Okay, okay, I'm losing my mind here. The Katte Ordre und Kriegsartikel book seems to have a wealth of information, and it's even available as a PDF, but between it being in German and me trying *not* to spend more money on this fandom, I've had it on my "if I ever get back to work and have income again" wishlist for a long time. But then, while looking for that facsimile of Katte's signature, I ran into someone else who'd read this book talking about its contents, and then this...
"For example, at one point (early 1729), he went on vacation. First, he went to Paris, because his father wanted it. Then, he went to Madrid on his own and after that, he went to London.
"Apparently he stayed (even though his vacation time was long over) and he planned to just leave Prussia and the army for good (he never wanted to be in the army anyway, apparently) and stay in England instead.
"His father was kind of against that though (huh, I wonder why), writing a quite enraged letter saying that he should get his ass back to Prussia asap."
I...WHAT? In 1729? He was a lieutenant! This was way after his Grand Tour. You can't just overstay your leave in the army even in today's military! WTF. And announcing that you plan to desert? How the hell were there no consequences for this in 1729 but death penalties in 1730? I mean, announcing that you plan to desert in a private letter to your dad who doesn't tell anyone, maybe. Coming back late without a castiron excuse for everyone else? Now I'm imagining Major General Katte going, "He's extremely sick, can't travel, stuck in London, might be on his deathbed! (GET BACK HERE YOU YOUNG INFIDEL)" at his son's commanding officer. Also, how do we know this, because if I were either of them, I would have destroyed those letters asap.
Dammit, I need to get my hands on this thing. It's not that expensive (she says, about 100 inexpensive books). I need to know if this story is legit or if we're playing a game of telephone here. Katte escapes to England the year before Fritz tries, comes back, meets Fritz, advises him not to try to escape to England, but eventually agrees to go along with it? This story is getting weirder. Does anyone who knows German *cough* want to acquire a copy and set the story straight for us?
(If it's true, I need to take back what I said about Goldsmith overinterpreting the evidence in her claim that Katte hated the army, but then...SO MANY MORE QUESTIONS.)
Also, cahn, for wacky anecdotes, the following story I'd run across before, probably ultimately from this same source: "The book I own doesn't say much about it and I have no way to check whether this is true, but oh well. So Hans Hermann wanted to visit his cousin. When his cousin then entered her living room to say hello to him, he was sitting on a white horse.
"Yeah, he just casually rode into his cousin's living room on a horse. Freaking Hans Hermann. (I somehow hope that it's just weirdly written and I misunderstood something, otherwise… Hans Hermann, why…?!)"
Can anything in this book be believed at all? Halp.
ETA: Why yes, I *am* this worked up about something that may or may not have happened 300 years ago. :P
Katte
"For example, at one point (early 1729), he went on vacation. First, he went to Paris, because his father wanted it. Then, he went to Madrid on his own and after that, he went to London.
"Apparently he stayed (even though his vacation time was long over) and he planned to just leave Prussia and the army for good (he never wanted to be in the army anyway, apparently) and stay in England instead.
"His father was kind of against that though (huh, I wonder why), writing a quite enraged letter saying that he should get his ass back to Prussia asap."
I...WHAT? In 1729? He was a lieutenant! This was way after his Grand Tour. You can't just overstay your leave in the army even in today's military! WTF. And announcing that you plan to desert? How the hell were there no consequences for this in 1729 but death penalties in 1730? I mean, announcing that you plan to desert in a private letter to your dad who doesn't tell anyone, maybe. Coming back late without a castiron excuse for everyone else? Now I'm imagining Major General Katte going, "He's extremely sick, can't travel, stuck in London, might be on his deathbed! (GET BACK HERE YOU YOUNG INFIDEL)" at his son's commanding officer. Also, how do we know this, because if I were either of them, I would have destroyed those letters asap.
Dammit, I need to get my hands on this thing. It's not that expensive (she says, about 100 inexpensive books). I need to know if this story is legit or if we're playing a game of telephone here. Katte escapes to England the year before Fritz tries, comes back, meets Fritz, advises him not to try to escape to England, but eventually agrees to go along with it? This story is getting weirder. Does anyone who knows German *cough* want to acquire a copy and set the story straight for us?
(If it's true, I need to take back what I said about Goldsmith overinterpreting the evidence in her claim that Katte hated the army, but then...SO MANY MORE QUESTIONS.)
Also,
"Yeah, he just casually rode into his cousin's living room on a horse. Freaking Hans Hermann. (I somehow hope that it's just weirdly written and I misunderstood something, otherwise… Hans Hermann, why…?!)"
Can anything in this book be believed at all? Halp.
ETA: Why yes, I *am* this worked up about something that may or may not have happened 300 years ago. :P