On the 2nd of this month, all the members of the said Council, who had come here the day before, assembled at the Office of the Auditor General, at the Grand Guard of the New Market, and having summoned Lieutenant Katte, they read before him first the sentence of the Council of War, which he listened to with great sang-froid, but when they then came to read the King's order, stating that his head would be cut off, he lost all composure to the point of shedding tears in abundance; which extremely touched the whole Council.
Yet another reminder that "boys/men don't cry" didn't really become engrained until the 19th century, even in militaristic cultures like Prussia. It is of course very human to cry when hearing your death sentence, especially after hearing a reprieve right before that. (I mean, prison isn't great, either, but undoubtedly Katte, like FW himself, assumed "for life" would mean for FW's life, not Katte's, and that Fritz would commute the sentence as soon as he got on the throne. So basically he first hears he's going to live, and then he's going to die, which must have been additionally heavy.
I did renember the two letters from Granddad Wartensleben, they come up in Jürgen Loh's account.
I also hadn't realized that in Berlin, no one was sure why Katte was being taken to Küstrin, though Johnn wrote that nobody could think of any other reason than to make Fritz watch. It would be strange, Johnn wrote, to send him there in order to pardon him.
I don't know about "no one", but Stratemann the eternal optimist and Disney-fier of FW certainly was convinced FW would pardon Katte (and interpreted the back and thro of messages between FW and the military tribunal as the tribunal wanting to condemn Katte and FW wanting to pardon him - right until the end and until he got the news of the beheading. I'm not sure how he interpreted the move to Küstrin, but it might have been "to commute Katte's sentence to imprisonment", too.
Anyway, no wonder that Katte told the guy from his regiment when the later wanted to cheer him up and talked about a last minute pardon "no, the tyrant will see blood". He may have doubted it and hoped for mercy right unil hearing his sentence, but not therafter.
Oh, wow, Johnn is saying Seckendorff appears very annoyed at not having been able to obtain mercy from FW for Lieutenant Katte, who was his (Seckendorff's) relative. I didn't know that!
Me neither. I mean, with all the nobility intermarrying for centuries, it doesn't surprise me, but if they are really closely related (as in, within the last two generations before Katte), it would, because you'd think it came up before. Seckendorff, as a reminder, is not Austrian himself though in Austrian/Imperial service at this point, he's Franconian, specifically, from the Ansbach area, and Ansbach is currently ruled by a sideline from the Hohenzollern family (which Fritz' sister Friederike marries into), so I could see some cross connections of Brandenburg and Ansbach nobililty happening.
I don't think it comes up in the correspondence between Eugene and Seckendorff, though? Otherwise I doubt Eugene would have been as tactless as to say "I was sorry for Katte, but now I've read the punctae, I guess he was guilty"?
Re: Suhm's departure - maybe I misremember, but I think it was Stratemann who heard the (wrong) rumour he'd end up in Königsstein because he'd lost his patron? If so, there might be more in Stratemann that I overlooked back when I read his dispastches, as Suhm wasn't my priority back then.
So basically he first hears he's going to live, and then he's going to die, which must have been additionally heavy.
I know, I was thinking that's got to be one of the worst possible ways to hear that! First false hope, then crushing doom.
Anyway, no wonder that Katte told the guy from his regiment when the later wanted to cheer him up and talked about a last minute pardon "no, the tyrant will see blood". He may have doubted it and hoped for mercy right unil hearing his sentence, but not therafter.
Yuuuup. Also, as we've talked about, neither the "the tyrant demands blood" nor the "lost all composure to the point of shedding tears in abundance" make it into the traditional accounts, in which he's just the perfect victim throughout.
I don't think it comes up in the correspondence between Eugene and Seckendorff, though? Otherwise I doubt Eugene would have been as tactless as to say "I was sorry for Katte, but now I've read the punctae, I guess he was guilty"?
Ooh, yeah, good point!
Re: Suhm's departure - maybe I misremember, but I think it was Stratemann who heard the (wrong) rumour he'd end up in Königsstein because he'd lost his patron? If so, there might be more in Stratemann that I overlooked back when I read his dispastches, as Suhm wasn't my priority back then.
No, I think you're right, but since Stratemann's information is sooo bad, I was hoping for more detail from a more reliable Danish source! Not that the Danes always get it right, but sometimes they have the goods. Maybe instead of going to Copenhagen, I should go to Dresden. ;)
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Katte lost all countenance
Date: 2025-05-03 11:37 am (UTC)Yet another reminder that "boys/men don't cry" didn't really become engrained until the 19th century, even in militaristic cultures like Prussia. It is of course very human to cry when hearing your death sentence, especially after hearing a reprieve right before that. (I mean, prison isn't great, either, but undoubtedly Katte, like FW himself, assumed "for life" would mean for FW's life, not Katte's, and that Fritz would commute the sentence as soon as he got on the throne. So basically he first hears he's going to live, and then he's going to die, which must have been additionally heavy.
I did renember the two letters from Granddad Wartensleben, they come up in Jürgen Loh's account.
I also hadn't realized that in Berlin, no one was sure why Katte was being taken to Küstrin, though Johnn wrote that nobody could think of any other reason than to make Fritz watch. It would be strange, Johnn wrote, to send him there in order to pardon him.
I don't know about "no one", but Stratemann the eternal optimist and Disney-fier of FW certainly was convinced FW would pardon Katte (and interpreted the back and thro of messages between FW and the military tribunal as the tribunal wanting to condemn Katte and FW wanting to pardon him - right until the end and until he got the news of the beheading. I'm not sure how he interpreted the move to Küstrin, but it might have been "to commute Katte's sentence to imprisonment", too.
Anyway, no wonder that Katte told the guy from his regiment when the later wanted to cheer him up and talked about a last minute pardon "no, the tyrant will see blood". He may have doubted it and hoped for mercy right unil hearing his sentence, but not therafter.
Oh, wow, Johnn is saying Seckendorff appears very annoyed at not having been able to obtain mercy from FW for Lieutenant Katte, who was his (Seckendorff's) relative. I didn't know that!
Me neither. I mean, with all the nobility intermarrying for centuries, it doesn't surprise me, but if they are really closely related (as in, within the last two generations before Katte), it would, because you'd think it came up before. Seckendorff, as a reminder, is not Austrian himself though in Austrian/Imperial service at this point, he's Franconian, specifically, from the Ansbach area, and Ansbach is currently ruled by a sideline from the Hohenzollern family (which Fritz' sister Friederike marries into), so I could see some cross connections of Brandenburg and Ansbach nobililty happening.
I don't think it comes up in the correspondence between Eugene and Seckendorff, though? Otherwise I doubt Eugene would have been as tactless as to say "I was sorry for Katte, but now I've read the punctae, I guess he was guilty"?
Re: Suhm's departure - maybe I misremember, but I think it was Stratemann who heard the (wrong) rumour he'd end up in Königsstein because he'd lost his patron? If so, there might be more in Stratemann that I overlooked back when I read his dispastches, as Suhm wasn't my priority back then.
Re: Katte lost all countenance
Date: 2025-05-03 02:04 pm (UTC)I know, I was thinking that's got to be one of the worst possible ways to hear that! First false hope, then crushing doom.
Anyway, no wonder that Katte told the guy from his regiment when the later wanted to cheer him up and talked about a last minute pardon "no, the tyrant will see blood". He may have doubted it and hoped for mercy right unil hearing his sentence, but not therafter.
Yuuuup. Also, as we've talked about, neither the "the tyrant demands blood" nor the "lost all composure to the point of shedding tears in abundance" make it into the traditional accounts, in which he's just the perfect victim throughout.
I don't think it comes up in the correspondence between Eugene and Seckendorff, though? Otherwise I doubt Eugene would have been as tactless as to say "I was sorry for Katte, but now I've read the punctae, I guess he was guilty"?
Ooh, yeah, good point!
Re: Suhm's departure - maybe I misremember, but I think it was Stratemann who heard the (wrong) rumour he'd end up in Königsstein because he'd lost his patron? If so, there might be more in Stratemann that I overlooked back when I read his dispastches, as Suhm wasn't my priority back then.
No, I think you're right, but since Stratemann's information is sooo bad, I was hoping for more detail from a more reliable Danish source! Not that the Danes always get it right, but sometimes they have the goods. Maybe instead of going to Copenhagen, I should go to Dresden. ;)