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 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. ;)