Lehndorff: if you like Wust, surely you could have visited Hans Herrmann's grave for us when it's still undisturbed? Hint? Hint? But noooo….
This is where I have to defend Lehndorff. Visit, maybe; open, as Fontane did, no. If Fritz were alive at all, and most especially if I wanted a job with him, that's one grave I wouldn't open for love or money. At most, I would pay my respects respectfully, once, and then back away slowly. But mostly, I would just stay far, far away, especially if I wasn't on the best of terms with the family, and he was still favoring them. And after 1786...didn't he end his diary well before then?
is the Winterfeld she's married to identical with the Fritz-favored General who had to give AW the "the reason you suck!" speech in front of everyone?
Different first names, so no, not the same guy. And I'm not sure how they may be related. Besides which, I can think of numerous reasons a family could be short on money, besides being in a kingdom at war with a frugal king: large family = many expenses, gambling debts, etc.
didn't he write to her a separate letter, or included special greetings in the letter to his father? Something like that.
You have an excellent memory! "Nachschrift. Was soll ich aber Ihnen, liebwertheste Mama, die ich so sehr, als hätte uns das Band der Natur verbunden (sie war seine Stiefmutter) geliebet, und Euch, liebwertheste Geschwister, wie soll ich mein Andenken bei Euch stiften?"
It also shows why FW, as opposed to Wilhelmine, seems to have had no beef with Hans Herrmann as his son's bff before the desertion attempt - he's of good officer stock, reliable family, etc.
Oh, indeed, and his father especially: Hans Heinrich stood high in FW's regard. Somewhere in my WIPs is a fic in which FW specifically thinks Hans Hermann will make a good influence for young rascal Fritz: he used to be into learning, the arts, French, etc., but he shaped up and conformed to the King's will, and is now an upstanding officer in his most prestigious regiment. "Resistance is futile" being the message. (Fritz and Katte share a good laugh in private over FW's unerring instinct for gay men as good influences for his son.)
Man, everyone throwing Hans Herrmann to the dogs: obeying the military code, survival pragmatism (so that FW can't possibly blame them as co-conspirators) or both? (Mind you, whatever the motive, it probably was saving their skins.
Military code probably, but skin-saving, DEFINITELY. I am not blaming anyone involved (you may notice I exonerated even Robert Keith). Whatever their private thoughts, there was no point in resistance once word had gotten out.
I have this quote from FW to the British envoy protesting Katte's execution: "[his envoy] should say that if there were still any Kattes I would tell them all that it was enough[,] that he was a perjuring rogue [ — ] fiad justiecia aut pereat mundo [sic — ] as long as God gives me Life and sustains me as a despotic lord I will have[,] and when I please[,] 1,000 of the grandest heads chopped off."
So yeah, FW's vengeance ranged far and wide on that one (Duhan was banished just for being close to Fritz; as far as I know, he had nothing to do with the actual escape attempt), and it could easily have caught the extended Katte family in its net.
Also, since Hans Heinrich is writing "if my son hasn't succeeded in his desertion" , I'm hoping he's hoping Hans Herrmann has.
Exactly what I thought when I read that line!
Anyway, Fritz doesn't seem to have held the abandonment against them, given all these signs of favour even in 1751
Agreed; he didn't pursue vengeance even for those who voted for his and Katte's executions (and he did look up who did, after becoming King), and I certainly think he could distinguish between "actively wanted us dead" and "didn't want to die themselves."
Lastly: thank you, cousin Frau von Katte, for being called Katharina Maria - at least you're not another Wilhelmine, Sophia, Dorothea or Amalie!
Indeed! And that reminds me, I forgot to include the names of some of the Katte women.
Hans Hermann's mother: Dorothea Sophie (of course). Hans Hermann's stepmother: Katharina Elisabeth. Sophie Henriette: married to Rochow. Elisabeth Katharina: married to Winterfeldt. Luise Charlotte: married to a Bismarck.
Someone not sharing names with the royal family is really fanfic friendly.
Ooh, do you have any plot bunnies in mind? Or just speaking in general?
Re: Kattes
This is where I have to defend Lehndorff. Visit, maybe; open, as Fontane did, no. If Fritz were alive at all, and most especially if I wanted a job with him, that's one grave I wouldn't open for love or money. At most, I would pay my respects respectfully, once, and then back away slowly. But mostly, I would just stay far, far away, especially if I wasn't on the best of terms with the family, and he was still favoring them. And after 1786...didn't he end his diary well before then?
is the Winterfeld she's married to identical with the Fritz-favored General who had to give AW the "the reason you suck!" speech in front of everyone?
Different first names, so no, not the same guy. And I'm not sure how they may be related. Besides which, I can think of numerous reasons a family could be short on money, besides being in a kingdom at war with a frugal king: large family = many expenses, gambling debts, etc.
didn't he write to her a separate letter, or included special greetings in the letter to his father? Something like that.
You have an excellent memory! "Nachschrift. Was soll ich aber Ihnen, liebwertheste Mama, die ich so sehr, als hätte uns das Band der Natur verbunden (sie war seine Stiefmutter) geliebet, und Euch, liebwertheste Geschwister, wie soll ich mein Andenken bei Euch stiften?"
It also shows why FW, as opposed to Wilhelmine, seems to have had no beef with Hans Herrmann as his son's bff before the desertion attempt - he's of good officer stock, reliable family, etc.
Oh, indeed, and his father especially: Hans Heinrich stood high in FW's regard. Somewhere in my WIPs is a fic in which FW specifically thinks Hans Hermann will make a good influence for young rascal Fritz: he used to be into learning, the arts, French, etc., but he shaped up and conformed to the King's will, and is now an upstanding officer in his most prestigious regiment. "Resistance is futile" being the message. (Fritz and Katte share a good laugh in private over FW's unerring instinct for gay men as good influences for his son.)
Man, everyone throwing Hans Herrmann to the dogs: obeying the military code, survival pragmatism (so that FW can't possibly blame them as co-conspirators) or both? (Mind you, whatever the motive, it probably was saving their skins.
Military code probably, but skin-saving, DEFINITELY. I am not blaming anyone involved (you may notice I exonerated even Robert Keith). Whatever their private thoughts, there was no point in resistance once word had gotten out.
I have this quote from FW to the British envoy protesting Katte's execution: "[his envoy] should say that if there were still any Kattes I would tell them all that it was enough[,] that he was a perjuring rogue [ — ] fiad justiecia aut pereat mundo [sic — ] as long as God gives me Life and sustains me as a despotic lord I will have[,] and when I please[,] 1,000 of the grandest heads chopped off."
So yeah, FW's vengeance ranged far and wide on that one (Duhan was banished just for being close to Fritz; as far as I know, he had nothing to do with the actual escape attempt), and it could easily have caught the extended Katte family in its net.
Also, since Hans Heinrich is writing "if my son hasn't succeeded in his desertion" , I'm hoping he's hoping Hans Herrmann has.
Exactly what I thought when I read that line!
Anyway, Fritz doesn't seem to have held the abandonment against them, given all these signs of favour even in 1751
Agreed; he didn't pursue vengeance even for those who voted for his and Katte's executions (and he did look up who did, after becoming King), and I certainly think he could distinguish between "actively wanted us dead" and "didn't want to die themselves."
Lastly: thank you, cousin Frau von Katte, for being called Katharina Maria - at least you're not another Wilhelmine, Sophia, Dorothea or Amalie!
Indeed! And that reminds me, I forgot to include the names of some of the Katte women.
Hans Hermann's mother: Dorothea Sophie (of course).
Hans Hermann's stepmother: Katharina Elisabeth.
Sophie Henriette: married to Rochow.
Elisabeth Katharina: married to Winterfeldt.
Luise Charlotte: married to a Bismarck.
Someone not sharing names with the royal family is really fanfic friendly.
Ooh, do you have any plot bunnies in mind? Or just speaking in general?