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Friedrich von der Trenck

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Friedrich von der Trenck

Friedrich Freiherr von der Trenck (16 February 1726 – 25 July 1794) was a Prussian officer, adventurer, and author.

Coat of arms

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Coat of arms of the noble family von der Trenck, known as Stier

The coat of arms of the Trenck family depicts in red the head of a silver bull with golden tongue and golden horns. Below there are two golden stars. The German word for "bull" is Stier which explains why the family was also known as Stier.

Life

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Von der Trenck was born in Haldensleben, which is north of the city of Magdeburg, today in Saxony-Anhalt, then prussian ruled Duchy of Magdeburg, on 16 February 1727. His parents were Major-General Baron Christopher Ehrenreich von der Trenck (1677-1740)[1] and Marie Charlotte von Derschau. His father was transferred to Königsberg in 1729. Friedrich's grandfather was Albrecht Frederick von Derschau, who was President of the Royal Law Court in Königsberg.

Documents show that Friedrich was a law student in 1741 at the University of Königsberg. In November 1742 he became a cadet in Frederick the Great's garde de corps and six weeks later was given the commission of Cornet. In August 1744 during the Silesian Wars Friedrich was sent to Silesia and became an orderly officer of Frederick the Great. Unfortunately for Friedrich, his first cousin Baron Franz von der Trenck, who was on the side of Austria, nearly captured Frederick the Great and returned his cousin's horses that had been taken by an Austrian officer. Rumors spread that Friedrich was an Austrian spy and after it was learned that he was Franz von Trenck's sole heir, the rumors were impossible to silence. Friedrich was imprisoned one year later, in 1745, at Glatz under the guard of Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué. The king ordered that Friedrich had to sit on his own gravestone.

In 1746, von der Trenck escaped from the fortress of Glatz (Kłodzko). Then, in 1749, he obtained an employment as Rittmeister of an imperial cuirassier regiment in Hungary. He traveled to Russia where he, or so he claimed, became gentleman of the bed chamber in the court of Tsarina Elizabeth of Russia. He fell in love with a married woman, whose name he never revealed.

In 1753, he went to Danzig for the funeral of his mother, but was again captured on the orders of Frederick II and was sent to the Citadel Magdeburg [de] in Magdeburg. To prevent him from attempting to escape, they fastened his hands, feet, and body with heavy chains and manacles. In 1763, he was released through the intervention of Empress Maria Theresa.

During the next ten years, von der Trenck led an active life. He busied himself in writing literature, running a wine trading business, and travelling to England and France. His autobiography Friedrichs Freyherrn von der Trenck merkwürdige Lebensgeschichte (1787, first English translation 1788 with the title Memoirs of Frederick Baron Trenck, Written by himself. Translated from the German original, by an officer of the Royal Artillery) became popular reading in the late 18th century.

In December 1765, he married Maria Elisabeth de Broe zu Dipenbendt, who bore him fourteen children.

In August 1787, the Prussian King Frederick Wilhelm II granted Friedrich and his wife a yearly pension. The Austrians also granted him a pension.

By the order of Austria, von der Trenck was sent as an observer of the events of the French Revolution to Paris, where he was accused as a spy and executed by the guillotine on 25 July 1794, two days before the fall of Robespierre and the end of The Terror.

The son of Friedrich von der Trenck, the Austrian Lieutenant Field Marschall Karl Albrecht's von der Trenck, inherited the title of Count, a title which the King of Prussia had awarded his father after his father's death. When Karl died the title was inherited by his brother's son Leopold von der Trenck.

Literature and film

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Hohenzollern. Tragic Private Lives. By Douglas Norman Parker. Universal Publishers, Boca Raton, Florida, USA. ISBN 1581124864. 230 pages. This work will be freely available for download from Internet Archive https://archive.org/ and Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au/. Extensive original research on Princess Anna Amalie of Prussian & Baron Frederick von der Trenck. Including extensive bibliography, magnificent photographs, maps & genealogy.

Trenck and his life feature in many novels and he has been the subject of several films.

Notes

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Regarding personal names: Freiherr is a former title (translated as 'Baron'). In Germany since 1919, it forms part of family names. The feminine forms are Freifrau and Freiin.

References

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  1. ^ Ernst Heinrich Kneschke: Neues allgemeines deutsches Adels-Lexicon. Band 2. New York 1996
  2. ^ Die Merkwürdige Lebensgeschichte des Friedrich Freiherrn von der Trenck at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  3. ^ Trenck – Zwei Herzen gegen die Krone at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata

The Life section of this page was taken from Hohenzollern, Tragic Private Lives by Douglas Norman Parker Archived 23 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine.

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