

Discussion )
selenak: (DandyLehndorff)
[personal profile] selenak
In the 1905 edition of the magazine 'Masovia', Gustav Volz and Dr. Friedrich Meusel published essays with lengthy quotes about the correspondences between Lehndorff on the one hand and Princes August Wilhelm and Ferdinand on the other, which provided us with new information as well as some juicy quotes. Ergo, a write up.

Some general remarks about both essays )

Now, new information from the invidual essays.

AW-Lehndorff: )


Ferdinand-Lehndorff )

One thing both essays make clear that Lehndorff's relationships with the divine trio really weren't a one way road; the siblings did care for him as well, and valued his friendship.
selenak: (James Boswell)
[personal profile] selenak
I first took notice of Jean Des Champs (also spelled Dechamps, or Deschamps in various sources, just to make our researching life easier) in the context of Bronisch's Manteuffel dissertation, where his fate in the Fritz/Manteuffel fallout gets quickly summarized here. It's mentioned that he wrote memoirs, and given Bronisch mentioned Des Champs getting stiffed and ridiculed, these sounded like potential sensational gossip, so when Mildred discovered they were avaiable at the Munich Stabi, I read them. Or to be more precise, I read the lengthy introduction and skimmed the main text, for alas, other than the English introduction, it's an edition in the original (French) language, edited and published by the Huguenot Society of GB and Ireland. However, the, there is the really long introduction which feels like an English summary of the memoirs themselves, complete with translated into English quotes from same. Said introduction being more of a lengthy summary than a foreword is really noticeable, since the introduction writer (and presumably translator), Uta Janssens-Knorsch, takes all of Des Champs' presentations of his life on faith, which can be hilarious when it comes to Manteuffel (called a "son of Apollo" and only present as a patron of the art, which means that Fritz kicking him out of the country for no reason at all is just incomprehensibly; Des Champs explanation why he himself correspondended with Seckendorff Jr the diary writer BUT NOT LIKE THAT and only an evil scheme made it look that way to Fritz, thus ruining his, Des Champs' reputation is also something to behold), but is a problem when it comes to Fredersdorf, because lo and behold, near their end Des Champs' Memoirs finally present us with a contemporary account of someone charging Fredersdorf with embezzlement (to wit, Des Champs, claiming Fredersdorf kept his, Des Champs, salary, and that of others, and Fritz just refuses making Fredersdorf's heirs pay said salary because he'd then have to pay everyone else's stuff that Fredersdorf embezzled as well). The introduction quotes both a letter from Des Champs to Fritz and statements from Abraham Michell (aka the the Swiss guy who worked as Prussia's sort of envoy in London instead of Peter Keith, if you recall) to Des Champs (via his brother) to that effect, but both the letter and the Michell statements are sourced from the Memoirs themselves, not from other archives. (I.e. Des Champs claims "I wrote" and "Michell told me", we don't have, it seems the original documents.) Still, we have to acknowledge now the claim does exist by a contemporary source. I'll discuss the context and reliability below.


But back to the beginning, as summarized in the English introduction.

Jean Des Champs: Biographical pre-Fritz background )

Since Des Champs is now 29 and badly in need of a steady job, he accepts the post of steady employment, so he accepts when Fritz offers him the position of chaplain at Rheinsberg, which he starts in February 1737.

The Rheinsberg Years, or: I DID NOT SPY FOR THE AUSTRIANS; THEY FRAMED ME! )


The Berlin Years, or: How Frederick the Great got me to tutor his brothers, stiffed me of a salary and made fun of me through a play )

My efforts to get my money from Fritz and Fredersdorf: The aftermath )

Like I said: I've only read the introduction. But it does provide us with a few questions.

The Salon debates )
selenak: (Wilhelmine)
[personal profile] selenak
Continuing on the note of "contemporary envoy reports are a gold mine", we give you the 1728 - 1733 reports of Wilhelm Stratemann, envoy of the Duchy Braunschweig/Brunswick, whose employers would end up marrying three of their offspring to three of FW's children (Fritz marries Elisabeth Christine, AW marries Louise, Charlotte marries the next Duke of Brunswick), on the fateful years when Hohenzollern family life went from dysfunctional to death sentences for boyfriends and intermittent imprisonment for the oldest son and daughter, respectively. The way Stratemann spins this saga into the most wholesome FW praising account any envoy (including FW's pal Seckendorff, the Imperial envoy at the time) has given yet is something to behold. Furtherly, bear mind this edition of the reports, edited by one Richard Wolff, was published before World War One, which meant that Hohenzollern censorship still applied. This said, Stratemann, with his detailed focus on royal family stories and lack of access to hardcore secret political negotiations, does provide a treasure trove of what would later be called "human interest" stories and useful details on anything from how FW and family celebrated Christmas to the seating chart of Wilhelmine's wedding banquet.

So, who was Stratemann? )

But before getting to the Katte relevant reports, let's have some pre-escape attempt wholesome family life. As mentioned, Strateman got his political intel generally either via rumors or as crumbs from Seckendorff whom he tried to hang out with as often as he could, and thus it's frequently slightly or strongly off the mark. Otoh, he clearly did have a source among the staff in the royal household, whom I have identified based on several factors listed below as the governess of the Princess Sophie (and her two younger sisters, Ulrike and Amalie), and thus anything that happens with the kids is usually first hand. It is pronounced how he flings himself into these stories as opposed to reporting anything like that the other envoys (say, Suhm for Saxony or Dickens for Great Britain) report about the father/ oldest son or husband/wife clashes. So instead of stories about Fritz getting yelled at, you get stories about AW getting gifted with miniature canons and indulged in his love for fireworks. Until it really, really becomes unavoidable to report something else, what with a locked up Crown Prince.

A happy royal family and their shenanigans: 1728 till the escape attempt )

With this background, and no word on FW humiliating Fritz in front of the army at Zeithain, the fateful summer trip by father and son being used as an escape attempt comes completely out of the blue. As I mentioned earlier, Stratemann hasn't heard about it (or at least doesn't mention it) as late as August 18th, at which point all the other envoys know, and when he does report Katte's arrest, he doesn't mention Fritz by name as the reason of it. He keeps reporting through September and October that the father/son reconciliation is imminent, that FW if anything will lessen Katte's sentence, that all will be well. Then comes November with its execution, of which Stratemann suddenly has far better intel than he used to in matters Crown Prince and Katte. And he has a fascinating follow-up on this in the middle of his wholesome family anecdotes, as none other than little August Wilhelm has heard about Katte's demise.

Katte and the Consequences: The Disney Version )

So much fo Katte. Back to Hohenzollern family affairs.

How to celebrate Christmas and break your oldest daughter to your will )

On marrying your oldest daughter and son and the difficulties of replacing your court historian )

Aftermath: Crown Prince not blissfully happy after all? )

The rest of the dispatches has the news that Wilhelmine has written she's really happy with her new husband in Bayreuth, the Protestant religious refugees from Salzburg arrive, and then there's the sudden time jump of a year to 1733 when Fritz gets married. No more interesting stuff. But no matter; Stratemann certainly delivered before that.
mildred_of_midgard: (Default)
[personal profile] mildred_of_midgard
Author: [personal profile] selenak
Original discussion: https://cahn.dreamwidth.org/167303.html?thread=1915015#cmt1915015,

[personal profile] mildred_of_midgard's prompt: So remember when one of Fritz's "brothers" visited him with two companions and they were all more interested in food than learning, leading Fritz to complain to Suhm that he was forced to entertain when would rather be reading? Asprey claims this was...Henry! Who was all of 10 years old.

[personal profile] selenak: LOL. But Mildred, this is the first time I can believe it, for isn't it the classic situation of older sibling forced to babsysit younger sibling when he'd rather be doing something else? Also, if Heinrich was ten, it was the very same year Fritz told Manteuffel he (and Ferdinand) have bad characters already, as opposed to AW who is still salvagable. Immediately, my mind constructs the following scenario:

Ficlet )

Part 2:

[personal profile] mildred_of_midgard's prompt: Fritz doesn't fork over the cost of an expensive salmon to send to just anyone.

selenak's ficlet )

In which [personal profile] selenak translates Rococo babysitting into emojis!

Emoji ficlet )
selenak: (VanGogh - Lefaym)
[personal profile] selenak
Aka the results of a week spent in the Mark Brandenburg, post the first. I'm putting these not in the order in which I saw them, but in chronological order as they relate to the timeline of our antihero and relations.


Dear old Wusterhausen: Aka The Hellhole )


On to Wust. Much as Wusterhausen today is called "Königs Wusterhausen" to differentiate it from other places bearing the name, Wust today is "Wust-Fischbeck", as there are other Wusts as well. This one was the family seat of the Katte clan, which is of course why I was there. You can read Mildred's guide here.

Limiting myself to some additional info and pictures, I give you:

Dead Kattes Galore: the Pictures )
mildred_of_midgard: Frederick the Great statue (Frederick)
[personal profile] mildred_of_midgard
Courtesy of [personal profile] selenak and [personal profile] cahn, the operatic and symphonic playlist! I contributed only the formatting.

Music Artist/Other ContextHistorical Parallel
Concerto in g minorWilhelmine of BayreuthThe Life and Times
Brüderlein komm tanz mit mirHumperdinck, Hänsel und GretelWilhelmine and Fritz as children
In the Hall of the
Mountain King
Grieg, Peer GyntGrowing up the son of FW
C'est mon jour supremeVerdi, Don CarloFritz/Katte
Due VaticiniVerdi, MacbethPrince Eugene about Fritz/
Fritz and power
O paradis!Meyerbeer, L'AfricaineFritz/Silesia
Guerra!Verdi, AidaPrussia invades
Abscheulicher! Komm HoffnungBeethoven, FidelioMaria Theresia fights back
Ah! perdona al primo affettoMozart, La Clemenza di TitoFritz/Wilhelmine
reconciliation in 1746
Musikalisches OpferJ.S. Bach (written for Fritz)Fritz as musician and patron
Non piu andraiMozart, Le nozze di FigaroFritz to Heinrich, age 19
Du repos voici l'heureGounod, Philémon et BaucisFritz/Fredersdorf

Jaj mamam Bruderherz
Kálmán, Die CzardasfürstinFritz' brothers
(AW, Heinrich, Ferdinand)
in the early 1750s
Se vuol ballareMozart, Le Nozze di FigaroVoltaire to Fritz, 1750-1753
L'alma mia fra le tempesteHändel, AgrippinaMaria Theresia allies with
France and Russia against Fritz
CredoVerdi, OtelloFritz responds
by invading Saxony
È gettata la mia sorteVerdi, AttilaHeinrich becomes
second-in-command
The Dance of the KnightsProkofiev: Romeo and JulietThe Seven Years' War
Vesti la GiubbaLeoncavallo, PagliacciOld Fritz survives
Solveig's SongGrieg, Peer GyntFritz grieving his dead
Thema RegiumJ.S. Bach (Theme by Fritz)Fritz dying


Encore: The Allegro from Flute Concerto in C Major, composed by Fritz himself. It doesn't quite fit the playlist, but it's a good representative sample of his work.

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