As promised: a post on some of the Fritz and Fredersdorf’s letters from April 1747, which I guess could also be called How To Appease Your King and Boyfriend. The letters are mostly about ordering stuff (such as Hungarian wine), opera stuff (negotiating contracts for the singers, as far as I could gather), and spy stuff (so much spy stuff). The stuff between brackets that you see in the images from the book are clarifications from the editor; sometimes Google Translate deletes those. From April 10th to April 14th (letters 55 to 65 on Richter’s edition, pages 122-132) Fredersdorf writes multiple letters a day. On April 10th and 12th we get two each day, but on April 14th he really ramps up, writing 4 just on that date. On April 15th and 16th we go back down to a more manageable one a day. However, it is the one letter on the 16th that apparently made Fritz vent his frustration. I’ll include both Fredersdorf’s letter and Fritz’s reply because I find them both interesting (transcription of the German in the ALT, Translation via Google below):
FREDERSDORF TO THE KING
April 16, 1747
Your Royal Majesty, have the grace to forward the enclosed letter most humbly. I sent a servant yesterday evening at 9 o'clock with a most humbly written letter along with an enclosure from the aforementioned man [the spy] regarding the code. And since Your Royal Majesty graciously answered me at 11 o'clock and made no mention of it, I am uncertain whether the servant also delivered the letter*. I am pleased that tomorrow I shall have the grace to kiss Your Royal Majesty's coat.
I remain, Your Royal Majesty's most humbly faithful servant,
Berlin, April 16, 1747, Fredersdorf
*Here I think he means specifically the separate “enclosure from [the spy]”, because Fritz did reply to his April 15th letter.
The King's marginal note:
You write me 20 letters every day; I can't possibly answer all that stuff! I've received everything and will be in Berlin on Wednesday.
Fch
The specific letter that Fredersdorf mentions that he’s unsure whether Fritz received or not is about contract negotiations with the singer Gasparini; this “enclosure from [the spy] regarding the code” is not in the book as far as I could tell. The thing that caught my shippy eye was of course Freders’ “I am pleased that tomorrow I shall have the grace to kiss Your Royal Majesty’s coat”. This struck me as quite… intimate? But I’m unfortunately not super familiar with the language commonly used between servants and masters in 18th century letter-writing. Here's the editor’s comment on Fritz’s letter, which I also found interesting:
Given the extraordinary importance that the king himself attaches to the secrecy surrounding spy matters, good Fredersdorf really didn't deserve this rebuke. Admittedly, Frederick's claim of "20 letters all these days" is not too much of an exaggeration; we have five letters from Fredersdorf from the last two days! And we will later see that there were times when his letters rained down even more heavily on his master, without us ever seeing Frederick become "nervous" again. And how rude and how unfair he could become in his anger towards other letter writers!
Anyway, after Fritz’ short-tempered reply we go 5 whole days without any letters, until this one dated to April 21st (letter 66 on Richter):
FREDERSDORF TO THE KING
April 21, 1747
By Your Royal Majesty's Most Gracious Order, I have given the 1000 Thalers before the Little Keyserling to Minister von Marschal, as Your Royal Majesty most graciously commanded. The mother was quite charmed (delighted, moved) by the particularly gracious remembrance, the little one just - her mouth goes, like a rattle box, and is the veritable original, well-behaved and cheerful.
Masy (Masi) is engaged for 1500 Thalers. She initially did not want to be engaged without her husband; I told her: if someone were to leave the chapel and she, Your Royal Majesty, were to ask for it, then it might possibly be possible. Because she cannot receive any present before her (trial) singing, she humbly begs that her salary be paid from April. Privy Councilor Eichell sent me the cipher letter today, which Jordan (a secretary) copied. As Jordan [It] has been copied, it was not possible to decipher it according to the man's cipher.
I have studied it extensively today so that I have managed to get something out of it;
I see that the man means it honestly. And if Jordan had copied it properly, it would have been no difficulty at all. The decisive moment in the whole matter must come on Sunday, when Privy Councilor Eichel promised me to create an original that cannot deceive.
And since one thing already lies before me, the other cannot be missing.
I only wish to hear that Your Royal Majesty may be happy and healthy, since I, Your Royal Majesty's remain, most humble and loyal subject servant
Brl. April 21st 1747 Fredersdorf
Like I said in my other post: first bring up die Kleinen Keyserling, then the government stuff, then finishing off with “I want to see you happy and healthy”. There’s also a 5 day gap between the last letter and this one.
The letter immediately following is a short one from Fritz concerning the spy stuff, and it seems that from then on to the end of April 1747 at least it was business as usual. There’s a gap in the correspondence and we pick back up in 1748. I don’t know if the lack of more letters from 47 is because they weren’t separated for the rest of the year or because they just weren’t preserved, and I’m honestly not familiar enough with Fritz’s movements to make a guess. Anyway, that's it for Fritzposting today I think! Let me know if I missed anything.
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