Ludwig Gotthard Kosegarten (1 February 1758 – 26 October 1818), also known as Ludwig Theobul or Ludwig Theoboul, was a German

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...

. His son

Gottfried Gottfried is a masculine German given name. It is derived from the Old High German name , recorded since the 7th century, and composed of the elements (conflated from the etyma for "God" and "good", and possibly further conflated with ) and ("pe ...

(1792-1860) became an orientalist, Arabist, and historian at Jena and Greifswald.

Life and work

Kosegarten was born in Grevesmühlen, to pastor Bernhard Christian (1722–1803) and Sophia née Buttstädt in the

Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin () was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1701, when Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II divided the Duchy of Mecklenburg between Schwerin and Strelitz. Ruled by the successors of the Nikloting H ...

. He studied

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

at the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; ), formerly known as Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Founded in 1456, it is one of th ...

and also philosophy under J.C. Muhrbeck. He then served as the

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

Altenkirchen Altenkirchen () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, capital of the Altenkirchen (district), district of Altenkirchen. It is located approximately 40 km east of Bonn and 50 km north of Koblenz. Altenkirchen is the seat of the ' ...

on the island of

Rügen Rügen (; Rani: ''Rȯjana'', ''Rāna''; , ) 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 ci ...

, then part of

Swedish Pomerania Swedish Pomerania (; ) was a dominions of Sweden, dominion under the Sweden, Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815 on what is now the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish-Swedish War, Polish War and the Thirty Years' War ...

. In 1777 he gave a speech on the birthday of King Gustaf III and wrote a hymn for the occasion. In 1781 he took his theology exam and in 1785 he was a headmaster of a school at Wolgast. After his ordination in 1792 he was given the rectorate in the parish church of

. He received a doctorate in theology at Rostock the next year. While he was a parish priest he gave the famous shore sermons on the cliffs near Vitt. He went there to the herring fishermen, who during the time of herring fishing could not go to the church in Altenkirchen due to their work. These sermons were a great success, which is why the Vitt Chapel was erected in 1806. During his stay on Rügen he wrote many reports about the island, that made both Rügen and Kosegarten famous. He wrote to poems Jucunde (1803) and Die Inselfahrt (1805) with landscape descriptions. In 1808 he became a professor of history at the University of Greifswald. When the French occupied Pomerania he gave a speech on the birthday of Napoleon and was treated as a Bonapartist. leading to his books being burned at the Wartburg festival on 18 October 1817. He influenced the work of Philipp Otto Runge,

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (; 5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a German Romanticism, German Romantic Landscape painting, landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation, whose often symbolic, and anti ...

, and the music of

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

References

Other sources

*Lewis Holmes. ''Kosegarten: The Turbulent Life & Times of a Northern German Poet.'' Peter Lang, Jan 1, 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kosegarten, Ludwig Gotthard 1758 births 1818 deaths People from Grevesmühlen People from the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 18th-century German Lutheran clergy German poets Writers from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania University of Greifswald alumni German male poets 19th-century German Lutheran clergy