1740 and All That

Write-up by mildred_of_midgard about Jacek Staszewski's August III: Kurfürst von Sachsen und König von Polen, published in Polish in 1989 and translated into German in 1996:


Having read a revisionist biography of August III, I am here to share with you how historians have perceived him, and how that picture may be not totally accurate.

We saw in one of my earlier write-ups that Norman Davies said August has been described as "like a pudding: soft, sweet, and inert." Turns out, that's one of the nicer things that's been said about him. A typical description is "August III the Fat was a pitiful figure" or "a helpless and catastrophic figure."

Adam Zamoyski calls him a "preposterous creature" in the Poniatowski bio Selena and I both read, but goes all out on the viciousness and rips him (and his father) a new one in The Polish Way:

[August the Strong's] son Augustus, Poland's new monarch, was obese, indolent, and virtually incapable of thought. He would spend his days cutting out bits of paper with a pair of scissors or else sitting by the window taking potshots at stray dogs with a pistol. He also drank like a fish. The extremes of drunkenness usually put down to Slavic barbarism were introduced by the only two representatives of that proverbially sober nation, the Germans, to sit on the Polish throne. Augustus II had been the first to elevate drinking marathons and duels to cult proportions, and his porcine son was a worthy successor.

...Karol Radziwiłł...was a worthy subject of his in every respect. Apart from drinking himself into a stupor, the king's favourite activity was shooting at flying Bison which had been catapulted into the air for the purpose. Radziwiłł favoured great banquets and drinking-bouts which usually ended with his killing someone, after which he would stumble into his private chapel and bawl himself back to sobriety by singing hymns. Between them, these two epitomise the abysmal condition into which Poland had sunk in the first half of the 18th century. The king's only redeeming feature was his love of the arts, and he endowed Warsaw with fine buildings.

Zamoyski tones it down considerably in Poland, published twenty years later as a revised second edition of The Polish Way, but he's still not kind:

His son Augustus, Poland's new monarch, was obese and indolent: he would spend his days cutting out bits of paper with a pair of scissors or else sitting by the window taking potshots at stray dogs with a pistol. He also drank like a fish.

But Konopczyński, whom I've mentioned a few times, takes the cake. One website summarizes his take as:

W. Konopczyński called him a lazy, apathetic, ponderous and obese Saxon, who was satisfied with simple games with jesters, cutting paper figures and shooting dogs out of boredom.

And Jacek Staszewski (author of the revisionist bio I read) gives a longer and more detailed quote from Konopczyński, when he summarizes the treatment of August in traditional historiography:

The king, his laziness, and his intellectual indolence were blamed for this state of affairs, and August III's lack of any mental dispositions to meet the tasks that History set for him was pointed out. If the person of the king was sometimes relieved of the accusations, it was only apparently, because putting the blame for the defeats of Poland and Saxony on Henry Brühl even more emphasized the weakness of August III, who allowed himself to be guided by this "skillful upstart" only for his convenience.

The assessment of August III is contained in the opinion expressed by Władysław Konopczyński, first in the Political History of Poland (1925, published by PAU), then repeated in the first volume of the Polish Biographical Dictionary and in the second volume of The Newest History of Poland (1936). Here it is:

“August III did not take after his father in any way. In his youth, he promised to be quite good: serious, conscientious, distinguished, far from his father's promiscuity and perversity, but also from his animal energy and daring, he exhausted his reserve of initiative before he calmly sat on the Polish throne [...]. The handsome, plump young man turned into a heavy lump of meat and fat, growing more listless and thoughtless with each passing year. In the end, the king-elector would spend his days clipping paper, shooting dogs or slapping buffoons, or at best hunting, which, if properly organized, would amount to a great slaughter of herd game rather than to sporting exercises. The only nobler passion retained by August the Fat was a predilection for classical painting. evidenced by the Sistine Madonna he purchased for the Dresden Gallery; one feeling will influence his politics - a feeling of unjustified pride. And one single instinct of this lazy, chubby king will leave considerable results - the reproductive instinct. Suffice it to say that with his ugly wife Maria Józefa, August fathered no more, no less, than five sons and six daughters (sic)."

That's all Google translated from Polish, but I went over "heavy lump of meat and fat" in a few different variations, and it seems to be accurate.

Now, as I set out to read Staszewski's revisionist bio (which I read in German translation; the passage quoted above is from a shorter monograph that was only published in Polish), I was prepared to find out that all this trash-talking is due to Fritz! And Prussian historians copying him.But apparently, at least according to Staszewski, Fritz was too busy trashing Brühl to bother much with August III, and his reputation probably had more to do with Protestant Europe having such high hopes of him when he was young and then being disappointed by the conversion to Catholicism (on which more in another comment).

And of course the Poles hate the Saxons for the "anarchy" period during the reign of August II and August III, which did nothing to prevent the partitions soon after.

Augusts II and III: But...the Poles were the ones stopping us from reforming the state.

Poles: Never mind that, you sucked us dry!

To summarize Markiewicz, author of an essay entitled "The Functioning of the Monarchy during the Reigns of the Electors of Saxony, 1697-1763":

The 'Saxon period' (czasy saskie) has over the centuries acquired distinctly pejorative connotations. For a long time the reigns of the two monarchs of the Wettin dynasty, Augustus II ( 1697-1733) and Augustus III ( 1733-63) were universally regarded as the period of the collapse of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations, an age of anarchy and lost sovereignty. This impression was rooted in many factors. During the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski, political publicists painted the preceding reigns in dark colours, as they propagated change in both the political system and social behaviour. Similar opinions were expressed in the propaganda of the partitioning powers, and later in German and Russian historiography, because ‘Polish anarchy' justified the liquidation of the Commonwealth. In the nineteenth century, Polish historians confirmed the image. The 'Cracow school' attributed the collapse of the state to its internal dissolution; the black picture of the Saxon period fitted that concept perfectly. The 'Warsaw school' blamed the fall of Poland on the rapacity of its neighbours, emphasizing the reform effort undertaken under Stanisław August. This, however, was set in sharp contrast to the chaos of the Saxon era. Moreover Polish nationalism was above all anti-German in tone, and historians affected by those ideas presented the rule of the German monarchs as ruinous to the Polish nation. In the last thirty years the image of the Saxon period has been changing gradually, as a result of research done in German, Russian and other national archives. Slowly, the work of historians suchas Józef Andrzej Gierowski, Jacek Staszewski and Zofia Zielińska have been altering our view, not fundamentally revising it but enabling a better understanding of that era.

So what does Jacek Staszewski say about August III?

Well, Fritz he was not, but he did demonstrate an interest in ruling his country. He woke up at 6 am (later 3 am) and started doing paperwork and meeting with ministers. In fact, his father had started involving him in politics and presiding over councils even when he was crown prince.

Part of the problem seems to be that he neither had the popular touch of a monarch like his father, nor the force of personality to pull off a Louis XIV-style of ruling. August III abandoned his father's practice of the casual walks on which he'd run into random people and chat with them in favor of a formal etiquette that kept everyone at arm's length. August III likewise abandoned drinking parties in favor of being a family man. The only time most people got to see him was at formal events like sitting at the theater. When he did work, like sitting in his rooms going over paperwork, he didn't get credit for it, the way Fritz did.

I am reminded of both Louis XV and Louis XVI. Louis XV gets a lot of flak for being ruled by his mistresses the way August III was supposedly ruled by Brühl, because he allegedly didn't give a shit about anything political, but the King's Secret show that Louis XV had a very deep interest in what was happening in his country. He met a lot with ministers and went over reports...he just did so without letting on. Secret kingship! And he also clung to the formal etiquette his great-grandfather had come up with, but instead of embodying the Sun King role. When someone talked to him, he would come across as aloof and snobbish because he was shy and would freeze up and not think of anything to say.

My guess is that August III was also using etiquette as a screen behind which to hide his shyness.

And Louis XVI was also a family man and, like MA, hated the etiquette, and neither of them were nearly visible enough to the public in their role as awe-inspiring monarch to carry on what Louis XIV pulled off. Louis XIV struck an amazing balance of "I am visible all the time, I am not hiding in my rooms, but neither am I one of you like Henri IV (or later August the Strong). I am visible doing kingly things, making sure everyone follows the rituals and isn't overly familiar with me, and making sure everyone knows I am a king making kingly decisions."

Fritz: I'm a workaholic and everyone knows it! Also, check out the results.

August III apparently did manage to pull off some of that sense of Sun King majesty in Poland amongst contemporaries by almost never showing up, only going through the bare minimum of ceremony while he was there, and leaving as quickly as possible. So he was "the king who inspires awe from far away" in Poland and not the "king who lives amongst us, but always in his private rooms doing god knows what" that he was in Saxony.

But none of that left any impact after his reign was over; it was all "Guy obviously did nothing or else Poland wouldn't be where it is today."

So his posthumous PR really, really sucked.

ETA: Oh HEY. Wilhelmine confirms August III was shy:

The prince royal of Poland came soon after to pay his respects to the queen. This prince is very tall and stout, his face is regularly handsome, but not prepossessing; an air of embarrassment accompanies all his actions, and, in order to conceal this embarrassment he has recourse to a very disagreeable forced smile. He speaks little, and does not possess the talent of making himself affable and obliging like his father. He may even be taxed with inattention and rudeness.

JUST like Louis XV! Like I said. :D Wilhelmine continues:

Under this uninviting exterior however he conceals great qualities which have displayed themselves since he became king of Poland. He values himself on being a truly honest man, and his whole attention is devoted to the happiness of his subjects. Those who incur his displeasure might still consider themselves fortunate if they were in any other country. Far from doing them any harm he dismisses them with large pensions; he never, has forsaken those on whom he had once placed his affection; he leads a very regular life and cannot be reproached with any vice, and the good understanding which prevails between him and his spouse merits the greatest praise. This princess was uncommonly plain, and had no accomplishment to make amends for her want of beauty.

selenak is about to point out, though, that she displayed a lot of courage and firmness in staying in Dresden when Fritz invaded, and she won the respect of the Saxons (belatedly) by so doing.

luzula adds: Re: this bit: “he would spend his days cutting out bits of paper with a pair of scissors”, it reminds me of similar phrasing in Mrs Calderwood's journal that I reported on here. She said it of the son of Colonel Townley, when she wanted to imply that he was feminine and without much initiative. Hmm.

mildred_of_midgard: Oh, that's interesting! Do you have a sense of whether that was a literal 18th century hobby, or if it was a trope used to insult people?

luzula: An Internet search gave me these two examples of women doing papercut art at roughly the right time period! So it seems like it was actually a thing--and it looks like it was taken seriously as an art form, too.


So we mentioned that some of August's bad PR may have come from the way the Protestants were upset with the conversion. A bit of background on that conversion.

Quick reminder for [personal profile] cahn that August the Strong was born Protestant in that most Protestant of HRE domains, Saxony, and converted in order to become king of Poland. He was married to an arch-Protestant, and his mother was an arch-Protestant.

Well, young future August III was largely raised by Mom (separated from her husband) and then Grandma, and the one thing they drilled into him from a young age was "Your dad wants you to convert so you can succeed him as king of Poland but NEVER CONVERT!" (Also, no theater, mistresses, drinking parties, or really parties at all.) Mom was a bit of a Protestant hero because she never set foot in Poland despite the fact that she was "supposed" to convert so she could be Queen.

So that goes along merrily until August the crown prince becomes a teenager, and August the Strong decides to send him on a grand tour to Italy starting in 1711, when he's 14. "Just keep an open mind when you get there, I'll make sure you get introduced to lots of nice, smart Catholics!"

August the Strong to his son's guardian: "Keep a close eye on my son. No visiting Protestant churches. No talking to non-Catholics unless you're there to supervise him. No unauthorized discussions of religion. Don't force him to convert, but we're going to make this work!"

Crown Prince August writes letters home that read, I'm homesick, can I come home?

August the Strong: No, politically it's not a good time. Stay in Italy. Go to Rome. The Pope has agreed to treat you like his own son. Wait, no, politically it's not a good time for Rome either, don't go there. But stay in Italy. In addition to maybe being future king of Poland, I need you to marry a Catholic archduchess so you can also be a future candidate for emperor.

Crown Prince August: Dear Mom and Grandma, I'm lonely and I want to come home, but the one thing I promise is that no matter WHAT, I will remain a faithful Protestant and never ever convert. (P.S. Venice was great, if I can't come home, maybe I could just go back to Venice?)

Crown Prince August: Dear Dad, the people you assigned to convert me are great, I have seen the light, and I am now willing to be a good Catholic.

Protestant contemporaries and historians: OMG! What did the Evil Catholics do to that poor child to break his will so quickly! It must have been horribly abusive, and it broke him psychologically, and that's why he was so easily led as an adult!

Staszewski: Uh, please look at the actual sources. The letters have been misdated, partially quoted, and way too much weight placed on some very sketchy evidence. It is not the case that he held out for a long time and then overnight changed his mind. It seems to have been more gradual, and also, we have zero letters from the period right before his conversion that indicate what he was thinking or feeling. Stop acting like you can draw those kinds of conclusions from the evidence you have! Honestly, his father insisted that he be raised without bigotry, and when he converted to Catholicism, he had a non-bigoted Catholicism. He probably just didn't care as much as his mother and grandmother!

Mildred: Yeah, I could see on the one hand not being super convinced Catholicism was Teh Evil on one hand, and also on the other reassuring the people who raised me that I will of course do what I was taught to do. I remember struggling with my own conversion (from Christianity to atheism) as a teenager, and there was definitely a period of some confusion and inconsistency!

In conclusion, August was 14 when he was sent off on the Grand Tour, 15 when he converted (secretly), and 22 when his conversion became public knowledge so he could marry Maria Josepha, daughter of Joseph I and first cousin of MT. (Which marriage will later lead to Saxony having claims on Habsburg territory during the War of the Austrian Succession.)

selenak: All very interesting, and it also provides context for FW‘s conviction that his favourite con man told him nothing but the truth re: the dastardly Catholic plot of murdering him and turning Fritz into a Catholic. (and remember, one of FW‘s instructions to his kids‘ teachers was that the kids should feel nothing but contempt for the Catholic religion. One of his rare pedagoical successes with Fritz.)

Some final notes:

1. In case you were wondering, Staszewski agrees the taking potshots at dogs through the window happened, but only in the last few months of his life, when he was too sick to leave his rooms and go hunting like he normally did. He denies the drinking himself into regular stupors.

2. The political situation when August III was growing up was pretty insane. It includes things like the Great Northern War, the conquest of Poland by Charles XII and overthrow of August the Strong, the invasion and occupation of Saxony by Charles XII, the battle of Poltava and subsequent restoration of August the Strong to the Polish throne, the death of Joseph I and election of Charles VI, etc. This is why Crown Prince August's Grand Tour keeps changing plans, and why it ends up lasting 8 years instead of the originally planned 3. (At the end, he's all grown up and over the homesickness, and doesn't want to go home anymore but instead stay in Venice indefinitely, but of course he's not allowed to do that either.)

3. Especially during the early stages of his Grand Tour, there is lots of drama, cloak and dagger missions, intrigues, letter openings, conspiracies, kidnapping attempts, and so forth. In collusion with Mom and Grandma back in Dresden, foreign powers like Sophie of Hanover, Frederik IV of Denmark (this is the grandfather of the unhinged alcoholic, [personal profile] cahn), and Queen Anne of England get involved in trying to protect young August from forced conversion...including after he's already secretly converted and they don't know it. You could probably make a movie out of the shenanigans.

Btw, the Denmark connection is because young August's grandmother, August the Strong's mother, the arch-Protestant, is Anna Sophie of Denmark, aunt of Frederik IV.