Charlotte Sophie Henriette Buff (11 January 1753,

Wetzlar Wetzlar () is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. It is the twelfth largest city in Hesse with currently 55,371 inhabitants at the beginning of 2019 (including second homes). As an important cultural, industrial and commercial center, the un ...

– 16 January 1828,

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

) was a youthful acquaintance of the poet

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

, who fell in love with her. She rejected him and instead married Johann Christian Kestner (1741–1800), vice-archivist and privy councillor to the Hanoverian court. The character of Charlotte, in Goethe's novel ''

The Sorrows of Young Werther ''The Sorrows of Young Werther'' (; ), or simply ''Werther'', is a 1774 epistolary novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, which appeared as a revised edition in 1787. It was one of the main novels in the ''Sturm und Drang'' ...

'', is partly based on her.Mandelkow, Karl Robert (1962). ''Goethes Briefe''. Vol. 1: ''Briefe der Jahre 1764-1786''. Christian Wegner Verlag. pp. 590–592 Their relationship was characterized by heartiness and lack of constraint. Goethe bought the wedding rings for her and Kestner, in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. Charlotte and Kestner had four daughters and eight sons, among them August Kestner. Thomas Mann wrote a novel, published in 1939, "Lotte in Weimar", about a trip she made to Weimar in 1816 when she was 62 and a widow to see her family and also to meet Goethe.

Film portrayal

In the 2010 German film '' Young Goethe in Love'', the character of Charlotte Buff is portrayed by Miriam Stein.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buff, Charlotte 1753 births 1828 deaths People from Wetzlar Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The Sorrows of Young Werther 18th-century German people