Michael v. Klement (Jakob Clement)
The Jakob Clement post from five years ago still seems to be popular so I thought I'd look into it again and it seems that now there is a fair amount of information about the mysterious scoundrel, apparently Johann Michael Klement.
Turns out that he was a more well-connected figure than I thought, involved with Prinz Eugen amongst other notable figures of the time.
I still wonder where G. Hiltl in the Gartenlaube got his information from in 1863 since this was before either of the main sources linked to here were published.
A summary below:
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Michael von Klement, a Hungarian adventurer in early-eighteenth-century Europe, drifted through the service of princes and courts from Transylvania to Vienna and Berlin. After betraying his patrons more than once, he appeared before King Frederick William I of Prussia in 1718 with a sensational story: that Austria and Saxony plotted to kidnap the King during a hunt and place Prussia under imperial control. For a time Frederick William believed him, rewarding Klement lavishly, but growing suspicion led to his arrest. Interrogations and forgeries uncovered a web of deceit — Klement had fabricated letters and slandered ministers for gain. Tried for treason and “injury to majesty,” he was executed in 1720 at Berlin’s gallows field. The case, famous in its day, exposed both the monarch’s harsh mistrust and the dangers of intrigue in an absolutist a more sensible age.
Michael von Klement, ein ungarischer Abenteurer des frühen 18. Jahrhunderts, diente wechselnd in den Kanzleien Europas – bei Rákóczy, in Wien, Dresden und schließlich in Berlin. 1718 trat er vor König Friedrich Wilhelm I. mit der brisanten Behauptung, österreichische und sächsische Minister planten seine Entführung, um Preußen unter kaiserliche Vormundschaft zu stellen. Der König schenkte ihm zunächst Glauben und zeichnete ihn aus, wurde jedoch bald misstrauisch. Eine Untersuchung enthüllte, dass Klement gefälschte Briefe vorgelegt und hohe Beamte verleumdet hatte. Wegen Hochverrats und Majestätsbeleidigung wurde er 1720 in Berlin hingerichtet. Der Fall, damals weithin bekannt, zeigt die Härte und das Misstrauen der friderizianischen Staatsordnung ebenso wie die Gefahren eines Lebens von Intrige und Täuschung.
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The authoritative version of the tale seems to be an article in 'Historische Zeitschrift v.62 1889': Der Kriminalprozeß wider den Ungarn Michael v. Klement.
A slightly lesser quality but downloadable version on archive.org.
Another online copy on Google Books.
One of the main sources (Minister von Podewils' report) here, in French unfortunately.
For all (!) the English readers I've knocked up an English PDF translation using ChatGPT, it seems sane enough but me and the AI had a bit of a falling out over it a couple of times so there may be some lunacy I've missed.
I've also managed to buy an original copy of 'Historische Zeitschrift v.62 1889' from abebooks, so now I'm finally happy. It looks like the Wikipedia page wasn't created until 2022 so I feel a bit less bad about missing it before too.