Frederick the great (Friedrich II, king of Prussia) (1712-86). Succeeding his notoriously anti-intellectual father Friedrich-Wilhelm in 1740, he was a partisan of French culture and the philosophes. He spoke French habitually, wrote both verse and prose in the language, and made it the language of the Academy of Berlin, of which Maupertuis became director. He was the friend, correspondent, and protector of many French men of letters, including d'Alembert and Voltaire; the latter lived at Potsdam from 1750 to 1753 before quarrelling with Maupertuis and the king.
[Peter France]
