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PRUSSIA'S RELATIONS WITH THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, 1740–1786*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2008

PETER H. WILSON
PETER H. WILSON
Affiliation:
University of Hull
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Abstract

Most writers have taken Frederick II at his word and interpreted his sparse and generally derogatory comments about the Holy Roman Empire as indications of its low priority in Prussian policy after 1740. This article offers a reappraisal, based on a re-examination of his writings and his policy towards the Empire and its principal dynasties. Despite his distaste for the imperial constitution, Frederick swiftly appreciated its significance to his goals of security and international recognition. Certainly, relations with the imperial Estates remained secondary to diplomatic and military engagement with Austria and the other major European powers. Nonetheless, the Empire remained more than an arena in which Austro-Prussian rivalry was played out. The imperial constitution offered a means to neutralize threats to Prussia's more vulnerable provinces and a framework to constrain Habsburg ambitions, while ties to minor German dynasties offered avenues to maintain or improve relations with Europe's leading monarchies that were likewise bound within the elite kinship of the Christian old world. For this to be effective, however, Frederick had to engage in all aspects of imperial politics and not just representation in formal institutions.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , June 2008 , pp. 337 - 371
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

I would like to thank Clarissa Campbell Orr and an unnamed reader for their advice while preparing this article.

References

1 A. Siemsen, Kurbrandenburgs Anteil an den kaiserlichen Wahlkapitulationen von 1689 bis 1742 (Weimar, 1909); G. Roloff, ‘Friedrich und das Reich zwischen dem ersten und zweiten Schlesischen Krieg’, Forschungen zur Brandenburg- und Preußischen Geschichte, 25 (1913), pp. 445–59. See the excellent new review of the historiography by P. M. Hahn, Friedrich der Grosse und die deutsche Nation: Geschichte als politisches Argument (Stuttgart, 2007). For ease of reference, the Hohenzollern lands will be referred to as ‘Prussia’ throughout, even though Prussia itself lay outside the Empire.

2 Prussia's relations to the Empire after the mid-seventeenth century are largely absent from the most recent general survey: W. Neugebauer, Die Hohenzollern (2 vols., Stuttgart, 2003).

3 Prussia and especially Frederick appear as the villains in K. O. Frhr v. Aretin's magisterial reappraisal of the Empire after 1648: Das alte Reich, 1648–1806 (3 vols., Stuttgart, 1993–7).

4 G. Schmidt, Geschichte des alten Reiches: Staat und Nation in der Frühen Neuzeit, 1495–1806 (Munich, 1999). Further discussion of this debate in Wilson, P. H., ‘Still a monstrosity? Some reflections on early modern German statehood’, Historical Journal, 49 (2006), pp. 565–76CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 A very useful summary is W. Brauneder and L. Höbelt, Sacrum Imperium: Das Reich und Österreich, 996–1806 (Vienna, 1996).

6 The concept of an anti-emperor was first suggested by K. O. Frhr. v. Aretin, Heiliges Römisches Reich, 1776–1806 (2 vols., Wiesbaden, 1967), i, pp. 19–23, and developed more fully by V. Press, ‘Friedrich der Große als Reichspolitiker’, in H. Duchhardt, ed., Friedrich der Große, Franken und das Reich (Vienna, 1986), pp. 25–56, and his student G. Haug-Moritz, ‘Friedrich der Grosse als “Gegenkaiser”: Überlegungen zur preussischen Reichspolitik, 1740–1786’, in Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg, ed., Vom Fels zum Meer: Preussen und Südwestdeutschland (Tübingen, 2002), pp. 25–44.

7 Quote from C. Clark, Iron kingdom: the rise and downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947 (London, 2006), p. 217.

8 For an outline of the Empire's political culture, see P. H. Wilson, ‘War, political culture and Central European state formation from the late middle ages to the nineteenth century’, in N. Garnham and K. Jeffery, eds., Culture, place and identity (Dublin, 2005), pp. 112–37.

9 W. Hubatsch, ‘Preußen und das Reich’, in O. Hauser, ed., Zur Problematik ‘Preußen und das Reich’ (Cologne, 1984), pp. 1–11, rather overstates the king's loyalty to the emperor.

10 U. Müller-Weil, Absolutismus und Aussenpolitik in Preußen: Ein Beitrag zur Strukturgeschichte des preussischen Absolutismus (Stuttgart, 1992), p. 86.

11 W. Hubatsch, Frederick the Great: absolutism and administration (London, 1975), pp. 12–28; J. Kunisch, Friedrich der Grosse: Der König und seine Zeit (Munich, 2004), pp. 13–23; R. B. Asprey, Frederick the Great: the magnificent enigma (New York, 1986), pp. 16–21; G. MacDonogh, Frederick the Great (New York, 2000), pp. 30–7.

12 Wagner, H., ed., ‘Das Reisejournal des Grafen Seckendorff vom 15. Juli bis zum 26. August 1730’, Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs, 10 (1957), pp. 186–242.Google Scholar

13 H. M. Scott, ‘Prussia's royal foreign minister: Frederick the Great and the administration of Prussian diplomacy’, in R. Oresko et al., eds., Royal and republican sovereignty in early modern Europe (Cambridge, 1997), pp. 500–26 at p. 506. See also W. Neugebauer, ‘Monarchisches Kabinett und Geheimer Rat: Vergleichende Betrachtungen zur frühneuzeitlichen Verfassungsgeschichte in Österreich, Kursachsen und Preußen’, Der Staat, 33 (1994), pp. 511–35; Müller-Weil, Absolutismus und Aussenpolitik, pp. 163–72, 181–5, 209.

14 Aretin, Altes Reich, ii, pp. 468–9; T. Schieder, Frederick the Great (Harlow, 2000), pp. 169–72; Schmidt, Geschichte des alten Reiches, pp. 278–89.

15 This provides one of the many interesting comparisons between Frederick and Joseph II whose efforts to adopt French as the Habsburg diplomatic language in 1789 was fiercely opposed by Kaunitz who maintained that German was the appropriate medium to deal with the Empire: Aretin, Heiliges Römisches Reich, i, p. 17. See also V. Wittenauer, Im Dienste der Macht: Kultur und Sprache am Hof der Hohenzollern vom Großen Kurfürst bis zu Wilhelm II. (Paderborn, 2007).

16 H. Klueting, ‘Erwald Friedrich von Hertzberg – preußischer Kabinettsminister unter Friedrich dem Großen und Friedrich Wilhelm II.’, in J. Kunisch, ed., Persönlichkeiten im Umkreis Friedrichs des Großen (Cologne, 1988), pp. 135–52. For these figures and others mentioned in this article, see Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (56 vols., Leipzig and Munich, 1875–1912), and K. v. Priesdorff, Soldatisches Führertum (10 vols., Hamburg, 1936–41).

17 O. Bardong, ed., Friedrich der Große (Darmstadt, 1982), pp. 174–262 at pp. 206–37.

18 Ibid, p. 227.

19 See ibid., pp. 255–62, for Frederick's thoughts on princely education. His instructions for that of his two successors are in G. B. Volz, ed., Die Werke Friedrichs des Großen (10 vols., Berlin, 1912–14; reprint Braunschweig, 2006), vii, pp. 204–9. The Miroir [sic] des princes presented to Carl Eugen in Feb. 1744 is a hastily compiled selection of sentiments already expressed in his Anti-Machiavel. The former is printed in Volz, ed., Werke, vii, pp. 200–3. For the duchy's own education programme, see E. Schneider, ‘Herzog Karl Eugen: Erzeihung, Jugend und Persönlichkeit’, in Herzog Karl Eugen und seine Zeit (issued by the Württembergischer Geschichts- und Altertumsverein, 2 vols., Esslingen, 1907–9), i, pp. 25–8, 31–7.

20 Histoire de mon temps, 1775, final version in Volz, ed., Werke, ii, at p. 39. The passage discussing the imperial election of 1741–2 (ibid., pp. 95–6) displays contempt for the alleged pedantic concern for irrelevant detail.

21 P. Sonnino, ed., The refutation of Machiavelli's ʻPrinceʼ or Anti-Machiavel (Athens, OH, 1981), esp. pp. 77–8.

22 Schmidt, G., ‘Die politische Bedeutung der kleineren Reichsstände im 16. Jahrhundert’, Jahrbuch für Geschichte des Feudalismus, 12 (1989), pp. 185–206.Google Scholar

23 Political testament, Bardong, ed., Friedrich der Große, pp. 227–8.

24 Umbach, M., ‘The politics of sentimentality and the German Fürstenbund, 1779–1785’, Historical Journal, 41 (1998), pp. 679–704CrossRefGoogle Scholar; A. Kohler, ‘Das Reich im Spannungsfeld des preussisch-österreichischen Gegensatzes: Die Fürstenbundbestrebungen 1783–1785’, in F. Engel-Janosi et al., eds., Fürst, Bürger, Mensch (Munich, 1975), pp. 71–96; D. Stievermann, ‘Der Fürstenbund von 1785 und das Reich’, in V. Press, ed., Alternativen zur Reichsverfassung in der Frühen Neuzeit? (Munich, 1995), pp. 209–26.

25 Histoire de mon temps, Volz, ed., Werke, ii, p. 155. Similar comments in the Political testament, Bardong, ed., Friedrich der Große, p. 211.

26 Political testament, Bardong, ed., Friedrich der Große, p. 211. He also attributed the German participation in the American Revolutionary War to the princes' ‘greed and indebtedness’: Volz, ed., Werke, v, p. 86.

27 Further discussion in Wilson, P. H., ‘The German “soldier trade” of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: a reassessment’, International History Review, 18 (1996), pp. 757–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 Political testament, Bardong, ed., Friedrich der Große, pp. 208, 221–2. Recent research suggests British interest in Hanover persisted well beyond 1760: B. Simms and T. Riotte, eds., The Hanoverian dimension in British history, 1714–1837 (Cambridge, 2007); A. Thompson, Britain, Hanover and the Protestant interest, 1688–1756 (Woodbridge, 2006); J. Black, Continental commitment: Britain, Hanover and interventionism, 1714–1793 (Abingdon, 2005), and his The Hanoverians: the history of a dynasty (London, 2004).

29 Frederick comments in his Political testament that Austria treated its allies with ‘ingratitude’: Bardong, ed., Friedrich der Große, p. 226.

30 Mémoirs pour servir à l'histoire de la maison de Brandebourg, Volz, ed., Werke, i, pp. 37–40.

31 Histoire de mon temps, Volz, ed., Werke, ii, pp. 157–60.

32 Volz, ed., Werke, v, pp. 91–2. See also his comments on the state of Europe dated 9 May 1782, ibid., vii, pp. 217–21.

33 The clearest statement can be found in his draft comments on the political situation at the end of June 1756, Volz, ed., Werke, iii, pp. 161–4. See also Histoire de mon temps, ibid., ii, p. 40, and the Political testament, Bardong, ed., Friedrich der Große, p. 227.

34 F. Althoff, Untersuchungen zum Gleichgewicht der Mächte in der Außenpolitik Friedrichs des Großen nach dem Siebenjährigen Krieg (1763–1786) (Berlin, 1995).

35 Schröder, P., ‘The constitution of the Holy Roman Empire after 1648: Samuel Pufendorf's assessment in his Monzambano’, Historical Journal, 42 (1999), pp. 961–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

36 Miroir des princes, Volz, ed., Werke, vii, p. 202.

37 H. Duchhardt, Protestantisches Kaisertum und altes Reich: Die Diskussion über die Konfession des Kaisers in Politik, Publizistik und Staatsrecht (Wiesbaden, 1977), pp. 284–93.

38 See Aretin, Altes Reich, ii, p. 467.

39 Political testament, Bardong, ed., Friedrich der Große, pp. 221–7. See also his letter to Karl Dubislav v. Natzmer, Feb. 1731, in Volz, ed., Werke, vii, pp. 197–9. By 1776 the annexation of Saxony was considered an ‘unavoidable necessity’ to sustain Prussia as a great power: ibid., vii, p. 213.

40 J. G. Droysen et al., eds., Politische Correspondenz Friedrichs des Großen (47 vols., Berlin, 1879–1939, 2003), xxiii, pp. 37–8.

41 W. V. Hofmann, ‘Das Säkularisationsprojekt von 1743, Kaiser Karl0 VII. und die römische Kurie’, in Riezler Festschrift. Beiträge zur Bayerischen Geschichte (Gotha, 1913), pp. 213–59; P. Baumgart, ‘Säkularisationsprojekte König Friedrichs II. von Preußen’, in J. Köhler, ed., Säkularisation in Ostmitteleuropa (Cologne, 1984), pp. 59–64; P. C. Hartmann, Karl Albrecht, Karl VII. Glücklicher Kurfürst, unglücklicher Kaiser (Regensburg, 1985), pp. 287–90; Aretin, Altes Reich, ii, pp. 449–55.

42 Press, ‘Friedrich der Große als Reichspolitiker’, pp. 45–6, 51–2, provides a brief overview of Frederick's policy towards the imperial church.

43 P. P. Bernard, Joseph II and Bavaria (The Hague, 1965); H. Temperley, Frederick the Great and Kaiser Joseph (London, 1968; 1st edn, 1915). Frederick's own account is in Volz, ed., Werke, v, pp. 83–133.

44 L. Pelizeaus, Der Aufstieg Württembergs und Hessens zur Kurwürde, 1692–1806 (Frankfurt am Main, 2000); M. Umbach, Federalism and Enlightenment in Germany, 1740–1806 (London, 2000).

45 Volz, ed., Werke, ii, p. 58, v, pp. 165–7. See also Hubatsch, Frederick the Great, pp. 54–5.

46 Siemsen, Kurbrandenburgs Anteil an den kaiserlichen Wahlkapitulationen, pp. 86–90; J. J. Moser, Neues Teutsches Staatsrecht (hereafter NTSR) (20 vols., Frankfurt am Main, 1766–75), i, pp. 311–13, 317–20. See also G. Kleinheyer, Die kaiserlichen Wahlkapitulationen (Karlsruhe, 1968).

47 Hartmann, Karl Albrecht, pp. 194, 254; R. Koser, Geschichte Friedrichs des Großen (4 vols., Stuttgart, 1921–5), i, pp. 364–5.

48 On exemption from jurisdiction, see NTSR, viii, pp. 200–4. See also Noel, J. F., ‘Zur Geschichte der Reichsbelehnungen im 18. Jahrhundert’, Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs, 21 (1968), pp. 106–22Google Scholar; P. Rauscher, ‘Recht und Politik: Reichsjustiz und oberstrichtliches Amt des Kaisers im Spannungsfeld des preußisch-österreichischen Dualismus (1740–1785)’, ibid., 46 (1998), pp. 269–309 at pp. 279–83.

49 P. H. Wilson, German armies: war and German politics, 1648–1806 (London, 1998), pp. 150–201.

50 Relevant passages are in Volz, ed., Werke, ii, pp. 173, 194–5, v, pp. 175–6. For the Kreis Association project, see Roloff, ‘Friedrich und das Reich’; N. Hammerstein, ‘Zur Geschichte der Kreis-Assoziationen und der Assoziationsversuche zwischen 1714 und 1746’, in K. O. Frhr. v. Aretin, ed., Der Kurfürst von Mainz und die Kreisassoziationen, 1648–1746 (Wiesbaden, 1975), pp. 79–120.

51 O. C. Ebbecke, Frankreichs Politik gegenüber dem deutschen Reiche in den Jahren, 1748–1756 (Freiburg i. Br., 1931); E. Buddruss, Die Französische Deutschlandspolitik, 1756–1789 (Mainz, 1995); S. Externbrink, Friedrich der Grosse, Maria Theresa und das Alte Reich: Deutschlandpolitik und Diplomatie Frankreichs im Sienbenjährigen Krieg (Berlin, 2006).

52 Clark, Iron kingdom, pp. 217–19.

53 K. Schlaich, ‘Majoritas – protestatio – itio in partes – corpus evangelicorum’, Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Kanonistische Abteilung, 107 (1977), pp. 264–99, 108 (1978), pp. 139–79; D. Stievermann, ‘Politik und Konfession im 18. Jahrhundert’, Zeitschrift für historischen Forschung, 18 (1991), pp. 177–99; G. Haug-Moritz, ‘Corpus evangelicorum und deutscher Dualismus’, in Press, ed., Alternativen, pp. 189–207, and her ‘Kaisertum und Parität und Konfession nach dem Westfälischen Frieden’, Zeitschrift für historischen Forschung, 19 (1992), pp. 445–82. For the following see also Vötsch, J., ‘Die Hohenloher Religionsstreitigkeiten in der Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts’, Württembergisch Franken, 77 (1993), pp. 361–400Google Scholar.

54 B. Roeck, Reichssystem und Reichsherkommen: Die Diskussion über die Staatlichkeit des Reiches in der politischen Publizistik des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart, 1984); W. Burgdorf, Reichskonstitution und Nation: Verfassungsreformprojekte für das Heilige Römische Reich deutscher Nation im politischen Schriften von 1648 bis 1806 (Mainz, 1998).

55 K. E. Demandt, Geschichte des Landes Hessen (Kassel, 1980), pp. 277–8; G. Haug-Moritz, Württembergischer Ständekonflikt und deutscher Dualismus (Stuttgart, 1992), pp. 172–214.

56 NTSR, iv, pp. 1010–11; A. Schmid, Max III. Joseph und die europäischen Mächte: Die Außenpolitik des Kurfürstentums Bayern, 1745–1765 (Munich, 1987), pp. 354–90; P. H. Wilson, War, state and society in Württemberg, 1677–1793 (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 211–15.

57 Aretin, Altes Reich, iii, pp. 92–103; M. Schort, Politik und Propaganda: Der Siebenjährige Krieg in der zeitgenössischen Flugschriften (Frankfurt am Main, 2006).

58 Haug-Moritz, Württembergischer Ständekonflikt, pp. 166–7.

59 K. O. Frhr. v. Aretin, Das Reich: Friedensgarantie und europäisches Gleichgewicht, 1648–1806 (Stuttgart, 1986), pp. 337–52, and his ‘Die Großmächte und das Klientelsystem im Reich am Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts’, in A. Maçzak, ed., Klientelsysteme im Europa der Frühen Neuzeit (Munich, 1988), pp. 63–92. For the Bavarian succession see the sources in n. 43 above. Prussia's relations with Russia are analysed by H. M. Scott, The emergence of the eastern powers, 1756–1775 (Cambridge, 2001).

60 Aretin, Heiliges Römisches Reich, i, pp. 130–61, and his Altes Reich, iii, pp. 210–35.

61 A. Waldmann, ‘Reichspatriotismus im letzten Drittel des 18. Jahrhunderts’, in O. Dann, M. Hroch, and J. Koss, eds., Patriotismus und Nationasbildung am Ende des Heiligen Römischen Reiches (Cologne, 2003), pp. 19–61; H. Schulze, The course of German nationalism from Frederick the Great to Bismarck (Cambridge, 1990); E. Hellmuth, ‘A monument to Frederick the Great: architecture, politics and the state in late eighteenth-century Prussia’, in J. Brewer and E. Hellmuth, eds., Rethinking the Leviathan (Oxford, 1999), pp. 317–41, and his ‘Die “Wiedergeburt” Friedrichs des Großen und der “Tod fürs Vaterland”: Zum patriotischen Selbsverständnis in Preußen in der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts’, Aufklärung, 10 (1998), pp. 23–54.

62 C. Jany, Geschichte der preußischen Armee vom 15. Jahrhundert bis 1914 (4 vols., Berlin, 1928–9; reprint Osnabrück, 1967), ii, pp. 3–12, 49–56, 76–88. The augmentation increased the army from 76,278 just prior to Frederick's accession to 134,910 at the conclusion of peace in 1745. The regimental numbering system follows that used by H. Bleckwenn, Die friderizianischen Uniformen, 1753–1786 (4 vols., Osnabrück, 1987). At the time, units were still known by their colonels' names.

63 Wilson, German armies, pp. 226–41.

64 None of the Württembergers exercised command in person, though there is evidence that Maria Augusta at least corresponded about some aspects of her regiment's internal management: Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (hereafter HSAS), g197 Bü. 19. For her, see P. H. Wilson, ‘Women and imperial politics: the Württemberg consorts, 1674–1757’, in C. Campbell-Orr, ed., Queenship in Europe, 1660–1815: the role of the consort (Cambridge, 2004), pp. 221–51 at pp. 240–6. See also D. Hohrath, ‘“Verwandte – Feinde – Vorbilder”: Aspekte der militärischen Beziehungsgeschichte Preußens und Württembergs im 18. Jahrhundert’, in J. Luh et al., eds., Preussen, Deutschland und Europa, 1701–2001 (Groningen, 2003), pp. 385–98. For other members of the ducal house mentioned here, see S. Lorenz, ed., Das Haus Württemberg (Stuttgart, 1997).

65 R. Endres, ‘Preußens Griff nach Franken’, in Duchhardt, ed., Friedrich der Große, pp. 57–79; M. Hanisch, ‘Friedrich II und die preussische Sukzession in Franken in der internationale Diskussion’, ibid., pp. 81–91.

66 The betrothal was celebrated in September 1744 and the wedding took place four years later. The bride was the daughter of Frederick's favourite sister, Wilhelmine (1709–58), whose marriage in 1731 to Margrave Friedrich (1711–63, r. 1735) had been intended to secure Hohenzollern claims to Bayreuth. See P. Stälin, ‘Friederike’, in Herzog Karl Eugen, i, pp. 55–78; E. Krüger, ‘Herzogin Elisabeth Sophie Friederike von Württemberg und andere Frauen am Hofe Herzog Carl Eugens’, Ludwigsburger Geschichtsblätter, 51 (1997), pp. 101–18.

67 Wilson, War, state and society, pp. 194–233; Pelizeaus, Aufstieg, pp. 166–92.

68 Ludwig Eugen married Sophie Albertine (1728–1807) in 1762 who, as countess of Beichlingen, was deemed by her brothers-in-law as unequal in status. Ludwig Eugen became involved with the Austrian Archduchess Marie Christine (1742–98) and had to leave Vienna in 1766. He agreed to back the claims of Friedrich Eugen's children as part of a family reconciliation. The archduchess meanwhile married Albert von Sachsen-Teschen (1732–1822). For Friedrich Eugen, see P. Stark, Fürstliche Personen des Hauses Württemberg und ihre bewährten Diener im Zeitalter Friedrichs des Großen (Stuttgart, 1876), esp. pp. 43–51.

69 I. M. P. Hoch, ‘Württembergische Denkwürdigkeiten aus den Herzoge Carl Alexander und Carl Eugen, nach Aufzeichnungen von General Wolf und dessen Sohn’, Sophronizon, 6 (1824), pp. 16–62 at pp. 52–5; Haug-Moritz, Württembergischer Ständekonflikt, pp. 242–9.

70 Auguste Karoline Friederike Luise (1764–88), daughter of Duke Carl I of Wolfenbüttel. Despite the birth of the future King Wilhelm I of Württemberg in 1781, Auguste already wanted to leave her husband who eventually (1797) remarried George III's daughter, Charlotte Mathilde (1766–1828).

71 Sophie Dorothea (1759–1828) assumed the name Maria Feodorowna. See Maurer, H. M., ‘Das Haus Württemberg und Rußland’, Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte, 48 (1989), pp. 201–22Google Scholar.

72 Pelizeaus, Aufstieg, pp. 198–235.

73 The move can also be interpreted as part of Württemberg's orientation to Austria. See C. Scharf, Katharina II., Deutschland und die Deutschen (Mainz, 1995), pp. 332–46; P. Sauer, Der schwäbische Zar. Friedrich – Württembergs erster König (Stuttgart, 1984), pp. 68–80.

74 Philippine (1745–1800), daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg-Schwedt (1700–71), and Sophie of Prussia (1719–65). For the 1743–5 alliance, see Pelizaeus, Aufstieg, pp. 334–65. The Kassel line had been one of the principal Calvinist dynasties in the seventeenth century – something that contributed to the marriage in 1649 between the Great Elector's sister, Hedwig Sophie (1623–83), and Landgrave Wilhelm VI (1629–63, r. 1637).

75 Geheime Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, i HA, Rep. 96 Geheimes Zivilkabinet Teil 2, Nr. 104 Lit. A covering correspondence with Landgraves Ludwig VIII and Ludwig IX. Darmstadt's pro-Austrian course during the Seven Years War was also dictated by France's ability to threaten Hanau-Lichtenberg that lay as an enclave in Alsace.

76 Volz, ed., Werke, v, pp. 44, 87–8; Scharf, Katharina II., pp. 272–307. For Frederick's handling of the Hohenzollern succession, see Kunisch, Friedrich der Grosse, pp. 224–50.

77 The Schwedts descended from the Great Elector's second marriage to Dorothea von Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (1636–89) in 1668. The line lasted until 1788. Examples of Hohenzollern–Schwedt intermarriage include Frederick's sister Sophie (1719–65) who married Friedrich Wilhelm of B.-Schwedt (1700–57), and his brother Ferdinand (1730–1813) who married Luise of B.-Schwedt (1738–1820). Frederick I had arranged the marriage of Elisabeth Sophie of B.-Schwedt (1674–1748) to the Hohenzollern Margrave Christian Ernst of Bayreuth (1644–1712, r. 1655) to stop him slipping too far into an Austrian orbit in 1703.

78 HSAS, g219, Bü. 1–4.

79 The Mecklenburg duke hired Schwarzberg and Holstein-Gottorp troops in 1734 that transferred to Prussian service between 1741 and 1755: Jany, Preußische Armee, ii, p. 186. For Frederick's role in settling the dispute, see P. Wick, Versuche zur Errichtung des Absolutismus in Mecklenburg in der ersten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts (Berlin, 1964), pp. 234–59; M. Hughes, Law and politics in eighteenth-century Germany: the Imperial Aulic Council in the reign of Charles VI (Woodbridge, 1988), pp. 261–5; M. Manke and E. Münch, eds., Verfassung und Lebenswirklichkeit. Der landgrundgesetzliche Erbvergleich von 1755 in seiner Zeit (Rostock, 2007).

80 Sophie Charlotte von Holstein-Beck (1722–63). The Beck line existed between 1627 and 1831 as a junior branch of the Holstein–Sonderburg–Glücksburgs who had provided the co-founder of the Schwedts. All Holstein branches were members of the wider Oldenburg dynasty that ruled Denmark. They were also related to the Swedish and Russian royal houses.

81 M. S. Rivière, ‘“The Pallas of Stockholm”: Louisa Ulrica of Prussia and the Swedish crown’, in Orr, ed., Queenship, pp. 322–43; K. R. Böhme, ‘Schwedens Teilnahme am Siebenjährigen Krieg: Innen- und außenpolitische Voraussetzungen und Rückwirkungen’, in B. R. Kroener, ed., Europa im Zeitalter Friedrichs des Großen (Munich, 1989), pp. 193–212; M. Roberts, The Age of Liberty (Cambridge, 1986).

82 Anna Sophie Charlotte von Brandenburg-Schwedt (1706–51) was the wife of Duke Wilhelm Heinrich of Sachsen-Eisenach (1691–1741, r. 1729). The Eisenach soldiers became infantry regiment no. 40 that remained in Prussian service when the duke's successor declined the offer to become the next colonel. See Jany, Preußische Armee, ii, pp. 6–7. Anna remained in Berlin after her husband's death.

83 Luise Dorothea von Sachsen-Meiningen (1710–67), wife of Duke Friedrich III (1699–1772, r. 1732) of Gotha. See M. H. Cottoni, ed., Correspondance de Frédéric II avec Louise Dorothée de Saxe-Gotha (1740–1767) (Oxford, 1999).

84 H. Patze and W. Schlesinger, eds., Geschichte Thüringens, v: Politische Geschichte der Neuzeit (Cologne, 1982), pp. 432–5, 479–85; G. Niethammer, ‘Die Reichsarmee im Feldzug 1757’, Beiheft zum Militärwochenblatt, 9 (1879), pp. 149–204; Jany, Preußische Armee, ii, p. 181.

85 Johanna Charlotte von Anhalt-Dessau (1682–1750) married the head of the Schwedt branch, Philipp (1669–1711), in 1699. Their son, Friedrich Heinrich (1709–88), married Leopoldine (1716–82), daughter of Prince Leopold I, the famous Old Dessauer. In turn, Luise Henriette Wilhelmine (1750–1811), daughter from this match, married the Old Dessauer's grandson, Leopold III, in 1767. Meanwhile, Sophie Friedrike Albertine (1712–50), Philipp of Schwedt's niece, married Prince Viktor Friedrich of Anhalt-Bernburg (1700–65) in 1733.

86 Umbach, Federalism and Enlightenment, pp. 18–19, 155; J. Arndt, Das Niederrheinisch-Westfälische Reichsgrafenkollegium und seine Mitglieder (1653–1806) (Mainz, 1991), p. 310.

87 T. Biskup, ‘The hidden queen: Elisabeth Christine of Prussia and Hohenzollern queenship’, in Orr, ed., Queenship, pp. 300–21. Ferdinand Albrecht II of Braunschweig-Bevern (1680–1735) inherited Wolfenbüttel when the ruling Dannenberg line died out in 1735. He died six months later and was followed by his eldest son, Carl I, while his younger son, Ernst Ferdinand (1682–1746) was given Bevern, establishing a new line running through his sons August Wilhelm (1715–81) and Friedrich Karl Ferdinand (1729–1809). After the latter's death, the line was established again for offspring of Duke Carl II Wilhelm Ferdinand of Wolfenbüttel, the Prussian field marshal, and lasted until 1884.

88 Anton Ulrich's wife was Anna Leopoldovna (1718–46), daughter of Duke Karl Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1678–1747, r. 1713–28), and Catherine, sister of Empress Anna Ivanovna (1673–1740, r. 1730). Their son, Ivan IV (1740–64), was deposed in 1741 by Peter the Great's daughter, Elisabeth Petrovna (1709–62). The coup also set back Ludwig Ernst's career as he had just been made duke of Courland.

89 Sophie Caroline Marie (1737–1817), daughter of Carl II, married Margrave Friedrich of Bayreuth in 1759 after the death of his first wife, Wilhelmine. Meanwhile, Carl I's other sister, Juliana Maria (1729–96), became the second wife of King Frederick V of Denmark (1723–66, r. 1746) in 1752 and played a significant role in Danish politics: M. Bregnsbo, ‘Danish absolutism and queenship: Louisa, Caroline Matilda, and Juliana Maria’, in Orr, ed., Queenship, pp. 354–62. For the following, see also C. C. Orr, ‘Dynastic perspectives’, in Simms and Riotte, eds., Hanoverian dimension, pp. 213–51 at pp. 228–9.

90 J. B. Scott, ed., The treaties of 1785, 1799 and 1828 between the United States and Prussia (New York, 1918); M. L. Brown Jr, ed., American independence through Prussian eyes: selections from the diplomatic correspondence of Frederick the Great and his ambassadors (Durham, NC, 1959).

91 P. M. Hahn, ‘Aristokratisierung und Professionalisierung: Der Aufstieg der Obristen zu einer militärischen und höfischen Elite in Brandenburg-Preußen von 1650–1720’, Forschungen zur brandenburgisch- und preußischen Geschichte, NF 1 (1991), pp. 161–208 esp. pp. 192–3; E. Stockinger, ‘Vorbildung, Herkunft und Werdegang militärischer Führer in Deutschland von 1730–1813’, Wehrkunde, 24 (1975), pp. 592–7; F. Göse, ‘Zwischen Garnison und Rittergut. Aspekte der Verknüpfung von Adelsforschung und Militärgeschichte am Beispiel Brandenburg-Preußens’, in R. Pröve, ed., Klio in Uniform (Cologne, 1997), pp. 109–42.

92 Calculated from W. Hanne, ed., Rangirrolle, Listen und Extracte … von Saldern Infanterie Regiment Anno 1771 (Osnabrück, 1986).

93 Arndt, Das Niederrheinisch-Westfälische Reichsgrafenkollegium, p. 311.

94 For Gablentz, see HSAS, a8 Bü. 58 no. 38, a30c Bd. 5 fol. 109b. For the Riedesels, see K. S. Baron v. Galéra, Vom Reich zum Rheinbund: Weltgeschichte des 18. Jahrhunderts in einer kleinen Residenz (Neustadt a.d. Aisch, 1961), pp. 211–13.

95 S. Jahns, ‘Brandenburg-Preussen im System der Reichskammergerichts-Präsentationen 1648–1806’, in H. Weber, ed., Politische Ordnung und soziale Kräfte im alten Reich (Wiesbaden, 1980), pp. 169–202.

96 A. H. F. Vagts, A history of militarism (London, 1938), p. 66.

97 H. C. Johnson, Frederick the Great and his officials (New Haven, 1975), esp. pp. 17, 289–91; Hubatsch, Frederick the Great, pp. 240–3; Müller-Weil, Absolutismus und Aussenpolitik, pp. 214–21.

98 Press, V., ‘The Habsburg court as center of the imperial government’, Journal of Modern History, 58 (1986), supplement, pp. 23–45Google Scholar; J. Duindam, Vienna and Versailles: the courts of Europe's dynastic rivals, 1550–1780 (Cambridge, 2003).

99 H. Neuhaus, ‘Das Problem der militärischen Exekutive in der Spätphase des Alten Reiches’, in J. Kunisch, ed., Staatsverfassung und Heeresverfassung (Berlin, 1986), pp. 297–346.

100 See esp. Haug-Moritz, G., ‘Friedrich Samuel Graf Montmartin als württembergischen Staatsmann (1756–1766/73)’, Zeitschrift für württembergische Landesgeschichte, 53 (1994), pp. 205–26Google Scholar.

101 HSAS, a202 Bü. 2113 convention of 10 Jan. 1741; a74 Bü. 127, esp. Keller to Regent Friedrich Carl, 3 Sept. 1740. See also Haug-Moritz, Württembergischer Ständekonflikt, pp. 299–318, 335.

102 HSAS, a202 Bü. 1206.

103 Keller worked with Friedrich August von Hardenberg (1700–68) whom Frederick expressly warned Carl Eugen against in his Miroir des princes in 1744 yet was employed as chief minister until 1755. Hardenberg entered Hessen-Kassel (1756) and then Hanoverian (1761) service and so entered the same pro-Prussian orbit as Keller. Anon., Friedrich August von Hardenberg. Ein kleinstaatlicher Minister des 18. Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1877).

104 His secretary, Friedrich Straube (+1772) later became Montmartin's secretary at the Reichstag (1751) and then Württemberg representative there 1759–69: W. Pfeilsticker, Neues württembergisches Dienerbuch (3 vols., Stuttgart, 1957–74), nos. 1118, 1389, 2686.

105 Scott, Eastern powers, pp. 7–10, 66.