Maria Sophia Schellhammer

Maria Sophia Schellhammer (formerly also Schelhammer ; baptized September 9, 1647 in Helmstedt , † 1719 in Kiel ) was a German writer who is best known as the author of a historically important cookbook. Her work “Die wol unterwiesene Köchinn”, also known as “Brandenburgisches Kochbuch”, was first published in 1692 and was one of the most important and widely used cookbooks of the time. Schellhammer also wrote a supplement with a focus on the confectionery kitchen and worked as a translator.

Life

Maria Sophia Schellhammer, née Conring, was the daughter of Professor Hermann Conring from Helmstedt and his wife Anna Maria Stucke (1616–1694). She was one of six siblings, her younger sister Elisa Sophie became known as a poet and translator. Conring was a student of Magnus Daniel Omeis , who taught her privately for three years in Altdorf. She then went to Nuremberg, where she received a comprehensive education in geography, poetry, mythology and foreign languages. She also tried her hand at painting. In 1679 Conring married the Helmstedt medicine professor Günther Christoph Schellhammer , who taught in Jena from 1689 and in Kiel from 1695. The couple had a daughter, Henrica Maria (* 1684, † May 28, 1720).

After marrying Schellhammer, who was, among other things, the personal physician of Duke Friedrich IV. Of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf , she became an experienced landlady who learned the theoretical and practical aspects of fine cuisine . She was particularly interested in the preparation of fruits, jams , jellies , compound vinegars and dishes for the sick. Her knowledge of dietetics and chemistry also helped her . She received support from her husband, who was also active as a writer and took care of the publication of her books. But she also made a name for herself as a scholar, as Christian Gottlieb Jöcher writes in his “ Allgemeine Gelehrten-Lexicon ” in the article about Günther Christoph Schelhammer about his wife, “who because of her experience in the French language, spheric, geography, history and Poetry is famous [and] has published a couple of cookery books. "

Writing activity

Cookbooks

Title copper of the "well instructed cook"

In 1692 Schellhammer published one of the most famous cookbooks of the time: "The wol instructed cook". The first edition was published in Braunschweig by Kasper Gruber , to whom Christine Luise von Oettingen-Oettingen , at that time Countess von Blankenburg , dedicated it. The only information found by the author was “From a noble lady” on the title page. In the second edition of 1697 this information was replaced by the initials "MSSGC" ("Maria Sophia Schellhammer, nee Conrings"), the later editions mentioned the full name on the title page. In 1699, the publication “The well-instructed cook at random confect table” followed, from the beginning with the full name of the author. The work was dedicated to Rosine Elisabeth Menthe , the morganatic wife of Prince Rudolf August of Brunswick .

Both books have been reprinted repeatedly. The "wol unterwiesene Köchinn" appeared in three new editions (1697, 1704, 1713) in the years after its first publication by Kasper Gruber, who was initially taken over by the widow after his death in 1695 and, from 1702, by her new husband, Christoph Friedrich Fickel. In 1723 and 1732, the fifth and sixth editions followed by Johann Andreas Rüdiger's publishing house in Berlin, with the text of the Werḱes again significantly expanded. He now comprised 1,750 recipes in total, as well as the introductory chapters were completed and added twelve engravings that in plan views illustrating the arrangement of the dishes on a blackboard. In addition, for the edition from 1723 the previous title was prefixed with the prefix “Das Brandenburgische Koch-Buch”. However, this designation is not justified by a special reference to Brandenburg cuisine, with the exception of a recipe from Brandenburg beets and a first mention of the tree cake and the meatball . Presumably, the addition to the title only served to facilitate marketing through a local character of the book. Finally, a new edition of the cookbook appeared in 1887. In 1984 a photomechanical reprint of both the “Brandenburgische Koch-Buch” and the “Random Confect-Tisch” was published, each after the edition of 1723.

Schellhammer's two publications from 1697 and 1699 are “among the first German non-fiction books that are not written by a learned specialist, but by a housewife.” At the same time, they are one of the first German-language cookbooks that were clearly aimed at a middle-class audience. In the text, the author emphasizes both that she does not want to deal with court cuisine and that she does not write for the common people, the peasant kitchen and the lower bourgeoisie. For their target group, the terms "middle class" and "mediocre household" are used, which in modern terms roughly corresponds to the "upper class bourgeoisie". The form of food culture conveyed by Schellhammer was “prestige innovations” which “mainly served the cultural self-portrayal of the upper middle class” in the northern German cities.

In the selection of recipes as well as the terms and designations used, numerous French and sometimes Dutch influences can be identified in accordance with these general social developments during the time of origin. In addition to the international dishes, which make extensive use of exotic ingredients and are intended for representative festive tables, there are also simple everyday recipes that are often influenced by Schellhammer's Brunswick-Lower Saxony origins and are accordingly based on locally grown products. There are also some particularly digestible, health-promoting and even medicinal recipes. In addition to the recipes, there are general explanations about the organization and preparation of a meal, the administration and (also personnel) management of a kitchen, as well as storage and conservation.

More fonts

In addition to her work as a cookbook author, Maria Sophia Schellhammer also worked as a translator, according to the “Lexicon of German Translators”, specifically of dramas and stories from French and Italian , although the individual attributions were due to confusion with her sister and daughter (who were also who worked as translators) are contradictory. The rest of the literature, however, mentions only one reliable translation by Schellhammer and one that was actually by her husband. Their translation from Giovanni Boccaccio's De casibus virorum illustrium from Latin is clearly attested ; the German version is entitled Des Glückes Wankelmuth and was published in 1699. The German version of the play Alexander the Great by the French playwright Jean Racine, on the other hand, appears in the catalog of the Leipzig New Year's Fair of 1706 (and partly in the literature as a result) given as a translation by Maria Sophia Schellhammer, but probably came from her husband. The older literature even interpreted the announcement in the exhibition catalog to mean that Maria Sophia Schellhammer wrote the piece herself and did not translate it. There is also talk of Maria Sophia Schellhammer's poems, which apparently did not appear in print.

Works

• The well-instructed cook / That is: Lessons / How to be known all dishes / only in Germany / to prepare the most meticulous / tasty soups / potages / pies / tarts and all sorts of baked goods / to apply and attach / also in the now usual way Meat / fish / garden fruits and other things & c. want to canning / dry or keep safe / together with many so far little known tricks / so in the art of cooking should have their peculiar use. Gruber, Braunschweig 1697 ( digitized version ).
• The well-instructed cook random confection table. Consists in the preparation of all kinds of confections / prepared fruits / juices / wines / aqvavites / brandy wines / beers / vinegars and the like & c. Gruber, Braunschweig 1700 ( digitized , digitized ).

literature

• Johann Christian Friedrich Harless : The merits of women in the natural sciences, health and medicine, as well as in the history of the world, ethnology and humanity, from the oldest to the newest. Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1830, p. 173 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Dieter Lohmeier : Schelhammer, Maria Sophia. In: Wilhelm Kühlmann (Ed.): Killy Literature Lexicon . 2nd edition, Volume 10, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2011, pp. 290 f.
• Reinhard Peesch: Afterword. In: [Maria Sophia Schellhammer]: The Brandenburg Cookbook. Or: the well-trained cook. Photomechanical reprint of the edition by Johann Andreas Rüdiger, Berlin 1723. 2nd edition, VEB Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 1989, ISBN 3-356-00280-5 , pp. 1–13 (separate page count).
• Sabine Verk: a matter of taste. Cookbooks from the Museum of Folklore (= writings of the Museum of Folklore. Volume 20). National Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage, Berlin 1995, pp. 65 and 75 f.
• Jorunn Wissmann: Schelhammer, Maria Sophia, b. Conring. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Dieter Lent et al. (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 8th to 18th century . Appelhans Verlag, Braunschweig 2006, ISBN 3-937664-46-7 , p. 615 .
• Jean M. Woods, Maria Fürstenwald: writers, artists and learned women of the German baroque. A lexicon (= repertories on German literary history. Volume 10). Metzler, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 978-3-476-00551-9 , p. 108.

Web links

• Literature by and about Maria Sophia Schellhammer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry in the German Biographical Encyclopedia

Individual evidence

1. ^ Christian Gottlieb Jöcher: Schelhamer (Günther Christoph). In: General Scholar Lexicon. Volume 4: S-Z. Johann Friedrich Gleditsch, Leipzig 1751, Sp. 240–242, here Sp. 241 ( digitized version ).
2. ↑ Ulrike Gleixner : The reading princess. Book collecting as a lifelong educational practice. In: Juliane Jacobi, Jean-Luc Le Cam, Hans-Ulrich Musolff (eds.): Pre-modern educational courses. Descriptions of oneself and others in the early modern period (= contributions to historical educational research. Volume 41). Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-412-20492-1 , pp. 207–224, here p. 218.
3. ↑ Henry Notaker: A History of Cookbooks. From Kitchen to Page over Seven Centuries. University of California Press, Oakland 2017, ISBN 978-0-520-29400-4 , p. 43.
4. ↑ Britta Berg: "... not too lucky in the world from childhood ..." The Braunschweig bookseller Christoph Friedrich Fickel - a piece of social history from the early 18th century. In: Braunschweigisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte. Volume 82, 2001, pp. 119-127, here p. 121.
5. ↑ Reinhard Peesch: Afterword. In: [Maria Sophia Schellhammer]: The Brandenburg Cookbook. Or: the well-trained cook. Photomechanical reprint of the edition by Johann Andreas Rüdiger, Berlin 1723. 2nd edition, VEB Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 1989, ISBN 3-356-00280-5 , pp. 1–13 (separate page count), here pp. 5–7.
6. ↑ For the various editions see Reinhard Peesch: Afterword. In: [Maria Sophia Schellhammer]: The Brandenburg Cookbook. Or: the well-trained cook. Photomechanical reprint of the edition by Johann Andreas Rüdiger, Berlin 1723. 2nd edition, VEB Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 1989, ISBN 3-356-00280-5 , pp. 1–13 (separate page count), here p. 2.
7. ↑ Reinhard Peesch: Afterword. In: [Maria Sophia Schellhammer]: The Brandenburg Cookbook. Or: the well-trained cook. Photomechanical reprint of the edition by Johann Andreas Rüdiger, Berlin 1723. 2nd edition, VEB Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 1989, ISBN 3-356-00280-5 , pp. 1–13 (separate page count), here p. 1.
8. ↑ Reinhard Peesch: Afterword. In: [Maria Sophia Schellhammer]: The Brandenburg Cookbook. Or: the well-trained cook. Photomechanical reprint of the edition by Johann Andreas Rüdiger, Berlin 1723. 2nd edition, VEB Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 1989, ISBN 3-356-00280-5 , pp. 1–13 (separate page count), here p. 3.
9. ↑ Reinhard Peesch: Afterword. In: [Maria Sophia Schellhammer]: The Brandenburg Cookbook. Or: the well-trained cook. Photomechanical reprint of the edition by Johann Andreas Rüdiger, Berlin 1723. 2nd edition, VEB Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 1989, ISBN 3-356-00280-5 , pp. 1–13 (separate page count), here p. 13.
10. ↑ Reinhard Peesch: Afterword. In: [Maria Sophia Schellhammer]: The Brandenburg Cookbook. Or: the well-trained cook. Photomechanical reprint of the edition by Johann Andreas Rüdiger, Berlin 1723. 2nd edition, VEB Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 1989, ISBN 3-356-00280-5 , pp. 1–13 (separate page count), here pp. 3–11.
11. ^ Elisabeth Gibbels: Lexicon of German Translators 1200-1850 (= work on the theory and practice of translation and interpreting. Volume 93). Frank & Timme, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-7329-0422-8 , pp. 135 f.
12. ^ See for example Jean M. Woods, Maria Fürstenwald: Writers, artists and learned women of the German Baroque. A lexicon (= repertories on German literary history. Volume 10). Metzler, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 978-3-476-00551-9 , p. 108.
13. ^ Dieter Lohmeier : Schelhammer, Maria Sophia. In: Wilhelm Kühlmann (Ed.): Killy Literature Lexicon . 2nd edition, Volume 10, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2011, pp. 290 f .; Alexander Nebrig: high style rhetoric. The German Racine in French tradition and romantic modernization (= Munich comparative studies. Volume 10). Wallstein, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-8353-0205-1 , p. 51 and p. 376 f. (there pp. 48–69 on this translation).
14. ^ Christian Gottlieb Jöcher: Conringin (Maria Sophia). In: General Scholar Lexicon. Volume 1: A-C. Johann Friedrich Gleditsch, Leipzig 1750, Sp. 2064 ( digitized version ); Conring, Marie Sophie. In: Ladies Conversations Lexicon. Volume 2, Fr. Volckmar, Leipzig 1834, pp. 470-471 ( digitized version ).