Grantville Gazette, Volume 40 (30 page)

Johann felt this was a challenge. He groped in his memory. "The House of . . . Pleasure." Another kiss was the indication that his memory had not deserted him.

"And last but not least. Here you can see Jupiter in the fourth house."

The fourth house was his. He was a Cancer by birth, and the fourth house was—

"
Genitor
! Parent! The House of Family. Christine, I love you!"

Jagdschloss of the Duke of Sachsen-Eisenach, Marksuhl, Thuringia

March 1634

". . . we moved to Marksuhl in early October. The duke left here after his first wife and his heir died during the baby's birth. He intended never to return, but the hope for a child . . ." Christine's voice became weary.

Then, more resolutely, she continued. "We didn't plan this. We had thirty-five wonderful years together. In the first years, we planned for a child. The next years we hoped for a child. All the years we prayed for a child. And of course we did our own part to make it happen." She giggled.

"Do you know Ovid's
Ars Amatoria
? We tried each paragraph. And this obscene book from India, nobody could translate it, but these many paintings . . ."

Max looked puzzled, but made a mental note to check for these books in the libraries of Grantville.

"We fell into despair. We knew I was getting too old. So the last years we gave up hope and concentrated on having a good life as long as we had it.

"Then the Ring of Fire fell, Grantville came on the scene, and we heard of the new doctors from the future. I had a long and embarrassing examination, but they could only tell me that it was over and done, even for their medicine. They said that in my early twenties they would have been able to do something, but with me over fifty, no chance." Christine's eyes filled with tears.

"No chance." Her voice grew faint.

Max was now weeping, too. She reached up and wiped the tears from the elder woman's cheek. Then she sat up and hugged her. "Don't worry. You are among friends."

Both women laughed hysterically.

Eventually Christine regained composure. She took a deep breath. Her face showed a deep frown. "Men! They have to mess up everything, always. I told him to be nice to you, no, don't flirt, behave more like a father. I told him to take his time, no, not only one afternoon. I told him to show something of himself to you. I told him, no, don't try to get this girl into your bed. I said, 'we take her into our family first.' I said, 'she obviously had her reasons to run from her family and disguise herself as a man. Perhaps after some days she will thaw and tell us.' Days, I said, not hours.

"But the big strong duke had other plans. The real Wettin. Why be nice when you can be forceful?" Now her voice became a good imitation of the duke's. "I have one precondition, I want to impregnate you."

Again, hysterical laughter from both sides.

"But the problem is, Max, he is a good man. He is the best husband in the whole world. We love each other. We manage our marriage, our household, the whole duchy together. He asks me for advice. He doesn't often do what I tell him, but at least he asks and listens to the answer.

"He said we did not have the right to hide what we know about you. He said that would break the allegiance of a sovereign to his subject. I said this woman is not your subject. He said that would make it even worse."

Christine again took a deep breath. "The worst of all is, he is right. From the duke's point of view."

Max nodded. "From the duke's point of view." She heaved a sigh, and then started to speak.

"No." Christine lifted her hand to interrupt her. "Don't give me an answer now. Don't make any decision now. Go to bed. Sleep or lie awake this night. And forget that 'precondition' talk. You are already hired.

"So think about yourself first. Take your time to get your life through your head. I will do the same for myself. The duke will certainly
not
do the same for himself."

This time their laughter was joyful.

****

Author's Notes:

"Ein feste Burg" is the original title of a hymn by Martin Luther (A Mighty Fortress), based on Psalm 46, which was, according to Friedrich Engels, the "Marseillaise of the Peasant Wars" and was also sung by Gustav II Adolf and his troops. Even if "die Burg" is female in the German language, all German sources since 1533 (
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luther-Lied-1.jpg
) don't use "Eine", but "Ein" without an apostrophe.

A "Jagdschloss" (hunting castle) is a special type of palace built to give accommodations to the noble participants of a hunting event. The term "hunting lodge" doesn't fit very well.

The Jagdschloss in Marksuhl was built by Johann Ernst in 1587. His main residence is the "Stadtschloss" (city castle) in Eisenach.

German nobility requires that they be addressed correctly. The king or emperor must always be called "Majestät" by all lower classes. A Herzog (duke) can claim to be addressed as "Hoheit" (Highness), a Fürst (translated as prince) and direct relatives "Durchlaucht" (Serenity), a Graf (count, earl) "Erlaucht" or "Graf von", a Baron "Baron von," and a Freiherr (lowest noble class) "Freiherr von" or "Baron von."

The Pasqualini family story is historical. Alexander, the father of Max died and "left no male heir," so I invented a female one.

The Wartburg anecdotes are historical. Will the first "USE Idol" contest be held there after the reconstruction as a modern
Sängerkrieg?

Johann Ernst's first wife died in childbed along with his heir in 1596; he left Marksuhl to live in his city castle in Eisenach and never returned. In 1598 he married Christine, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel, but the marriage was childless.

The duchy of Sachsen-Eisenach came into existence in 1596 after a split of Sachsen-Coburg-Eisenach. After Johann Ernst's brother Johann Casimir (creative names, aren't they?) died in 1633, the duchy of Sachsen-Coburg was reunited with Sachsen-Eisenach. When Johann Ernst died in 1638 in OTL, the duchy was split again between Sachsen-Weimar and Sachsen-Altenburg.

1634: The Ram Rebellion
says that in 1633 they could get the allegiance of the people in former Sachsen-Coburg because Johann Ernst was "too tired and too sick to take the oaths" according to Reece Ellis, but I'm about to present another reason in one of the next episodes.

****

To be continued . . .

Cold Comforts: Natural Refrigeration in the 1632 Universe

Written by Iver P. Cooper

In
Walden Pond
, Henry David Thoreau declared, "it appears that the sweltering inhabitants of Charleston and New Orleans, of Madras and Bombay and Calcutta, drink at my well." What he meant by this was that the ice cut from Walden Pond would travel, in Boston ships, to those far off places, and be used to chill drinks.

Mark Huston, "Refrigeration and the 1632 World: Opportunities and Challenges" (
Grantville Gazette
8) addressed the prospects for artificial refrigeration in the 1632 universe. It will happen, and it will happen a lot sooner than it did in the old time line (OTL), but it will not happen right away and it will not happen everywhere at once. For one thing, all the appropriate refrigerants are in short supply, and those which are most readily available are also rather dangerous to use.

A short-range snow and ice trade existed before the Ring of Fire, and a long-range trade sprang up in the nineteenth century and was quite profitable. I believe that there will be a window of opportunity in which it can prosper in the new time line until it is finally eclipsed by modern refrigeration. Bear in mind that the same body of up-time knowledge that makes artificial refrigeration possible also enables the building of steamships and railroads, which will minimize the time necessary to transport ice over a great distance.

While the principal purpose of this article is to explore the possibilities for long-range trade in natural ice, what is said here concerning ice storage, transport and use applies to manufactured ice, too. And the discussion of insulation may be of more general interest; it's relevant to protection of temperature-sensitive electronics, chemical reactors, and liquefied gas storage.

Culinary Uses of Ice

There are four basic culinary uses of ice: short-term chilling of food and drink to make it more palatable; long-term refrigeration, to preserve it from spoilage in storage or transport; incorporation into frozen desserts; and temperature control during brewing.

Chilling
. Chilling drinks was probably the most common seventeenth century use of snow or ice; Francesco Redi wrote (1685), "Snow is good liquor's fifth element"—its quintessence. (Redi 17).

While snow or ice could be put right into a wineglass, the ancient Romans favored putting it into a kind of strainer suspended in the vessel, so it wouldn't be drunk along with the wine. Of course, it would still melt and dilute the beverage, but the Romans didn't usually drink wine straight, anyway.

The alternative was to put the wine inside a larger vessel, filled with ice; a "wine cooler." This principle could be inverted; the Grand Duke Cosimo of Florence, in 1570, had several large (25-28 pound) silver wine coolers that had an inner vessel that held snow. (David 5).

The Italians leaped from using frozen water to chill food and drink for the table to using the ice as a form of decoration. Beginning in the 1620s, fruit, ice, salt and water were placed in pyramid-shaped pewter moulds to form ice pyramid centerpieces. (David 38ff, 58ff).

John Barclay, a Scotsman resident in Rome, wrote the romance
Argenis
(1621), set in Mauretania, which spoke of ice-encrusted apples and wine goblets made of ice. It's clear that this was based on observation of the Roman table, since Antonio Frugoli of Lucca reported (1631) that at the feast of the Assumption on Aug. 15, 1623, there was
un monte di diaccio con diversi frutti dentro
, an ice mountain with fruits frozen inside it. If an ice mountain wasn't spectacular enough, the centerpiece was an icy volcano; it spouted orange flower-perfumed water for over half an hour. This signifies not merely an ability to preserve natural ice, but to artificially freeze liquid water inside a conical mold with an inner tube to serve as the "volcanic vent." Artificial freezing was also necessary to make the ice bowls and dishes described in books published by Florentine stewards in 1669 and 1672, and possibly describing a practice dating back to our time period. (David 55-65).

Food Preservation
. To stop bacterial action completely, you need to freeze the food, and ice alone won't accomplish it. However, ice-based refrigeration slows down bacterial action and can keep food fresh for a week or two, assuming that it brings the temperature down at least to 40
^o
F.

In the Far North, the Inuit are well aware that food can be frozen for later use. In winter, "fish froze whole within a few seconds of being removed from the water." If they were caught around freezeup (September-December, with freshwater freezing sooner), "whole fish were often placed on a gravel bar to freeze overnight, and then thaw again the following day." (Burch 146). For that matter, Inuit have been known to eat frozen
mammoth
meat. The Dolganes of Siberia pack fresh bear and reindeer meet into snow and come back for it when ready to eat it. The Lapps eat
poronkaristy
s, sauteed reindeer, fat-fried slices of frozen reindeer meat. (Shephard 281-2).

The Russians, certainly, were familiar with frozen food. William Coxe's 1787
Travels
described (2:300) the "frozen market" of Saint Petersburg, and Murray's 1838 Handbook for Travelers said that similar markets were held in all the large cities. John Bell's 1763 Travels said that Astrakhan fish "caught in autumn are carried to Moscow frozen," and Jonas Hanway's
An Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea
(1753) said that fish are "sent either salted of frozen to distant parts of the Russian empire" (141).

Further south, European down-timers are aware that meat can be preserved by cold; Francis Bacon died in 1626 as a result of traipsing about collecting snow for an experiment testing how long it would preserve a chicken. However, outside Russia and Scandinavia, they made no systematic practical use of this knowledge.