Henriette von Oberkirch

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Henriette von Oberkirch (* July 5, 1754 in Schweighouse (German: Schweighausen) near Thann in Alsace ; †  June 10, 1803 in Strasbourg ), better known as Baronne d'Oberkirch , was born Waldner von Freundstein . Her parents were Freiherr, later Count, Franz Ludwig Waldner von Freundstein (1710–1788), Herr zu Schmieheim , and his wife Wilhelmine Auguste von Berckheim zu Rappoltsweiler .

After her marriage to Siegfried von Oberkirch in 1776 and the birth of their only child Marie Philippine, she accompanied her friend, Princess Sophie Dorothee von Württemberg , who later became the Russian Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, on a trip through Europe. She also came to the court of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinettes .

She was friends with Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz , who fell madly in love with her. In 1776, in a letter to Goethe, he described his (unrequited) feelings for her: There was nothing in the world to compare to a suffering of the kind if it lasted .

Her memoirs, published posthumously by her grandson Count Léon de Montbrison, are - despite certain concerns about authenticity - an excellent source. In them you can read how in the idyll of the ducal estate (Etupes near Mömpelgard) the spirit and conviviality of the Ancien Régime, which was coming to an end, came to life in all their grace for the last time . Robert Uhland wrote that Baroness Oberkirch captured the charming atmosphere of the court and vividly described life at the Mömpelgarder Hof.

A three-volume English edition ( Memoirs ) appeared in London in 1852, and a two-volume in Paris in 1853. Other editions followed, as the memoirs were received with great interest.

In 2003, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of her death, her memory was celebrated in Schweighouse.

literature

  • Mémoires de la baronne d'Oberkirch sur la cour de Louis XVI et la société française avant 1789. Ed. annotée by Suzanne Burkard, nouv. Ed. Paris 2000 ISBN 2-7152-2227-0 (not viewed)
  • Mémoires de la baronne d'Oberkirch, empreinte d'une belle âme (1754–1789). Édition condensée présentée par François Vigneron, Montbéliard 2015 ISBN 978-2-9551384-0-3 (not accessed)
  • Dominique Marie: Les tentations de la baronne d'Oberkirch: des mémoires entre autobiographie et roman . Besançon: Presses universitaires franc-comtoises 2001 ISBN 2846270392 (not consulted )
  • Memoirs of the Baroness von Oberkirch, imprint of a beautiful soul (1754–1789). First German edition, translated into German by Andrea Wurth, edited by François Vigneron, Montbéliard / Kehl 2015 ISBN 978-2-9551384-3-4 (not viewed)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walter Grube in: 900 Years House Württemberg, 1984, pp. 455f.
  2. ↑ Robert Uhland in: 900 Years of House Württemberg, 1984, p. 274
personal data
SURNAME Oberkirch, Henriette von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Baronne d'Oberkirch
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Friend of Princess Sophia Dorothea of ​​Württemberg
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1754
PLACE OF BIRTH Schweighouse (Schweighausen) near Thann , Alsace
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 1803
Place of death Strasbourg