Charlotte von Lengefeld
Encyclopedia
Charlotte Luise Antoinette von Schiller, born Charlotte von Lengefeld (November 22, 1766 – July 9, 1826) was the wife of German
poet Friedrich Schiller
.
to an upper-class family
, and given an education appropriate to a life at the ducal court
of Weimar
. Though her father, who died when she was a young girl, had been a forest administrator, in her young adulthood she was introduced to the literary circles of Weimar. She became friendly with Charlotte von Stein
, who was at the center of the circle of Weimar Classicism
as a friend of Schiller and sometime mistress of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
. Stein confided in her throughout her complex relationship with Goethe.
Her first love was a soldier, but after her family's opposition the engagement was dropped.
and her cousin Wilhelm von Wolzogen, who later became Caroline's second husband. They began a correspondence in 1788, and, aided by the Lengefelds, Schiller took up residence near Rudolstadt shortly thereafter. He seems to have made his affections clear to her that year, though they were confirmed to each by Caroline the following summer; Schiller wrote to Charlotte in August, 1789: "Am I to hope that Caroline read in your soul and answered from your heart what I did not dare to confess? Oh how hard it has been for me to keep this secret which I was obliged to do from the beginning of our acquaintance."
The precise nature of Schiller's relationship to the two sisters has been disputed. In Caroline's later novel Agnes von Lilien, two women both pursue a relationship with a young baron, and critics have debated whether to understand the novel's love triangle as a reflection of Caroline, Charlotte, and Schiller (more recent critics are less inclined to do so). The letters later published from Schiller's correspondence with Charlotte are both deeply affectionate and literate; according to Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Lengefeld's admiration for Schiller's early work, particularly "The Artists," was important to their courtship. They married on February 20, 1790.
Never fully reconciling her aristocratic background with the bohemian lives of her poet husband and his friends, she encouraged Schiller in his cruelty toward Goethe's mistress and later wife Christiane Vulpius
; she wrote of Goethe after Christiane's death, "The poor man wept bitterly. It grieves me that he should shed tears for such objects."
The Schillers had four children: Karl Ludwig Friedrich (1793-1857), Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm (1796-1841), Karoline Luise Friederike Schiller (1799-1850), and Emilie Henriette Luise (1804-1872).
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...
poet Friedrich Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
.
Early life
Lengefeld was born in RudolstadtRudolstadt
Rudolstadt is a town in the German Bundesland of Thuringia, close to the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north....
to an upper-class family
German nobility
The German nobility was the elite hereditary ruling class or aristocratic class from ca. 500 B.C. to the Holy Roman Empire and what is now Germany.-Principles of German nobility:...
, and given an education appropriate to a life at the ducal court
Saxe-Weimar
Saxe-Weimar was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia. The chief town and capital was Weimar.-Division of Leipzig:...
of Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
. Though her father, who died when she was a young girl, had been a forest administrator, in her young adulthood she was introduced to the literary circles of Weimar. She became friendly with Charlotte von Stein
Charlotte von Stein
Charlotta Ernestina Bernadina von Stein was a lady-in-waiting at the court in Weimar and a close friend to both Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whose work and life were strongly influenced by her.-Childhood:Charlotte′s parents were Hofmarschall Johann Wilhelm Christian von...
, who was at the center of the circle of Weimar Classicism
Weimar Classicism
Weimar Classicism is a cultural and literary movement of Europe. Followers attempted to establish a new humanism by synthesizing Romantic, classical and Enlightenment ideas...
as a friend of Schiller and sometime mistress of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
. Stein confided in her throughout her complex relationship with Goethe.
Her first love was a soldier, but after her family's opposition the engagement was dropped.
Marriage to Schiller
Lengefeld first met Schiller, then a little-known and impoverished poet, in 1785, through her older sister CarolineCaroline von Wolzogen
Caroline von Wolzogen, born Caroline von Lengefeld , was a German writer in the Weimar Classicism circle...
and her cousin Wilhelm von Wolzogen, who later became Caroline's second husband. They began a correspondence in 1788, and, aided by the Lengefelds, Schiller took up residence near Rudolstadt shortly thereafter. He seems to have made his affections clear to her that year, though they were confirmed to each by Caroline the following summer; Schiller wrote to Charlotte in August, 1789: "Am I to hope that Caroline read in your soul and answered from your heart what I did not dare to confess? Oh how hard it has been for me to keep this secret which I was obliged to do from the beginning of our acquaintance."
The precise nature of Schiller's relationship to the two sisters has been disputed. In Caroline's later novel Agnes von Lilien, two women both pursue a relationship with a young baron, and critics have debated whether to understand the novel's love triangle as a reflection of Caroline, Charlotte, and Schiller (more recent critics are less inclined to do so). The letters later published from Schiller's correspondence with Charlotte are both deeply affectionate and literate; according to Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Lengefeld's admiration for Schiller's early work, particularly "The Artists," was important to their courtship. They married on February 20, 1790.
Never fully reconciling her aristocratic background with the bohemian lives of her poet husband and his friends, she encouraged Schiller in his cruelty toward Goethe's mistress and later wife Christiane Vulpius
Christiane Vulpius
Johanna Christiana Sophie Vulpius was the mistress and wife of Johann Wolfgang Goethe.-Biography:In 1788, when a young woman of Weimar, Goethe addressed to her the Römische Elegien, an epithalamium...
; she wrote of Goethe after Christiane's death, "The poor man wept bitterly. It grieves me that he should shed tears for such objects."
The Schillers had four children: Karl Ludwig Friedrich (1793-1857), Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm (1796-1841), Karoline Luise Friederike Schiller (1799-1850), and Emilie Henriette Luise (1804-1872).