I guess that admiring and seeking advice from a Catholic is cool even if personally converting to Catholicism is worse than 18 years of paternal abuse? Idk. (And obviously it was England, not Spain, that Katte thought about settling down in.)
Not a big contradiction there. Just think of everyone, from Grandma Sophie Charlotte to Fritz to Leopold Mozart through the 18th century fangirling and fanboying Fénelon's bestseller on how to be a good prince and good young man in general. Only Leopold was a Catholic, the others were all Protestants raised, while Fénelon wasn't just a Catholic, he was a member of the clergy. And of course arch Protestant FW enjoyed his drinking bouts with pragmatic Catholic August. Befriending people who happen to be Catholics is a very different issue from converting, let alone being forced to convert against your convictions, which is what Katte believes to be on the menu for Fritz. And even leaving the strength of his own faith or lack of same completely aside, Katte would have several good reasons to regard such a scheme as a disaster for his friend:
1.) It would deepen the gulf between him and his father and likely cost him the succession.
2.) Even if it doesn't (because a succession change would need imperial approval), and Fritz does become King of Prussia, he'd have a majority of his own subjects set against him. For recent illustrations, see what happened when the Prince of Hesse-Kassel converted from Protestant to Catholic. And of course the Saxons had been anything but thrilled when August did in order to get the Polish crown. When the Duke of Würtemberg, Karl Alexander, converterd to Catholicism after marrying Catholic Marie-Auguste, this was part of a major state crisis in deeply Protestant Würtemberg which didn't get resolved until Karl Alexander's death. Flash forward: when there's a rumor that Wihelmine's son-in-law, Carl Eugen, Karl Alexander's son, will also secretly convert and make her daughter convert, Fritz immediately writes that this would be a terrible idea because all her daughter has after her husband's passion has gone is populariy with her Protestant subjects and she'd lose that if she converts.
And now I have to assume that Fritz lied, presumably because he was getting resistance from Katte on escaping, and Katte's religious fervor at the end was not only sincere but based on strong feelings before that fact.
Now, we know Fritz converting was never an issue. But Katte doesn't know this in 1730, because Fritz is a really good liar, and he doesn't even have to be a hardcore Protestant, but a good friend to Fritz, to find this prospect deeply alarming, if it's any consolation to you. (Also, as to why he finds this more alarming and a better reason for immediate flight than 18 yeas of abuse: betting on FW's early death isn't unreasonable. In 1729, FW was so seriously ill that he wrote to his friend Old Dessauer that he'd prefer dying than enduring this pain any longer. So I can see Katte reasoning that if Fritz endures just a year or so longer, it will all be over. Otoh, if Fritz converts and marries a Habsburg, the political damage from this is permanent, see above, and the spiritual damage likewise, if this is important in any way for Katte.
This said, Katte's reaction to such an idea in combination to his letters to his father and his interactions with the preachers before his death do point to Katte taking his Protestant faith seriously, or at least being hard enough imprinted on it to fall back on it when faced with the prospect of his impending death. But if you want more arguments for Katte being at least a relaxed Protestant with doubts before November 1730, well, here's another example of a childhood imprint of "this faith is vile" surviving far beyond believing in the other faith: good old Voltaire. As Orieux points out, his initial reaction when hearing about the Calas affair, in the version most people outside Toulouse did (to wit: Protestant father kills his son rather than let the poor boy convert to Catholicism), is: "Wow, go figure that Protestant bigots are still worse than Catholic bigots. As can also be seen by the fact Protestant fundies are anti theatre!" (The last never fails to crack me up.)
It also suggests that the reason Fritz couldn't come up with a clever answer when put on the spot at the trial was that he wasn't expecting this lie to come back and bite him. He may have blurted it out to Katte and forgotten he even said it?
Very likely. It wasn't one of his real reasons,and so he forgot about it once it had worked. That Katte, otoh, did remember, and brought it up on his own initiative, shows he took it very seriously.
Here's another aspect, though: how did Fritz feel when discovering that his lie had had such an impact on Katte (especially in combination with receiving the Punctae later)? Might this cause some hastily repressed resentment that later shows itself in the remark to Grumbkow re: Katte?
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Protestant Katte?
Date: 2021-02-21 09:32 am (UTC)Not a big contradiction there. Just think of everyone, from Grandma Sophie Charlotte to Fritz to Leopold Mozart through the 18th century fangirling and fanboying Fénelon's bestseller on how to be a good prince and good young man in general. Only Leopold was a Catholic, the others were all Protestants raised, while Fénelon wasn't just a Catholic, he was a member of the clergy. And of course arch Protestant FW enjoyed his drinking bouts with pragmatic Catholic August. Befriending people who happen to be Catholics is a very different issue from converting, let alone being forced to convert against your convictions, which is what Katte believes to be on the menu for Fritz. And even leaving the strength of his own faith or lack of same completely aside, Katte would have several good reasons to regard such a scheme as a disaster for his friend:
1.) It would deepen the gulf between him and his father and likely cost him the succession.
2.) Even if it doesn't (because a succession change would need imperial approval), and Fritz does become King of Prussia, he'd have a majority of his own subjects set against him. For recent illustrations, see what happened when the Prince of Hesse-Kassel converted from Protestant to Catholic. And of course the Saxons had been anything but thrilled when August did in order to get the Polish crown. When the Duke of Würtemberg, Karl Alexander, converterd to Catholicism after marrying Catholic Marie-Auguste, this was part of a major state crisis in deeply Protestant Würtemberg which didn't get resolved until Karl Alexander's death. Flash forward: when there's a rumor that Wihelmine's son-in-law, Carl Eugen, Karl Alexander's son, will also secretly convert and make her daughter convert, Fritz immediately writes that this would be a terrible idea because all her daughter has after her husband's passion has gone is populariy with her Protestant subjects and she'd lose that if she converts.
And now I have to assume that Fritz lied, presumably because he was getting resistance from Katte on escaping, and Katte's religious fervor at the end was not only sincere but based on strong feelings before that fact.
Now, we know Fritz converting was never an issue. But Katte doesn't know this in 1730, because Fritz is a really good liar, and he doesn't even have to be a hardcore Protestant, but a good friend to Fritz, to find this prospect deeply alarming, if it's any consolation to you. (Also, as to why he finds this more alarming and a better reason for immediate flight than 18 yeas of abuse: betting on FW's early death isn't unreasonable. In 1729, FW was so seriously ill that he wrote to his friend Old Dessauer that he'd prefer dying than enduring this pain any longer. So I can see Katte reasoning that if Fritz endures just a year or so longer, it will all be over. Otoh, if Fritz converts and marries a Habsburg, the political damage from this is permanent, see above, and the spiritual damage likewise, if this is important in any way for Katte.
This said, Katte's reaction to such an idea in combination to his letters to his father and his interactions with the preachers before his death do point to Katte taking his Protestant faith seriously, or at least being hard enough imprinted on it to fall back on it when faced with the prospect of his impending death. But if you want more arguments for Katte being at least a relaxed Protestant with doubts before November 1730, well, here's another example of a childhood imprint of "this faith is vile" surviving far beyond believing in the other faith: good old Voltaire. As Orieux points out, his initial reaction when hearing about the Calas affair, in the version most people outside Toulouse did (to wit: Protestant father kills his son rather than let the poor boy convert to Catholicism), is: "Wow, go figure that Protestant bigots are still worse than Catholic bigots. As can also be seen by the fact Protestant fundies are anti theatre!" (The last never fails to crack me up.)
It also suggests that the reason Fritz couldn't come up with a clever answer when put on the spot at the trial was that he wasn't expecting this lie to come back and bite him. He may have blurted it out to Katte and forgotten he even said it?
Very likely. It wasn't one of his real reasons,and so he forgot about it once it had worked. That Katte, otoh, did remember, and brought it up on his own initiative, shows he took it very seriously.
Here's another aspect, though: how did Fritz feel when discovering that his lie had had such an impact on Katte (especially in combination with receiving the Punctae later)? Might this cause some hastily repressed resentment that later shows itself in the remark to Grumbkow re: Katte?