Maria Karoline Flachsland

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Maria Karoline Herder, b. Flax land

Maria Caroline Flachsland also Karoline (born January 28, 1750 in Reichenweier , Alsace , † September 15, 1809 in Weimar ) was the wife of Johann Gottfried von Herder . She wrote a biography of her husband, edited and edited his writings and edited them after his death.

Live and act

She was the daughter of Johann Friedrich Flachsland (1715–1755) and the pastor's daughter Rosina Catharina Mauritii (1717–1765) from Laufen . After the early death of her parents, she lived in the household of her sister Friederike Katharina (1744–1801) in Darmstadt, who had married the civil servant Andreas Peter Hesse (1728–1803, ennobled in 1770) there. Here she became a member of the Darmstadt Circle , which is one of the most important formations of sensitivity . Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , who soon became her friend, Franz Michael Leuchsenring , Sophie von La Roche , Johann Heinrich Merck and her future husband Johann Gottfried Herder belonged (temporarily) to this group.

Herder's (half) engagement period began here, the ups and downs of which are documented in an extensive correspondence. The wedding took place on May 2nd, 1773 in Darmstadt. Immediately afterwards the couple settled in Bückeburg , where Herder held a position as consistorial advisor and court preacher . The sons Gottfried and August were born there. The Herders had a fruitful five-year collaboration with the musician Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach employed in the Bückeburg court orchestra .

Her sister Ernestine Rosine was Louis IX's mistress from 1761 . from Hessen-Darmstadt . She had married in 1766 and was then put on the street by Ludwig, with a pension of 500 guilders. Ernestine was later mentally confused so that Maria Karolina received the guardianship over her and also the pension. Shortly thereafter, she took Ernestine to an institution in which she died shortly afterwards.

Through Goethe's mediation , the family moved to Weimar with their two sons and Ernestine's five-year-old daughter in 1776. Herder's position as consistorial councilor at the Weimar court did not bring what he had hoped it would bring. The Herders found life in the small royal seat and the relationship with Goethe disappointing. Nevertheless, they stayed in Weimar all their lives. The marriage resulted in five more children.

Maria Karoline Herder, chalk drawing by Adam Weide

The identification with the life and work of her husband was extraordinary and unique: Karoline Herder worked tirelessly on his reputation not only during his lifetime, but also after his death. According to her self-image, she stayed in the shadow of her husband. As a secretary and editor of his writings, as the author of numerous letters, as a biographer and as the editor of Herder's works, Karoline Herder is one of the outstanding women in the Weimar circle .

Karoline Herder was buried in 1809 in the old Jakobsfriedhof in Weimar.

Works

  • Memories from the life of Joh. Gottfried von Herder. Collected and described by Maria Carolina von Herder. 2 vols. Tübingen 1820 Google digitized version

Letter issues (selection)

  • Herder's correspondence with Caroline Flachsland. Based on the manuscripts of the Goethe and Schiller Archives. 2 vols. Ed. Hans Schauer. Weimar 1916, 1928
  • Excerpt from the correspondence: My sweet determination , in: Andrea van Dülmen (ed.): Women's life in the 18th century. Anthology. Book guild Gutenberg , Frankfurt 1992, ISBN 3-7632-4124-8 ; again CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54500-9 , p. 38 (on the question of women)
  • Johann Gottfried Herder: Italian journey. Letters and diary entries 1788–1789. Munich 1988

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see memories from the life of Joh. Gottfried von Herder. Collected and described by Maria Carolina von Herder , Volume 1, p. 172 Google digitized
  2. ↑ Anna Eunike Röhrig : Mistresses and Favorites - A Biographical Handbook, MatrixMedia Verlag GmbH, 2010, ISBN 978-3-932313-40-0 , pp. 138-140
personal data
SURNAME Flax country, Maria Karoline
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Flachsland, Maria Caroline; Herder, Caroline from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of Johann Gottfried Herder
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1750
PLACE OF BIRTH Reichenweier , Alsace
DATE OF DEATH September 15, 1809
Place of death Weimar