Talk:Hans Hermann von Katte

Move

I moved the text below here from Hans Hermann Von Katte's Letter, as it is a duplicate of a page already on afd: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Letter to his Father after King Frederick denies pardon. Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, not a collection of source texts, but by moving the text here the content will be kept and can be used in a future revision of Katte's biography. u p p l a n d 08:10, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

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" The night before the execution Katte expressed a desire to write to his father; he was left alone, but when the Major-General re-entered he was found walking to and fro. "It is too hard a task." said he. "I am so troubled that I cannot make a beginning." He wrote it however, and it was a sincere, beautiful letter.

He stirred up his very inmost thoughts. He re-called the troubles his father had taken to give him an education, in the hope that his old age would be comforted with the success of his son. He too had thought to promote himself in the world.

Letter:

"How I believed in my good fortune, my happiness; how I was filled with the certainty of vanity! Vain hope! Of what emptiness are the thoughts of men composed! How sadly the scene of my life ends! How different my present state to that which I imagined in my dreams! I must, instead of following the road to honor and glory, take that which leads to shame and a criminal's death! Cursed ambition, which glides into the heart from early childhood. Understand well, my father, and truly believe that it is God who disposes of me, God, without whose will nothing can happen, not even the fall of a sparrow to the ground... The harder, the more bitter the form of death, the more agreeable and sweet the hope of salvation! What is the shame and dishonor of this death, in comparison to the great future? Console yourself, my father! God has given you other sons, to whom he will accord, perhaps, more happiness in this world, and who will give to you, my father, the joy for which you have vainly hoped from me, and this, I sincerely desire, will come to pass. I thank youu with a filial respect for the true paternal love you have shown toward me from my infancy to this day. May the All-powerful God render to you a hundred-fold this love that you have given me! May he spare you to a ripe old age! May He nourish you in happiness, and quench your thirst with the grace of His Holy Spirit!"

After this, he added in a few words for his father's wife, whom he had loved as if his own mother, and for his brothers and sisters.

"I am at the portals of death! I must think of entering with a pure heart and sanctified soul. I have no time to lose!"

He requested the priest make another letter, this was carried out by the Major. "

Sources

The youth of Frederick the Great Ernest Lavisse, translated by Mary Bushnell Coleman, Chicago S.C. Griggs and Company 1892.

Remove trivia section, Braveheart

The following trivia section was removed:

"In the 1995 film Braveheart a character based on Katte appears as the (presumed) lover of the son of Edward I of England. The effeminate Prince's lover is killed by Edward in front of the Prince by being pushed from a window, the scene (excepting the method of execution) is almost directly lifted from the execution of Katte with the English Prince taking the role of Frederick the Great."

This needs to be sourced. Edward II of England was probably gay and his father exiled his lover Piers Gaveston. This seems to parallel the Braveheart plot. Unless there's specific evidence that the makers of Braveheart used the Katte, I don't think there's a connection.--Bkwillwm 07:01, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Removed Category

I've removed the category "Pederasts." If there is any suggestion of this, it isn't found in this article. Regardless of the nature of von Katte and Frederick's relationship, they were certainly of comperable age. If this is meant in reference to something else, it ought to be specified.142.177.91.230 05:58, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Removed "Chopping block"

Katte was beheaded with an execution sword. There was no chopping block. Executions with the sword were performed while the victim was kneeling or sitting in a chair, with his or her head held upright. Sometimes executioner's assitants seized the hair from above and held it to make sure the head did not move.--Kauko56 13:03, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

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