selenak: (Porthos by Chatona)
[personal profile] selenak
Samuel 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.


FW: Misunderstood soul with a love tragically lost along with a crown, both to the same man )

It's the parents' fault! )

What FW looked for in a friend )

Why FW wasn't cruel )

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:

Days in the Life of FW )

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:

Attend the Tale of Gundling )


FW as a father and some trivia )

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.

The Life and Times of Jacob Samuel Morgenstern )

Leineweber's critique of the FW biography as biography )

So: FW hagiography or subversive FW critique? Both, says Leineweber.
selenak: (Arvin Sloane by Perfectday)
[personal profile] selenak
"Der Mäzen der Aufklärung: Ernst Christoph von Manteuffel und das Netzwerk des Wolffianismus" was Johannes Bronisch's doctoral thesis and reads like it - aimed at a strictly academic audience, long footnotes at times taking most of the page space etc - , while "Der Kampf um Kronprinz Friedrich: Wolff gegen Voltaire" is basically a canny Fritz-focused digested excerpt from it, repacked for a larger audience (though it's still clearly not for newbies who know nothing of the 18th century). Before I get into details, let me add what his dissertation is not, and doesn't claim to be: a biography of Manteuffel. The emphasis here is strictly on him in the context of his philosophical and literary networking from 1730 onwards (why 1730? Not for the reason you think), with his entire decades long life and career before that only summarized. This frustrated me a little, as I'd hoped for more of a complete life, but that's on me, the key is in the title(s), and also, I do know more about Manteuffel even before 1730 than I used to through the summarzing. (Also, courtesy of the footnotes, I know there is an early 20th century Manteuffel biography: Thea von Seydewitz: Ernst Christoph Graf von Manteuffel, Kabinettsminister Augusts des Starken. Persönlichkeit und Wirken (Aus Sachsens Vergangenheit 5), Dresden 1926, which Bronisch by and large approves of for its research but chides for its emphasis (on Manteuffel the politician) which he seeks to rectify by presenting Manteuffel the enlightenment networker and cultural beacon, though inevitably there are politics involved there, too.) (See other title.) Another thing: Bronish praises older Fritzian historians like Koser and Droysen for their never again matched knowledge of primary sources as well me might, but that also means he relies on them for the Prussian side of things, which means the occasional blip like poor Gundling still showing up as the court fool made head of the academy.

Sir not appearing in either volume at all (seriously, no single mention, not even in the footnotes): Suhm. Seriously, Bronisch not only apparently had zero interest in the other Saxon envoy but doesn't think he's a factor in any way in his subject. (The titular fight from the canny repackage is carried out by French envoy La Chetardie and Voltaire as the main opponents to Manteuffel and Wolff.)


Okay, on to Mantteuffel, or, as the Imperial Secret Service with their idea of discretion codenamed him: Le Diable.

He's a man of wealth and taste: Rise of a Sugar Daddy )

Enter Voltaire, followed by Pyrrhic victory for Wolff )

The aftermath )

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