Caroline Schelling, born Michaelis, widowed Böhmer, divorced Schlegel (2 September 1763 – 7 September 1809), was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

intellectual. She was one of the so-called '' Universitätsmamsellen'', a group of five academically active women during the 18th and 19th centuries, daughters of academics at Göttingen University, alongside Meta Forkel-Liebeskind,

Therese Huber Therese Huber (7 May 1764 – 15 June 1829) was a German author. She was one of the so-called , a group of five academically active women during the mid-18th and early 19th centuries. The group consisted of daughters of academics at Göttingen Un ...

, Philippine Engelhard, and

Dorothea Schlözer Dorothea, also spelt Dorothee (German), Dorothée (French), and Dorotea, is a female given name from Greek (Dōrothéa) meaning "god's gift". In English it is more commonly spelt Dorothy. People with this name include: Aristocracy * Coun ...

Biography

Schelling was born at

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

in 1763, the daughter of orientalist

Johann David Michaelis Johann David Michaelis (27 February 1717 – 22 August 1791) was a German biblical scholar and teacher. He was member of a family that was committed to solid discipline in Hebrew and the cognate languages, which distinguished the University of ...

(1717–1791), who taught at the progressive

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

. She was educated by private tutors and by her father. In 1784, she married a district medical officer and son of lawyer (1715–1797), Johann Franz Wilhelm Böhmer (1754–1788), and the couple moved to

Clausthal Clausthal-Zellerfeld () is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The town hosts the Clausthal University of Technology. The health resort is locat ...

in the

Harz The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' der ...

. After his death in 1788, she tried to live financially independently. Together with their only surviving daughter she moved to Göttingen, then

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

, and in 1792 she settled in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

. In Mainz, Schelling joined the intellectual circle around

Georg Forster Johann George Adam Forster, also known as Georg Forster (; 27 November 1754 – 10 January 1794), was a German geography, geographer, natural history, naturalist, ethnology, ethnologist, travel literature, travel writer, journalist and revol ...

, who had married her childhood friend

. Forster was an explorer, journalist, and revolutionary. When Mainz was occupied by the French during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

, she moved into Forster's house. Mainz was declared a republic, aligned with France (see

Republic of Mainz The Republic of Mainz was the first democratic state in the current German territoryThe short-lived republic is often ignored in identifying the "first German democracy", in favour of the Weimar Republic; e.g. "the failure of the first Germa ...

). But when Prussian troops recaptured Mainz (22 July 1793), Schelling was imprisoned for her political opinions. Schelling was pregnant and asked friends and family for help. She was released and

August Schlegel August Wilhelm von Schlegel (Schlegel until 1812; ; ; 8 September 176712 May 1845) was a German Indologist, poet, translator and critic. With his brother Friedrich Schlegel, he was a leading influence within Jena Romanticism. His translations of ...

arranged for her to give birth under an assumed name in

Lucka Lucka is a town in the Thuringian landkreis of Altenburger Land. History The settlement of the area around Lucka occurred in the early Stone Age (5000-2500 b.c.). Lucka was first mentioned in writing in 1320 as "opidum Luckowe". The area was als ...

near

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. Schelling and August Schlegel married in 1796, and she moved to

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, where he had received a professorship. Their house became a meeting place for the young literary and intellectual elite later associated with

German Romanticism German Romanticism () was the dominant intellectual movement of German-speaking countries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, influencing philosophy, aesthetics, literature, and criticism. Compared to English Romanticism, the German vari ...

. His brother

Friedrich Schlegel Karl Wilhelm Friedrich (after 1814: von) Schlegel ( ; ; 10 March 1772 – 12 January 1829) was a German literary critic, philosopher, and Indologist. With his older brother, August Wilhelm Schlegel, he was one of the main figures of Jena Roma ...

and Friedrich's wife Dorothea Veit moved in. They were at the centre of

Jena Romanticism Jena Romanticism (), also the Jena Romantics or Early Romanticism (''Frühromantik''), is the first phase of Romanticism in German literature represented by the work of a group centred in Jena from about 1798 to 1804. The movement is considered to ...

. Schelling was involved in the literary projects of her husband and his brother. She is credited with contributing to many of the 300 reviews her husband published in the Jena ''Allgemeine Literaturzeitung'' between 1796 and 1799. In 1803, she divorced Schlegel and married the young philosopher

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (; 27 January 1775 – 20 August 1854), later (after 1812) von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him be ...

. Her new husband was at the center of Romantic

natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...

. The couple moved to

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

, but were maligned by gossip. In 1806, they moved to

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, where Friedrich Schelling received a professorship and was honored for his work. Between 1805 and 1807, Schelling published several reviews in her own name and assisted her husband in his reviews, which shaped Romantic literature and literary taste. She also engaged in extensive correspondence with numerous Romantics. Having suffered poor health for some time, she died of

dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...

in 1809.

References

External links

Caroline. Letters from Early Romanticism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schelling, Caroline 1763 births 1809 deaths Writers from Göttingen 18th-century German scholars German literary critics German women literary critics English–German translators German salon-holders 18th-century German writers 18th-century German women writers 18th-century German translators