Anna Christina Ehrenfried von Balthasar

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Anna Christina Ehrenfried von Balthasar (born January 24, 1737 in Stralsund ; † July 5, 1808 in Richtenberg ) was one of the few women who was awarded an academic degree in the 18th century .

Life

Anna Christina Ehrenfried von Balthasar was born as the daughter of Augustin von Balthasar (1701–1786) and his second wife Christina Barbara Zander in Stralsund. She learned French and Latin as a child, did painting and music, and was trained in law.

On the initiative of her father, who was a professor at the University of Greifswald , on April 28, 1750, i.e. at the age of 13, she gave a Latin speech on the birthday of the sovereign of Swedish Pomerania , King Frederick of Sweden , at the ceremonial inauguration of the university building . On the same day she received academic citizenship at the University of Greifswald and was formally accepted as a student at the Philosophical Faculty. Just two days later, on April 30, 1750, the dean of the Philosophical Faculty, the mathematician Andreas Mayer , did her doctorate on the Baccalaurea of the Arts and Philosophy, Baccalaurea Artium et Philosophiae .

She was a member of the German Society of Greifswald , which published her writings as an appendix to a collection of anacreontic songs , and the German Society in Jena . In 1756 the Royal German Society (Königsberg) , of which she had become a member, sent her a printed letter.

In 1757 she married the court court trainee Johann Heinrich von Essen, son of the court court director Franz Joachim von Essen. Afterwards she stopped performing in the academic world. Her husband gave up his position as assessor at the Greifswald court in 1764 . His "unregulated way of life" led to personal bankruptcy and the separation of the spouses. In 1771 she moved with her two daughters to live with her father in Wismar , where he was Vice-President of the Tribunal . She died on July 5, 1808 while visiting Richtenberg.

classification

According to Walther Schönfeld, she was “not a child prodigy, but gifted and educated beyond mediocrity and received academic honors which, despite her educational background and achievements, would hardly have been given to her if her father had not been so proud of her. "

She can be compared with Dorothea Schlözer , the daughter of the Göttingen professor August Ludwig von Schlözer , who was awarded a doctorate in 1787 at the University of Göttingen at the age of 17. phil. received his doctorate. It was different with Dorothea Christiane Erxleben , who graduated from the University of Halle as a Dr. med. and who actually practiced as a doctor.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Andreas Önnerfors: German and Swedish legal culture around contemporary comparison - laws and courts in the German territories of the Swedish crown. In: Nils Jörn, Bernhard Diestelkamp, Kjell Åke Modéer (eds.): Integration through law. The Wismar Tribunal (1653–1806). (= Sources and research on the highest jurisdiction in the Old Kingdom / 47). Böhlau, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-412-18203-6 , p. 146 ( Google books ).
  2. Walther Schönfeld: At German universities graduated women of the 18th century. In: Festschrift for the 500th anniversary of the University of Greifswald. Volume 1. Greifswald 1956, p. 263.