Like, I've come around to believing he wasn't faking the piety at the end, but how repentant was he about the escape attempt, actually? Maybe he felt like Dad: okay, shouldn't have done it, but the punishment was really disproportionate?
That would be my guess, because I do think the "the tyrant demands blood" quote is authentic, not least because this is Katte talking to a regiment comrade whom he can be reasonably sure won't report it to either his father or FW, and also because all the other reports of Katte walking to his death puts such a heavy emphasis on Katte's Christian fortitude and bravery - it's not the kind of story you'd make up if you were basing your idea of Katte on what was available to the public at the time, i.e. the Pamphlet with the last letters.
Whose idea the Punctae were: my money is on Müller, with maybe FW having given strong hints to Müller when charging him with the task. Given that the phrasing of the Punctae re: flattery is (in the negative) almost identical with how FW puts it both in his known letters and on the occasion of the August 1731 public submission - that Fritz only listened to flatterers goading him against his father and telling him what he wanted to hear, and never to people (read: FW) who had his actual welfare in mind -, I think that some kind of FW nvolvement is more than likely. Not in the sense that he actually dictated the Punctae to Müller who got Katte to sign off on them, but in the sense of saying that if Katte was truly repentant and wanted to do a good thing before he died, he should encourage Fritz to see things his father's way etc. And then Müller said something like "Young man, if you want to do one last thing for your friend, this would help reconcile him to his father and would also show the King you did repent your deed."
However, playing devil's advocate: all the editorial chiding of Wilhelmine for having been a bad daughter I encountered these last years underlined to me again just how big the taboo of a child going against their (male) parent was in the historical patriarchy, and Katte was when all is said and done a child of his time, who in addition to said taboo may have felt guilty for the military part of his "misdeamanour", because of the Prussian Kool-Aid, i.e.: as many a FW defender pointed out, as a part of the army he was guilty of attempted desertion, betraying his supreme commander by not reporting Fritz' plans in the first place, and conspiracy with foreign powers (the Dickens conversations). Now the FW essay collection had I think Kloosterhuis arguing again that given FW's state of health and the fact Fritz was his successor, you could even argue that the whole thing counted as an attempted coup against the government. I don't think so, but FW most certainly did, and by November 1730, Katte, who lived in a society FW had imprinted with his mindset to a degree at least, had been talking for months with people argueing that view as well. I mean, Fritz pre Katte's execution sounds defiant in his letters to Wilhelmine, and certainly not broken or believing he'd done wrong (other than by getting caught and causing Katte go get caught). But Katte is in a somewhat different psychological position. Fritz is absolutely convinced (with reason) FW won't execute him, and he knows how unbearable his treatment has been. Katte is increasingly sure he will die, he also - if he says the truth re: that in his interrogation and didn't massage it somewhat for FW - has known from the start this was a bad idea and yet eventually signed on anyway, and if he dies, he's going to face divine judgment for having acted both against the law and against his own better knowledge. True, after his death at least one preacher will write to his father in a way that casts Katte as a martyr who has been unjustly slain. But before his death, he's more likely to have heard from any FW approved preacher that he could end up in hell for his sins (leaving completely aside whether or not he and Fritz were lovers, and whether Katte feels guilty on that count as well) if he doesn't repent.
So: as advocatus diaboli, I could make a psychological case that Katte did truly repent. However, as not to spoil your Sunday, let me add this: our friend Peter Keith was just as much a child of the 18th century and raised with the Prussian Kool-Aid. I haven't seen any indication he ever felt guilty for either deserting or conspiring with Fritz or keeping secrets from his sovereign. He may have felt survivor's guilt later, but that's our interpretation. What we don't from him is a quote along the lines of "yeah, really shouldn't have done that!" So it's just as possible Katte felt himself justified in the Lutheran sense because he'd acted on both his friend's and his future sovereign's behalf, and he had seen to much not to believe that helping Fritz in this particular situation was the only thing he could have done, in the end. After all, this is the man who minutes before his death tells Fritz there is nothing to forgive and he dies gladly for him. (Which is a different thing than dying for his sins.)
Whose idea the Punctae were: my money is on Müller
Agreed, that's my thought as well..
with maybe FW having given strong hints to Müller when charging him with the task.
Maybe, but FW wrote Müller a letter saying, "I've never met you, but I've heard good things. Please try to make my son repentant, but be careful and make sure he's *really* repentant, because he's a lying liar who lies." Now, the letter (in Youth Documents in the library) ends with "...", so there may well be "and make Katte write a last letter" stuff that the editor didn't see fit to include, or there may be another letter, but I'm inclined to think FW didn't give him this task explicitly, because I would have thought the editor would include it, since it would be too relevant to Fritz to omit.
What occurs to me is that FW confronted Katte in person at his arrest, and started yelling and hitting him. I mean, I forget if that's from a reliable source, but I think it is?
He may have been yelling about flattery and Absalom and stuff to Katte, and Katte may have been inclined to try to appease FW's fears in the last letter. So it's possible he got his insights into what FW was thinking from the horse's mouth.
Katte was when all is said and done a child of his time, who in addition to said taboo may have felt guilty for the military part of his "misdeamanour", because of the Prussian Kool-Aid
Yeah, I always got the impression Katte was a partial Kool-aid drinker--like, it went against his nature but the societal forces were strong, and he was susceptible to them. The part where didn't want to join the army but did, went AWOL in England and thoght about staying but then decided to come back (and got reprimanded for going AWOL!), and tried to talk Fritz out of escaping/deserting (probably less than he claimed he did, but enough that Fritz felt the need to lie to him) but then went along with it.
Ditto Peter, who was gung-ho about escaping, went for it without hesitation, and lived a civilian life in exile, but then decided he wanted to join the British navy. But then decided he hated the navy, but liked the climate in Portugal, so he got what appears to have been a nominal position in the army while using his time to study Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian and read books. And then by 1742, had broken under the weight of Prussian Kool-aid enough to ask to be allowed to go to war, but it's not clear that he ever did, and quite clearly seems to have focused on his civilian career rather than his still as-nominal-as-possible-in-Prussia military one. (I still wonder what Peter's responsibilities as Lt. Col. in peacetime actually were: I would assume regimental parade duties, but he had to be invited specially by Fritz to attend the top-secret military parade in Spandau in 1753 as a spectator, so...)
So: as advocatus diaboli, I could make a psychological case that Katte did truly repent. However, as not to spoil your Sunday
Hahaha, no, no worries. I've always had it as my headcanon that Katte's relationship with his own father, in the society in which he was indoctrinated, was such that he felt that you *should* obey your father even if he was strict; that some of Katte's reluctance to join the cause of desertion was because he partially blamed Fritz for provoking FW; and that it took him a while for the "this is not normal strict Prussian Hausvater behavior like my father's" to outweigh "but honor thy father!" in the scales for him.
So it's just as possible Katte felt himself justified in the Lutheran sense because he'd acted on both his friend's and his future sovereign's behalf, and he had seen to much not to believe that helping Fritz in this particular situation was the only thing he could have done, in the end. After all, this is the man who minutes before his death tells Fritz there is nothing to forgive and he dies gladly for him. (Which is a different thing than dying for his sins.)
Yes, I'm always struck by the fact that Katte's final priorities were wanting to visit Fritz the night before, wanting to reassure him of his blamelessness, and wanting to blow kisses at him. It's evidence relevant not just to the question of how much he repents, but also for the nature of his relationship to Fritz: while I'm sure he was all, "Sweet, I'm all set to be in the next king's good graces like my father with Fritz's father and my grandfather with Fritz's grandfather, and it's going to pay off," he really had nothing to gain from blowing kisses at Fritz at the last minute. I mean, unless he's thinking Fritz is going to do what he would end up doing for HH and Ludolf in the 1740s, but if you were only sucking up to a royal for the benefits, I'd think you'd be a little more resentful when that sucking up led you to get your head cut off.
You know, there's the Lavisse take on it: FW had no right to try to beat Fritz's personality out of him, but teenage Fritz had no right to defy his father in return and conspire against him. If that was Katte's attitude, that would be consistent with sympathy for the abused boyfriend at very the end and also the "never do it again" Punctae.
What occurs to me is that FW confronted Katte in person at his arrest, and started yelling and hitting him. I mean, I forget if that's from a reliable source, but I think it is?
I dimly recall this as well, but alas not the source.
Yes, I'm always struck by the fact that Katte's final priorities were wanting to visit Fritz the night before, wanting to reassure him of his blamelessness, and wanting to blow kisses at him. It's evidence relevant not just to the question of how much he repents, but also for the nature of his relationship to Fritz
Indeed, and I agree, while it's entirely plausible early on Katte, while truly liking Fritz, also imagined himself as the next King's right hand man or at least very much in his favor, by the time he died this part of it had become irrelevant. Mind you, I imagine back in 1729 he hoped for more than the (good) deal Hans Heinrich had gotten, because that involved working hard away from the royal presence. (Hans Heinrich wasn't actually with FW that often, was he? Given his governing in East Prussia.) If anyone from the previous generation, he might have seen himself as more Fritz' Grumbkow or Old Dessauer in years to come. But once he finally decided to go with the escape plan, he must have been ready to say goodbye to those dreams for at least the remainder of FW's life time, and be ready for the life of a penniless exile depending on the help of his family. (Both of them, assuming they'd have reached Britain, where in a best case scenario G2 would have supported Fritz' living expenses and Aunt Melusine those of Katte.) Unless they did a Eugene and offered their military service to another sovereign, earning their living that way, and since neither was keen on the army at this point, I'm assuming this hadn't been the plan. But Katte must have at least considered the possibility Uncle George would go "yeah, no" instead, and that Melusine and Petronella would have him as a guest only for a limited time, not forever. So at this point, affection certainly trumped ambition.
(Unless they really thought G2 would go "Fritz! You poor boy, marry Emily, have Hannover for your income, I'm looking forward to go mano a mano with your Dad AT LAST!" But surely Dickens told them this wasn't likely?)
Lavisse's take: it would be, and also with the way many an 18h century and 19th century writer interpreted King Fritz' own take on his past. I mean, even SECOND Chamberhussar calls him a model follower of the "Honor thy father" commandment in his memoirs. Voltaire is something of an outlier there with his "FW: an abusive fright" take in pamphlets and memoirs and letters, with no indication he thinks Crown Prince Fritz did anything wrong when rebelling and trying to escape, and even he doesn't claim this was Fritz' opinion (though it's clearly Voltaire's).
I dimly recall this as well, but alas not the source.
I'm pretty sure it's in Wilhelmine, but what I think I'm remembering is that we later found it backed up in one of the documentary sources, just not which one, or if I'm remembering correctly at all.
Mind you, I imagine back in 1729 he hoped for more than the (good) deal Hans Heinrich had gotten, because that involved working hard away from the royal presence.
Agreed, but I think what Katte would have had as his framework is "royal favor for the family, however that pans out in any given generation," and the real example he would have had before his eyes was Grandpa Wartensleben. Who, may I remind everyone else who needs it, was one of the three chief ministers for F1, who was *not* a micromanaging workaholic like his son and grandson, so the ministers had actual power. And I assume that in Katte's mind would have been the fact that if he had that kind of royal favor *and* he and Fritz were also lovers or at least close friends, as was not the case for HH and FW, then he could parlay that into a nice position that allowed him to spend time with Fritz, while also reaping in the rewards.
But as you say, the actual choices he made were to systematically distance himself from that possibility while drawing ever closer to Fritz, down to the last handkiss as he knelt in the sand.
where in a best case scenario G2 would have supported Fritz' living expenses and Aunt Melusine those of Katte.
And Queen Caroline Peter Keith's, as it played out in real life. ;)
Incidentally, Peter did not end up fabulously wealthy in exile, but he also got to be a gentleman of leisure and study and attend salons indefinitely, so that ended up being a pretty sweet deal. Maybe less so if he wanted to start a family and leave them well off, but as a bachelor in his twenties, that was a pretty good outcome for him financially.
(Unless they really thought G2 would go "Fritz! You poor boy, marry Emily, have Hannover for your income, I'm looking forward to go mano a mano with your Dad AT LAST!" But surely Dickens told them this wasn't likely?)
Indeed--in July, at least, and possibly earlier, Dickens was like, "Please don't run away. Your uncle really doesn't want you showing up. We'll give you money for your debts to keep you from running away."
And Fritz is like, "Okay, if Dad doesn't take me on the trip out west and leaves me behind, I promise not to run away while he's gone."
Later, to Katte, "Hahaha, I left a loophole for if he did take me on the trip, and also I told him I had twice as many debts as I do, so now we've got some money. Let's run away!"
But yeah, they definitely knew they weren't wanted, and if they did show up, they were going to have to push for whatever they got, and they had no way of knowing what that would be. (Peter, without any relatives in England to take him in *or* rich family back home to send him money, really took a gamble.)
it would be, and also with the way many an 18h century and 19th century writer interpreted King Fritz' own take on his past.
I know he said to Mitchell that he had no right to limit his bridal choices by promising in writing never to marry anyone but Emily, and I forget what non-Catt sources we have for other expressions of "I was young and stupid," but I definitely get that vibe from Fritz at least partially.
Voltaire is something of an outlier there with his "FW: an abusive fright"
Voltaire is something of an outlier there with his "FW: an abusive fright" take in pamphlets and memoirs and letters, with no indication he thinks Crown Prince Fritz did anything wrong when rebelling and trying to escape, and even he doesn't claim this was Fritz' opinion (though it's clearly Voltaire's).
Heh. Yeah, he's definitely the exception to the rule of "don't criticize one's parents," right? Voltaire is just about the only guy who is like "yeah, my dad sucked and you can suck rocks if you don't like it," so I guess it makes sense that he's totally okay with criticizing other people's parents and thinking that it's totally okay to try to rebel/escape.
As both Fritz and G2 would tell you, that's completely DIFFERENT. :)
I don't think we have a canon opinion on who was in the right and wrong from Fritz re: G1 vs G2, and G2 vs Fritz of Wales, just a general "that family is SO screwed up in their father/son relationships, how fortunate that we Hohenzollerns aren't like that at all". (Mitchell: MEANWHILE, on the Silesian Front...). G2, otoh, when Fritz of Wales published those letters from G2 to G1 when G2 was Prince of Wales was all indignation and "of course that was different! I was in the right then towards Dad, just as I'm in the right now towards that wretch Fritz!"
A bit more seriously, Hervey reports that Caroline and G2 did talk about how much better G2 treated Fritz of Wales than G1 had treated them, because G1 after the big bust up with G2 apropos the Christening had for a time not allowed G2 and Caroline to see their (Britain-based) children as a punishement. Whereas, says G2, he hadn't done this to Fritz of Wales and Augusta because HE would never separate a parent from their children. Which makes him the way better father than G1.
...You know, it didn't occur to me when reading Hervey's memoirs last year, but it did occur to me a month ago when reading all the Sophie stuff: G2, of course, had BEEN a child separated from his mother - by G1. So he's not just referencing the ten days or so separation G1 inflicted on him and Caroline after the baptizing scandal until he relented.
Hahaha, no, no worries. I've always had it as my headcanon that Katte's relationship with his own father, in the society in which he was indoctrinated, was such that he felt that you *should* obey your father even if he was strict; that some of Katte's reluctance to join the cause of desertion was because he partially blamed Fritz for provoking FW; and that it took him a while for the "this is not normal strict Prussian Hausvater behavior like my father's" to outweigh "but honor thy father!" in the scales for him.
I mean, I have thought about this far less than you :P but as someone who grew up at least partially in a culture that stresses filial piety as well as a religion that also greatly stresses family (though less specifically filial duty), I agree that all of this is quite plausible. As well as plausible that, as you proposed earlier, he did think that the escape attempt was all a terrible idea (mostly because of all the upbringing stuff, but maybe also because, well, getting caught wasn't going to be good, though worse than he thought) but thought the punishment was disproportionate.
Yes, I'm always struck by the fact that Katte's final priorities were wanting to visit Fritz the night before, wanting to reassure him of his blamelessness, and wanting to blow kisses at him. It's evidence relevant not just to the question of how much he repents, but also for the nature of his relationship to Fritz... if you were only sucking up to a royal for the benefits, I'd think you'd be a little more resentful when that sucking up led you to get your head cut off.
Ooh, that's a good point. Yeah, I'd think so too. That makes a lot of sense.
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Katte psychology examined
That would be my guess, because I do think the "the tyrant demands blood" quote is authentic, not least because this is Katte talking to a regiment comrade whom he can be reasonably sure won't report it to either his father or FW, and also because all the other reports of Katte walking to his death puts such a heavy emphasis on Katte's Christian fortitude and bravery - it's not the kind of story you'd make up if you were basing your idea of Katte on what was available to the public at the time, i.e. the Pamphlet with the last letters.
Whose idea the Punctae were: my money is on Müller, with maybe FW having given strong hints to Müller when charging him with the task. Given that the phrasing of the Punctae re: flattery is (in the negative) almost identical with how FW puts it both in his known letters and on the occasion of the August 1731 public submission - that Fritz only listened to flatterers goading him against his father and telling him what he wanted to hear, and never to people (read: FW) who had his actual welfare in mind -, I think that some kind of FW nvolvement is more than likely. Not in the sense that he actually dictated the Punctae to Müller who got Katte to sign off on them, but in the sense of saying that if Katte was truly repentant and wanted to do a good thing before he died, he should encourage Fritz to see things his father's way etc. And then Müller said something like "Young man, if you want to do one last thing for your friend, this would help reconcile him to his father and would also show the King you did repent your deed."
However, playing devil's advocate: all the editorial chiding of Wilhelmine for having been a bad daughter I encountered these last years underlined to me again just how big the taboo of a child going against their (male) parent was in the historical patriarchy, and Katte was when all is said and done a child of his time, who in addition to said taboo may have felt guilty for the military part of his "misdeamanour", because of the Prussian Kool-Aid, i.e.: as many a FW defender pointed out, as a part of the army he was guilty of attempted desertion, betraying his supreme commander by not reporting Fritz' plans in the first place, and conspiracy with foreign powers (the Dickens conversations). Now the FW essay collection had I think Kloosterhuis arguing again that given FW's state of health and the fact Fritz was his successor, you could even argue that the whole thing counted as an attempted coup against the government. I don't think so, but FW most certainly did, and by November 1730, Katte, who lived in a society FW had imprinted with his mindset to a degree at least, had been talking for months with people argueing that view as well. I mean, Fritz pre Katte's execution sounds defiant in his letters to Wilhelmine, and certainly not broken or believing he'd done wrong (other than by getting caught and causing Katte go get caught). But Katte is in a somewhat different psychological position. Fritz is absolutely convinced (with reason) FW won't execute him, and he knows how unbearable his treatment has been. Katte is increasingly sure he will die, he also - if he says the truth re: that in his interrogation and didn't massage it somewhat for FW - has known from the start this was a bad idea and yet eventually signed on anyway, and if he dies, he's going to face divine judgment for having acted both against the law and against his own better knowledge. True, after his death at least one preacher will write to his father in a way that casts Katte as a martyr who has been unjustly slain. But before his death, he's more likely to have heard from any FW approved preacher that he could end up in hell for his sins (leaving completely aside whether or not he and Fritz were lovers, and whether Katte feels guilty on that count as well) if he doesn't repent.
So: as advocatus diaboli, I could make a psychological case that Katte did truly repent. However, as not to spoil your Sunday, let me add this: our friend Peter Keith was just as much a child of the 18th century and raised with the Prussian Kool-Aid. I haven't seen any indication he ever felt guilty for either deserting or conspiring with Fritz or keeping secrets from his sovereign. He may have felt survivor's guilt later, but that's our interpretation. What we don't from him is a quote along the lines of "yeah, really shouldn't have done that!" So it's just as possible Katte felt himself justified in the Lutheran sense because he'd acted on both his friend's and his future sovereign's behalf, and he had seen to much not to believe that helping Fritz in this particular situation was the only thing he could have done, in the end. After all, this is the man who minutes before his death tells Fritz there is nothing to forgive and he dies gladly for him. (Which is a different thing than dying for his sins.)
Re: Katte psychology examined
Agreed, that's my thought as well..
with maybe FW having given strong hints to Müller when charging him with the task.
Maybe, but FW wrote Müller a letter saying, "I've never met you, but I've heard good things. Please try to make my son repentant, but be careful and make sure he's *really* repentant, because he's a lying liar who lies." Now, the letter (in Youth Documents in the library) ends with "...", so there may well be "and make Katte write a last letter" stuff that the editor didn't see fit to include, or there may be another letter, but I'm inclined to think FW didn't give him this task explicitly, because I would have thought the editor would include it, since it would be too relevant to Fritz to omit.
What occurs to me is that FW confronted Katte in person at his arrest, and started yelling and hitting him. I mean, I forget if that's from a reliable source, but I think it is?
He may have been yelling about flattery and Absalom and stuff to Katte, and Katte may have been inclined to try to appease FW's fears in the last letter. So it's possible he got his insights into what FW was thinking from the horse's mouth.
Katte was when all is said and done a child of his time, who in addition to said taboo may have felt guilty for the military part of his "misdeamanour", because of the Prussian Kool-Aid
Yeah, I always got the impression Katte was a partial Kool-aid drinker--like, it went against his nature but the societal forces were strong, and he was susceptible to them. The part where didn't want to join the army but did, went AWOL in England and thoght about staying but then decided to come back (and got reprimanded for going AWOL!), and tried to talk Fritz out of escaping/deserting (probably less than he claimed he did, but enough that Fritz felt the need to lie to him) but then went along with it.
Ditto Peter, who was gung-ho about escaping, went for it without hesitation, and lived a civilian life in exile, but then decided he wanted to join the British navy. But then decided he hated the navy, but liked the climate in Portugal, so he got what appears to have been a nominal position in the army while using his time to study Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian and read books. And then by 1742, had broken under the weight of Prussian Kool-aid enough to ask to be allowed to go to war, but it's not clear that he ever did, and quite clearly seems to have focused on his civilian career rather than his still as-nominal-as-possible-in-Prussia military one. (I still wonder what Peter's responsibilities as Lt. Col. in peacetime actually were: I would assume regimental parade duties, but he had to be invited specially by Fritz to attend the top-secret military parade in Spandau in 1753 as a spectator, so...)
So: as advocatus diaboli, I could make a psychological case that Katte did truly repent. However, as not to spoil your Sunday
Hahaha, no, no worries. I've always had it as my headcanon that Katte's relationship with his own father, in the society in which he was indoctrinated, was such that he felt that you *should* obey your father even if he was strict; that some of Katte's reluctance to join the cause of desertion was because he partially blamed Fritz for provoking FW; and that it took him a while for the "this is not normal strict Prussian Hausvater behavior like my father's" to outweigh "but honor thy father!" in the scales for him.
So it's just as possible Katte felt himself justified in the Lutheran sense because he'd acted on both his friend's and his future sovereign's behalf, and he had seen to much not to believe that helping Fritz in this particular situation was the only thing he could have done, in the end. After all, this is the man who minutes before his death tells Fritz there is nothing to forgive and he dies gladly for him. (Which is a different thing than dying for his sins.)
Yes, I'm always struck by the fact that Katte's final priorities were wanting to visit Fritz the night before, wanting to reassure him of his blamelessness, and wanting to blow kisses at him. It's evidence relevant not just to the question of how much he repents, but also for the nature of his relationship to Fritz: while I'm sure he was all, "Sweet, I'm all set to be in the next king's good graces like my father with Fritz's father and my grandfather with Fritz's grandfather, and it's going to pay off," he really had nothing to gain from blowing kisses at Fritz at the last minute. I mean, unless he's thinking Fritz is going to do what he would end up doing for HH and Ludolf in the 1740s, but if you were only sucking up to a royal for the benefits, I'd think you'd be a little more resentful when that sucking up led you to get your head cut off.
You know, there's the Lavisse take on it: FW had no right to try to beat Fritz's personality out of him, but teenage Fritz had no right to defy his father in return and conspire against him. If that was Katte's attitude, that would be consistent with sympathy for the abused boyfriend at very the end and also the "never do it again" Punctae.
Re: Katte psychology examined
I dimly recall this as well, but alas not the source.
Yes, I'm always struck by the fact that Katte's final priorities were wanting to visit Fritz the night before, wanting to reassure him of his blamelessness, and wanting to blow kisses at him. It's evidence relevant not just to the question of how much he repents, but also for the nature of his relationship to Fritz
Indeed, and I agree, while it's entirely plausible early on Katte, while truly liking Fritz, also imagined himself as the next King's right hand man or at least very much in his favor, by the time he died this part of it had become irrelevant. Mind you, I imagine back in 1729 he hoped for more than the (good) deal Hans Heinrich had gotten, because that involved working hard away from the royal presence. (Hans Heinrich wasn't actually with FW that often, was he? Given his governing in East Prussia.) If anyone from the previous generation, he might have seen himself as more Fritz' Grumbkow or Old Dessauer in years to come. But once he finally decided to go with the escape plan, he must have been ready to say goodbye to those dreams for at least the remainder of FW's life time, and be ready for the life of a penniless exile depending on the help of his family. (Both of them, assuming they'd have reached Britain, where in a best case scenario G2 would have supported Fritz' living expenses and Aunt Melusine those of Katte.) Unless they did a Eugene and offered their military service to another sovereign, earning their living that way, and since neither was keen on the army at this point, I'm assuming this hadn't been the plan. But Katte must have at least considered the possibility Uncle George would go "yeah, no" instead, and that Melusine and Petronella would have him as a guest only for a limited time, not forever. So at this point, affection certainly trumped ambition.
(Unless they really thought G2 would go "Fritz! You poor boy, marry Emily, have Hannover for your income, I'm looking forward to go mano a mano with your Dad AT LAST!" But surely Dickens told them this wasn't likely?)
Lavisse's take: it would be, and also with the way many an 18h century and 19th century writer interpreted King Fritz' own take on his past. I mean, even SECOND Chamberhussar calls him a model follower of the "Honor thy father" commandment in his memoirs. Voltaire is something of an outlier there with his "FW: an abusive fright" take in pamphlets and memoirs and letters, with no indication he thinks Crown Prince Fritz did anything wrong when rebelling and trying to escape, and even he doesn't claim this was Fritz' opinion (though it's clearly Voltaire's).
Re: Katte psychology examined
I'm pretty sure it's in Wilhelmine, but what I think I'm remembering is that we later found it backed up in one of the documentary sources, just not which one, or if I'm remembering correctly at all.
Mind you, I imagine back in 1729 he hoped for more than the (good) deal Hans Heinrich had gotten, because that involved working hard away from the royal presence.
Agreed, but I think what Katte would have had as his framework is "royal favor for the family, however that pans out in any given generation," and the real example he would have had before his eyes was Grandpa Wartensleben. Who, may I remind everyone else who needs it, was one of the three chief ministers for F1, who was *not* a micromanaging workaholic like his son and grandson, so the ministers had actual power. And I assume that in Katte's mind would have been the fact that if he had that kind of royal favor *and* he and Fritz were also lovers or at least close friends, as was not the case for HH and FW, then he could parlay that into a nice position that allowed him to spend time with Fritz, while also reaping in the rewards.
But as you say, the actual choices he made were to systematically distance himself from that possibility while drawing ever closer to Fritz, down to the last handkiss as he knelt in the sand.
where in a best case scenario G2 would have supported Fritz' living expenses and Aunt Melusine those of Katte.
And Queen Caroline Peter Keith's, as it played out in real life. ;)
Incidentally, Peter did not end up fabulously wealthy in exile, but he also got to be a gentleman of leisure and study and attend salons indefinitely, so that ended up being a pretty sweet deal. Maybe less so if he wanted to start a family and leave them well off, but as a bachelor in his twenties, that was a pretty good outcome for him financially.
(Unless they really thought G2 would go "Fritz! You poor boy, marry Emily, have Hannover for your income, I'm looking forward to go mano a mano with your Dad AT LAST!" But surely Dickens told them this wasn't likely?)
Indeed--in July, at least, and possibly earlier, Dickens was like, "Please don't run away. Your uncle really doesn't want you showing up. We'll give you money for your debts to keep you from running away."
And Fritz is like, "Okay, if Dad doesn't take me on the trip out west and leaves me behind, I promise not to run away while he's gone."
Later, to Katte, "Hahaha, I left a loophole for if he did take me on the trip, and also I told him I had twice as many debts as I do, so now we've got some money. Let's run away!"
But yeah, they definitely knew they weren't wanted, and if they did show up, they were going to have to push for whatever they got, and they had no way of knowing what that would be. (Peter, without any relatives in England to take him in *or* rich family back home to send him money, really took a gamble.)
it would be, and also with the way many an 18h century and 19th century writer interpreted King Fritz' own take on his past.
I know he said to Mitchell that he had no right to limit his bridal choices by promising in writing never to marry anyone but Emily, and I forget what non-Catt sources we have for other expressions of "I was young and stupid," but I definitely get that vibe from Fritz at least partially.
Voltaire is something of an outlier there with his "FW: an abusive fright"
Voltaire, always an outlier. :D
Re: Katte psychology examined
Heh. Yeah, he's definitely the exception to the rule of "don't criticize one's parents," right? Voltaire is just about the only guy who is like "yeah, my dad sucked and you can suck rocks if you don't like it," so I guess it makes sense that he's totally okay with criticizing other people's parents and thinking that it's totally okay to try to rebel/escape.
Honor thy father
Re: Honor thy father
I don't think we have a canon opinion on who was in the right and wrong from Fritz re: G1 vs G2, and G2 vs Fritz of Wales, just a general "that family is SO screwed up in their father/son relationships, how fortunate that we Hohenzollerns aren't like that at all". (Mitchell: MEANWHILE, on the Silesian Front...). G2, otoh, when Fritz of Wales published those letters from G2 to G1 when G2 was Prince of Wales was all indignation and "of course that was different! I was in the right then towards Dad, just as I'm in the right now towards that wretch Fritz!"
A bit more seriously, Hervey reports that Caroline and G2 did talk about how much better G2 treated Fritz of Wales than G1 had treated them, because G1 after the big bust up with G2 apropos the Christening had for a time not allowed G2 and Caroline to see their (Britain-based) children as a punishement. Whereas, says G2, he hadn't done this to Fritz of Wales and Augusta because HE would never separate a parent from their children. Which makes him the way better father than G1.
...You know, it didn't occur to me when reading Hervey's memoirs last year, but it did occur to me a month ago when reading all the Sophie stuff: G2, of course, had BEEN a child separated from his mother - by G1. So he's not just referencing the ten days or so separation G1 inflicted on him and Caroline after the baptizing scandal until he relented.
Re: Katte psychology examined
I mean, I have thought about this far less than you :P but as someone who grew up at least partially in a culture that stresses filial piety as well as a religion that also greatly stresses family (though less specifically filial duty), I agree that all of this is quite plausible. As well as plausible that, as you proposed earlier, he did think that the escape attempt was all a terrible idea (mostly because of all the upbringing stuff, but maybe also because, well, getting caught wasn't going to be good, though worse than he thought) but thought the punishment was disproportionate.
Yes, I'm always struck by the fact that Katte's final priorities were wanting to visit Fritz the night before, wanting to reassure him of his blamelessness, and wanting to blow kisses at him. It's evidence relevant not just to the question of how much he repents, but also for the nature of his relationship to Fritz... if you were only sucking up to a royal for the benefits, I'd think you'd be a little more resentful when that sucking up led you to get your head cut off.
Ooh, that's a good point. Yeah, I'd think so too. That makes a lot of sense.