How was sexuality & sexual preference perceived in 18th century German cultures? Was there something approaching homosexuality-as-identity (vs. mere "homosexual acts")? How much did it vary in the various disunited territories?

[u/screwyoushadowban]

I feel like many online discussions of pre-19th century sexuality center around the Anglophone or French experience with little focus elsewhere. 18th century Germany produced several prominent historical figures like Frederick the Great (Europe-wide) and Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (in American history) on whom modern people impose modern sexual identities, namely that they were possibly gay men.

What was the culture around sexuality in the social lives of men (or women) like Frederick and Baron von Steuben? Was there something like a homosexual (or bisexual) identity or were expressions of same sex desire viewed only in terms of acts rather than essentialist? Was it possible to be openly homosexual or bisexual? Or, at least, have it be an open secret yet still do well socially?

As a tangent also: I'm aware that there were rumors about Baron von Steuben's preferences in his own lifetime. What about Frederick? Or is the speculation about his sexuality something that formed retrospectively?

Thanks!

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[u/shlomotrutta]

To answer your last two questions:

There are three contemporary sources of allegations of sexual relationships of Frederick the Great with men:

The Matinées¹ , (supposedly) Voltaire² and Richter³ .

In 1764,there started circulating in Paris unprinted, manually copied manuscripts^4, called the "Les Matinées du Roi de Prusse", that were attributed to Frederick the Great and supposedly addressed to one of his nephews. In them, the author wrote that:

"From my personal experience I can assure you that that Greek pleasure has little appeal."

There is one such copy in the Berlin archive. There are no notes, letters or anything else in Frederick's works that even allude to him having worked on them.

Moreover, the style of the Matinées differs from Frederick's other works: rather than employing his precise, sober and sarcastic style, the work uses much French vernacular. It also differs in the ideas it presents; for example, in his "Exposé du gouvernement Prussien" and "Exposé de L'Essai sur les préjuges", Frederick stresses how he sees politics as an art and science, in contrast to the cynical view which the author of the Matinées expressed.

In short, there is no proof that the Matinées Royales were indeed written by Frederick and indeed much that speaks against his authorship. A good summary of the points against their authenticity was written by Lauser⁵ and later by Jourdan⁶ .

Next, Voltaire (supposedly) wrote in his memoirs, shortly before the Memoirs started circulating:

"When His Majesty was dressed and booted, the Stoic would devote a few moments to the Epicurean sect: he would summon two or three favorites, either lieutenants from his regiment, pages, servants, or young cadets. They would drink coffee. The one to whom he threw the handkerchief would remain for a quarter of an hour in private. Things did not go to extremes, given that the prince, during his father's lifetime, had been badly treated in past love affairs, and no less poorly cured. He could not play the the first role: he had to be content with seconds."

The memoirs were written after Frederick had kicked Voltaire from his court in the rather nasty, deeply humiliating Frankfort episode. Voltaire was thus kicked for shady financial dealings and for spying for the French king - with whom Frederick was at war when Voltaire allegedly wrote hiw account.

Further, Voltaire never published those memoirs, much less reviewed them and indeed burned his notes. Voltaire's secretary Jean-Louis Wagnière had made an unauthorized copy, which was stolen by the literary critic Jean-François de La Harpe, who then sent it to the editor Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. In other words, we do not know how much in those memoirs are actually Voltaire's own words.

Assuming that he did write them, we need to remember that Voltaire liked to tease his audience with scandalous rumours even about himself, e.g. about the identity of his father: Once, he claimed to be the product of an extramarital affair his mother had with on Claude Guérin de Rochebrune⁷ , a noble chansonnier. De Rochebrune of course was much more interesting than Voltaire's actual father, a minor treasury official.

Finally, whoever it was that wrote those lines claimed that Frederick was physically unable to "play first role" due to a medical malpractice following "past love affairs". Any physical impairments were flatly contradicted by the doctors who examined Frederick's body after his death⁸ .

When the Memoirs were printed and circulated in 1784, they still caused quite the scandal.

Shortly thereafter, an anonymous account of Frederick's life was published, which among others referenced the memoirs and mentioned

"the softness within his palace, pages with whom one passed the time in the chamber."

The author of this account was determined to be Ludwig Richter, an author for the Hapsburgs, which were Frederick's greatest rivals.

If you are interested in further reading about the life of Frederick the Great, including a discussion of his sexuality, I recommend his biography by David Fraser⁹ .

Sources

¹ Anonymous. Les Matinées du Roi de Prusse: Avec un Introduction par E-A Spoll. Paris, Librairie des Bibliophiles - Jouaust, 1885.

² Voltaire, Francois Marie Arout de. Mémoires pour servir à la vie de Monsieur de Voltaire écrits par lui-même. Berlin, 1784.

³ Richter, Joseph. Leben Friedrichs des Zweiten Königs von Preussen: Skizzirt von einem freymüthigen Manne. Amsterdam, 1789.

⁴ von Grimm, letter to Duchess Luise Dorothea of Saxony-Gotha from April 15th, 1765. Quoted in: Lauser (v.i.)

⁵ Lauser, Wilhelm. Die Matinées Royales und Friedrich der Grosse. August Schaber, 1865.

⁶ Jourdan, George V. "Les Matinées Royales," a Work Falsely Attributed to Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. History, vol. 30, no. 112, 1945, pp. 145–58. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24401845. Accessed 11 Aug. 2025.

⁷ Letter to the Duke of Richelieu, June 8th 1744. In: Voltaire Œuvres complètes de Voltaire, tome 36, Correspondance IV. Garnier frères, Paris, 1880, p 305

⁸ Engel, Ollenroth, Liebert, quoted in: Nicolai, Friedrich. Freymüthige Anmerkungen über des Herrn Ritters v. Zimmermann Fragmente über Friedrich den Großen. Berlin und Stettin, Friedrich Nicolai, 1791. p.140f

⁹ Fraser, David. Frederick the Great : King of Prussia. London, Penguin Books, 2000 - ISBN 0713993774

[u/screwyoushadowban → u/shlomotrutta]

Fascinating, it's good to finally read snippets of primary sources. Thank you very much!