Amalie Adlerberg
Encyclopedia
Duchess Therese of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Duchess Therese Mathilde Amalie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a member of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and a Duchess of Mecklenburg. Through her marriage to Karl Alexander, 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, Therese was also a member of the House of Thurn and Taxis.-Family:Therese Mathilde Amalie...
(1773–1839), Princess consort of Thurn and Taxis. Teresa was the aunt of the Russian empress Alexandra Fyodorovna (Charlotte of Prussia)
Alexandra Fyodorovna (Charlotte of Prussia)
Alexandra Feodorovna, born Princess Charlotte of Prussia , was Empress consort of Russia. She was the wife of Tsar Nicholas I, and mother of Tsar Alexander II.-Princess of Prussia:...
, wife of Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
. The husband of Teresa, Karl Alexander, 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
Karl Alexander, 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
-Titles and styles:*22 February 1770 – 17 March 1773: His Serene Highness Prince Karl Alexander of Thurn and Taxis*17 March 1773 – 13 November 1805: His Serene Highness The Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis...
(1770–1827) inherited Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
, the city of eternal Reichstag (since 1664). The prince was invited by Napoleon Bonaparte for his new projects, and lived in Paris for years. While he was absent, Princess Terese had a passionate affair with Bavarian diplomat, Count Maximilian-Emmanuel Lerchenfeld. The result of this relationship was the baby girl named Amalie born in 1808 in the city of Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
.
After the death of her father, Count Maximilian on October 19, 1809, Amalie was in charge of Teresa's relatives von Sternfeld in Darmstadt, and the baby carried their family name after she was born. Later, she was brought to Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
, closer to princess Teresa and changed her last name to Stargard. She was finally taken care of by the family of Lerchenfeld and lived in their palace in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
or at the family castle in Köfering
Köfering
Köfering is a municipality in the district of Regensburg in Bavaria in Germany....
near Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
. Finally, on August 1, 1823, the Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse
Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse
Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse was Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and later the first Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine....
gave the 15-year old Amalie the permission to carry the name of Lerchenfeld, but without rights to use the coat of arms and be listed in the family tree, which was the price for the love affair of her mother.
Start of Relationship with Fyodor Tyutchev
In 1822, the 14-year old beauty, Amalie met with young Fyodor TyutchevFyodor Tyutchev
Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev is generally considered the last of three great Romantic poets of Russia, following Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov.- Life :...
, supernumerary attaché of the Russian diplomatic mission who arrived from Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. Young 19-year old Tyutchev fell in love and the two young people shared tender romantic feelings. Tyutchev's poem Tears or Slezy (Люблю, друзья, ласкать очами …) coincides with one of their dates, and most likely dedicated to Amalie. Among other poems inspired by Amalie are K N., and Ia pomniu vremia zolotoe….
First Marriage
The blooming Amelia caught the attention of the first secretary of the Russian diplomatic representatives, Baron Alexander von Krüdener. The old diplomat was of German Baltic descent, and the young but pragmatic princess opted for a baron's noble title rather than the young man without title. The letters and diaries of Count Maximilian Joseph von Lerchenfeld, illuminate the first years of Tyutchev as a diplomat in Munich (1822–26), giving details of his frustrated love affair for Amalie, nearly involving a duel with his colleague (on January 19, 1825). On August 31, 1825 the 17-year old Amalie wed Baron Krüdener in KöferingKöfering
Köfering is a municipality in the district of Regensburg in Bavaria in Germany....
.
The first child of Amalie was born on June 20 /July 2, 1826 and was christened Nikolai-Arthur.
Tyutchevs and Krüdeners
Tyutchevs and Krüdeners continue to frequent the same diplomatic society, they were nearly next-door neighbors with Tytchevs living at Karolinenplatz 1, and Krüdeners in a five-minute walk on Briennerstrasse 15. Fyodor Tyutchev continues to see Amelia, but in families. Prince Karl, brother of the King Ludwig I of BavariaLudwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:...
, and the king himself were spellbound by the beautiful Amalie. Ludwig I ordered an oil portrait of Amalie to the artist Joseph Stieler for his Gallery of Beauties
Gallery of Beauties
The Gallery of Beauties is a collection of 36 portraits of the most beautiful women from the nobility and middle classes of Munich, Germany, painted between 1827 and 1850 and gathered by Ludwig I of Bavaria in the south pavilion of his Nymphenburg Palace in Munich...
. It was completed in 1828 and today can be viewed at the Nymphenburg palace in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
.
In April 1836, Fyodor Tyutchev dedicated to Amalie his poem Ia pomniu vremia zolotoe… (I Remember the Golden Time...). This poem is not about love, but a reminiscence of love, of their past meetings on the hills of Regensburg. The poem was later interpreted by Mieczysław Weinberg, in Opus 25: Six Romances after F. Tutchev for singer and piano (1945) in the romance if the same name.
Amalie at High Society, Admirers
In April 1836, Baron von Krüdener received a promotion and left for RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Amalie brought to Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
a bunch of Tyutchev's poems (more than a hundred). She gave dozens of them further to Prince Ivan Gagarin
Ivan Gagarin
Ivan Sergeyevich Gagarin was a Russian Jesuit, known also as Jean-Xavier after his conversion to Catholicism. He was of the princely Russian family which traces its origin to the ancient rulers of Starodub.-Life:He was the son of the Russian state-councillor, Prince Sergius Gagarin, and Barbara...
, former colleague of the poet. Gagarin wrote down several poems and gave them to read to Alexander Pushkin, publisher of Sovremennik
Sovremennik
Sovremennik was a Russian literary, social and political magazine, published in St. Petersburg in 1836-1866. It came out four times a year in 1836-1843 and once a month after that...
, the most influential literary magazine in Russia. Pushkin was very excited and published them immediately. Thus, Amalie helped Tyutchev gain recognition at his home country.
Bibliographers of Pushkin like Alexander Shik state that Alexander Pushkin felt for Amalie and tried to court her at one of the balls. Natalia Pushkina
Natalia Pushkina
Nataliya Nikolaevna Pushkina-Lanskaya , , was the wife of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin from 1831 until his death in 1837 of a duel with Georges d'Anthès...
, one of the most beautiful women in Russia, had to have a talk with her husband, after which the poet was joking that Madonna has a heavy hand... (The Married Pushkin by Alexander Shik, p. 68, 1936).
Count Alexander von Benckendorff
Alexander von Benckendorff
Count Alexander von Benckendorff, was a Russian Infantry General and statesman, Adjutant General of the H. I. M. Retinue and a commander in the Patriotic War of 1812 best remembered for having established the Gendarmes in Russia....
was another passionate admirer of Baroness Amalie von Krüdener. Her influence was so great that he even secretly converted to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
. In Imperial Russia, where Orhodoxy was the state religion, this action would be punished by years of katorga
Katorga
Katorga was a system of penal servitude of the prison farm type in Tsarist Russia...
(the secret was revealed only after death of Benckendorff). He also helped to reinstate Fyodor Tyutchev
Fyodor Tyutchev
Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev is generally considered the last of three great Romantic poets of Russia, following Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov.- Life :...
at the Ministry after he was fired in 1843, and arranged the meeting of Tyutchev with Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
and Minister Karl Nesselrode
Karl Nesselrode
Baltic-German Count Karl Robert Nesselrode, also known as Charles de Nesselrode, was a Russian diplomat and a leading European conservative statesman of the Holy Alliance...
. His Majesty Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
himself was not indifferent to Amalie. November 25, 1836 she received a luxurious fur coat as a gift from the Czar that she received on the rights of his cousine.
Newfound Happiness
In 1848, the 40-year old Amalie gave birth to an out-of-wedlock child on March 17. The father of her newborn son Nikolo was the 29-year-old Count Nikolay AdlerbergNikolay Adlerberg
Count Nikolay Vladimirovich Adlerberg , Councilor of State, Chamberlain, governor of Taganrog, Simferopol and Finland.-Biography:Nikolay Adlerberg was born into a Swedish noble family of Adlerberg on May 19, 1819 in Saint Petersburg...
. The child received the status of the adoptive son of Nikolai Veniavsky.
Baron von Krüdener was appointed Ambassador and Plenipotentiary Minister at the Court of the King of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, but Amalie pretended to be ill and stayed in Saint Petersburg. They never met again. In 1852, Baron died of infarction in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. Amalie finally found love, peace and happiness with Nikolay Adlerberg. They officially married in 1855.
Orphan-asylum in Simferopol
During the Crimean WarCrimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, Nikolay Adlerberg served as Governor-General of Simferopol
Simferopol
-Russian Empire and Civil War:The city was renamed Simferopol in 1784 after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian Empire by Catherine II of Russia. The name Simferopol is derived from the Greek, Συμφερόπολις , translated as "the city of usefulness." In 1802, Simferopol became the...
and Taurida Governorate
Taurida Governorate
The Taurida Governorate or Government of Taurida was a historical governorate of the Russian Empire. It included the Crimean peninsula and the mainland between the lower Dnieper River and the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov It was formed after the defunct Taurida Oblast in was abolished in...
in 1854-1856. The war actions aggravated the situation of children in Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
as many lost their parents and had no relatives or where to go. The children were brought to Simferopol during the Siege of Sevastopol (1854) along with wounded soldiers. Simferopol's city council tried to open an orphan-asylum since 1848, but there were always some problems due to lack of money or necessary documents. Taking into consideration the circumstances, Countess Adlerberg decided to avoid bureaucratic formalities and on December 31, 1854 opened an asylum for 14 orphans with her own money.
In 1857, the Committee of the Board of Guardians of Orphan-asylums (Комитет Главного Попечительства Детских Приютов) approved the transformation of the temporary orphan-asylem founded by Countess Adlerberg into the asylum working on regular basis. It was also named after Amelie Adlerberg. In 1869, the Amalie Adlerberg Orphan-asylem moved into a new building. In a letter to Governor of Simferopol Grigory Zhukovsky, the Empress Maria Alexandrovna
Maria Alexandrovna
Maria Alexandrovna may refer to:* Maria Alexandrovna , princess of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and Empress consort of Tsar Alexander II of Russia...
insisted that the asylum retain the name of its founder, in contrast to other asylums across Russia, that were all named after Maria Alexandrovna
Maria Alexandrovna
Maria Alexandrovna may refer to:* Maria Alexandrovna , princess of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and Empress consort of Tsar Alexander II of Russia...
. The building of the asylum is still there at the crossing of Pushkinskaya and Gogolevskaya streets and it now houses the Museum of Ethnography of Crimean Nations.
Years in Helsinki
In 1866-1881 Amelia lived in HelsingforsHelsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, during Nikolay Adlerberg's service as Governor-General of Finland
Governor-General of Finland
Governor-General of Finland ; was the military commander and the highest administrator of Finland sporadically under Swedish rule in the 17th and 18th centuries and continuously in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland between 1808 and 1917.-Swedish rule:...
.
In 1873, the countess managed to arrange her granddaughter (Helene de Fontenilliat, b 1855) to marry the widowed Constantin Linder, the wealthy lord of Kytäjä. He had recently lost his first wife, countess Marie Musin
Musin
Musin, Mussin or Musina is a popular Russian and Tatar surname which may refer to:* Aleksei Musin-Pushkin , Russian statesman, historian and art collector...
-Pushkin. Helene got a stepson, the later-notorious wastrel Jalmari Linder
Linder
-People:*Alex Linder , American white supremacist and anti-Semite*Allan Linder , American artist*Anders Linder , Swedish actor and jazz musician*Béla Linder , Hungarian army officer and government minister...
of Mustio.
Soon, Helene gave birth to her own child too.
Last years in Munich
In 1881, after assassination of Alexander II of RussiaAlexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
, Count and Countess Adlerberg moved for permanent residence to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. They had no house and first stayed at Maximilian Lerchenfeld's house on Amalienstrasse 93. Later, Adlerbergs acquired a plot of land and built a home in the town of Tegernsee
Tegernsee
Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Tegernsee lake, at an elevation of 747 m above sea level....
on Schwaighofstrasse 2.
Amalie died in Tegernsee
Tegernsee
Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Tegernsee lake, at an elevation of 747 m above sea level....
on June 21, 1888. She was buried in the cemetery of the church of St. Laurentius in Rottach-Egern am Tegernsee. The church is situated on the shore of the lake opposite the Amalie's mansion known under the name of Haus Adlerberg am See.
External links and references
- a novel by the Russian author Yelena Arsenyeva dedicated to Adlerberg and Tytchev
- Amalie Adlerberg at web portal "Famous Women" (in Russian)
- Web Site of the Crimean Ethnographical Museum (formerly Adlerberg Orphan-Asylum)
- РОССИЙСКИЕ ДИПЛОМАТЫ БАРОНЫ КРЮДЕНЕРЫ – КОЛЛЕГИ Ф.И. ТЮТЧЕВА
- Я помню время золотое...(С. А. Долгополова)
- Симферопольский детский приют графини Адлерберг // Крым. – 1893. – 29 окт
- Салгир В. Приют гр. Адлерберг в Симферополе / В. Салгир. – 1903. – 17 янв.
- Салгир В. Детский приют гр. Адлербергов / В. Салгир. – 1902. – 20 авг.
- Маркевич А.И. Симферопольский детский приют имени графини А. М. Адлерберг (к шестидесятилетию существования):Краткий исторический очерк / А. И. Маркевич. – Симферополь, 1915. – 71 с.