Lengefeld, Charlotte von

LETTER WRITER, AUTHOR (GERMANY)
BORN 22 Oct 1766, Rudolstadt, Thüringen - DIED 9 Jul 1826, Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen
BIRTH NAME Lengefeld, Charlotte Louise Antoinette
CAUSE OF DEATH infection
GRAVE LOCATION Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen: Alter Friedhof (Abteilung I, Grabnummer 174)

Charlotte von Lengefeld was the daughter of Karl Christoph von Lengefeld (1715-1775) and Luise Juliane Eleonore Friederike von Wurmb (1743-1823) from Rudolstadt. She and her older sister Karoline met Johann Christoph Schiller in 1787 when he was in Rudolstadt. He befriended both and in 1789 he and Charlotte became engaged in Erfurt.

They married on 22 Feb 1790 in Wenigenjena and although they were often short of money it was a happy marriage. They had four children and Schiller's freund Goethe called her Lolo. She became a close friend of Goethe's lover Charlotte von Stein. She often helped Schiller with his work and when he died in 1805 it was a heavy blow to her. In 1825 she visited her son Ernst in Bonn. There she underwent an eye-operation in 1826. The operation was successful, but she died five days later of a stroke. She buried in that Bonn and not next to Schiller in Weimar as she had wished.

Charlotte was a unpublished writer herself during her life. The novel "Die heimliche Heirat" was discovered after her death and many of her letters to Schiller, Von Stein, Goethe and others were published.

Family
• Son: Schiller, Ernst von
• Daughter: Junot-Schiller, Karoline
• Son: Schiller, Karl, Freiherr von
• Husband: Schiller, Friedrich von (1790-1805, Jena, Thüringen: Schillerkirche, Wenigenjena)

Related persons
• was a friend of Stein, Charlotte von
• knew Voss, Ernestine
• is brother/sister of Wolzogen, Caroline, Baronin von

Events
3/8/1789Secret engagement of Friedrich Schiller and Charlotte von Lengefeld in Bad Läuchstadt. they would marry on 20 February 1790 and their marriage was happy. [Schiller, Friedrich von]
9/7/1796Wilhelm and Caroline Schlegel visit Friedrich and Charlotte Schiller in Jena [Schiller, Friedrich von][Schlegel, August Wilhelm von]
17/7/1796Goethe visits Caroline Schlegel at her home in Jena. Later that afternoon Caroline and her husband visited Friedrich and Charlotte Schiller. [Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von][Schiller, Friedrich von][Schlegel, August Wilhelm von]
17/9/1801Friedrich Schiller visits the third performance of his play "Die Jungfrau von Orleans" in Leipzig. He came with his wife Charlotte, his son Karl and his friend Körner and his wife. Schiller received a standing ovation from the public. [Schiller, Friedrich von][Schiller, Karl, Freiherr von]
17/3/1804Premiere of Friedrich Schiller's "Wilhelm Tell" at the Hoftheater in Weimar. It was the last play Schiller finished. He had been acquainted with the Tell saga since his future wife Charlotte von Lengefeld had introduced him to it in 1789. The premiere was directed by his friend Goethe. [Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von][Schiller, Friedrich von]
19/7/2007Exhumation of Charlotte von Langefeld's body. She was the mother of their son Ernst. A DNA investigation was conducted at the time to find out if the skull and bones at the Schiller coffin in Weimar were really his. They weren't. [Schiller, Friedrich von]

Images

The grave of Charlotte von Lengefeld and Ernst von Schiller at the Alter Friedhof, Bonn.
Picture by Androom (17 Mar 2022)

 

Sources
• Damm, Sigrid, Das Leben des Friedrich Schiller, Eine Wanderung, Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 2004
Charlotte von Schiller – Wikipedia
Wilhelm Tell (Schiller) – Wikipedia
Leipzig erscheint meinen Träumen und Ahndungen, wie der rosigte Morgen jenseits den waldigen Hügeln. In meinem Leben erinnere ich mich keiner so innigen  prophetischen Gewissheit, wie diese ist, daß ich in Leipzig glücklich seyn werde. - Schiller in
Chronology – Caroline Schelling


Lenglen, Suzanne

Published: 01 Jan 2006
Last update: 28 Oct 2023