FW: Well, I felt reminded of him asking, in the same year, no less, the clergy wheather a man was entitled to force his daughter into marriage against her will and upon hearing that no, he wasn't, chose to ignore that.
Exactly what came to mind for me as well.
Methinks if he had become King of England, he'd have taken that "supreme head of the church" title to mean that he could reorganize the Anglican church in his image.
Blanning would have me believe that the King of Prussia was at least in some sense head of the church in Prussia, because lo:
[Fritz] also enjoyed reminding his subjects that constitutionally he was the head of both the Lutheran and the Reformed (Calvinist) churches in his dominions. Adjudicating a petition from a man refused permission by the church authorities to marry his widowed aunt, he wrote: “The Consistory is an ass. As Vicar of Jesus Christ and Archbishop of Magdeburg, I decree that the couple shall be joined together in holy matrimony.” The parishioners of a Pomeranian village who asked for the dismissal of a pastor who did not believe in the resurrection of the body were told that on the Day of Judgment it was up to him if he wished to just lie there prostrate while everyone else got up. Ordering the reappointment of a pastor dismissed because his parishioners objected to his preaching against the eternity of Hell, he commented that if they wished to be damned for all eternity, he had nothing against it. And so on.
Quoted for Fritz snark. :D
This, btw, is why I think that as sad and unjust and terrible Katte's fate was, he was still within that tragedy fortunate in that he was the scion of a privileged family with a father whom FW respected. Because Gundling and Doris Ritter are examples of what happened to people whom no one championed, whom no one was interested in.
I agree completely. We've talked about how Peter Keith, younger son of minor nobility with no living father and no prominent relatives, would have gotten hanged instead of beheaded, and most likely tortured beforehand.
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Re: Book Review II: Der König und sein Narr (Novel and Film)
Exactly what came to mind for me as well.
Methinks if he had become King of England, he'd have taken that "supreme head of the church" title to mean that he could reorganize the Anglican church in his image.
Blanning would have me believe that the King of Prussia was at least in some sense head of the church in Prussia, because lo:
[Fritz] also enjoyed reminding his subjects that constitutionally he was the head of both the Lutheran and the Reformed (Calvinist) churches in his dominions. Adjudicating a petition from a man refused permission by the church authorities to marry his widowed aunt, he wrote: “The Consistory is an ass. As Vicar of Jesus Christ and Archbishop of Magdeburg, I decree that the couple shall be joined together in holy matrimony.” The parishioners of a Pomeranian village who asked for the dismissal of a pastor who did not believe in the resurrection of the body were told that on the Day of Judgment it was up to him if he wished to just lie there prostrate while everyone else got up. Ordering the reappointment of a pastor dismissed because his parishioners objected to his preaching against the eternity of Hell, he commented that if they wished to be damned for all eternity, he had nothing against it. And so on.
Quoted for Fritz snark. :D
This, btw, is why I think that as sad and unjust and terrible Katte's fate was, he was still within that tragedy fortunate in that he was the scion of a privileged family with a father whom FW respected. Because Gundling and Doris Ritter are examples of what happened to people whom no one championed, whom no one was interested in.
I agree completely. We've talked about how Peter Keith, younger son of minor nobility with no living father and no prominent relatives, would have gotten hanged instead of beheaded, and most likely tortured beforehand.