To the early modern mind, renown was primarily posthumous. Earlier notions of Latin gloria, the eternal glory of God, and fama, a good name assured for all time, had melded into a new culture of fame. In 1740, when Frederick II of Prussia set out with his army for his “rendezvous with renown” – to conquer Silesia – his goal was not simply to take possession of the country, which before then had belonged to Austria, but also…