![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnLast post, we had (among other things) Danish kings and their favorites; Louis XIV and Philippe d'Orléans; reviews of a very shippy book about Katte, a bad Jacobite novel, and a great book about clothing; a fic about Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire; and a review of a set of entertaining Youtube history videos about Frederick the Great.
Execution of two Jacobite Lords
Date: 2023-03-27 06:52 am (UTC)My dear Lord,
Yesterday I went to see the terriblest sight I ever saw. I saw the two Lords beheaded. Lord Kilmarnock, who was certainly the genteelest man I ever saw, came first, dresssed in black, in his own fair hair without powder, and walked (instead of going in the mourning coach which followed him, as did his horse) quite from the Tower across Tower Hill to the Transport Office, next door to which I was, so that they came within a yard of our door. The Sheriffs walked before him, and he came supported on one side by Foster, the dissenting teacher, and one Mr. Hume, a clergyman, on the other. He then walked into the Transport Office, where there were two rooms prepared for the two Lords; but Lord Balmerino desired to speak to Lord Kilmarnock, which was granted, and he came into his room, and asked whether ever he had heard that there were orders issued before the Battle of Culloden to put all the English prisoners to death; for that there was such a lie raised against Prince Charles. To which the Lord Kilmarnock replied, that he knew of no such orders at the time, for he was not in the secrets, but that since, he had heard so from such undoubted authority that he believed upon his honour it was very true. To which Balmerino answsered that he believed no such thing, and went out of the room.
After Lord Kilmarnock had stayed about an hour and an half in that place, he came forth supported in the same manner, and walked to the scaffold, which was erected about ten yards from the door. When he was upon it, he delivered his speech to the Sheriffs without saying a word; and then stood and payed with Foster, who was very devout and embraced him often, which comforted him much. After staying thus about 20 mnutes, he began to undress, and forgave Jack Ketch, who asked him forgiveness. He declared to the few people upon the scaffold that his repentance was very sincere, that with his last breath who would bless and pray for King George, and that he heartily wished that all the people that ever engaged in such wicked treasons as he might meet with the same ignominous fate. He then pulled off his coat, and tucked his hair under a night cap; then he knelt down before the block, which is a thing about 28 inches high, about a yard wide, and a foot and half thick, with two hollows, one for the breast to rest upon, and another to receive the chin, so the neck lies upon a rise. They kneel upon a cushion. And here I perceived first Lord Kilmarnock's great uneasiness. He rose from the block several times, pulled off his waistcoat, and showed much anxiety. At last he knelt down for good and all, and told Jack Ketch the sign should be dropping a hankerchief, which about 2 minutes prayer he did, and Jack Kech struck off his head at one blow, all but a bit of skin. The head was received into a piece of scarlet cloth, which 4 men held on the other side the block. And thus ended his life. Aged 42.
Very different was the behaviour of Lord Balmerinno, who died with greater indifference than I go to dinner. When he came out of the Tower, Lord Kilmarnock and he met upon the stairs. He embraced Lord Kilmarnock, and told (him) he wished he could die for them both. When the Lieut. of the Tower told him the Sheiffs were there to demand, he said he was ready: "But before I go, Mr. Lieutenant, here is K. James' helath in a bumper to you." When he appeared walking upon Tower Hill towards the Transport Office, I declare I could not imagine which was the hprisoner, for when I saw him at the Bar of the House of Lords he was a shabby-looking old fellow, in an old black suit of clothes and a bad bob wigg, but here he was dressed in the Pretender's regimentals, blue turned up with red, a good tied wigg, and a well cocked hat. He walked with great firmness, supported by nobody. Two clergymen walked behind him, and he looked much more like an officer upon guard than a prisoner. After Lord Kilmarnock was beheaded and the stage new covered with sawdust to hide the blood, and the block new covered with black cloth, Balmerino came forth looking round at the spectators, which at a moderate cumputation could not be less than a hundred thousand. He then mounted the scaffold, and seeing his coffin lie there, he said: "I must look at it, to see whether they have put my title right." When he had done reading, he throew his hat down upon it, pulled out his spectacles, and read his speech to the people upon the scaffold; for the soldiers, horse and foot, surrounded the scaffold, so that none of the mob were within 50 yards of it. The speech was very treasonable, and I believe he was seven minutes at reading it; after that he up to the block, and said: "If I had a thousand lives, I would lay them all down for the same glorious cause that I engaged in. How could I or any body refuse joining with such a sweet Prince as Prince Charles?"
The executioner then came and asked his pardon. He forgave him, and asked how many blows he gave Lord Kilmarnock, to which he answered one. "Oh!" said he, "that will do well for me," and then gave three guineas, and said he had no more. He then went to the other side of the stage to look at his horse, where seeing the warder that attended him in the Tower, he himself called him up and made him a present of his peruke which he pulled off, and put on a cap made of Scotch plaid, and then he pulled off his cloths and embraced two friends very cheerfully. I could hear the smack of his kisses up to where I was.
He then turned to the two clergymen that came with him, and to whom he had not yet spoke a word. He told them that he thanked them for attending him; that they had done all that could be done for him, but he hoped they found him well prepared. From thence he went to the block, and knelt on the wrong side of it, which being told of, he rose nimbly up nad went immediately on the other side, where he told Jack Ketch his sign should be when he lifted upo his right arm; and he then perceived Jack Katch went from him, which he did to fetch the ax, that was in a box at the other end of the stage (and which is exactly a carpenter's ax), he followed him wiht his eyes, and seeing him take up the ax, he called to him and took it from him and managed it in his own hands. He returned it then to Jack Ketch and, putting down his head upon the block, in a quarter of a minute he tossed his right arm up with the greatest (calmness), and his head was cut off at three blows, but the first did the business. I saw his face when he laid it down, and indeed he never changed colour, nor did I see in him all that dreadful time the least shadow of fear.
Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords - Questions
Date: 2023-03-27 07:01 am (UTC)2.) "Delivered his speech to the Sheriffs without saying a word" - I take it this means he had it written out and handed it over to the Sheriffs as opposed to delivering it himself. Makes sense that people would do it, not being sure whether they'd have the composure.
3.) The story of an order to kill all the English prisoners - looks like someone needs to justify the order to kill all the Scots?
4.) These noble men being able to agree upon a sign THEY are to give the executioner is something I don't recall not just from Tudor era executions (of the noblity, that is, poor commoners certainly couldn't at any time) but, again from the late Stuart era executions under James II. Was this an 18th century innovation?
5.) Not being into the Jacobite rebellions, I have no idea whether Lords Kilmarnock and Balmerino were big deals or hangers-on. Do tell.
Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords - Questions
Date: 2023-03-30 05:03 pm (UTC)Balmerino had been a Jacobite all his life, and commanded a troop of horse which attended BPC personally at Culloden. So it makes sense that he would die like he did--if you look at the speeches of executed Jacobites in The Lyon in Mourning, there are a lot of common elements: They don't repent of what they did, they emphasize that they didn't do it for personal gain, they talk about how great BPC and King James are, they state that they are proud (but unworthy) members of their church, and they forgive their enemies.
Kilmarnock, OTOH, was not actually a Jacobite. He was just heavily in debt and desperate. After having surrendered, he told the Duke of Argyll: "For the two kings and their rights, I cared not a farthing which prevailed, but I was starving, and, by God, if Mahommed had set up his standard in the Highlands I had been a good Musulman for bread, and stuck close to the party, for I must eat." Awww.
As to the Hanoverians claiming that the Jacobites had orders to give no quarter, I have never seen any historian who regards that claim as true. For one thing, it would have been very out of character, since the Jacobites took pains to prove that they were to be regarded as a legitimate fighting force that followed all the conventions of war. According to Duffy, a copy of Lord George's brief fighting instructions had come into Cumberland's possession the day before the battle, and he inserted the words ‘to give no quarters to the Elector’s troops on any account whatsoever’ and had it copied and distributed among his own troops (obviously to make them disinclined to offer any mercy to their enemies). Duffy says that the original of these fighting instructions is in the Royal Archives, and that the insertion of those words is clearly visible in different handwriting from the rest.
Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords - Questions
Date: 2023-03-31 03:36 pm (UTC)Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords - Questions
Date: 2023-03-31 04:03 pm (UTC)Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords - Questions
Date: 2023-03-31 05:59 pm (UTC)I publickly profess that I heartily repent of all my sins, but am so far from reckoning the fact for which I am to die one of them that I think I shall thereby be an honour to my family, and if I had ten thousand lives would chearfully and willingly lay them down in the same cause.
Aha, I am seeing a trope here! So either Katte said it *because* it was a trope, or else people who didn't know or remember exactly what he said filled it in using tropes.
Judging by this list of the variants, the *most* reliable seeming one is the anonymous reporter's (possibly Müller): "Point de pardon, mon prince; je meurs avec mille plaisirs pour vous." Which contains neither a sweet prince nor a thousand (or even ten) lives.
The "sweet prince" and the "thousand lives" are from some of our most unreliable sources, so I bet they're filling in.
The "ten lives" is from Danish envoy von Johnn's report (later copied by the pamphlet), which is generally close to the most reliable accounts, those of the people officially in charge of Katte's execution, but I wouldn't be surprised if Katte's last words were not exactly retained verbatim, and some trope-filling in was done as the story made its way to Johnn.
Of course, Müller may not have remembered verbatim either! We may not have anything like an exact phrasing at all: just the general outline that he loved Fritz and didn't blame him.
"For the two kings and their rights, I cared not a farthing which prevailed, but I was starving, and, by God, if Mahommed had set up his standard in the Highlands I had been a good Musulman for bread, and stuck close to the party, for I must eat."
Oh, he's *that* guy! Thank you for supplying the detail. (Observe my continued self-control in resisting the temptation to research this myself.)
For one thing, it would have been very out of character, since the Jacobites took pains to prove that they were to be regarded as a legitimate fighting force that followed all the conventions of war.
Indeed.
Duffy says that the original of these fighting instructions is in the Royal Archives, and that the insertion of those words is clearly visible in different handwriting from the rest.
If I ever knew that, I had forgotten, so thank you again!
Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords - Questions
Date: 2023-04-17 12:14 am (UTC)"For the two kings and their rights, I cared not a farthing which prevailed, but I was starving, and, by God, if Mahommed had set up his standard in the Highlands I had been a good Musulman for bread, and stuck close to the party, for I must eat."
Aw, poor guy :(
Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords - Questions
Date: 2023-03-31 05:48 pm (UTC)Exactly what I made a mental note to say, and then I saw you had beaten me to it!
4.) These noble men being able to agree upon a sign THEY are to give the executioner is something I don't recall not just from Tudor era executions (of the noblity, that is, poor commoners certainly couldn't at any time) but, again from the late Stuart era executions under James II. Was this an 18th century innovation?
Maybe? I'm not thinking of specific examples, but it feels familiar, so I'm thinking I've probably come across the practice before.
5.) Not being into the Jacobite rebellions, I have no idea whether Lords Kilmarnock and Balmerino were big deals or hangers-on. Do tell.
I definitely remembered the names over all these years, but no details, so I was waiting for
Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords
Date: 2023-03-31 05:32 pm (UTC)"If I had a thousand lives, I would lay them all down for the same glorious cause that I engaged in. How could I or any body refuse joining with such a sweet Prince as Prince Charles?"
Does this remind us of anything? The interesting thing, while the Cologne pamphlet on Katte's execution includes the "If I had ten lives," the "thousand lives" variant doesn't appear until decades later, when Wilhelmine and Pöllnitz are published. And the "sweet prince" variant, by Münchow, also won't be published until the turn of the century.
Were these tropes, I wonder?
Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords
Date: 2023-04-02 12:48 pm (UTC)Of course, they could have been, in theory. But that would depend on a couple of factors:
- Wilhelmine keeps up with English events in great detail. Now while she was raised, she was drilled to do so given Mom wanted her to become Queen of England, but after this dream ended for good, I think it's more likely she kept away from British news. Of course, I could be wrong
- Pöllnitz chats with some of the Jacobite exiles in Berlin about just this subject, and they, in turn, are informed about the speeches by fellow Jacobites
None of which is impossible. But I suspect it's more like Fritz invoking Dido and Aeneas in his 1742 letter to Voltaire (after Voltaire has gone back to Émilie) with the almost Virgil quote which you recognized, and which of course Voltaire would have recognized as well, i.e. everyone is using a familiar trope which was then recognizable but is no longer to us.
Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords
Date: 2023-04-02 06:09 pm (UTC)The timing is really interesting, though. Because wasn't Wilhelmine supposed to have been working on her memoirs during the fallout with Fritz? Which would have overlapped almost perfectly with the Jacobite rebellion: 1745-May 1746.
Now, if after reconciling with Fritz, she immediately set down the memoirs and never worked on them again, then her version of Katte's speech predates the Jacobite speeches in August, and they're independent. But if she kept working on the memoirs just a few months more, then it's possible she and Pöllnitz heard about the speeches and were influenced.
I still think it's more likely to be a trope, though. I'm just kind of intrigued by the 1744-1746 date for the work on the memoirs.
(I feel like I've seen that there's evidence out there for what she wrote in 1739(?), and if we had access to that, that would have the power to confirm or refute a lot of our speculations about the composition of her memoirs.)
Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords
Date: 2023-04-03 06:50 am (UTC)If I had much, much more time, I'd look for fashionable French novels or plays in the early 18th century where a loyal knight gets executed on behalf of his dear lord and check for any sweet princes and ten thousand lives...
Pöllnitz
Date: 2023-04-03 09:35 pm (UTC)I know he visited in early 1744, do we know if he visited in the next couple years? Though it almost doesn't matter: we know they were communicating about this and showing each other manuscripts, there's no way they weren't given the textual similarities (I think it was Droysen who said Pöllnitz def had a copy of her memoirs?*).
One way or another, he could have communicated with her.
* Still weirded out by the thought of Pöllnitz the Secret-keeper, but maybe she didn't show him the "insane family" parts. I've never done a thorough comparison of the entire texts.
Of possible interest: was this during one of his Catholic or Protestant phases?
Oooh, good question! I feel like he was a Protestant during his time with Fritz. Wikipedia says he converted to Catholicism in 1717 and back to Protestantism in 1735, when he rejoined FW:
In 1735 he returned to Berlin via Vienna and, after becoming a Protestant again, found employment with the Soldier King, but at the same time spied for Vienna and Dresden.
Wait, did we know about this? Is it true? I can't keep track.
Well, Koser says so in the ADB, so I guess there's at least something to substantiate it.
If I had much, much more time, I'd look for fashionable French novels or plays in the early 18th century where a loyal knight gets executed on behalf of his dear lord and check for any sweet princes and ten thousand lives...
Yep, seems eminently reasonable.
Re: Pöllnitz
Date: 2023-04-04 02:41 pm (UTC)Well, Pöllnitz doesn't have FW abusing his family by throwing plates at them, or hair-dragging Fritz, and definitely nothing negative about SD, so either she didn't show him these stories or he did keep mum. Remember, when Wilhelmine's memoirs were first published the initial reaction was "no way, that's an anti Prussian forgery!" until someone produced her original manuscript in her handwriting. Which tells you something about how by the 19th century (first edition of Wilhelmine's memoirs was published in a shortened form in German in 1810, then later a complete French edition), FW's image had been cleaned up, since in the 18th century, you had such stories like Wilhelmine getting thrown out of the window (by Voltaire) which were bought by the public because that was his reputation.
Anyway, I think Wilhelmine might have needed Pöllnitz for things like Katte's poem or how his arrest went down, since there were more people he could ask in Berlin than she could in Bayreuth. And definitely for the Dresden gossip. Which, btw, he does NOT include in the version of his book that is in our library - i.e. no incest stories about August the Strong and Orzeslka - because presumably Pöllnitz wants to be reinvited to Dresden, but I bet he was ready to share any number of tales about Dresden orgies verbally. Conversely, she might have shared what she knew about the actual execution (as you pointed out, the Wilhelmine version like Voltaire's is essentially told from Fritz' pov). But if Pöllnitz knew some of the darker stuff of their family life, I think he might have been too tempted not to present himself as the royal confidant as not to share it later on, especially once Wilhelmine is dead, and yet Lehndorff, who spent some considerable time with Pöllnitz during the 7 Years War during all those court evacuations and while very annoyed by him (and the fact he couldn't control his bladder anymore in his old age) did admit he knew good stories, does not note down any of this.
Wait, did we know about this? Is it true? I can't keep track.
Given Pöllnitz liked his creature comforts and FW gave him a low salary, I'm not surprised, though I doubt either Vienna or Desden got anything useful - it's not like FW or later Fritz was sharing any of their political plans with Pöllnitz.
Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords
Date: 2023-04-17 12:14 am (UTC)Oh, this is really interesting. I can see why he was touched and impressed by these guys! Very different but both very affecting.
(And I am always extremely relieved, when reading about executions, when the guy dies on the first blow...)
The speech was very treasonable, and I believe he was seven minutes at reading it
Ha!
(And I did mark the thousand lives trope! :P :) )
Re: Execution of two Jacobite Lords
Date: 2023-04-17 12:51 am (UTC)You have been well trained!