Ehrenfried von Willich (5 September 1777– 2 February 1807) full name: ''Johann Ehrenfried Theodor von Willich'') was a Protestant

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

at the Swedish Queen's Regiment in

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund ( German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, ...

Life

Ehrenfried von Willich was from a family of theologians from the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe. Brandenburg developed out ...

. He was born in

Sagard Sagard is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. History Sagard is first mentioned in 1250 as ''Zagard''. The name of the municipality of Sagard comes from the Slavic and means something like '' ...

on the island of

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, w ...

, the son of the pastor (1720-1787) and half-brother of the country doctor (1750-1810), the first country physician in

Swedish Pomerania Swedish Pomerania ( sv, Svenska Pommern; german: Schwedisch-Pommern) was a dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815 on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden hel ...

. At first Willich was the tutor and business-partner of Wilhelm Graf von Schwerin-Putzar in

Prenzlau Prenzlau (, formerly also Prenzlow) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Uckermark District. It is also the centre of the historic Uckermark region. Geography The town is located on the Ucker river, about north of Berl ...

. From the spring of 1803 he was a chaplain in the Queen's Regiment in Stralsund, which at that time belonged to Swedish Pomerania. In 1803 Willich became engaged to Henriette von Mühlenfels (1788-1840), who was just 15 years old and had been an orphan for two years. She was daughter of the

royal Prussian The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) constituted the German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: C ...

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Friedrich Gottlieb von Mühlenfels († 1801), a

Squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a ...

on Sissow (today part of

Gustow Gustow is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the Europ ...

, island of Rügen), and of Pauline of Campagne. She was 16 by the time he married her on 5 September 1804. This marriage produced two children: Henriette (1805-1886) and Ehrenfried von Willich (1807-1880). Almost two months before the birth of his eponymous son, while Napoleon's troops were besieging

(see

Coalition Wars The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, sometimes called the Great French War, were a series of conflicts between the French and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompass first the French Revolutionary Wars agains ...

), Willich died of nerve fever (

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

), which at that time was rampant in the city. Since May 1801 Willich had been a close friend and correspondent of the theologian

Friedrich Schleiermacher Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (; 21 November 1768 – 12 February 1834) was a German Reformed theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional ...

. In 1809, two years after Willich's death, Schleiermacher married Willich's widow, the now 21-year-old Henriette.

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willich, Ehrenfried von 18th-century Lutheran clergy 19th-century Lutheran clergy 1777 births 1807 deaths Clergy from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

Life

Further reading

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References