Henriette Catharina von Gersdorff

Henriette Catharina Freifrau von Gersdorff (or Gersdorf ), born Freiin von Friesen (born October 6, 1648 in Sulzbach , † March 6, 1726 in Großhennersdorf ) was a German religious poet, promoter of Pietism and the Moravian Brethren .

Life

Born as the daughter of Baron Carl von Friesen (1619–1686) and Justina Sabina von Raben , she was brought up in Dresden and Leipzig . The Secret Council and Chancellor Otto Heinrich von Friesen was her brother. Well educated in many ways, she received attention from educated contemporaries in her youth through her German and Latin poems. Early on, she corresponded with numerous theologians and scientists (including the philosopher Leibniz ) of her era.

At the age of 24 in 1672 she married the Privy Council as well as director and bailiff of Upper Lusatia Nicol von Gersdorff auf Berthelsdorf (1629–1702), the highest government official of Upper Lusatia as a kind of regional president at the time. Through this connection, too, she exercised a not insignificant influence on state and church affairs. She supported the Pietism movement and was particularly open to the efforts of the court preacher Philipp Jacob Spener . She represented a non-denominational, Philadelphian Christianity, although she always knew she was connected to the Lutheran Church. As a patron, she not only promoted the translation of the Bible into Sorbian , but also the education of girls. For example, she was involved in founding the Magdalenenstift in Altenburg .

After the death of her husband, she retired to her Großhennersdorf estate near Zittau in the summer of 1703. There she devoted herself, among other things, to the upbringing of her grandson Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf and offered accommodation to Bohemian religious refugees in her house. According to Johann Jakob Rambach's judgment, the sacred songs that she wrote were among the best of their time, but have now disappeared from the hymn books. Her world of thought, as well as her piety, which had taught her grandson in daily prayer how to “deal with the Savior”, shaped Zinzendorf and the Moravian Brethren he founded .

Works

Songs (selection)

O gracious today, when the hero of God turned himself to be the Savior for us fallen people ...
Lord, my salvation, in all fear I turn my gaze of faith to the cross where you are hanging ...
God, who works great miracles at all ends, in whose faithful hands my whole life rests ...
Faithful shepherd of your flock, strong protection of your members ...
To a prince
My heart encourages you again ...

output

Witty songs and poetic reflections. Edited by Paul Anton , Orphanage, Halle 1729. (Reprint: Wald, Karben 1998, ISBN 3-932065-93-X ).

literature

Karl Goedeke : Outline of the history of German poetry from the sources. 2. or 3. completely rework. Ed. 15 vol., Dresden 1884–1966 (Neudr. Nendeln 1975) (N. F. Continuation from 1830 to 1880. Vol. 1, Bln./DDR 1962.), Vol. 3, p. 328.
Linda Maria Kolau : Women - Music - Culture. A manual on the German-speaking area of the early modern period. Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2005.
Robert Langer: Pallas and their weapons. Henriette Catharina von Gersdorff's sphere of activity. Neisse Verlag, Dresden 2008, ISBN 978-3-940310-18-7 .
Georg Christian Lehms : Germany's gallant poetesses. Frankfurt a. M. 1715.
Norbert Weiss, Jens Wonneberger: Poets, thinkers, literati from six centuries in Dresden. Dresden 1997.
Carl Bertheau : Gersdorff, Henriette Catharina, Freifrau v. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, pp. 53-55.
Ernst-Heinz Lemper: Gersdorff, v .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 318 f. ( Digitized version ). (Family item)
Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : Gersdorf, Henriette Katharina von. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 228-229. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Literature by and about Henriette Catharina von Gersdorff in the catalog of the German National Library
Ingeborg C. Baldauf: Gersdorf (Gersdorff), Henriette Katharina Freifrau von . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .
Publication , Gruber : General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts T. 61 P. 472

Remarks

↑ Michael Sachs: The flight of the evangelical wife Anna Magdalena von Reibnitz (1664– ~ 1745) with her five children from Silesia, threatened by forced Catholicization, in 1703 - a mood picture from the age of the Counter Reformation and Pietism. In: Medical historical messages. Journal for the history of science and specialist prose research. Volume 34, 2015 (2016), pp. 221–263, here: p. 227.
↑ Michael Sachs (2015), p. 227.
↑ What is meant is August the Strong ; Quoted in full in: Klaus Kühnel: August the Strong and the Weaker Sex. Dreikastanienverlag, Wittenberg 2005, ISBN 3-933028-92-2 .

personal data
SURNAME	Gersdorff, Henriette Catharina von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Gersdorf, Henriette Catharine Freifrau von; Gersdorff, Henriette Katharine Baroness von; Friesen auf Rötha, Henriette Katharine Freiin von (birth name); Gersdorf, Henriette Katharina Freifrau von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German religious poet, promoter of reform movements in the Protestant Church, promoter of Herrnhut and poet
DATE OF BIRTH	October 6, 1648
PLACE OF BIRTH	Sulzbach
DATE OF DEATH	March 6, 1726
Place of death	Großhennersdorf

[1] Michael Sachs: The flight of the evangelical wife Anna Magdalena von Reibnitz (1664– ~ 1745) with her five children from Silesia, threatened by forced Catholicization, in 1703 - a mood picture from the age of the Counter Reformation and Pietism. In: Medical historical messages. Journal for the history of science and specialist prose research. Volume 34, 2015 (2016), pp. 221–263, here: p. 227.

[2] Michael Sachs (2015), p. 227.

[3] What is meant is August the Strong ; Quoted in full in: Klaus Kühnel: August the Strong and the Weaker Sex. Dreikastanienverlag, Wittenberg 2005, ISBN 3-933028-92-2 .