Friedrich von der Trenck

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

Friedrich's grandfather was Albrecht Frederick von Derschau, who was President of the Royal Law Court in Königsberg.

Friedrich was imprisoned one year later, in 1745, at Glatz under the guard of Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué.

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.

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.

Extensive original research on Princess Anna Amalie of Prussian & Baron Frederick von der Trenck.

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.