Oh, the comparanda that always go through my head when I read about Katte's execution are absolutely Mary, Queen of Scots (who was said to have known how to die like a queen, even if she never knew how to live like one) and Charles I.
Also, haha, the eighteenth-century execution that always comes to mind for me, because it was so entertaining, is Lord Lovat. Rather different than Katte's! To quote from a random internet page, "After Culloden, Lovat was imprisoned in Fort Augustus before being taken to the Tower of London to await trial. He knew he would end up on the gallows, yet he conducted his own defence with great dignity and wit.
"As he was stepping into the carriage which would carry him to his death, an old woman shouted, 'You will have your head chopped off, you ugly old Scots dog.' Without a second's hesitation he turned upon her, and, raising his hat, replied, 'I verily believe I shall, you old English bitch.'
"A huge crowd gathered to see Lovat's execution, and as he went proudly to the scaffold, one of the stands for spectators collapsed, killing a number of people. With a twinkle in his eve, the old chief exclaimed, 'The more the mischief, the better the sport!' He felt the axe-blade and gave a handsome donation to the executioner. He was over 80 years old, and met death with the same mixture of cynicism and gallantry with which he had lived his life."
Way, way, off topic: I'm convinced that Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat is the real life historical figure behind Lord Frey (the name similarities took me a while to notice) in ASOIAF. I actually think Jacobite history was more of an inspiration for GRRM than I usually see it get credit for.
Whatever went through his head, though: every one present that day sympathized with and admired him.
As do I! I hope it didn't come across otherwise. It occurs to me that you don't know me, and coming from someone else, some of the things I said might have seemed less than complimentary. Be assured they were all highly complimentary and sympathetic. (It might help to know, for example, that I am an atheist and was pleased rather than otherwise to be able to decide that he was too.)
Because there is no Posa (or a differently named best friend) in any account of the historical Carlos, including the infamous "black legend of Spain" ones Schiller drew from.
Ah, interesting! I had been wondering how much of the inspiration was Fritz/FW and how much the Black Legend. If Posa was made up from whole cloth by an author writing in German at the time Schiller was, yeah, looks a lot like Katte to me.
From what I have read (albeit a secondary source and I haven't checked the primary source), Friedrich also didn't have complimentary words about Schiller. I kinda think you had to have a thick skin with Old Fritz, and people probably did a lot of telling themselves, "Well, he's like that with everyone, you can't take it personally, and look what happened with the one author he *did* like." (Cahn, the context is that Fritz was crazy about Voltaire as a thinker and writer, and was great pen pals with him, but when they tried having an in-person working relationship at the same court, it imploded spectacularly and left ripples across swathes of Europe.
Fritz the Great: sometimes amazing, sometimes drove you up the wall, never boring.)
Huh, Wikipedia says Friedrich Schiller was named after Friedrich II during the Seven Years' War and called Fritz by nearly everyone. Hmmmm!
no subject
Also, haha, the eighteenth-century execution that always comes to mind for me, because it was so entertaining, is Lord Lovat. Rather different than Katte's! To quote from a random internet page, "After Culloden, Lovat was imprisoned in Fort Augustus before being taken to the Tower of London to await trial. He knew he would end up on the gallows, yet he conducted his own defence with great dignity and wit.
"As he was stepping into the carriage which would carry him to his death, an old woman shouted, 'You will have your head chopped off, you ugly old Scots dog.' Without a second's hesitation he turned upon her, and, raising his hat, replied, 'I verily believe I shall, you old English bitch.'
"A huge crowd gathered to see Lovat's execution, and as he went proudly to the scaffold, one of the stands for spectators collapsed, killing a number of people. With a twinkle in his eve, the old chief exclaimed, 'The more the mischief, the better the sport!' He felt the axe-blade and gave a handsome donation to the executioner. He was over 80 years old, and met death with the same mixture of cynicism and gallantry with which he had lived his life."
Way, way, off topic: I'm convinced that Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat is the real life historical figure behind Lord Frey (the name similarities took me a while to notice) in ASOIAF. I actually think Jacobite history was more of an inspiration for GRRM than I usually see it get credit for.
Whatever went through his head, though: every one present that day sympathized with and admired him.
As do I! I hope it didn't come across otherwise. It occurs to me that you don't know me, and coming from someone else, some of the things I said might have seemed less than complimentary. Be assured they were all highly complimentary and sympathetic. (It might help to know, for example, that I am an atheist and was pleased rather than otherwise to be able to decide that he was too.)
Because there is no Posa (or a differently named best friend) in any account of the historical Carlos, including the infamous "black legend of Spain" ones Schiller drew from.
Ah, interesting! I had been wondering how much of the inspiration was Fritz/FW and how much the Black Legend. If Posa was made up from whole cloth by an author writing in German at the time Schiller was, yeah, looks a lot like Katte to me.
From what I have read (albeit a secondary source and I haven't checked the primary source), Friedrich also didn't have complimentary words about Schiller. I kinda think you had to have a thick skin with Old Fritz, and people probably did a lot of telling themselves, "Well, he's like that with everyone, you can't take it personally, and look what happened with the one author he *did* like." (Cahn, the context is that Fritz was crazy about Voltaire as a thinker and writer, and was great pen pals with him, but when they tried having an in-person working relationship at the same court, it imploded spectacularly and left ripples across swathes of Europe.
Fritz the Great: sometimes amazing, sometimes drove you up the wall, never boring.)
Huh, Wikipedia says Friedrich Schiller was named after Friedrich II during the Seven Years' War and called Fritz by nearly everyone. Hmmmm!