Luise von Göchhausen

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Bust of Luise von Gochhausen Louis Held (1851-1927) - Luise von Gochhausen.jpg
Bust of Luise von Göchhausen

Louise Ernestine Christiane Juliane von Göchhausen (13 February 1752 – 7 September 1807) was Chief Lady-in-Waiting to Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Known for her sharp wit, she became a close friend of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel German princess, composer

Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, was a German princess and composer. She became the duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, by marriage, and was also regent of the states of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach from 1758 to 1775. She transformed her court and its surrounding into the most influential cultural center of Germany.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 18th/19th-century German writer, artist, and politician

Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe was a German writer and statesman. His works include four novels; epic and lyric poetry; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; and treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour. In addition, there are numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him extant.

Contents

Life

Born in Eisenach, the daughter of a Saxe-Weimar official, Luise von Göchhausen was small and hunchbacked in stature; therefore, she considered herself lucky to be accommodated as a Lady-in-Waiting, initially to Margravine Caroline Louise of Baden, from 1783 at the Weimar court, where she and Anna Amalia lived at Tiefurt House.

Eisenach Place in Thuringia, Germany

Eisenach is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located 50 kilometres west of Erfurt, 70 km southeast of Kassel and 150 km northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situated near the former Inner German border. A major attraction is Wartburg castle, which has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1999.

Saxe-Weimar duchy

Saxe-Weimar was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia. The chief town and capital was Weimar. The Weimar branch was the most genealogically senior extant branch of the House of Wettin.

Appreciated by the duchess for her intelligence and wisdom, Göchhausen also developed a good relationship with Goethe, who had been appointed to the court by Anna Amalia's son, the young Duke Karl August. She prepared numerous transcripts and excerpts of Goethe's works, among them several scenes from Faust the poet had written between 1772 and 1775. The manuscript of this earliest form of the work, known as the Urfaust, is lost, but a copy was discovered in the estate of Luise von Göchhausen and published by Erich Schmidt in 1887. [1]

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Goethes <i>Faust</i> play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Erich Schmidt (historian) German historian

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Göchhausen accompanied the duchess on her journey to Rome and Naples; she also went into exile with her, when Napoleon's troops occupied Weimar after the 1806 Battle of Jena–Auerstedt. Back at the court, Anna Amalia died in the following year, and Göchhausen only outlived her by five months. Her mortal remains were re-discovered in the Weimar Fürstengruft in 2008.

Rome Capital city and comune in Italy

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Napoleon 18th/19th-century French monarch, military and political leader

Napoléon Bonaparte was a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. He was Emperor of the French as Napoleon I from 1804 until 1814 and again briefly in 1815 during the Hundred Days. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over much of continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. He is considered one of the greatest commanders in history, and his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history.

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References

  1. Goethe's Plays, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translated into English with Introductions by Charles E. Passage, Publisher Benn Limited 1980 ISBN   0510000878 / 9780510000875 / 0-510-00087-8