Footnotes
[1]The Mark or Margravate of Brandenburg was the beginning of the Kingdom of Prussia. The Nordmark, now in Saxony, was founded by Henry I in 928 to preserve certain German territory. In 1134 it was granted to Albert, who took the title of Margrave of Brandenburg. The mark was gradually extended during the next three centuries, and in 1618 the Duchy of Prussia was united to it. During the reign of Frederick William, the “Great Elector,” it was largely developed, and in 1700 it became the Kingdom of Prussia.
[2]This was in the Autumn of 1756.
[3]Pirna is on the Elbe, twelve miles from Dresden. It suffered greatly not only during the Seven Years’ but the Thirty Years’ War.
[4]Francis I, son of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, married Maria Theresa in 1736 and was elected Emperor of Austria in 1745.
[5]“Very certain it is, at sight of his own regiment in retreat, Feld-Marschall Schwerin seized the colors, as did other generals, who are not named, that day. Seizes the colors, fiery old man: ‘Heran, meine kinder’ (‘This way, my sons’), and rides ahead, along the straight dam again; his ‘sons’ all turning and with hot repentance following. ‘On, my children, heran!’ Five bits of grapeshot, deadly each of them, at once hit the old man; dead he sinks there on his flag: and will never fight more. ‘Heran!’ storm the others with hot tears. Adjutant von Platen takes the flag; Platen too is instantly shot; but another takes it. ‘Heran, on!’ in wild storm of rage and grief; in a word, they manage to do the work at Sterbohol, they and the rest.”—Carlyle’s “Life of Frederick the Great,” Book XVIII.
[6]July 5, 1757, Frederick wrote to his sister Wilhelmina at Baireuth: “We have no longer a mother. This loss puts the crown on my sorrows. I am obliged to act; and have not time to give free course to my tears. Judge, I pray you, of the situation of a feeling heart put to so cruel a trial. All losses in the world are capable of being remedied; but those which death causes are beyond the reach of hope.”
[7]July 22, 1757.
[8]Eisenach is famous as the birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach, the father of modern music. Luther also passed his early days there. Wartburg, the princely residence of the Grand Duke of Weimar, is there.
[9]A village in Saxony, nine miles southwest of Merseburg.
[10]Carlyle, in his “Frederick the Great,” quotes the following verse from one of these hymns:
“Grant that with zeal and skill this day I do
What me to do behoves, what thou command’st me to;
Grant that I do it sharp, at point of moment fit,
And when I do it grant me good success in it.”
[11]A famous solitary and massive eminence south of Leuthen, known as the “Magic Mountain.”
“Nun danket alle Gott
Mit Herzen, Mund, und Händen,
Der grosse Dinge thut
An uns und allen Erden.”
“Now thank God, one and all,
With heart, with voice, with hands,
Who wonders great hath done
To us and to all lands.”
[13]About $3.50 in our money.
[14]About $3,350,000.
[15]“His wardrobe consisted of one fine gala dress, which lasted all his life; of two or three old coats fit for Monmouth Street, of yellow waistcoats soiled with snuff, and of huge boots embrowned by time.”—Macaulay’s Essays.
[16]George Keith was an English soldier, who fought for the house of Stuart in 1715, with his younger brother James. When that cause was lost, they went to the Continent and served under various flags, finally taking service with Frederick. Macaulay says: “Some of those who knew the palace best pronounced that the Lord Marischal (Keith) was the only human being whom Frederick ever really loved.”
[17]This letter was written by Daun to the Russian General Fermor. The reply sent to Daun was written by the King, but was signed “Fermor,” and read: “Your Excellency was in the right to warn me against a cunning enemy whom you know better than I. Here have I tried fighting him and got beaten.
“Your unfortunate “Fermor.”
[18]Princess Friederike Sophie Wilhelmina was the favorite sister of Frederick the Great. She was born in 1709, married the Margrave of Baireuth in 1731, and died in 1758. She wrote her memoirs, but they were not published until 1810. Like her brother, she was the frequent victim of her father’s cruelty.
[19]Lord George Sackville, third son of the first Duke of Dorset, was an English soldier. He was made Major General in 1755 and Lieutenant General in 1757. He served second in command to Marlborough at Hanover in 1758, and upon the latter’s death succeeded to the chief command. For his conduct at Minden he was dismissed from the army.
[20]Frankfurt.
[21]The battlefield of Kunersdorf is near Frankfurt, on the other side of the Oder, fifty miles southeast of Berlin.
[22]A ducat was the equivalent at that time of seven thalers.
[23]“In Charlottenburg, certain Saxon-Bruhl dragoons, who by their conduct, might have been the dragoons of Attila, smashed the furniture and the doors, cut the pictures, much maltreated the poor people, and what was reckoned still more tragical, overset the poor Polignac Collection of Antiques and Classicalities; not only knocking off noses and arms, but beating them small, lest reparation by cement should be possible, their officers, Pirna people, looking quietly on. A scandalous proceeding, thought everybody, friend or foe,—especially thought Frederick; whose indignation at the ruin of Charlottenburg came out in way of reprisal by and by.”—Carlyle’s “Life of Frederick the Great.”
[24]Elizabeth Petrovna, born December 29, 1709, Empress of Russia from 1741 to 1762, was the daughter of Peter the Great and Catharine I. She was the founder of the Moscow University and St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts.
[25]Peter III was born in Holstein in 1728. He was the son of Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein, and Anna, daughter of Peter the Great. He was assassinated, and his wife, who was an accomplice, succeeded him.
[26]This castle is near Wermadorf, Saxony, twenty-five miles east of Leipsic.
[27]An ecclesiastical officer.
[28]The translator has taken the liberty to omit a few paragraphs in this connection, setting forth some of Frederick’s financial and economical methods for the restoration of prosperity. They have only a local interest, and would hardly be entertaining for young people.
LIFE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Translated from the German by
GEORGE P. UPTON
8 Vols. Ready
Beethoven Mozart Bach Maid of Orleans William Tell The Little Dauphin Frederick the Great Maria Theresa
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