Jenny from Droste to Hülshoff

Jenny from Droste to Hülshoff

Eppishausen Castle, residence of Jenny 1834–1838

Meersburg Castle, Jenny's residence from 1838 until her death

Jenny von Droste zu Hülshoff (actually Maria Anna Henrietta Felicitas ; born June 2, 1795 in Münster ; † December 29, 1859 in Münster), married Baroness von Laßberg , was the older sister and most important confidante of the poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff , who she called "Hans". Both belonged to the 20th generation of their family. Further siblings were Werner-Constantin and Ferdinand, who died early at the age of 29. Her father was Clemens-August II von Droste zu Hülshoff , her mother Therese-Louise von Haxthausen .

Jenny was one of the last canons of the Hohenholte Monastery in Havixbeck . 1813 she learned in the castle Bökerhof their maternal relatives u. a. Wilhelm Grimm , whom she helped with the collection of fairy tales and folk songs. They had a long pen friendship with him, and there are also indications that an unfulfilled love relationship existed between them. She provided him with the fairy tales De Gaudeif un sien Meester , The Fox and the Horse , The Dancing Shoes , De Three Swallow Princesses , Up Reisen gohn , De wilde Mann .

After the death of her father in 1826, she helped manage the family property at Burg Hülshoff and moved into the widow's house at Haus Rüschhaus with her mother and sister Annette . In 1834, at the age of 39, through the mediation of her uncle Werner von Haxthausen , she married the then 64-year-old Germanist Joseph von Laßberg , moved to his castle in Eppishausen in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland and two years later gave birth to twins named Hildegard † 1914) and Hildegunde († 1909) to the world. Despite the long distance from her native Münsterland at the time , contact with her family remained intense; in the late, difficult pregnancy, her mother and sister Annette assisted her during her “Swiss year”. The poet spent a total of almost five years with Jenny's family during four longer stays, where she created a significant part of her work and died in her care.

Her marriage and her duties as lady of the castle did not prevent Jenny from continuing her intellectual activity. At her husband's side, from 1838 onwards at Meersburg Castle , she was the host and conversation partner of numerous important contemporaries, such as B. Ludwig Uhland , Gustav Schwab , Justinus Kerner and Ignaz Heinrich von Wessenberg . In addition to purely private matters, the correspondence with her sister deals with her work and its reception. Jenny was particularly gifted in painting - she produced pictures of her sister, among others - and was trained by the then famous painter Marie Ellenrieder in Konstanz . A poem by her has also come down to us. She was also a great plant lover.

Jenny's diaries are now an important source for research into the childhood of her sister, the poet Annette. It was through them that the poet felt herself most deeply understood; On Annette's recommendation, Jenny arranged that Levin Schücking was employed as a librarian at the Meersburg in 1841 , which inspired her sister to the so-called "poet's bet". She later made copies of her works and helped edit them. For her sister she managed the princely house in Meersburg with its vineyard, which was next to her own garden and which she and her daughters inherited from her.

Jenny did not die in Meersburg, but in the then city apartment of Droste zu Hülshoff in Münster and was buried next to her mother and brother in the family grave in Roxel , after her famous sister Annette had found her final resting place in Meersburg 11 years earlier .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Baptism - KB001 | Münster, St. Jacobi | Münster, rk. Diocese | Germany | Matricula Online. Retrieved July 3, 2020 . 
2. ↑ FemBio: Jenny von Droste-Hulshoff , accessed on 21 March 2011th
3. ↑ Hans-Jörg Uther: Handbook on the children's and house tales of the Brothers Grimm. de Gruyter, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-019441-8 .
4. ↑ European garden network: Jenny von Laßberg, née von Droste-Hülshoff ( memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 21, 2011 

literature

• Barbara Beuys : “I don't like to be embarrassed”. The life of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. Hanser, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-446-19751-6 .
• Wilderich von Droste zu Hülshoff : Annette von Droste-Hülshoff in the field of tension of her family (from the German aristocratic archives; vol. 16). CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1997, ISBN 3-7980-0683-0 .
• Wilderich from Droste to Hülshoff : 900 years of Droste to Hülshoff . Verlag LPV Hortense von Gelmini, Horben 2018, ISBN 978-3-936509-16-8
• Walter Gödden: Wilhelm Grimm's friendship with Jenny von Droste-Hülshoff; a biographical reminiscence based on new source material . In: Ludwig Denecke (ed.): Brüder-Grimm-Gedenken , Vol. 6 (1986), pp. 13-24, ISSN  0177-834X .
• Clemens Heselhaus : Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. Work and life. Bagel, Düsseldorf 1971.
• Doris Maurer : Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. A life between rebellion and obedience. Keil, Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-921591-22-8 .
• Wilhelm Schoof: Jenny von Droste-Hülshoff, Wilhelm Grimm's childhood friend. In: Westphalia. Hefte für Geschichte, Kunst und Volkskunde , Vol. 23 (1938), Issue 2, pp. 139–153, ISSN  0043-4337 .
• Karl Schulte Kemminghausen (ed.): Correspondence between Jenny von Droste-Hülshoff and Wilhelm Grimm . Aschendorff, Münster 1978, ISBN 3-402-03477-8 (reprint of the Munich edition 1929).
• Karl Schulte Kemminghausen (ed.): The letters of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. Complete edition. Scientific book club, Darmstadt 1968 (2 volumes, reprint of the Jena edition 1944).
• Winfried Wösler (Ed.): Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, historical-critical edition, works, correspondence . Niemeyer, Tübingen 1978-2000 (14 vols.).

Web links

• Literature by and about Jenny von Droste zu Hülshoff in the catalog of the German National Library