The Masks of the King. Friedrich II of Prussia as Writer

King Frederick II of Prussia was always considered by his contemporaries as well as by posterity as an exception. His role as a philosopher in particular contributed to this image, role that he already adopted as crown prince and always emphasized as king. The most important means of expression of this philosophers’ role were the numerous publications, with which the King of Prussia expressed himself in the public sphere.

These writings have often been used in the previous works on Frederick II to make assertions about the personality, political views and character of the king. But until now, the fact that these writings were instruments of political communication and rhetoric, and not mere beliefs, has often been overlooked.

In “The masks of the King” the writings of Friedrich are therefore consistently interpreted as a means of self-expression for the king, as political speech acts, that Friedrich II performed in different contexts and addressed to different audiences, each time in order achieve political effects.

Contradictions between various statements made in his writings therefore should not lead to the conclusion that the king had a contradictory character (Schieder) or even that he had a difficult childhood under a despotic father (Kunisch), but can be explained by the different contexts and audiences that the king addressed. The goal of my book is to determine as precisely as possible as well as bring to light the political objectives that Friedrich pursued with his writings during his reign. This book thus analyses political tracts like the "Antimachiavell", military treatises, the historiographical works of the king, his poems, and not least his work on German literature.