Catharina Margaretha Linck
She was arrested, presumably for the earlier desertion, but was again released "because of Professor Francken and his disclosure of her femaleness", though only after a physical examination by authorities at the town hall.
[6] In 1717, having adopted men's clothing once more and begun representing herself as a man named Anastasius Lagrantius Rosenstengel, Linck met and married 18-year-old Catharina Margaretha Mühlhahn at Halberstadt.
The trial record says that in a final confrontation Mühlhahn's mother "charged the defendant with being a woman and not a man", "ripped open her pants, examined her, and ... found not the slightest sign of anything masculine".
Mühlhahn's mother provided the authorities with the artificial penis, along with a "leather-covered horn" that Linck wore next to her body and that allowed her to urinate while standing up.
As for the additional charges, Linck claimed that the wearing of men's clothes was forbidden for married women but not for the unmarried; that she had suffered for the desertions and had "spent weeks in chains and fetters" while under arrest; and excused her multiple baptisms as motivated by new covenants with God.
[13] The local court forwarded the records of its inquiry to the Judicial Faculty at Duisburg, which recommended that Linck be publicly hanged and that her body be burned.
Some members of the court who thought that the death penalty could not be imposed if Linck's behavior did not precisely match Biblical definitions of sodomy recommended flogging for the other offenses.
The monologue was reinterpreted in a video art piece by Fred Koenig for the launch of Jack Shamblin's book Queering The Stage at Hot Festival 2015 at Dixon Place in New York City.
According to the theatre's programme notes for the play: Dashing soldier Anastasius Linck has no intention of falling in love, but a chance encounter with the rebellious Catharina Mülhahn changes everything.
As they begin to forge a relationship that breaks boundaries and rejects the rigid rules of their society, they find themselves confronted by a world determined to tear them apart.
