Meanwhile, somewhere in Prussia...

...Catherine the Great is born. Greatness to come later, she was born Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg on the 2nd of May 1729 in Stettin, Pomerania. At this point, Stettin, is in Prussia, part of the Roman Holy Empire. Today it is know as Szczecin which, you may already know, is in Poland.

Her native tongue was German, but she became fluent in French, essential for hob-nobbing with the elite of 18th century Europe. She first met her second cousin, Peter, when she was 10 and found him loathsome. Peter later became Peter III of Russia. Despite Princess Sophie's dislike of Peter and that fact that Peter's mother (The Empress Elizabeth of Russia) disliked Sophie's mother, the Empress took a shine to Princess Sophie. The Princess had worked hard to master the Russian language and converted to the Eastern Orthodox church in 1744 and took on the name Ekaterina Alekseyevna.

She married Peter in 1745.

Peter succeeded to the throne as Peter III of Russia in January 1762, but

Ekaterina kicked her husband off the throne in July of the same year.

Peter stood no chance of regaining the throne, because he coincidentally died within a week. Here, Ekaterina (Catherine) informs the world of Peter's fatal anal accident:

Times were different then. It may be hard for us to believe that a Russian leader would kill their opposition, then immediately make a press release to give their version of events. You have to hand it to her, she could have made up some plausible accident, but to add the insult of such an unglorious demise as fatal hemorrhoids shows a certain degree of style.

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Meanwhile, somewhere in 18th century England, fireworks are "transitory and useless"

Often it seems that human nature never changes and - bar a few details - some complaints could be heard today. Aren't fireworks a waste of money? These huge displays along the Thames, on such a scale, surely the money could be put to better use. Well, this chap seems to think so in his letter of January 1749. However, just as now, not everyone shares his opinion. Certainly not the Duke of Richmond, who gave a grand entertainment to the Duke of Modena on Monday 15th May of the same year.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Poland...

...co kurwa? Where does Poland begin and end? The border has shifted all over the place! In the 18th century, there is a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Its borders encompass Lithuania, much of Latvia, Belarus, a good chunk of Ukraine and much of the Poland we know and love. Prussia has left teeth-marks on the Baltic coast and the western border wiggles around a bit and is generally a little further east. Słupsk, Koszalin, Szczecin, and Wrocław fall outside the border, but Gdańsk, Piła, Poznań and Katowice are within the Commonwealth. One administrative area of the Commonwealth, of culinary and linguistic interest to me, is: województwo ruskie, the Ruthenian Voivodeship. It's capital was Lwów, or Lviv as we know it today, and much of it is now in Ukraine. The dumplings filled with potato, cheese curd and onion, take their name from wój. ruskie, so pierogi ruskie were named after this area of the commonwealth and have noth...

Meanwhile, somewhere in 18th century...

...England (or, in fact, anywhere) things are going-on in parallel to a story I am writing. Perhaps these things will make their way into the story, but in my mind they are going on even if they don't get a mention. This research will add depth to the story and characters. Who am I kidding? This is a miscellany of distractions I have found that have piqued my interest while I should have been more efficient in my research for a story set mid 18th century. Perhaps you have a general interest in the eighteenth century, an obsession with it, or you too are looking for detail to add authenticity to your fiction. For whatever reason you have stumbled upon my notes. I hope they interest and amuse. You may already know, from reading texts written in the 1700s, that an additional s was used in print as well as the standard s . The long s looks like an f without its crossbar. Also, you will probably work out from context, that etcetera is ...

Meanwhile, somewhere in the 18th century...

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