Wow, this is really amazing. I wasn't expecting a Mitchell write-up so soon, with you so busy. Like cahn said, I say you're amazing all the time because it's true all the time!
It's also great to know that we finally have a reliable-looking source, and I love how you presented the case for it. In terms of both internal and external evidence.
"his only flaw is that he's too damn ready to risk his life in battle, just like big bro".
Yeah, well, he and big bro both have a lot to prove to their respective father figures, living and dead. PLUS big bro gets on your case if you're an officer and you're not ready to risk your life in battle.
Further support for this is the phrasing. "He talked much of the obligations he had towards the Queen Mother, and of the affection he has for his sister the Margravine of Bayreuth, with whom he has been bred." If you remember, in his letters to Heinrich, Fritz keeps saying "I was brought up with her" or "think that I was born and raised with my sister of Bayreuth".
This is a good argument. It's also relevant to something I've been keeping an eye out for recently. You made a good case that "If they had tried to raise me instead of humiliating me, I'd be a better person" *might* be Fritz because he uses the impersonal rather than pinning the blame on his father explicitly. And looking through Catt's diary, he does do that rather often. Though he does sometimes specifically name his father too.
Did you notice any examples of him criticizing his father implicitly through an impersonal or passive in the Mitchell memoirs?
Which also means: either Fritz did think Katte stayed in Berlin for a girl, or he pretends to think that to Mitchell for whatever reason.
Wow. I just...I don't know what to think about this. Surely if Fritz had thought he stayed to protect Wilhelmine, favorite sister, he would have said something? Or maybe it hurts too much, idk. I have no idea what Fritz is thinking here.
The other thing it means, though, is that Fritz *did* talk to people about Katte, at least briefly. It also means that he was forcibly brought to the window to watch Katte, and that he did faint. Everything else in the other accounts is suspect, but they all include the fainting and the dragging (exception being Pöllnitz, who simply has him approaching the window).
Which is interesting, because I'm sure word of the fainting got out, but word of him being dragged and his head being held? Maybe it did because Münchow wanted FW to know that he TOTALLY made Fritz watch, but...if I were trying to get Fritz on FW's good side, I'd say that he watched voluntarily and learned a salutary lesson. Certainly not that he was fighting all the way and lost consciousness before he could even see anything happen.
So this is my current working hypothesis of how it all went down and how information spread.
1) FW orders Lepel to make Fritz watch.
2) Küstrin conspiracy to make it so Fritz gets to say goodbye but can't see the actual head roll.
3) To preserve plausible deniability, nobody says anything aloud to Fritz about how he's not going to have to watch. Münchow may even tell him he's been ordered to make Fritz watch and that the officers with him going to have to take Fritz to the window.
4) Fritz is brought to the window. He says goodbye to a passing Katte, he faints. He may be some combination of unconscious, hysterical, and delirious for so long afterward that word gets out about his state of mind.
5) Münchow's write-up to FW is that Fritz totally watched, and that he fainted *afterward*, and that he's totally learned his lesson.
6) Fritz spends the rest of his life believing he was going to have to see Katte's head fall and that he was only spared by fainting.
7) Fritz also believes, when Münchow comes to break the news, that he was about to be killed.
8) Fritz tells Wilhelmine, Mitchell, and Voltaire about the fainting, and at least Wilhelmine and Voltaire that he initially thought he was about to be killed. Wilhelmine gives Pöllnitz Fritz's account, or at least helps correct the account Pöllnitz has heard floating around. They converge on an account that's nearly identical.
9) Pöllnitz talks to god knows who. The rumor mill is working overtime.
10) *Either* Fritz talks to Catt (although not one month after he starts working for him, lol), *or* Catt gets his info from Voltaire's memoirs after 1784 plus the rumor mill. This is the part I'm divided on. One the one hand, thanks to Mitchell, we're now pretty sure that Fritz *did* have an account he ran through with people. On the other hand, we know Catt is a lying liar who lies. So I'm going to have to do another write-up of the evidence for and against.
11) Thiébault gets his info from Voltaire as well as other sources. Reading Voltaire is extremely likely in his case, because he's publishing 20 years after Voltaire's memoirs came out. That's kind of late for Catt, but not impossible, especially if he was revising after the breakup, and possibly after Fritz's death. Also, when I do my Catt write-up, I'm going to talk about the Katte passage and make a (weak, admittedly) case that it may have been introduced into this part of the conversation at a late date.
Re: Andrew Mitchell: First Impressions
It's also great to know that we finally have a reliable-looking source, and I love how you presented the case for it. In terms of both internal and external evidence.
"his only flaw is that he's too damn ready to risk his life in battle, just like big bro".
Yeah, well, he and big bro both have a lot to prove to their respective father figures, living and dead. PLUS big bro gets on your case if you're an officer and you're not ready to risk your life in battle.
Further support for this is the phrasing. "He talked much of the obligations he had towards the Queen Mother, and of the affection he has for his sister the Margravine of Bayreuth, with whom he has been bred." If you remember, in his letters to Heinrich, Fritz keeps saying "I was brought up with her" or "think that I was born and raised with my sister of Bayreuth".
This is a good argument. It's also relevant to something I've been keeping an eye out for recently. You made a good case that "If they had tried to raise me instead of humiliating me, I'd be a better person" *might* be Fritz because he uses the impersonal rather than pinning the blame on his father explicitly. And looking through Catt's diary, he does do that rather often. Though he does sometimes specifically name his father too.
Did you notice any examples of him criticizing his father implicitly through an impersonal or passive in the Mitchell memoirs?
Which also means: either Fritz did think Katte stayed in Berlin for a girl, or he pretends to think that to Mitchell for whatever reason.
Wow. I just...I don't know what to think about this. Surely if Fritz had thought he stayed to protect Wilhelmine, favorite sister, he would have said something? Or maybe it hurts too much, idk. I have no idea what Fritz is thinking here.
The other thing it means, though, is that Fritz *did* talk to people about Katte, at least briefly. It also means that he was forcibly brought to the window to watch Katte, and that he did faint. Everything else in the other accounts is suspect, but they all include the fainting and the dragging (exception being Pöllnitz, who simply has him approaching the window).
Which is interesting, because I'm sure word of the fainting got out, but word of him being dragged and his head being held? Maybe it did because Münchow wanted FW to know that he TOTALLY made Fritz watch, but...if I were trying to get Fritz on FW's good side, I'd say that he watched voluntarily and learned a salutary lesson. Certainly not that he was fighting all the way and lost consciousness before he could even see anything happen.
So this is my current working hypothesis of how it all went down and how information spread.
1) FW orders Lepel to make Fritz watch.
2) Küstrin conspiracy to make it so Fritz gets to say goodbye but can't see the actual head roll.
3) To preserve plausible deniability, nobody says anything aloud to Fritz about how he's not going to have to watch. Münchow may even tell him he's been ordered to make Fritz watch and that the officers with him going to have to take Fritz to the window.
4) Fritz is brought to the window. He says goodbye to a passing Katte, he faints. He may be some combination of unconscious, hysterical, and delirious for so long afterward that word gets out about his state of mind.
5) Münchow's write-up to FW is that Fritz totally watched, and that he fainted *afterward*, and that he's totally learned his lesson.
6) Fritz spends the rest of his life believing he was going to have to see Katte's head fall and that he was only spared by fainting.
7) Fritz also believes, when Münchow comes to break the news, that he was about to be killed.
8) Fritz tells Wilhelmine, Mitchell, and Voltaire about the fainting, and at least Wilhelmine and Voltaire that he initially thought he was about to be killed. Wilhelmine gives Pöllnitz Fritz's account, or at least helps correct the account Pöllnitz has heard floating around. They converge on an account that's nearly identical.
9) Pöllnitz talks to god knows who. The rumor mill is working overtime.
10) *Either* Fritz talks to Catt (although not one month after he starts working for him, lol), *or* Catt gets his info from Voltaire's memoirs after 1784 plus the rumor mill. This is the part I'm divided on. One the one hand, thanks to Mitchell, we're now pretty sure that Fritz *did* have an account he ran through with people. On the other hand, we know Catt is a lying liar who lies. So I'm going to have to do another write-up of the evidence for and against.
11) Thiébault gets his info from Voltaire as well as other sources. Reading Voltaire is extremely likely in his case, because he's publishing 20 years after Voltaire's memoirs came out. That's kind of late for Catt, but not impossible, especially if he was revising after the breakup, and possibly after Fritz's death. Also, when I do my Catt write-up, I'm going to talk about the Katte passage and make a (weak, admittedly) case that it may have been introduced into this part of the conversation at a late date.