The Stutterheim scandal

Sorry David this is Wikipedia and Amazon presumably cross fertilising (I have bought his account of Austerlitz but haven't read it yet)). This is very odd. Suicide on the day he (presumably) is advised he'd be promoted. Unless he is promoted after he commits suicide, posthumously to deflect rumour? Austria was at peace, he'd survived the wars with a very good reputation. He appears to have been a "Hawk", disdainful of those who wished peace. PTSD after two years out of the firing line? Is the "scandal" the suicide? Did he do it BECAUSE of the promotion?

https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/BLK%C3%96:Stutterheim,_Friedrich_Heinrich_Ludwig_von

It seems odd to have reached such a decision when, as you mention, he was still actively involved in diplomacy, and presumably knew of his promotion before it was officially announced. What provoked him, and macabrely how did he effect it? Pistol, razor?

Looks like the authors of Wiki have got themselves in a right muddle here - quelle surprise! The German Wiki lists:

1) Johann Freiherr (k. k. General-Major, geb. zu Iglau in Mähren 30. October 1803, gest. zu Wien 25. Jänner 1870)

He seems not to be related to the famous Karl.

2) Franz von (k. k. Oberst u. Ritter des Maria Theresien-Ordens, geb. im Jahre 1774, gest. zu Basel 3. Jänner 1814).

He is not related to Karl.

3) Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von (k. k. General, geb. um das [238] Jahr 1770, gest. im Frühjahr 1811).

Wiki distinguishes him from Karl.

4) Karl Freiherr von (k. k. Feldmarschall-Lieutenant und Ritter des Maria Theresien-Ordens, geb. zu Dresden 2. August 1776, gest. zu Wien im Jahre 1811).

This is the famous author of the work on Austerlitz and sometime member of the diplomatic service.

5) Joseph Freiherr (k. k. Feldmarschall-Lieutenant und Ritter des Maria Theresien-Ordens, geb. zu Neustadt in Mähren im J. 1764, gest. zu Lemberg in Galizien 21. Juli 1831

He was the author of the memoir on Marengo.

Wiki USA refers to Karl Daniel Gottfried Wilhelm von Stutterheim, born 6 August 1770 – died 13 December 1811, served in the Prussian and Saxon armies during the French Revolutionary Wars, leaving the latter service in 1798. He spent most of his career in the army of Habsburg Austria and the Austrian Empire.

There are references to the Oesterreichische National-Encyklopädie on Internet-Archive https://archive.org/details/oesterreichisch01grgoog/page/234/mode/2up which gives:

1)  Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von (General der Kavallerie) 1770 - 1811

and gives him the career of Karl.

2) Joseph Freiherr (k. k. Feldmarschall-Lieutenant) 1765-1831

Going back from Wiki USA, the first reference is: Leopold Kudrna. Bibliographical Dictionary of all Austrian Generals during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars 1792-1815: Karl von Stutterheim

https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/biographies/Austria/AustrianGenerals/c_AustrianGeneralsS2.html

The Printed Sources are:

ADB 37, p.77f. (wrong: b. Dresden, 1774) | Hirtenfeld 2, p.1030f. (wrong: b. 1774) | MD 5, p.98 | MilSchem | Stutterheim, Eckart von: Die Herren und Freiherren von Stutterheim / Alt-Stutterheim. Lebensbilder von Kurt v. Stutterheim (= Bibliothek familiengeschichtlicher Arbeiten 33), Neustadt a.d. Aisch 1965, p.84f., p.249ff. | Wurzbach 40, p.241ff. (mentions two persons: "Karl" and "Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig". Both are identical with Daniel Gottfried Wilhelm / wrong: b. Dresden 02.08.1776) | WZ, 18.12.1811

Kudrna has obviously followed Eckhart von Stutterheim's 1965 book on the family genealogy. However, he states: Born: Berlin / Prussia, 06.08.1770. Died: Vienna, 13.12.1811 It would seem unlikely that a Saxon noble would be born in Berlin, so there might be some confusion with (Wiki again) Joachim Friedrich von Stutterheim („Alt-Stutterheim“), (2 November 1715 – 26 August 1783). He was known as the Old Stutterheim to distinguish him from his younger brother, Otto Ludwig (1718–1780), also a lieutenant general in Frederick the Great's army.

Hirtenfeld's biographical listing of winners of the Maria Theresa Order lists Karl Stutterheim https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_XJxdXCPw190C/page/1029/mode/2up?q=Stutterheim

The MTO awards and the requisite two citations are held in the Kriegsarchiv in Vienna, so Hirtenfeld must have been there and used its materials to write his 1857 work, as it is earlier than the biographical dictionaries.

and it looks like AI has been at it again! (see my 'Alice Cooper in Sharpe' post). It says "beschloss Stutterheim sein in jeder Beziehung sehr rühmliches Leben zu Wien," Now, I would obviously defer to native German speakers, but using Langenscheidt, this goes to the use of the verb: beschliessen. As a transitive verb, which is taking "sein Leben" (his life) as the object, it means "end. conclude, finish" or "decide, resolve, determine". However, the second set, would then have to take another verb - in English: "to decide to do something" - or in German, "beschloss sein Leben zu enden." So, I think somewhere down the (?AI) line, someone has translated Hirtenfeld's original "ended his life" to "decided to end his life". Langenscheidt suggests "Selbstmord begehen" as committing suicide.

I also think that Eckhart von Stutterheim is wrong. On the Austria Forum, which takes in Austria Wiki https://austria-forum.org/af/AustriaWiki/Wilhelm_von_Stutterheim_%28Feldmarschallleutnant%29 is Wilhelm von Stutterheim, who is listed as "* 6. Januar 1770 in Berlin;[1] † 13. Dezember 1811 in Wien) war ein k.u.k. Feldmarschalleutnant." You will spot the life dates! He is also supposed to be Karl. If you then go to the German Wiki page, he is from a noble family in Saxony and the son of Heinrich Gottlieb von Stutterheim (1718–1789).He served in the Saxon army reaching high rank and became Saxon Ambassador to Berlin in 1764. His son, Wilhelm is supposed to have started in the Prussian army before 1793, but been in the Saxon army by 1798 and then in the Austrian army by 1799 and his career then follows Karl's known career! (ah, Wiki, bless 'em).

Trouble is, Karl is recorded as an Oberleutnant on the Austrian staff at Lauterburg in 1793 from where he continues in Austrian service.

German Wiki mentions: "In 1796, Saathain was sold to Daniel Gottfried Wilhelm Freiherr von Stutterheim and later, in 1798, to the Count of Solms." Saathain castle is in Brandenburg, so he would be another of these Prussian Stutterheims.

There is a history of the 1809 campaign called 'Der Krieg von 1809 zwischen Oesterreich und Frankreich', which is supposed by Google Books to have been authored by "Friedrich-Heinrich-Ludwig von Stutterheim" but it is the work of Karl. In action at Wagram, Karl was wounded by a cannonball at Aderklaa, which may be the real reason for his early demise.

In summary therefore, the famous FML and author is Karl Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Stutterheim, who died in December 1811, probably from a cannonball round injury at Wagram. The "suicide" is a mistranslation and who knows where the scandal came from, but no doubt, someone on Wiki has invented it!

Many thanks David. I have indeed exercised your patience and knowledge. It does seem a very muddled affair. Mistranslation seems to be culprit with someone somewhere confabulating the Stutterheims as well. Hit by a canonball is pretty major injury, I assume he did lose some function of his body, but he was still active enough to work as an army officer and write one book at least, but a serious injury would be expected to shorten his lifespan. Your argument about the translation of ending his life rather than ending meaning taking his own life looks sound.