Wanderungen: Katte at Wust 2
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rheinsbergNow, a little bit on what we've learned from this visit to the Wust church and Katte family crypt. You may want to orient yourself with the family trees that I put together.
Pictures were collected from all over the internet. If any of them are yours and you would like me to take them down, please let me know.
Now we match up all the tombs to their occupants, using this list:
And this image, which lays them all out according to position:
The numbered list starts at the far right in this picture and proceeds to the left:
1) Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Graf von Katte: Son of Hans Heinrich and his second wife Katharina Elisabeth, thus half brother to Hans Hermann. Killed in a duel by his brother. 1721-1748. The rightmost tomb, by the window.
2) Katharine Elisabeth, nee von Bredow: Second wife of Hans Heinrich, stepmother to Hans Hermann. 1696-1754. Second tomb from the right.
3) Hans Heinrich Graf von Katte: Father of Hans Hermann. Made a field marshal and a count by Friedrich immediately after he became king. 1681-1741. Middle tomb, with an effigy and Minerva down at the foot.
I found this transcription of the inscription (i.e. I am not guaranteeing its accuracy) [ETA: I haven't yet checked it for accuracy, since obtaining a mostly readable image of the text.]: Hans Heinrich Graf Katt. Sr. Königl. Majest. in Preussen. Hochbestallter General Feldt Marechal. Des Schwartzen Adler und Johanniter Ordens Ritter. Gouverneur der Vestung Colberg. Obrister über ein Regiment Cuirassirer. Amtshauptmann der Aempter Zedenick u. Lieben Walde. Erbherr auf Wust, Malitz, Gotlin und Schonefeld. Ist geboren Ao MDCLXXXI, D. 16. Octobr. Gestorben im Feldlager bey Gettien D. 30. May MDCCXLI, seines Alters 59 Jahr 7 Monat 14 Tage
Headless bas relief of Minerva on the foot of Hans Heinrich's tomb:
4) Dorothee Sophie, nee von Wartensleben: Mother of Hans Hermann and first wife of Hans Heinrich. Daughter of Field Marshal Alexander Hermann von Wartensleben. Blue and white tomb with a bible on it.
5) Friedrich Albrecht Wilhelm Graf von Katte: Son of Hans Heinrich and his second wife Katharina Elisabeth, thus half brother to Hans Hermann. Killed in a duel by his brother. 1725-1748. The leftmost tomb, by Hans Hermann's grave, with the candelabra on it.
6) Our Hans Hermann, orthogonal to the others:
7) Not in the crypt, but in the church: Dorothee Katt, first wife of Hans Heinrich's father, died before Hans Heinrich was born and unrelated to the rest of our Kattes:
8) This picture taken standing right by the door. There are two tombs immediately in front of us, between us and Hans Hermann.
The rightmost tomb is "Boot-Katte", a first cousin once removed of Hans Hermann, who was so obsessed with collecting boots that he got this nickname. 1761-1845.
9) The leftmost tomb in the above picture is Marie von Katte, the last of the Wust Katte family line (the current Kattes are from a more distant ancestor of Hans Hermann): 1822-1908.
10) Facing to the right of the door are the remaining two tombs:
The nearer one is August Friedrich Karl von Katte, another first cousin once removed of Hans Hermann, who died at Jena-Auerstadt, the big Prussian defeat at the hands of Napoleon. 1756-1806.
11) The final tomb, with the weeping angel on it, is Ludolf August, first cousin of Hans Hermann. Ludolf August became heir to the Wust holdings after the male line of Hans Heinrich died out. Hans Hermann was executed (1730), Hans Heinrich died in camp (1741), and the two remaining sons of Hans Heinrich killed each other in a duel (1748). Shortly thereafter, in or around 1751, Fritz arranged a marriage of an heiress (Lehndorff's cousin) into the Katte family, without caring which Katte she married.
Ludolf ended up married to Katharina du Rosey, an heiress, and first cousin of Count Lehndorff, whom Lehndorff had wanted to marry and been deeply upset he couldn't.
Hans Heinrich
Wikipedia has Hans Heinrich dying May 31 (one-year anniversary of FW's death, for those of you for whom that date doesn't jump out at you) instead of May 30. But I went and dug up more info on Hans Heinrich's death, and found both corroborating evidence for the 30th, the date given on his tomb, as well as new goodies.
In particular, I found a book entitled Briefe aus der zeit des ersten schlesischen kriege, "Letters from the time of the first Silesian War." Now, this is in fact the first Silesian War. FW died May 31, 1740, Fritz inherited, Fritz invaded Silesia in December 1740, he had his first real battle April 1741. Now it's May 1741, Hans Heinrich is in the camp at Gettien, and he's dying.
Where is Gettien? Near Brandenburg (so he's not far from home at all).
Wust is too small to show at this resolution, so I put a W over it. Everything else I circled.
I've indicated Potsdam, Kostrzyn (Küstrin), and Genthin, which is the modern spelling of Gettien. I also circled Rheinsberg just so everyone can see where it is, even though it's not directly relevant to this discussion. Both Wust and Küstrin are about 100 km from Berlin, so 200 km from each other (the distance Hans Hermann's body had to travel).
Thus, you can see if Hans Heinrich is dying at Genthin, he's quite close to home. 20 km, it looks like.
Now, those letters from the first Silesian war give me two passages relevant to Hans Heinrich's death. On May 27, "Der General-Feld-Marschall Graf von Katte liegt nebst seiner Gemahlin im Lager bei Brandenburg tödlich krank damieder." "He's lying next to his wife, deathly ill, in the camp by Brandenburg."
Then on June 3, "sondern es ist auch aus dem Lager bey Brandenburg die Nachricht eingelaufen, daß daselbst am 30 passati Abends nach 6 Uhr S. Exc. der General-Feld-Marschall Graf von Katt aus dieser Zeit in die Ewigkeit verjetzt worden." "The news also came from the camp by Brandenburg that there on the evening of the 30th, after 6 o'clock, His Excellency Field Marshal von Katt passed into eternity."
Now, you may not realize it, but these letters contradict Wikipedia yet again! But they are consistent with the dates given in the crypt itself. Namely, that "next to his wife" bit. I had toldselenak that Hans Hermann's stepmother, who was Hans Heinrich's second wife, died in 1736, because that's what Wikipedia told me. But if you check the picture above with the list of inhabitants of the tombs, number 2, Katharina Elisabeth von Bredow, second wife, doesn't die until 1754!
Strike 2 for Wikipedia. So I guess she must have been at Wust or in Berlin or somewhere and come to be by her dying husband. He was 59, and judging by "krank," it sounds like he's dying of natural causes rather than a wound (can "krank" be used of a wound?), which also makes sense if he's near Brandenburg instead of in Silesia. Unless perhaps he was on his way home to recover from a bad wound and it got infected or something. But we do know that illnesses run rampant in army camps, especially in the days before the importance of hygiene was discovered, so illness makes perfect sense. Especially at his age.
Oh, Wikipedia also has Hans Heinrich dying at Reckahn (10 km south of Brandenburg, so at least the right general vicinity), and buried in the Garrison Church (where Fritz and FW were initially buried until the Nazis moved them for safekeeping), then removed to the Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf in Berlin after the bombing of the Garrison Church. Well, Fontane claims he saw Hans Heinrich buried here in the crypt at Wust, and the Wust people today seem pretty sure that's him, so...strike 3? 4? for Wikipedia.
Now onto his first wife. Hans Hermann's mother. Wikipedia has her dying November 5, 1707 (in Brussels). The image of the list of tombs above has her (4) dying in 1706. Now, this is interesting, because my sources are pretty consistent about the crypt itself being built by Hans Heinrich in 1706/1707, and one mentions that he had to commission it, because his wife died suddenly (she would have been maybe 21 or 22 in 1706) and the normal burial place (my source says tower crypt, but I'm not sure what tower, because the church tower was only built in 1727; unless they mean *under* the tower that's now there) of the Kattes was overcrowded. So that would make sense if she died in 1706. So strike 5 for Wikipedia, probably.
That means she prooobably didn't die of the plague. Also, if you believe Wikipedia (ahahaha), her last child was born October 5, 1706. Dying suddenly in late 1706 would make sense if she died from childbirth, although not so much if she died November 5 instead of October 5. If you assume an off-by-one error on both month and year, she died in childbed. Otherwise, I don't know. She could have fallen downstairs and broken her neck, Amy Robsart-style. It's looking less and less likely that she died of the plague in 1707, though.
There's also that mysterious Hans Katte whose image is carved is in the Katteloge inside the church. My sources say he died 1716, age 11. I can't find anyone in Wikipedia or the genealogy sites that fits that description. However, if you trust the Wikipedia dates for the other kids (ahahaha), there's just enough time for one kid to have been born between Hans Hermann (February 1704) and Luise Charlotte (November 30, 1705) and be 11 in 1716. That would mean that Hans Heinrich named his first and second-born sons, a year apart, Hans. Now, while the Habsburgs were naming all their daughters Maria [Something Else] and calling them "Something Else", this does not appear to have been the custom of the Kattes. They seem to go for one Hans per generation, often but not always the oldest son.
But the timing fits, especially since we know Hans Heinrich was commissioning a crypt in 1706/1707, a manor in 1727, and a church tower in 1727. A carving in 1716 would fit right in.
So did Hans Hermann have a brother close in age who died young? I do not know!
Outstanding questions I would ask and things I would do if I went there/dubconned someone else into going ;):
1. What did Hans Heinrich die of? Why was he at camp near Brandenburg? Did he go to Silesia? Was he on his way back because he was sick? Was he wounded?
2. When exactly did Dorothee Sophie von Katte die? 1706 or 1707? Do we know of what?
3. Where are the previous generations of von Kattes buried? CAN I SEE THEM.
4. Who's Hans Katte, d. 1716? When was he born? Was he the son of Hans Heinrich and Dorothee Sophie? Where is he buried? Do we know what he died of? [ETA: Thanks to selenak, we are told that this is the Hans von Katte who had the church renovated in a Baroque style during the Thirty Years' War.]
5. Match up all the tombs for sure, and get the writing on each one, especially the one on the far right that I think is the brother who died in the duel. He seems to have a lengthy inscription. [ETA: thanks, selenak!] Do we know any more details on this duel? One of my sources says "over a woman" and another says "over the inheritance." [ETA: see comments, yet again thanks to selenak, the awesomest of all researchers.]
6. Get good-quality close-up photos of all the info on the walls, including the pictures of the opened tombs. [ETA: thanks, selenak!]
7. What are the dates for the carvings of the three Kattes on the outside of the church?
8. What are all the documentary sources for all this information?? Do they have any other information that is of interest to gossipy sensationalists?
9. Can I kind of maybe just get a glimpse of the 1729 Hans Hermann painting, or even a picture of the same? I just want to know what it looks like, I don't need to see the original or anything. Pleeeeeaaase??
Pictures were collected from all over the internet. If any of them are yours and you would like me to take them down, please let me know.
Now we match up all the tombs to their occupants, using this list:
And this image, which lays them all out according to position:
The numbered list starts at the far right in this picture and proceeds to the left:
1) Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Graf von Katte: Son of Hans Heinrich and his second wife Katharina Elisabeth, thus half brother to Hans Hermann. Killed in a duel by his brother. 1721-1748. The rightmost tomb, by the window.
2) Katharine Elisabeth, nee von Bredow: Second wife of Hans Heinrich, stepmother to Hans Hermann. 1696-1754. Second tomb from the right.
3) Hans Heinrich Graf von Katte: Father of Hans Hermann. Made a field marshal and a count by Friedrich immediately after he became king. 1681-1741. Middle tomb, with an effigy and Minerva down at the foot.
I found this transcription of the inscription (i.e. I am not guaranteeing its accuracy) [ETA: I haven't yet checked it for accuracy, since obtaining a mostly readable image of the text.]: Hans Heinrich Graf Katt. Sr. Königl. Majest. in Preussen. Hochbestallter General Feldt Marechal. Des Schwartzen Adler und Johanniter Ordens Ritter. Gouverneur der Vestung Colberg. Obrister über ein Regiment Cuirassirer. Amtshauptmann der Aempter Zedenick u. Lieben Walde. Erbherr auf Wust, Malitz, Gotlin und Schonefeld. Ist geboren Ao MDCLXXXI, D. 16. Octobr. Gestorben im Feldlager bey Gettien D. 30. May MDCCXLI, seines Alters 59 Jahr 7 Monat 14 Tage
Headless bas relief of Minerva on the foot of Hans Heinrich's tomb:
4) Dorothee Sophie, nee von Wartensleben: Mother of Hans Hermann and first wife of Hans Heinrich. Daughter of Field Marshal Alexander Hermann von Wartensleben. Blue and white tomb with a bible on it.
5) Friedrich Albrecht Wilhelm Graf von Katte: Son of Hans Heinrich and his second wife Katharina Elisabeth, thus half brother to Hans Hermann. Killed in a duel by his brother. 1725-1748. The leftmost tomb, by Hans Hermann's grave, with the candelabra on it.
6) Our Hans Hermann, orthogonal to the others:
7) Not in the crypt, but in the church: Dorothee Katt, first wife of Hans Heinrich's father, died before Hans Heinrich was born and unrelated to the rest of our Kattes:
8) This picture taken standing right by the door. There are two tombs immediately in front of us, between us and Hans Hermann.
The rightmost tomb is "Boot-Katte", a first cousin once removed of Hans Hermann, who was so obsessed with collecting boots that he got this nickname. 1761-1845.
9) The leftmost tomb in the above picture is Marie von Katte, the last of the Wust Katte family line (the current Kattes are from a more distant ancestor of Hans Hermann): 1822-1908.
10) Facing to the right of the door are the remaining two tombs:
The nearer one is August Friedrich Karl von Katte, another first cousin once removed of Hans Hermann, who died at Jena-Auerstadt, the big Prussian defeat at the hands of Napoleon. 1756-1806.
11) The final tomb, with the weeping angel on it, is Ludolf August, first cousin of Hans Hermann. Ludolf August became heir to the Wust holdings after the male line of Hans Heinrich died out. Hans Hermann was executed (1730), Hans Heinrich died in camp (1741), and the two remaining sons of Hans Heinrich killed each other in a duel (1748). Shortly thereafter, in or around 1751, Fritz arranged a marriage of an heiress (Lehndorff's cousin) into the Katte family, without caring which Katte she married.
Ludolf ended up married to Katharina du Rosey, an heiress, and first cousin of Count Lehndorff, whom Lehndorff had wanted to marry and been deeply upset he couldn't.
Hans Heinrich
Wikipedia has Hans Heinrich dying May 31 (one-year anniversary of FW's death, for those of you for whom that date doesn't jump out at you) instead of May 30. But I went and dug up more info on Hans Heinrich's death, and found both corroborating evidence for the 30th, the date given on his tomb, as well as new goodies.
In particular, I found a book entitled Briefe aus der zeit des ersten schlesischen kriege, "Letters from the time of the first Silesian War." Now, this is in fact the first Silesian War. FW died May 31, 1740, Fritz inherited, Fritz invaded Silesia in December 1740, he had his first real battle April 1741. Now it's May 1741, Hans Heinrich is in the camp at Gettien, and he's dying.
Where is Gettien? Near Brandenburg (so he's not far from home at all).
Wust is too small to show at this resolution, so I put a W over it. Everything else I circled.
I've indicated Potsdam, Kostrzyn (Küstrin), and Genthin, which is the modern spelling of Gettien. I also circled Rheinsberg just so everyone can see where it is, even though it's not directly relevant to this discussion. Both Wust and Küstrin are about 100 km from Berlin, so 200 km from each other (the distance Hans Hermann's body had to travel).
Thus, you can see if Hans Heinrich is dying at Genthin, he's quite close to home. 20 km, it looks like.
Now, those letters from the first Silesian war give me two passages relevant to Hans Heinrich's death. On May 27, "Der General-Feld-Marschall Graf von Katte liegt nebst seiner Gemahlin im Lager bei Brandenburg tödlich krank damieder." "He's lying next to his wife, deathly ill, in the camp by Brandenburg."
Then on June 3, "sondern es ist auch aus dem Lager bey Brandenburg die Nachricht eingelaufen, daß daselbst am 30 passati Abends nach 6 Uhr S. Exc. der General-Feld-Marschall Graf von Katt aus dieser Zeit in die Ewigkeit verjetzt worden." "The news also came from the camp by Brandenburg that there on the evening of the 30th, after 6 o'clock, His Excellency Field Marshal von Katt passed into eternity."
Now, you may not realize it, but these letters contradict Wikipedia yet again! But they are consistent with the dates given in the crypt itself. Namely, that "next to his wife" bit. I had told
selenak that Hans Hermann's stepmother, who was Hans Heinrich's second wife, died in 1736, because that's what Wikipedia told me. But if you check the picture above with the list of inhabitants of the tombs, number 2, Katharina Elisabeth von Bredow, second wife, doesn't die until 1754!Strike 2 for Wikipedia. So I guess she must have been at Wust or in Berlin or somewhere and come to be by her dying husband. He was 59, and judging by "krank," it sounds like he's dying of natural causes rather than a wound (can "krank" be used of a wound?), which also makes sense if he's near Brandenburg instead of in Silesia. Unless perhaps he was on his way home to recover from a bad wound and it got infected or something. But we do know that illnesses run rampant in army camps, especially in the days before the importance of hygiene was discovered, so illness makes perfect sense. Especially at his age.
Oh, Wikipedia also has Hans Heinrich dying at Reckahn (10 km south of Brandenburg, so at least the right general vicinity), and buried in the Garrison Church (where Fritz and FW were initially buried until the Nazis moved them for safekeeping), then removed to the Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf in Berlin after the bombing of the Garrison Church. Well, Fontane claims he saw Hans Heinrich buried here in the crypt at Wust, and the Wust people today seem pretty sure that's him, so...strike 3? 4? for Wikipedia.
Now onto his first wife. Hans Hermann's mother. Wikipedia has her dying November 5, 1707 (in Brussels). The image of the list of tombs above has her (4) dying in 1706. Now, this is interesting, because my sources are pretty consistent about the crypt itself being built by Hans Heinrich in 1706/1707, and one mentions that he had to commission it, because his wife died suddenly (she would have been maybe 21 or 22 in 1706) and the normal burial place (my source says tower crypt, but I'm not sure what tower, because the church tower was only built in 1727; unless they mean *under* the tower that's now there) of the Kattes was overcrowded. So that would make sense if she died in 1706. So strike 5 for Wikipedia, probably.
That means she prooobably didn't die of the plague. Also, if you believe Wikipedia (ahahaha), her last child was born October 5, 1706. Dying suddenly in late 1706 would make sense if she died from childbirth, although not so much if she died November 5 instead of October 5. If you assume an off-by-one error on both month and year, she died in childbed. Otherwise, I don't know. She could have fallen downstairs and broken her neck, Amy Robsart-style. It's looking less and less likely that she died of the plague in 1707, though.
There's also that mysterious Hans Katte whose image is carved is in the Katteloge inside the church. My sources say he died 1716, age 11. I can't find anyone in Wikipedia or the genealogy sites that fits that description. However, if you trust the Wikipedia dates for the other kids (ahahaha), there's just enough time for one kid to have been born between Hans Hermann (February 1704) and Luise Charlotte (November 30, 1705) and be 11 in 1716. That would mean that Hans Heinrich named his first and second-born sons, a year apart, Hans. Now, while the Habsburgs were naming all their daughters Maria [Something Else] and calling them "Something Else", this does not appear to have been the custom of the Kattes. They seem to go for one Hans per generation, often but not always the oldest son.
But the timing fits, especially since we know Hans Heinrich was commissioning a crypt in 1706/1707, a manor in 1727, and a church tower in 1727. A carving in 1716 would fit right in.
So did Hans Hermann have a brother close in age who died young? I do not know!
Outstanding questions I would ask and things I would do if I went there/dubconned someone else into going ;):
1. What did Hans Heinrich die of? Why was he at camp near Brandenburg? Did he go to Silesia? Was he on his way back because he was sick? Was he wounded?
2. When exactly did Dorothee Sophie von Katte die? 1706 or 1707? Do we know of what?
3. Where are the previous generations of von Kattes buried? CAN I SEE THEM.
selenak, we are told that this is the Hans von Katte who had the church renovated in a Baroque style during the Thirty Years' War.]selenak!] selenak, the awesomest of all researchers.]selenak!]7. What are the dates for the carvings of the three Kattes on the outside of the church?
8. What are all the documentary sources for all this information?? Do they have any other information that is of interest to gossipy sensationalists?
9. Can I kind of maybe just get a glimpse of the 1729 Hans Hermann painting, or even a picture of the same? I just want to know what it looks like, I don't need to see the original or anything. Pleeeeeaaase??
