I KNEW if we got our hands on this book, it would reveal hitherto unguessed-at secrets to us! Koser and Volz are our new historical heroes, for facts if not opinions (Koser at least being dicey on the "abuse is justified!" opinion side).
During Voltaire's 1743 visit, Trenck wasn't in Berlin, La Mettrie didn't move to Potsdam until 1745, and Maupertuis in 1748.
The Maupertuis dates seem off. He moved to Berlin in 1740, got captured at Mollwitz in 1741, left for Paris, and returned in 1745 or 1746 (my sources keep differing, but definitely by 1746).
Now, was Trenck BFFs with him in 1740-1741? I'm sure he wasn't. But 1748 seems much too late a date for Maupertuis' arrival in Berlin, unless all my sources are very much mistaken.
Which means that his claim to have been with Fritz during the battle of Soor (September 30th) is completely invented.
Damn. So no Fritz batman at all? Time to mark "Care and Feeding" an AU! (See, this is why I'm starting to think *all* historical fiction should be marked an AU, whether you know in what way it's an AU when you write it or not.)
Funny thing, original version of that story had a nameless batman, and I threw in Trenck at the last minute because you had done your memorable memoir summary in between when I wrote this fic (October) and when I posted it (two days before Yuletide closed in December).
Then on April 12th 1747, Trenck (and Schell, one of the Glatz staff, who let his door unlocked and went with him
Oh, wow!
No one left Katte's door unlocked. :`-(
Now this was the first reveal that really stunned me. I mean. Say what? Which other deserter - I mean, Peter Keith excepted - gets offered a pardon and a return by Fritz?
During wartime, it wasn't uncommon. Asprey even says he offered a mass pardon for deserters in late 1744, as long as they returned within 6 months and rejoined the army. And I've seen sources saying that in the Seven Years' War, when manpower was at a premium, returning after deserting meant all was forgiven.
In 1752, yeah, that feels weird. That said, Prades was released from prison after the war, after having been imprisoned for espionage, and told to stay in Silesia, so Fritz telling him to stay in East Prussia and behave himself sounds maybe in character? TBD.
the Prussian Resident in Danzig,
Ah, of course, I should have remembered that there would have been a Prussian resident in a city as major as Danzig. Also, would Trenck have had to show identification papers before entering? (You know, the thing that got Fritz & co. arrested in Strasbourg when their papers didn't check out. :P)
Danzig City Council: we're cool with that.
Night from July 5th to July 6th: Trenck gets arrested.
Well, this is a definite step up from the Frankfurt arrest so far!
How come Fritz is offering a pardon in 1750 and demands Trenck's extradition four years later, why, if he has him arrested and brought to Magdeburg
I'm confused primarily by the dates in this write-up. You originally had the pardon offer being made in 1752, followed by a stricter order to round up deserters in 1749, followed by a demand for extradition in 1754. Now you have the pardon offer in 1750.
Can you clarify? Was 1752 a typo?
*some time later*
It was! I found the letter from Fritz in the political correspondence, dated December 22, 1750. Okay, all is clear, then. And so you were putting the 1749 order in to highlight that Fritz has *just* indicated that he really cares about capturing deserters, and yet he's willing to pardon Trenck?
The young man in question, says Fritz, knows how to use his sword, he has wit and courage
The "wit" makes it sound like Fritz met him at least once and found him memorable, though perhaps he's just going by report.
Trenck in Magdeburg: no tombstone with his name to sit on, says Volz, but his proof for this is just an indignant letter to a newspaper upon the publication of Trenck's memoirs, with the letter writer calling himself "A Brandenburg patriot" who says he was employed in Magdeburg fortress at that time and there was no tombstone.
Random patriot has a teeeensy bit more credibility than Trenck at this point, but! this reminds me of credibility-less Nicolai having Fritz watch the execution, and receiving an indignant letter from Münchow saying he was residing in the fortress at the time and Fritz *totally* didn't have to watch! "I who am writing this watched Katte's blood spray high." Five years later: "Oh, wait, yes, he did."
So only a teensy bit more credibility.
Volz, of course, lives a century before the "great familiarity" indicating letter is found.
So you know my question at this point is going to be: is there a copy of this letter we can read somewhere and judge for ourselves whether we think he "totally scored"? Have you read it?
Spy or no spy: must have done some spying, otherwise I really fail to understand why they didn't leave him to rot.
Sounds convincing to me!
Sex or at least flirt with one or both siblings: could explain the pardon offer. Like I said - who, other than Peter, gets pardoned for desertion from the Prussian army?
I would hesitate to put too much weight on this argument from personal ignorance of peacetime pardons. Fritz supposedly (biographer alert!) pardoned/downgraded the sentence of at least one general who was cashiered for surrendering during the Seven Years' War and sentenced to death after the war, and Fritz was reeeeeally cheesed off at that general.
I feel like I would need to read a dedicated work on the subject of Fritz's judicial track record to get a sense of what was and wasn't in character.
Anyway, amaaaaazing write-up. Another one for the agesrheinsberg!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Trenck discussion
Date: 2020-03-04 12:53 am (UTC)I KNEW if we got our hands on this book, it would reveal hitherto unguessed-at secrets to us! Koser and Volz are our new historical heroes, for facts if not opinions (Koser at least being dicey on the "abuse is justified!" opinion side).
During Voltaire's 1743 visit, Trenck wasn't in Berlin, La Mettrie didn't move to Potsdam until 1745, and Maupertuis in 1748.
The Maupertuis dates seem off. He moved to Berlin in 1740, got captured at Mollwitz in 1741, left for Paris, and returned in 1745 or 1746 (my sources keep differing, but definitely by 1746).
Now, was Trenck BFFs with him in 1740-1741? I'm sure he wasn't. But 1748 seems much too late a date for Maupertuis' arrival in Berlin, unless all my sources are very much mistaken.
Which means that his claim to have been with Fritz during the battle of Soor (September 30th) is completely invented.
Damn. So no Fritz batman at all? Time to mark "Care and Feeding" an AU! (See, this is why I'm starting to think *all* historical fiction should be marked an AU, whether you know in what way it's an AU when you write it or not.)
Funny thing, original version of that story had a nameless batman, and I threw in Trenck at the last minute because you had done your memorable memoir summary in between when I wrote this fic (October) and when I posted it (two days before Yuletide closed in December).
Then on April 12th 1747, Trenck (and Schell, one of the Glatz staff, who let his door unlocked and went with him
Oh, wow!
No one left Katte's door unlocked. :`-(Now this was the first reveal that really stunned me. I mean. Say what? Which other deserter - I mean, Peter Keith excepted - gets offered a pardon and a return by Fritz?
During wartime, it wasn't uncommon. Asprey even says he offered a mass pardon for deserters in late 1744, as long as they returned within 6 months and rejoined the army. And I've seen sources saying that in the Seven Years' War, when manpower was at a premium, returning after deserting meant all was forgiven.
In 1752, yeah, that feels weird. That said, Prades was released from prison after the war, after having been imprisoned for espionage, and told to stay in Silesia, so Fritz telling him to stay in East Prussia and behave himself sounds maybe in character? TBD.
the Prussian Resident in Danzig,
Ah, of course, I should have remembered that there would have been a Prussian resident in a city as major as Danzig. Also, would Trenck have had to show identification papers before entering? (You know, the thing that got Fritz & co. arrested in Strasbourg when their papers didn't check out. :P)
Danzig City Council: we're cool with that.
Night from July 5th to July 6th: Trenck gets arrested.
Well, this is a definite step up from the Frankfurt arrest so far!
How come Fritz is offering a pardon in 1750 and demands Trenck's extradition four years later, why, if he has him arrested and brought to Magdeburg
I'm confused primarily by the dates in this write-up. You originally had the pardon offer being made in 1752, followed by a stricter order to round up deserters in 1749, followed by a demand for extradition in 1754. Now you have the pardon offer in 1750.
Can you clarify? Was 1752 a typo?
*some time later*
It was! I found the letter from Fritz in the political correspondence, dated December 22, 1750. Okay, all is clear, then. And so you were putting the 1749 order in to highlight that Fritz has *just* indicated that he really cares about capturing deserters, and yet he's willing to pardon Trenck?
The young man in question, says Fritz, knows how to use his sword, he has wit and courage
The "wit" makes it sound like Fritz met him at least once and found him memorable, though perhaps he's just going by report.
Trenck in Magdeburg: no tombstone with his name to sit on, says Volz, but his proof for this is just an indignant letter to a newspaper upon the publication of Trenck's memoirs, with the letter writer calling himself "A Brandenburg patriot" who says he was employed in Magdeburg fortress at that time and there was no tombstone.
Random patriot has a teeeensy bit more credibility than Trenck at this point, but! this reminds me of credibility-less Nicolai having Fritz watch the execution, and receiving an indignant letter from Münchow saying he was residing in the fortress at the time and Fritz *totally* didn't have to watch! "I who am writing this watched Katte's blood spray high." Five years later: "Oh, wait, yes, he did."
So only a teensy bit more credibility.
Volz, of course, lives a century before the "great familiarity" indicating letter is found.
So you know my question at this point is going to be: is there a copy of this letter we can read somewhere and judge for ourselves whether we think he "totally scored"? Have you read it?
Spy or no spy: must have done some spying, otherwise I really fail to understand why they didn't leave him to rot.
Sounds convincing to me!
Sex or at least flirt with one or both siblings: could explain the pardon offer. Like I said - who, other than Peter, gets pardoned for desertion from the Prussian army?
I would hesitate to put too much weight on this argument from personal ignorance of peacetime pardons. Fritz supposedly (biographer alert!) pardoned/downgraded the sentence of at least one general who was cashiered for surrendering during the Seven Years' War and sentenced to death after the war, and Fritz was reeeeeally cheesed off at that general.
I feel like I would need to read a dedicated work on the subject of Fritz's judicial track record to get a sense of what was and wasn't in character.
Anyway, amaaaaazing write-up. Another one for
the ages