I know! It feels weird that she talked about Lehndorff's editor explaining away all the crying without reference to me saying the same about Catt's 1917 editor. It took me a minute to remember that was in this email thread to you and she hadn't seen it! (It still feels wrong. :P)
Good question. I've often wondered how often people used the 'von' in casual speech. All my written sources by nobility and royalty refer to him simply as "Katte." Glancing through some of Fredersdorf's letters, in writing, to Fritz, he seems to be pretty darn chatty when referring to people who aren't royalty. French people occasionally get a Monsieur or Madame, but often just a last name, and non-French "von X" people are just "X" as far as I can tell.
I reserve the right to change my mind, but based on that cursory glance, I would say the evidence confirms my first instinct: "Lieutenant Katte" for the first mention, "Katte" afterward.
I've actually been surprised in this fandom how rarely my primary sources use the "von". Though Lehndorff is pretty consistent about "Frau v. Katte." Maybe it's different for women. If this were nineteenth or early twentieth century England, I would absolutely expect the lower classes to refer to their social superior as "Mister Last Name" and the upper classes to refer to the same guy by "Last Name", so it surprises me a bit to see Fredersdorf writing about the nobility to Fritz the same way everyone else does. But there's also a little ditty Fontane reports that children used to sing about the Kattes, and it uses "Ritter Katt", not "von Katt." ("Katt" was a very common, maybe more common, spelling of the name in our 18th century sources.) So I think that tends to confirm everyone using "Katte", even the commoners.
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Re: The emails
Date: 2020-01-01 05:04 pm (UTC)Sent: Dec 7
I know! It feels weird that she talked about Lehndorff's editor explaining away all the crying without reference to me saying the same about Catt's 1917 editor. It took me a minute to remember that was in this email thread to you and she hadn't seen it! (It still feels wrong. :P)
Good question. I've often wondered how often people used the 'von' in casual speech. All my written sources by nobility and royalty refer to him simply as "Katte." Glancing through some of Fredersdorf's letters, in writing, to Fritz, he seems to be pretty darn chatty when referring to people who aren't royalty. French people occasionally get a Monsieur or Madame, but often just a last name, and non-French "von X" people are just "X" as far as I can tell.
I reserve the right to change my mind, but based on that cursory glance, I would say the evidence confirms my first instinct: "Lieutenant Katte" for the first mention, "Katte" afterward.
I've actually been surprised in this fandom how rarely my primary sources use the "von". Though Lehndorff is pretty consistent about "Frau v. Katte." Maybe it's different for women. If this were nineteenth or early twentieth century England, I would absolutely expect the lower classes to refer to their social superior as "Mister Last Name" and the upper classes to refer to the same guy by "Last Name", so it surprises me a bit to see Fredersdorf writing about the nobility to Fritz the same way everyone else does. But there's also a little ditty Fontane reports that children used to sing about the Kattes, and it uses "Ritter Katt", not "von Katt." ("Katt" was a very common, maybe more common, spelling of the name in our 18th century sources.) So I think that tends to confirm everyone using "Katte", even the commoners.