1730 protocols

[mildred_of_midgard]

selenak was kind enough to read and summarize Carl Hinrichs' Kronprinzenprozeß, which is a collection of documentary primary sources pertaining to the escape attempt in 1730. It has all the interrogations and a bunch of material that was new to us, though some of it we've seen.

General note: a look at the date tells me this was published in 1936. So far, nothing overt pointing to the Worst Fanboys, but it's not to be expected that something published then is critical of the general principle of obeying any supreme ruler. This being said:

Hinrichs the editor: So we're clear that the Great Prince Elector and F1 didn't get along, nor did FW and Fritz, nor did Fritz and FW2, nor did FW2 and FW3, nor did FW3 and FW4. Key fact here is that FW was the only son who actually was perfectly obedient to his dad and monarch in several Hohenzollern generations, despite more unlike than his precedessor than any of the other combinations. Which is why he was stunned and absolutely couldn't stand it when his son turned out to be disobedient.

(Sidenote from me: he doesn't say it here, but this being an obedient son to F1 thing even included F1's funeral. Which FW did in exactly the opulent style F1 would have wanted while already starting his austerity program everywhere else, including and especially his own household. So yes: tiny and not so tiny terror FW was a loyal and obedient crown prince and successor.)

FW had everything Fritz would have loved to have - an intellectual mother who got him the best teachers available (he loathed them and vice versa), all the splendour of a baroque court, all the access to art possible. He only saw the waste. Hinrichs' explanation for FW the obedient son, btw, is that FW did not just fear a vengeful Calvinist God but also had an almost mystical respect for "the King in Prussia", the institution, even before he himself filled it.

Otoh Hinrichs says that FW said about his intellectual mother (whom Hinrichs calls the first female intellectual of Germany) that she'd been a smart woman but a bad Christian, and that he showed her, as opposed to his father, "undisguised dislike and contempt".

12 years old Fritz finds among the many theological writings he's overwhelmed with one from Luther - "Von weltlicher Obrigkeit" - "Of the secular authoriy" - which gets him this priceless quote which because it has a key pun you can't repeat in English I have to give you in German first. Also, it's only possible in Luther's Renaissance German, modern German has the key word here slightly different.

Daher mußte David derzeiten nicht den Tempel bauen , darum , daß er viel Bluts vergofien und das
Schwert geführt hatte. Niicht, daß er hätte Unrecht daran getan , sondern daß er nicht konnte Chrifti figur sein , der ohne Schwert ein friedsam Reich haben sollte, sondern es mußte Salomo tun , das heißt auf deutſch "friedrich", oder friedsam, ein friedsam Reich hatte, damit das rechte friedsame Reich Chrifti, des rechten Friedrich und Salomo, könnte bedeutet werden.

Got it? That is why David could not build the Temple, for he had shed much blood and used d his sword. Not that he had been wrong to do so, but that is wy he could not be a Christ figure, who should have without a sword a peaceful realm, and that is why Solomon had to do it, whose name means "friedrich" or "peaceful", having a peaceful realm, so that the true peaceful realm of Christ, the true Friedrich and Solomon, could be foreshadowed.

Now, modern German for peaceful is "friedlich", with an l, not "friedrich", but who am I do gainsay father of the early modern German language Martin Luther, whose bible translation into German was incredibly important for the development of said language? Anyway, young Fritz, having to participate in the Tobacco parliament again, comes up with this Luther quote. I leave you imagine Dad's reaction. BTw, this also puts both FW's evoking of the David/Absalom (note: not David/Solomon) and Voltaire's "Solomon of the North" phrase into a new light.

[mildred_of_midgard's comments: Well, here's the thing. "Friedrich" has two components: fried, meaning "peace", and rich, meaning "king" or "ruler." Peaceful king. The two components of "friedlich" are fried, "peace", and -lich, which is cognate with the adjectival and adverbial suffix "-ly" in English. (In Old English, it was -lic(e).)

So "Friedrich" is not an exact counterpart of "Solomon", which has only the "peace" element*, but the rich is the same root, etymologically, as "Reich", meaning "kingdom". In Middle High German, the kingdom word was actually "rīch(e)", so the relationship was even more obvious.

So, while he does gloss "friedrich" as "peaceful" (and yes, who am I to argue how they used this word in his time?), the "friedsam Reich...friedsam Reich" phrase that Luther keeps using strikes me as the real wordplay on "Friedrich" here. Or at least the etymologically sound wordplay.

* As far as I and my two months of Biblical Hebrew plus some googling can tell.]

Grumbkow in the late 20s got a secret Imperial protection letter from Seckendorff in case FW dies and he's faced with a vengeful SD and her son.

Hinrich assures his readers that this book isn't meant as some kind of last word on FW and German's most famous father/son tragedy, he wants to write a biography about the man. For him, father and son are the heroes of the conflict while Katte "is just its victim" albeit one who rises to true human greatness in the end through it.

(Note: Our man Fontane, writing three quarters of a century earlier, has no doubt Katte is the hero of the story.)

(Lehndorff: They are both wrong. Peter Keith was the true hero. Colonel Keith, Sir, you don‘t mind me crushing a bit on you in between my immortal, albeit right now a bit resentful love for Heinrich and my current flame Charles Hotham?)

Okay, on to the interrogation protocols.

Protocols
The first one is dated Wesel, August 12th 1730, 8:30 am in the presence of his majesty the King. In it, Fritz says that he had told only "the then page Keith" about the first time he wanted to flee, but that plan was aborted. The second time, he told Katte, who according to Fritz approved and promised to come along. Fritz swears no one else knew and co-signs the protocol.

Question from me "the page Keith" = Not!Robert or Peter? The "page Keith" later in the protocol is definitely not!Robert as that deals with Fritz' actual escape plan, but I'm a bit stumped by the "ehemaligen Pagen Keith" earlier, which sounds like Peter, which would mean Fritz names him this early.

[mildred_of_midgard: I'm pretty sure it's Peter. That's not a problem, not only because I've always heard that Fritz named Keith and Katte very early on, but because Peter's August 6 desertion has already been discovered by FW and is the very reason an interrogation is taking place. Peter's desertion was the catalyst for this escape turning in FW's mind from his wretched son's usual misbehavior into a huge international plot to overthrow FW.

See, they go on this trip to visit Anspach, where Fritz's sister Friederike Luise is Margravine, and then they start working their way north near the Rhine toward Prussian territory up by the Netherlands, such as Cleves, where Wesel is. Fritz is still very far south, in Steinsfurt, when he attempts to escape on the 5th. Supposedly to Strasbourg, which makes sense at least as a first stop, since it's the first place over the border with France and is pretty near some of Rottembourg's estates. From there he could more safely move to England to join Peter.

Anyway, it's not until the 12th, when the royal party is moving north and approaching Wesel, that FW finds out that Peter deserted on the 6th in Wesel. That's when he flips out, sends Fritz ahead to Wesel, and has him interrogated that same day. That's when the shit really hits the fan, in other words.

See the chronology and map here.

On "not!Robert", see the Keiths.]

Second interrogation protocol of Fritz dated Wesel, August 13th. On that occasion, Fritz is asked, among other things, whether anyone has recced Katte to him, and he says no, no one, and again that only Katte and himself were involved. This time, the protocol also mentions "den desertierten Keith", i.e. definitely Peter; Fritz admits to having corresponded with him and occasionally having send him money, though not much since he himself didn't have much.

Third interrogation protocol, dated Wesel, August 15th, starts with FW saying Fritz is a lying liar who lies since they got the news Peter Keith hasn't gone to Straßburg or elsewhere in France but to the Netherlands and from there will probably head to England, which for FW means that Fritz lied in the 12th August interrogation when saying he wanted to go to France. FW (through the interrogator, Derschau, one of Fritz' least favourite people) threatens with torture. Fritz insists he hasn't ordered Peter to go to England and that he himself only wanted to go to France.

Questioned why, he says precisely because he knew FW would react like this, due to the marriage project, and he did not want to cause further trouble. Hence France.

Second interrogation of Not!Robert Keith the page is also on August 15th. Not!Robert is asked whether the Prince hasn't told him that his brother Lieutenant Keith also wanted to desert. Page Keith says no, on the contrary, the Prince told him not to tell his brother anything. Page Keith swears his brother never ever wrote to him about this business, either, and that in the last letter Peter just told him to bring three pair of shoes for him along when coming to Wesel, and that Page Keith could lodge with him.

New factoids about Katte's arrest: the postmaster who kept the letter overnight is called Borchward. He, along with the "auditeur" Rumpf and Lt. Glasenapp are interrogated about Katte's arrest, and Rumpf confirms that Katte didn't seem surprised. FW does not just suspect that Katte was warned, but that he was warned by Wilhelmine specifically. Katte even under direct threat of torture insists he has not been warned by anyone.

Seventh interrogation of Fritz, still in Wesel, on August 19th. By then, they have some of Peter Keith's papers read. Fritz is asked how Peter was to call himself post flight - "Graf Sparre" - and how he himself was planning to call himself - Graf d'Alberville.

Did Fritz order Peter to talk to the British or Dutch Ambassadors? No. He's urged again to admit he wanted to go to England. He says, no, to France, but that if Peter had been well received in the Netherlands he might have gone there next, but not to England.

Brief letter from Fritz (in German) to Dad also dated August 19th which swears he has said the truth and there had been no evil intentions as he's been accused of having. Address is always "mein lieber Papa", which is the one all the Hohenzollern kids used in their surviving letters to FW.

Also dated August 19th - order to Lepel to prepare two rooms in Küstrin for "a great prisoner", not named.

Very detailed orders about the transport to Küstrin (Fritz is only allowed to relieve himself in plain sight, not behind a bush or anything like that, for example). He's to be delivered to Küstrin "alive or dead", and in the case of any attempt to free him they do have order to kill him rather than risk an escape.

We've already talked about only three books (the bible and two more theology books), no instruments etc., also two servants.

Katte's first interrogation protocol is from August 27th. It's consistent with the species facti statement, including Katte exonerating Guy Dickens (FW REALLY wanted to hear it was all an English plot).

There's a note from FW (his own hand, not by secretary) dated August 28th, 9 o'clock, saying "They" - the interrogators - " should get tougher on Katte".

The next document IS the species facti (also dated August 28th.) I'll just say something about the parts that weren't in the transcription Mildred had given more earlier, i.e. the (...)

Katte was warned that if Fritz favor him, FW would dislike him. (Katte, Fritz will dislike anyone favored by his brothers and nephew, too.)

Katte told Fritz (he claims) that the French might accept him but they'd never let him go except through disadvantageous conditions and would totally exploit him.

The backstory Mildred wanted to know about:

Some years ago his highness had accused him that he of two horses, which had been given to hm from his majesty, kept the best one and sent the worst to his father. A year ago he (Katte) started to have a closer acquaintance with his highness, and it came to be because the prisoner has been often around Prince Heinrich. (Note: this is of course not the four year old kid but one of the Schwedt cousins who as grandkids of the Great Elector were also princes of the blood.) His Royal Highness had not been well intended towards him in the beginning, but the officers in Potsdam, who'd been his, the prisoner's schoolmates, had given his royal highness a different impression of the prisoner. Afterwards his royal highness had approached the prisoner a couple of times in Berlin, both because of his reading, which he described to his highness, and because he wanted to know whether the prisoner had an understanding of music and was a lover of the flute. Further Katte admits that he has been often with the Crown Prince in the afternoon because of the music, and in the most recent time in the evening,too, after retiring from his duties to the King for the night. But in the beginning he only visited the antechambre and exchanged just a few words with the prince en passant. The valet Gummersbach, editor notes, said in his interrogation on September 2nd about Katte's socializing with the prince that "Katte could come and go as he pleased and that no one was allowed to be there when he was with the crown prince".

Katte says Fritz said he had hopes of getting money from Rothenbourg (the French one) and also that Cardinal Fleury (France's PM at the time) would gladly receive him. To which Katte supposedly commented this would be really bad for the entire House of Brandenburg in the future, and Fritz said he was only considering it because FW was treating him so harshly.

Rochow (as in, brother-in-law of Katte, also like Keyserlingk FW-installed Fritz supervisor) in his statement says, among other things: Monsieur Katte, I find our Crown Prince very restless, I warn you as a good friend as I can see you are very familiar with him, that you should not try anything with him which you might later be sorry for, in short, he pleaded with him and asked that he should do likewise with the crown prince.

Fritz in between considered having Katte and "some others" knock Rochow out to escape him, but never got serious about this plan.

Fritz says in the interrogation of September 2nd that he intended to lay low at Rothenbourg's estate. He and Katte both insist in their interrogations that the Queen and Wilhelmine did not know, that Fritz explicitly forbade Katte to tell them. FW was less than convinced, which is why Katte was pressured about Wilhelmine some more.

In Katte's August 30th interrogation: "Question: As the Princess herself said to the accused that she wishes the Prince would come back, hadn't the accused revealed to her what had been planned about the flight?

Answer: No, the Crown Prince had always forbade him to tell the Queen and the Princess about this, which is why he'd been very careful not to.

When it is then pointed out to him that the Princess otherwise would have had no reason to speak with him in confidence if she hadn't known that he knew about this affair, he responds:

Answer: He hadn't told her anything but that the Crown Prince sends her his greetings et qu 'it étoit plus malade d'esprit que du corps, whereupon she had asked: whether he would escape or return, the accused should tell her upon his conscience, s'il feroit un tour d 'étourdi ou s'il reviendroit . The prisoner says that the Princess might have made a guess because after his return from Saxony he had to tell her what had happened there, and on that occasion she had asked him how the Prince was standing with the King. The prisoner had answered: badly, and that he was worried that the prince might try a coup de déesspoir, and if the Prince returned, he might talk to her further about this.

Personal note from FW to Grumbkow (in French): "You should interrogate day and night."

Protocol about the arrest of v. Ingersleben and poor Doris Ritter, and Doris' statements.

My God.The poor girl was only 16 (and a quarter). 16, and gets dragged into this and whipped all over Potsdam. Her and her parents' things were all searched, but nothing was found there but what she had already said she'd been given by Fritz, which was:

1.) 30 Ducats.
2.) A second hand dressing gown made of "bleumorant Gros du Tour" with silvery threads for which she'd bought some additional material to stitch it on (this used to be one of Fritz', and she'd altered it for herself)
3.) A green "contouche" with stitched in flowers
4.) A pair of bracelets made of mother-of-pearl and gold
5.) 7 inches orange coloured ribbons with silver.

The guys in charge of the interrogation say this was all older stuff and not of good quality, they hadn't found anything else, the parents swear there had been nothing improper about the relationship and ask for the King's mercy for their arrested daughter. Grumbkow asked Katte on August 31st about Doris Ritter, and Katte wrote: je me rappelle , qu'il me parlait dans son dernier voyage ici à Berlin d'une fille qu' il avait à Potsdam , qu ' il aimait beaucoup, la disant fille de chantre, peut être que c'est elle , qui a donné des fréquentes saignées à sa bourse. Je ne l'ai jamais vue et il ne m 'en a parlé qu ' une fois avant son départ comme regrettant son absence .

Hinrichs then quotes FW's orders to have her whipped and put into a workhouse for the rest of her life.

Rochow interrogation protocol from Sept. 1st: lots about the red coat Fritz had secretly made. (Cahn, this was important because on-the-run Fritz would have needed civilian clothing for a man of rank. Since the Comte d'Alberville clearly did not consider going undercover as an ordinary citizen.) Rochow insists he reported to FW about this suspicious red coat making in time and got the FW quotes to prove it.

Awwww. Final declaration from Fritz to the protocol of his September 2nd interrogation has this:

After the completed interrogation, the Crown Prince pleads that His Royal Majesty may consider him as the guilty party and Katte as the seduced one, and if the latter should be punished to take this in most merciful consideration. For Katte had done enough to advise him to abstain from his plan, but despite this he himself had never changed his opinion or plan; and if his royal majesty should intend to punish Katte by taking his life, (the Crown Prince) pleads that the punishment should rather be given to him, since he as a King's son has been the greater sinner. But if no death penalty was to fear, the commission should keep this declaration to themselves, which he could otherwise not help making, for he would never have a quiet conscience in this world again, if for his sake someone's life should be taken as punishment.

Since Grumbkow is part of the commission, this additionally verifies Fritz' mid 1730s statement about Katte from his letter to him.

Generaladiteur Mylius' protocol of FW's orders from September 4th includes, among other things, FW wanting the word "retraite" - which has been used so far - replaced by the word "desertion", the various questions we're already familiar with on the note of "didn't I do everything for you, didn't I try to make you love me from your childhood onwards?". There's also in more detail what FW in the official submission a year later will bring up again, the FW logic of "I treated you worse to make you confide in me and trust me and love me". To wit:

(FW speaking and rendered in conditionalis paraphrasing: The Crown Prince in this was unhappier than a servant or officer in the King's service who could not stand the King's face, nature or manner, for such a one could make himself sick and go home, where he wouldn't have to look at the King's displeased face anymore. The Crown Prince, however, was more unfortunate if he could not like his King and father's face, for he had nowhere to go to, and would have to remain here. The King could die today or tomorrow, or in twenty or thirty years, as old people do. So if the Crown Prince would not conform to the King's will, would not live according to the King's pleasure, he would have a sore and miserable life. But if he did the King's will and pleasure with a good and faithful behavior, and would abandon all his subtle scheming and evil temper against his father, he could have a calm and agreeable life. The King would do him favours if he could just look at him again. The King had admonished (the prince) further, but nothing had helped. So the King had told him this in the presence of a valet, and thought that (the prince) would now dislike his previous behavior and would correct it, but it hadn't helped. And so the King had told him off in front of all the officers of the King's regiment, and it still hadn't helped; so the King had done it in front of the generals and other people, with the result being what it was.

This was the bad treatment which the King had used to admonish him to do his duty. But he, the Prince, had this past winter avoided his father's eyes, and hadn't come to wish him good evening. Therefore, the King to admonish him to do his duty had grabbed him by his hair and thrown him on the ground, and made him kiss (the King's) feet, and ask for his pardon, whereupon the King had told him: I treat you as my child, not as an officer, which all the above named people can testify to.

(Btw, leaving all ethics and morals aside, this was another case of illogic on FW's part. Either Fritz is an officer in the Prussian army, in which case he has the claim to be treated as an officer, and his leaving the army is desertion, or he's FW's son and gets treated only as a son, in which case his attempt to leave is a private family matter. )

Rittmeister (cousin) Katte testifies, and there's also the letter from Rittmeister Katte to Rochow in which he (Cousin K) tells Rochow to keep an eye on Fritz and not to leave him alone for a second, especially with horses, but not to tell either the King or Fritz that he, the Rittmeister, has said this. Btw, this means that Cousin K didn't immediately throw Hans Hermann to the wolves but tried to keep it under control first.

Various writings from Mylius to FW pointing out that Katte's testimony is consistent through the interrogations. FW writes back he disagrees, Katte knows far more than he's letting on, more interrogations are called for, that he should be shown the instruments of torture and if necessary be treated to thumbscrews. (IBTW, the hangman who would have been in charge of the torture is called Master Hemmerlein, for fic purposes.) The commission should stop going so easy on Katte and Fritz, and if necessary torture both.

Upon which Grumbkow is the unlikely hero of the hour and in a letter from September 13 states that torture by law of the HRE is just not on at this point and one can't do it.

Then there's the Fritz interrogation protocol (September 13th) we're already familiar with. I have to excerpt one bit which is just, well:

16. Ob nicht aber dennoch der Kronprinz wider solche gute Vermahnung gehandelt und gegen Dero Seinen Vater gemaulet ?

R . Gemaulet habe er niemals. Wenn der König übel mit ihm zufrieden gewesen , so hätte er sérieux ausgesehen , weil fonften , wenn er anders ausgesehen , es das Ansehen haben mögen , als frage er nichts nach denen Reprimanden.

German from the Rokoko: 16:Whether the Crown Prince still hasn't acted against such good admonishment and whined against his father?

Response: He never whined. When the King had been discontent with him, he has looked serious, because otherwise, if he'd looked differently, it would have appeared that he didn't care about the reprimands.

That's our boy. He keeps insisting in the protocol this had been his and not Katte's idea, too. Re, the money, as in Katte's species facti, he used the diamond from the Saxon medal August the Strong had given him, plus, and this is is new to me, some jewelry from the Queen and Wilhelmine (a ring), in that they had given them both to him as presents and he pawned them (without their knowledge) to get cash.

Oh, and on page 102 we get the Austrian marriage plan.

Question: What caused the Prince to say such lies as (Katte) recently testified to in the interrogation that Count Seckendorf and General Lieutenant Grumbkow had proposed to him marriage to a Catholic Princess?

Response: Cessat.

It probably did not make much difference in the long run, but: Fritz, lying to your boyfriend about whose idea it was to consider marrying your future arch nemesis was not cool, and also stupid.

ETA: Have to add this from the next protocol, which is from the October 11th interrogation of Fritz in Küstrin:

From Katte's statements it is read out loud that the former sticks to his declaration that the Crown Prince had told him in his chamber: "They want me to marry a Catholic princess."

Response: He can't remember this, nor can he think of a reason why he should have said this. If he did say it, he may have easily forgotten it because the matter did not happen this way.

Fritz, I have all the sympathy in the world for you in this situation, but as excuses go, this is a lousy one, and shows how the horrible situation has affected your ability to come up with explanations. Also, I still want to know why on earth you felt the need to lie to Katte about this to begin with.

Zimmermann: And people think I made stuff up! I'm the only one who truly understood him! *waves "First MT/Fritz shipper of the planet" banner*

So, that October 11th interrogation protocol of Fritz also has this heartbreaking b it:

And as he heard from Grumbkow that the Queen has withdrawn her grace from him, he asks the King to return the maternal love and grace to him again.

...I suppose we can hope Fritz knew FW wanted him to believe SD was disowning him as well as everyone else and was playing along?

[mildred_of_midgard: Oh, god. I hope so. I mean, after 18 years of marital warfare, he has to know that the angrier Dad is, the happier Mom is, and vice versa, so...surely. She's been doing nothing but pushing the double marriage project for two years now--if he flees with the intent (even if he denies it) of going to England, which FW is insisting was the plan and for which there was indirect evidence in the form of Peter's destination, Fritz has to know that SD believes that he was going to England and she is totally happy with her boy and not sleeping furious with Dad.

selenak: re: did Fritz know that Grumbkow was lying on FW's behalf about SD disowning him: the more I think about it, the more I'm sure he did. In his later life, he never comes across as being insecure as to whether or not his mother loved him. The one point in the 1730s where for the first and last time he sounds tetchy about her in a letter to Wilhelmine is so rare precisely because of that, and in that letter he talks about the impossibility of making both their parents happy at the same time because if you're good with one the other one is incensed. So I think we can be sure he knew Grumbkow was talking bullshit but wanted to humor FW, especially if that meant he was allowed to communicate with Mom again. (I mean, we know he and Wilhelmine had letters smuggled to each other, but even Dickens mentions nothing about a secret Fritz-SD correspondence during the Küstrin year.)]

Then there are the war tribunal documents which we already know.

Ingersleben gets a few more months to convey his majesty's displeasure at him handing over messages from Fritz to Doris, and at Ingersleben playing chaperone while Fritz and Doris took strolls, walking with them, but otherwise he is in the clear.

Execution details
Katte's letters: the one to his father with the PS to his stepmother is in German, the one to Grandpa Wartensleben is written in French, and given in the French original, which I haven't seen before.

Ah. One footnote says that the original letter from Katte to Grandpa Wartensleben was probably in German, but it only exists anymore in a handwritten copy by councillor Isaac de Misonneau, who was a member of the French/Huguenot colony in Berlin. Hinrich says it would make sense if he'd copied the letter down in French, which the colony members still primarily used with each other. Hinrichs also points out that Misonneau's copy of the letter has several times French phrases crossed out and replaced by synonyms, which would indicate Misonnneau was considering several possible expressions, i.e. translating.

Then there's a dedication Katte wrote to Lt. von Holtzendorff (he shows up in Roes' novel "Zeithain" as an earlier love) in the book "De La Providence", from November 1730, giving the book to v. H.

Recevez, très cher ami, ce livre comme un témoignage d 'une sincère
amitié, que je Vous porte. Ce présent, n'est il point précieux par son débors,
il l'est d 'autant plus par le trésor inestimable qu ' il renferme. Ressouvenez
Vous en le lisant d ' un ami, qui ne Vous sauroit donner des marques plus
essentielles de ce caractère, qu 'en Vous excitant à admirer cette sagesse
suprême, qui gouverne l'univers avec une sagesse infinie. Comment Vous
pourrois - je prouver plus réellement la verité de ce que je tåche Vous per
suader c'est à dire d 'une amitié parfaite, qu 'en Vous donnant occasion de
Vous fortifier de plus en plus dans une verité, qui vous fraye le chemin au
salut. Je suis aux portes de la mort, Vous y viendrez aussi, quoique par la
grace de Dieu par un autre chemin . L 'a sainte Providence l' a voulu ainsi à
mon égard , l'admire donc sa sagesse dans sa conduite . S je meurs innocent
devant le monde, ce n 'est pas demême devant Dieu . Il nous a donné la vie ,
elle lui appartient, il faut donc la rendre, quand il la veut avoir, et tåcher
de la lui remettre, cette vie temporelle, pour que nous pussions être assurés
de l' Eternité. Souvenez Vous toujours de votre sincere ami de Katte .

[selenak: Hinrichs just says "De La Providence von Sherlock". No, really, "Sherlock". It's on page 143, check it out.

Detective mildred_of_midgard: William Sherlock, English churchman, wrote a discourse on Providence translated into French in 1721 in the Hague. At least it's Protestant! That makes more sense of why Katte was allowed to have it in prison.

Glancing at the volume in question, I see Sherlock is a fan of free will and reconciling that with the hand of Providence. Which I think would satisfy FW, and explains a lot. All right, then! We know what Katte was reading (other than the Bible) right before he died.]

Correspondence between Grandpa Wartensleben and FW as already known to us.

FW's letter to Preacher Müller with instructions. I knew the instructions, but the letter in its complete version mentions FW does not know Müller personally, he's just been recced to him.

Aha! The letter from Katte to Fritz is actually written by Müller, in his handwriting, according to him this is what Katte said.

The various reports on the execution as already quoted by Hoffbauer. It's mentioned that they were taken from their reprint in 1785 in the "Eklektische Monatszeitschrift", which was published in Lübeck (i.e. not on Prussian territory - Lübeck was a Hanse city - and a year before Fritz' death). The report by Garnison Preacher Besser (written for Hans Heinrich) goes further than Fontane and Hofbauer quote it, and actually addresses the question as to whether Hans Hermann's conversation was genuine or just a good show in the face of death for Fritz' sake, which would not have kept up had he lived. Linguistic note: he's referring not to Hans Hermann as "der (wohl)selige" - in English speaking habit this means "the late", but literally "the blessed", which here is a point. (By contrast, in Lehndorff's diary entry about the Hohenzollern sibling argument he also writes "der selige König" and "die selige Königin", by which he doesn't mean that FW and SD were necessarily blessed, just that these are the late King and Queen they're talking about.) Besser says he and Müller did their utmost to truly save Katte's soul, and he's sure they succeeded.

The late departed talked little, but hidden in his soul happened a lot, and he listened to all speeches attentively. It is not a little thing to allow yourself be prepared for your death, to fall from the height of secular happiness to the abyss, and more, to say goodbye, to enter your spot of execution, to face the executioner, to listen to the unchanged death sentence, to remove your own clothing and to face your death. These are all things which one can't just take as granted, but has to judge understanding that this was done by God who began the good work and should have the credit for its completion. (...) Truly, a just man goes with comfort even to this death. I think of him, the late/blessed departed, as now in the triumphant choir of the blessed in front of the throne of God and the Lamb, dressed in white clothing made bright by Christ's blood, and I believe this as certain as I hope to join them upon my own death. Oh my soul, may you die the death of this just man, and may my ending be like his!

I do not flatter, this your Excellency may well believe, and God be my witness, but I testify upon my conscience to the truth, and I only wish with all my heart that your Excellency and your noble family may find particular comfort in this. I imagine a grieved father's heart, which is why I ask God humbly that as he caused such a deep wound and tore the grievous cut into you, that he may be the best doctor and will heal you.

Theological notes: this Preacher Besser - who if you'll recall already used the "his most beloved Jonathan" comparison for Fritz - is sailing close to the FW criticizing wind here, in his certain declaration that Hans Hermann is one of the just before God's throne now. He all but calls him a martyr with the clad in white/Christ's blood imagery. He furtherly assures Hans Heinrich that this is NOT a David and Absolom case because he WILL find his son among the blessed.

Then there's the anonymous report by possibly Müller, which isn't from a reprint in the Eklektische Monatszeitung but directly from the secret state archive. We know the key bits already, especially:

When he approached the keep, he spotted his royal highness the crown prince at the window, which made him very happy; the latter called to him with heartfelt lamentation after throwing him a kiss across the sand: Mon cher Katte, je vous demande mille pardons, au nom de Dieu , pardon , pardon . Whereupon he put his hand to his mouth and replied with submissive reverence: Point de pardon , mon Prince, je meurs avec mille plaisirs pour vous. The Crown Prince called further, asked the major to come to him and tried to delay the execution, he would give up crown and scepter in writing, if only one let Katte live. But there were nor orders for this. Then they approached the circle made of 150 man infantry.

(Note: meaning the exchange took place before, not after Katte had reached the final spot of execution.)

The anonymous report writer who may or may not be Müller also says that Katte while the complete death sentence was read to him out loud again had his eyes consistently on the Crown Prince, who now and then with calls and moans was seen at the window, had also fainted a few times, which continued for five days.

This report says that Fritz did see Katte being put in the coffin at 2 pm, but then fainted again.

This report insists that Fritz did not learn Katte was to be executed until the morning it happened, when he was woken up. Then there are a few more details I haven't seen anywhere else: He had begged urgently to let him speak with (Katte) for an hour, which was something which the late Lieutenant had also asked for, or even just for fifteen minutes, but there were no orders for this. (The Prince) could not believe anything else but that the Lieutenant had to hate him now for being the cause of his death; which was why he had sent the Commandant to him twice, but the latter had assured him of the contrary. Then he sent the Major von Schack who brought him the assurance that it was God's holy will.

The rest
In a letter to Müller from November 8th, FW urges him to keep at it with the Fritz conversion. If Fritz ever gives the impression of falling back into hold habits instead of marching on the road of repentance he has now started, he'll lose all his titles, his place in the succession and depending on the severity of his offense his life. "He must now acknowledge that I know his evil heart."

And that's when Fritz discovers the joy of theological debates about predestination with Müller, which the next Müller report is all about.

The letters from Hans Heinrich seeking permission for leave and to bring his son's body home are quoted as well.

We get FW's detailed instructions for Fritz' educational rehabilitation program (economics, administration, absolutely no foreign politics whatsoever at first, lots of theology, naturally, no music of any type and only German as a language). Oh, and on Sunday, he has to get up at 4 am in the morning for his prayers.

There's an interesting short letter from Müller to FW from November 23rd; apparently Katte had given Müller messages to be mentioned to the garnison when preaching, and FW said no, no way, Müller was not to mention Katte in public ever again, and certainly in a religious service. Müller promises he will obey orders. Now, given Fritz had to attend those Sunday services for the Garnison, maybe Katte this way wanted to smuggle out messages, too? Anyway, no go.

On November 24th, the Prussian Resident in London, Degenfeld, writes a report to FW saying Katte's execution has triggered "verdrießliche Diskurse", "grumpy conversations" here in London. This incenses FW, who replies without dot or comma, I'm trying to imitate this a bit:

he is to reply that if there were 30 0000 such Kattes more, I'd put them all one after the other on the wheel it would have been enough that he was an oathbreaking scoundrel justicia aut pereat mundo as long as God has given me life I'm the master here and giving the orders and if I cut off 3000 of the most noble heads the English should know that I will not allow a second regent at my side who'd just make faces when heads do roll

This is the end of the documents. Next come the footnotes and annotations.

One footnote tells me that on January 22nd, there was a royal edict against the loaniing of money to minors "even members of the royal family", as the edict explicitly says.

Another footnote: the big Zeithain showing off camp of FW and August ended with a big hunting party on July 28th which everyone had to attend. Fritz used the occasion to ask August to put in a good word on his behalf with his father and ask him to let Fritz go to Italy. August did so, to which FW replied "Yes, if there is war."

One footnote points out that Katte - who according to his statements was convinced Fritz would return from the trip - still took the trouble to get Fritz' letters to safety, as confirmed by his (Katte's) servants Schröder and Bauer, and that was a big suspicious looking argument re his (lack of) veracity.