Heinrich Ulrich Erasmus von Hardenberg

Heinrich Ulrich Erasmus von Hardenberg (born January 9, 1738 in Oberwiederstedt , † April 1814 in Weissenfels ) was a saltworks director in Saxony . He was the father of the poet Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis).

He came from the Lower Saxon noble family von Hardenberg and together with his three older brothers inherited his father's property, including Oberwiederstedt and Mockritz . Most recently he lived with his family in the city of Weißenfels . Like his son Novalis and his other children, he did not have the title of baron , as this was not officially confirmed to his branch of the family until the 19th century.

He attended the Pforta state school and was a strictly pietistic person who became a close friend of the Moravian Brethren because of the early death of his first wife, which he saw as a punishment for his extraordinarily secular life up to now . He was in correspondence especially with August Gottlieb Spangenberg , but also with several Moravians in the USA.

From 1784 he was the salt works director in Dürrenberg , Artern and Kösen .

In his second marriage he was married to Auguste Bernhardine von Hardenberg, born von Boeltzig (1749-1818), who gave birth to eleven children. His children included u. a. Anton von Hardenberg and Carl von Hardenberg .

In 1774 he became the guardian of the later General Dietrich von Miltitz (* 1769), whose father had died.

literature

• Johann Wolf: History of the Hardenberg family . Göttingen 1823. ( digitized version )