Georg Friedrich Scharffenstein

Georg Friedrich von Scharffenstein (born December 13, 1760 in Mömpelgard , † February 11, 1817 in Ulm ) was a Württemberg officer . He gained fame at a young age, in particular through his participation in Friedrich Schiller's escape from Stuttgart in September 1782. He later completed a successful military career. Most recently he was governor of Heilbronn from 1811 and governor of Ulm from 1813 to 1816.

Life

He was born as Georges Frédéric Scharffenstein in Mömpelgard and was recruited there in 1771 by Duke Friedrich Eugen von Württemberg, who was visiting his brother Carl Eugen , as one of 24 boys as an apprentice to the military nursery at Solitude Castle near Stuttgart. So Scharffenstein came to Württemberg , received German first names and learned the German language. The Charles Academy developed from the military school by 1775 . There Scharffenstein counted alongside Friedrich Wilhelm von Hoven and Wilhelm Petersen to the circle of friends of Friedrich Schiller . Schiller dedicated an early poem to his friend:

Sangir loved his Selim tenderly as you loved me, my Scharffenstein.

Selim loved his sangir tenderly as I loved you, my dear Scharffenstein.

Scharffenstein is described as a docile student who received several awards and, while still at the academy, also contributed to an anthology published by Schiller. He left the Karlsschule on December 15, 1778 as a lieutenant in the infantry and came to the Infantry Regiment von Gabelenz. Schiller finished his academy time on December 14, 1780 and then worked as a regimental medic. Since Schiller got into difficulties because of his writing activities in Württemberg, while he was already being celebrated in Mannheim, he decided to flee to Mannheim in 1782. He set the date of his escape to the date of the deer hunt on the Solitude on September 22nd, 1782. That week Scharffenberg was on duty at the Esslinger Tor in Stuttgart, where Schiller's escape began on the night of September 21st to 22nd.

Scharffenstein's further path in life led through various Württemberg garrisons. In 1793 he became a captain. In the autumn of 1802 he came to Heilbronn with two subordinate hunter companies in order to occupy the imperial city in anticipation of the main imperial deputation for Württemberg. In the house of the last incumbent mayor of the imperial city, Georg Christoph Kornacher , he met his youngest daughter Wilhelmine (1778–1848), whom he married in 1804 in Besigheim , meanwhile promoted to major in the Seckendorff battalion. In 1806 he was promoted to colonel.

He took part in numerous campaigns against Prussia and Austria and for France and was awarded various honors, including the Officer's Cross of the French Legion of Honor . In 1807 he received the Commander's Cross of the Württemberg Military Merit Order , with which the elevation to the personal nobility was connected. In 1810 he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Merit .

On June 7, 1811, Scharffenstein was appointed governor of Heilbronn, with the rank of lieutenant general and a pension entitlement of 1500 guilders. In November 1813 he was transferred to Ulm as governor. He suffered from various illnesses, including cramping chest pain and a painful rash on his face, so that due to illness he asked for his retirement, which was granted on November 16, 1816. He died barely two months later in Ulm. His widow returned to Heilbronn, where she was known as General von Scharffenstein , and survived him by 31 years. She is buried next to her sister Lisette Kornacher in the old cemetery in Heilbronn.

literature

• Frank Raberg : Biographical Lexicon for Ulm and Neu-Ulm 1802-2009 . Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft im Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2010, ISBN 978-3-7995-8040-3 , p. 355 f .
• Wilhelm Steinhilber: Schiller's friend GF Scharffenstein . In: Swabia and Franconia. Local history supplement of the Heilbronn voice . 12th year, no. 10 . Heilbronner Voice publishing house, October 8, 1966, ZDB -ID 128017-X .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Court and State Handbook of the Kingdom of Württemberg 1815, p. 18
2. ↑ Court and State Manual of the Kingdom of Württemberg 1815, p. 32