Elisabetha Dorothea Schiller

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Elisabetha Dorothea Schiller , b. Kodweiß (born December 13, 1732 in Marbach am Neckar , † April 29, 1802 in Cleversulzbach ), is the mother of Friedrich Schiller .

Life

Elisabetha Dorothea Schiller, b. Kodweiß, on a painting by Ludovike Simanowiz

Elisabetha Dorothea was born as the daughter of the innkeeper Georg Friedrich Kodweiß (1698–1771) and his wife Anna Maria, geb. Munz (1698–1773), born in the small town of Marbach am Neckar . Her mother was a farmer's daughter from the Röhracher Hof in Rietenau, her father came from a respected family that in earlier times also headed the city's mayor's office. Georg Friedrich Kodweiß acquired a certain wealth as the host of the “Golden Lion” in Marbach. He had learned the baker's trade.

Dorothea's childhood and youth were shaped by her involvement in her father's inn. It cannot be said whether and what kind of schooling she received; she could read anyway. On July 22, 1749, at the age of 16, the Catholic married the Lutheran-Protestant Johann Caspar Schiller, nine years her senior . A little later she converted to the Protestant faith.

She gave birth to her first child, Elisabeth Christophine Friederike , on September 4, 1757 . At the time, her husband was in the war in Silesia . She had already got used to his absence, since Johann Caspar had already returned to the military in 1753. Whenever her husband stayed with his regiment in Württemberg , she would follow him, in the meantime she lived in her parents' house, which was characterized by a depressed mood. Her father had become a beggar through business mishaps.

Dorothea was expecting her second child in autumn 1759. When the first labor began, she was visiting her husband in a military camp near Ludwigsburg . She was brought to Marbach, where she gave birth to her only boy on November 10, 1759 in the first floor apartment of the Schölkopfschen Haus , whom she baptized a day later in the name of Johann Christoph Friedrich . Friedrich became one of the most outstanding figures in German literature.

Johann Caspar took part in the Seven Years War (1756–1763) with his regiment . Here he worked his way up to the regimental medicus. Dorothea wandered after her father with her children Christophine and Friedrich again and again and took up quarters near the military camp: 1760 in Würzburg , 1761 in Urach and Cannstatt or 1762 in Ludwigsburg . The family was only able to live with their father after the war was over, when he was appointed recruiter in Schwäbisch Gmünd in December 1763 . In the neighborhood in Lorch the family lived under difficult financial circumstances. Dorothea, like the children, felt her husband's pedantic sense of order. The gentle, pious and loving Dorothea had little to oppose her strong-willed and energetic husband. Against the overly authoritarian upbringing of her father, Dorothea often allied herself with her children and, if they had done something wrong, protected them from the irascible anger of her father. The couple disagreed on issues relating to their children's education. Johann found the daughters' participation in higher education improper. On the other hand, there seems to have been a consensus on religious education.

In the following years Dorothea gave birth to more children: On January 24th, 1766 the daughter Luise Dorothea Katharina was born. On November 20, 1768, Maria Charlotte was born, who died at the age of five. Her daughter Beata Friederike (born May 4, 1773) died as a 7-month-old baby. She gave birth to her youngest daughter Karoline Christiane, called Nanette, on September 8, 1777 at the age of 44. The "baby boy" died at the age of 18 of a nerve fever.

In 1766 the family moved to the residential and garrison town of Ludwigsburg . This changed the family's financial situation suddenly. After the family moved to a house owned by the court printer, Christoph Friedrich Cotta, in early 1767, there was also lively contact with the Hoven family, who lived in the same house, and the Elwert family of doctors. In addition to such contacts, Dorothea often accompanied her husband to the court theater of the nearby ducal residence and watched the Italian singspiels and operas performed there.

At the behest of Duke Carl Eugen , Friedrich had to move to the Charles School and its boarding school on January 16, 1773 . The school was known for its drill and alienation of children from the family. The mother didn't like this very much. From then on, she would rarely see her son.

Johann Caspar Schiller was appointed director of the ducal court gardening company at the beginning of December 1775. The family moved into the small official apartment in the duke's hunting and state palace. From then on, her husband dealt intensively with the administration and management of the court gardening and tree nursery and clearly neglected his family. Dorothea even complained about this fact in a letter to her son Friedrich.

Ten years after Friedrich's flight from Württemberg, she only saw her son again when she and her daughter Nanette traveled to Jena from mid-September to early October 1792 . Friedrich lived here with his wife Charlotte von Lengefeld , with whom he had been married for two and a half years. Together they traveled to Rudolstadt on September 25, 1792 and were guests of Schiller's mother-in-law Louise von Lengefeld . When Schiller traveled to Württemberg with Charlotte in 1793/94, there were further encounters. It should be the last.

Her husband Johann Caspar died on September 7, 1796, presumably of prostate cancer. With the death of her youngest daughter two months later, she suffered another stroke of fate. Friedrich left her his paternal inheritance, "that no more worry presses you." Since the turn of the year 1797 she lived in Leonberg Castle and received a pension of one hundred guilders. She died on April 29, 1802 in Cleversulzbach. Here she was looked after by her daughter Luise, who was married to the local Pastor Frankh, in her last months.

Her grave was restored in 1834 by Eduard Mörike ; He buried his own mother Charlotte Mörike in a neighboring grave .

literature

  • Rudolf Schwan: The woman major. Schiller's mother in Cleversulzbach . Betulius, Stuttgart / Mörike-Museum Cleversulzbach, Cleversulzbach 2007, ISBN 978-3-89511-102-0

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Öllers, Norbert (2005): Schiller. Misery of history, brilliance of art, 2nd edition, Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam junior 2005, p. 36
  2. ↑ cf. Alt, Peter-André (2000/2004): Schiller. Life - Work - Time, 2 vols., 2nd, reviewed edition, Munich: Beck 2004, vol. 1, p. 74
  3. ↑ cf. Safranski, Rüdiger (2004): Schiller or the invention of German idealism. Biography, Munich: Hanser 2004, p. 24
  4. ↑ cf. Alt, Peter-André (2000/2004): Schiller. Life - Work - Time, 2 vol., 2nd, revised edition, Munich: Beck 2004, vol. 1, p. 69
  5. ↑ cf. Alt, Peter-André (2000/2004): Schiller. Life - Work - Time, 2 vols., 2nd, reviewed edition, Munich: Beck 2004, vol. 1, p. 74
  6. ↑ cf. Öllers, Norbert (2005): Schiller. Misery of history, brilliance of art, 2nd edition, Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam junior 2005, p. 35
  7. ↑ See Friedrich Schiller's letter to his mother Dorothea Schiller on September 19, 1796
  8. ↑ cf. Sting, Albert (2005): History of the City of Ludwigsburg, Vol. I: From the prehistory to the year 1816, 2nd, revised. Edition Ludwigsburg: Verlag Ungeheuer + Ulmer 2005, p. 547
personal data
SURNAME Schiller, Elisabetha Dorothea
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kodweiß, Elisabetha Dorothea
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mother of Friedrich Schiller
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1732
PLACE OF BIRTH Marbach am Neckar
DATE OF DEATH April 29, 1802
Place of death Cleversulzbach