Philippine von Griesheim

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Philippine Wilhelmine von Griesheim (born 1790 in Köthen ; died 1881 ) was a well-known widowed Anhalt-Braunschweig noblewoman, the fiancée of the Anhalt rebel Albert von Wedell and wife of the Brunswick Chamberlain von Cramm .

Life

She was one of three daughters of the Brunswick general family of Heinrich August Ernst von Griesheim and his wife Elisabeth Friederike Sophie Luise von Cornberg . In the letters and diaries of the writer and military officer Stendhal , the girl is often mentioned as the sister of his lover Wilhelmine. In 1808 her father entered the service of the Duke of Anhalt-Köthen as chief steward , where Philippine met her cousin, Albert von Wedell. She fell in love with the chivalrous young officer, and became engaged to him.

Wedell joined Ferdinand von Schill while he was passing through Koethen and took part in his unauthorized uprising against the French occupying forces. He was one of the eleven Freikorps officers who were executed in Wesel after their capture on September 16, 1809 . Philippine returned to Braunschweig and married Chamberlain Philipp Lebrecht von Cramm (1762-1820) in 1815, with whom she had the daughter Hedwig von Cramm (1819-1891). However, her husband died on February 4, 1820 after five years of marriage.

In the remaining sixty years of her life, the chamberlain-widow concentrated on her memories of the warlike experiences of her youth and the life and death of her idealized fiancé. After Napoleonic domination over Germany, it was considered a “living monument” of the idea of ​​freedom. Her memories in the form of letters were reprinted six times by 1906.

Philippine von Griesheim was buried with military honors after her death in 1881. Through her daughter Hedwig and four other generations, she is an ancestor of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands .

Works

  • Philippine von Griesheim: Letters from a bride from the time of the German Wars of Independence 1804-1813, Fleischel, Berlin, 1905 (also published as a reprint)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures . Sebastian Lux, Munich 1963, p. 198
personal data
SURNAME Griesheim, Philippine from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Griesheim, Philippine Wilhelmine von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Anhalt-Brunswick nobles
DATE OF BIRTH 1790
PLACE OF BIRTH Koethen
DATE OF DEATH 1881