Mainz, ca. 1655
Mainz, here ca. 1655, showing the town’s location on the Main River and some of the fortifications. Caroline and Auguste arrived here in late February or early March 1792. She writes in peculiar anticipation on 20 April 1792, without knowing about France’s declaration of war against Austria that same day:
“In a word, I can tell you that everything is just as I expected. We may yet see some rather lively scenes here if war should break out — not for the life of me would I leave — just imagine, I will be able to tell my grandchildren how I experienced a siege, and how the people cut off an old clergyman’s long nose and the Democrats then roasted it publicly in the market place—we are, after all, living in an extraordinarily interesting time politically.”
(Excerpt from Matthäus Merian, Topographia Hassiae (1655).)
Mainz 1806, essentially as Caroline would have experienced it.
During Caroline’s initial visit to Mainz back in the spring of 1790, things were still rather idyllic. She writes in March 1791:
“Such beautiful evenings, climbing into a skiff late at night and simply letting ourselves drift down the Rhine.”
(Mainz illustration ca. 1800, from E. Klebe, Reise auf dem Rhein, durch die Teutschen Rheinländer und durch die französischen Departements des Donnersbergs, des Rheins und der Mosel, etc [Frankfurt 1806], plate preceding p. 41.)
Mainz Cathedral, ca. 1820
Mainz, Marketplace. Caroline in October 1792:
“What a change we’ve had since a week ago — General Custine is living in the castle of the Elector of Mainz — the German Jacobin Club assembles in his banquet hall — the streets are teeming with National Cockades. — The strange tones that once cursed freedom now strike up the tune of vivre libre ou mourir. If only I had the patience to write and you to read, I could relate much to you. — We now have over 10,000 men in the city, and calm and order predominate. All the nobles have fled — citizens are treated with extreme consideration — such is politics.”
(Bernhard Hundeshagen, Mainzer Dom mit dem Liebfrauenplatz [ca. 1820].)
Therese Forster, née Heyne
Therese Huber (widowed Forster, née Heyne), here in a later picture. She left Mainz (and Georg Forster) on 7 December 1792. Caroline:
“From a human perspective, this is the worst decision she has ever made, and the first step of which I disapprove without reservation.”
Therese married Ludwig Ferdinand Huber in 1794 after Forster’s death. In Mainz, Caroline regularly visited her and Georg Forster.
(Portrait: ca. 1820, unknown artist, miniature.)
Georg Forster
Georg Forster, ca. 1785: Participated in James Cook’s 2nd voyage to the south seas, supported the French Revolution, and was a major player in the Mainz Republic. Married Therese Heyne in 1785, who left him in Mainz in December 1792; Caroline was subsequently accused of having ruined their marriage and even of having tried to ensnare Forster himself into marriage. Indeed, a French newspaper identified her as his romantic lady friend.
(Portrait: ca. 1785, by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein.)
Caroline and Auguste
Caroline writes from Mainz to Luise Gotter on 20 April 1792:
“I have already had the pleasure of enjoying springtime through the most wonderful carriage rides and walks — but spring has disappeared again for a while. I am finding more joy in my little one than ever before.”
(Illustration: Physiognomischer Almanach für das Jahr 1792 [Berlin], following p. 274.)
Ludwig Ferdinand Huber
Ludwig Ferdinand Huber: Huber appears in several capacities in this correspondence, not only as Therese Heyne’s second husband and in connection with the role he played in her decision to abandon Georg Forster in Mainz, but also because of his harsh reviews of the Schlegel brothers’ works, prompting some devastating responses from Caroline that are among her finer epistolary moments.
(Portrait by Dora Stock, 1784: frontispiece to Ludwig Geiger, “Aus Therese Hubers Herzensleben,” Westermanns Illustrierte Deutsche Monatshefte 97 [1903], 677–83, here 677.)
Caroline writes to F. L. W. Meyer in July 1792 from Mainz about her new situation and her young daughter, Auguste:
“In this admission, you can find one of the ingredients for my well-being — in my small, solitary rooms, with my good little girl, there is no lack of domestic tranquility. Nor of maternal joy, since she promises to become a dear, amiable creature whose happiness I will certainly not be compromising through the way I raise her. One cannot imagine a more guileless, ungrudging, cheerful soul.”
(Frontispiece to Louise Florence Petronille d’ Epinay, Emiliens Unterredungen mit ihrer Mutter [Leipzig 1775].)
Caroline writes in August 1792 about the crass dissembling of one of the suitors of her younger sister Luise back in Góttingen, referring to him as
“such a wretched hero, one too miserly to eat his fill at home and who was more interested in my mother’s coffee than in Louise’s kisses.”
(Illustration from Johann Christian Brandes, Meine Lebensgeschichte, vol. 1, 2nd ed. [Berlin 1802], following p. 260.)
Tatter and Caroline
During the week of 20 September 1792, Georg Ernst Tatter traveled to Mainz to visit Caroline “for a couple of days,” though it was a great disappointment for her; it was also the last time she ever saw him.
She writes to F. L. W. Meyer on 15 June 1793:
“My existence in Germany is over. . . . Tatter could have saved me with a bit more manly courage and a decisive act of intervention — the only man whose protection I ever desired failed to provide it.”
(Title vignette to Pierre Jean-Baptiste Nougaret, Tausend und Eine Thorheit: Oder neue französische Erzehlungen, in welchen das Lächerliche der heutigen Sitten dieser und andrer Nationen auf eine angenehme und lebhafte Art geschildert wird, vol. 3 [Ulm 1772].)
Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring
One of Caroline’s most resolute adversaries and severest critics during her time in Mainz and after her arrest. He writes to Therese Forster’s father on 6 April 1793:
“I know for certain now from Madam Böhmer’s own statements that she was the cause of the separation between Forster and his wife; she congratulated herself for having finally prompted a declaration between Forster and Therese; nota bene only after Therese’s departure.”
(Portrait by Carl Wilhelm Bender.)
Johann Georg Wilhelm Böhmer
Caroline’s brother-in-law, though regrettably also a major player in the Mainz Republic. Caroline was apparently mistaken for his wife while attempting to flee Mainz. Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring writes to Christian Gottlob Heyne in Göttingen on 27 July 1793:
“Böhmer was arrested outside the city gates disguised as a sans-cullotte, beaten, and his wife pulled from the carriage by her hair.”
(Portrait: in Hugo Erich von Boehmer, Geschichte der Familie von Boehmer [1892].)
Adam-Philippe de Custine
Adam Philippe de Custine, French general who took Mainz in the fall of 1792. Gossip had Caroline as his mistress:
“Custine himself allegedly had himself wed for two months to the wife of Doctor * Custine allegedly had Madam*. . constantly driven around Mainz in the sumptuous state carriage of the prince elector accompanied by two Haiduks. *The lady in question here was…the infamous Caroline Böhmer…an intelligent, fiery, physically well-endowed woman.”
(Portrait: anonymous, “Cüstine,” in H.A.O. Reichard, Revolutions-Almanach [Wien 1794].)
Freedom Tree in Mainz, January 1793
(Gespräch eines Juden zu Lassel bey Maynz mit einem eingebildeten Freyheits-Mann über den Freyheitsbaum im Jänner 1793; Herzog August Bibliothek; Signatur Graph. C: 152; color illustration from the Revolutions-Almanach von 1794)
Ball of Freedom and Equality, January 1793
Here the only known illustration of a “ball of freedom and equality” in Mainz, in this case a ball concluding the planting of the second “freedom tree” on 13 January 1793 and intended as a celebration for all the residents of Mainz. General Custine is depicted at right. It was in connection with the “heated” atmosphere of such a ball, as Caroline herself recounts, that she became pregnant, and the date of her son’s birth in November and a curious remark she makes to Friedrich Schlegel during her pregnancy dates that evening quite close to this scene.
(Baal der Freÿheit und Gleichheit zu Mainz um 1793; Nürnberg Germanisches Nationalmuseum; Graphische Sammlung; Inv. Nr. HB 28023 Kapsel 1326a.)
Mainz surrounded by the Prussians, Saxons, and Hessian forces 1793
(Vue de la ville & des environs de Mayence, avec celle des camps des François, des Prussiens, des Saxons, & des Hessois, pendants le Siege de 1793, l’an deux de la République françoise [n.p., n.d.]; Bibliothèque nationale de France.)
Oppenheim am Rhein, ca. 18 km due south of Mainz
Samuel Thomas von Sömmering writes to Christian Gottlob Heyne in Göttingen on 6 April 1793:
“Madam Forkel, Mother Wedekind, and the widow Böhmer similarly could get no further than Oppenheim.”
That is, it was here in Oppenheim that Caroline, trying to flee Mainz on 30 March 1793 and make her way to Gotha on the other side of the Rhine River, was detained and turned back around toward Mainz, a fateful event leading to her detainment, arrest, and incarceration, repercussions of which would follow her the rest of her life. There is some question, however, whether the women made it further than Oppenheim, perhaps under guard. See next image.
(Illustration: William Tombleson, Ober Rhein, vol. 2 [London 1834], plate preceding p. 35.)
Guntersblum
Caroline and her traveling companions seem to have been detained in Oppenheim but then conducted under guard as far south as Guntersblum, the next village south on the route to Worms, and were allegedly even given the opportunity to escape. Luise Michaelis, who in any case was in epistolary contact with Caroline, writes to Wilhelm Schlegel:
“I simply cannot comprehend why she did not leave Guntersblum, since they were, after all, alone there, even the Duke of Braunschweig had a letter written to Forkel saying that the officer intentionally left them alone to give them time to get away, and that it was their own fault for not having taken advantage of this opportunity.”
(Photograph: 1911 postcard.)
Königstein Fortress
Königstein Fortress, here before its destruction by the French on 7 September 1796. J.H. Liebeskind describes his impression as he, Meta Forkel, and Caroline arrived:
“The ancient, high walls, the dull, enclosed air shaft, the cold, damp vapors that no sun warms, the various sentries whose steps echo in the corridors, the clanging of the large iron locks on the cells, and the deathly silence, which otherwise was spread out over everything like black down, the pale faces of the prisoners, the timidity with which occasionally the one or other quietly utters a few syllables, the sighs that often break forth quite loudly: all this could not but fill each and every person with the most gloomy premonition.”
(Postcard after Matthäus Merian’s engraving.)
Caroline writes to Friedrich Wilhelm and Luise Gotter on 19 April 1793, shortly after being incarcerated in Königstein:
“The harshest thing that can happen to a woman, after all, is to end up imprisoned in such serious circumstances — before meriting something of that sort, she must at least have committed something more than merely ill-considered opinions.”
(Frontispiece to Auguste Lafontaine, Dramatische Werke [Görlitz 1805].)
Le moniteur, 28 April 1793
Allegations of Caroline’s romantic involvement with Georg Forster — l’amie du citoyen Forster — were even reported in the French newspaper Le monitor
Siege of Mainz
Siege of Mainz in 1793 (direction to Königstein, where Caroline would be imprisoned and hear the artillery, indicated at bottom right). Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring writes to Therese Forster’s father on 6 April 1793 from Frankfurt (where Caroline was initially taken):
“Mainz is now completely and tightly surrounded. The Favorite [royal estate] has been entirely razed, the Carthaus [edifices in and around Mainz] almost completely, though neither Mainz nor Castel has yet been bombarded. . . . Madam Wedekind, Mother Forkel, and the widow [Caroline] Böhmer similarly could not get any further than Oppenheim. Although the latter three were trying to get to Göttingen and Gotha by way of Frankfurt, it was Madam Böhmer’s fault they were put under guard in Hattersheim and then brought here. I saw her both before and after the hearing, where to me she seemed to have behaved in a quite unwomanly fashion.”
(Map: uncertain provenance and author.)
The Siege of Mainz in 1793
Caroline writes from her imprisonment on Königstein in May 1793:
“Here in the castle garden I can hear the thunder of the artillery, and only a nearby mountain keeps me from seeing the entire scene itself.”
(Oil painting by Georg Schneider.)
Königstein Fortress, ca. 1900
Königstein Fortress, ca. 1900. Caroline was imprisoned here from 8 April–14 June 1793. She writes in May 1793, now aware of her pregnancy:
“You spoke more of the truth than you might imagine — namely, that a long period of imprisonment would endanger my life — albeit in a different sense — as you will learn from me in any event. Please do not relate this to anyone.” She remarks later on her contemplation of suicide: “My conviction was merely that the shame, indeed, the scandal that would invariably have accompanied any discovery of my condition at the time would necessarily be disadvantageous to the destiny of this eight-year-old girl [Auguste] and would ineradicably, bitterly hurt all those who, near and far, were sympathetic to me. That is why I was indeed able to contemplate the idea [viz. of suicide].”
(Photograph: postcard ca. 1900.)
Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia
Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia ca. 1792. Luise Wiedemann recounts in her memoirs:
“My brother Dr. [Philipp] Michaelis … immediately turned to Sophie Bethmann, who told him he should come to her garden the next morning, where the King of Prussia (who was courting her) would be coming as well. He [Philipp] was to bring along his petition and come up and hand it to her. She then passed it along to the king, and the following day she [Caroline] was free!!!! What [Professor A.L.] Schlözer was unable to bring about, the much feared and respected Schlözer, was effected through but a single word by a beautiful young girl who despised the king and never accepted his advances.”
(Portrait: ca. 1792 by Anton Graff.)
Königstein and Cronberg.
Location of Kronenberg (Kronberg, Cronberg), where Caroline and Auguste arrived on 14 June 1793 — albeit still under house arrest — after having been released from the prison in the fortress Königstein to the west, where they had been since 8 April.
(Guillaume Sanson, Vangiones. Partie du diocèse de l’archevché de Mayence… Landgraviat de Hesse -Darmskadt [Paris 1675]; Bibliothèque nationale de France.)
Kronberg
Kronenberg (Kronberg, Cronberg). Caroline writes on 15 April:
“My health has been greatly weakened — but, truly, the inner serenity of my soul is so little dampened that today, here in a room of my own which even has chairs (since 8 April, the only thing I beheld was tall wooden benches) and in a place where I no longer have to see prison guards or sentries, I have the courage to feel happy even though I am plagued by headaches and by an incessant cough that has now become chronic.”
She and Auguste would remain there until efforts by her brother Philipp Michaelis would free them on 13 July.
(Engraving by Veith after A. Radl [1818].)
Gravesite of Lotte Michaelis
Gravesite of Lotte Dieterich, née Michaelis, Caroline’s sister who died on 2 April 1793 after childbirth (a bitter medical scandal resulted). Caroline in June:
“The same week I lost my freedom, Lotte lost her life in childbirth. My mother is grieving, but Lotte is better off this way—she was happy when she died and could still have experienced so much misfortune had she lived longer.”
(Photo Christina Hinzmann, Göttinger Tageblatt)
Wilhelm Schlegel
Caroline’s second husband and one of the major figures of early German Romanticism. A suitor of Caroline during his time as a student in Göttingen, he later generously assisted her while she was imprisoned, even securing poison for her should she choose suicide rather than exposure as the mistress of a French officer, and ultimately securing a place for her outside Leipzig where she could bring the child to term anonymously.
(Portrait by J.F.A. Tischbein.)
Leipzig, 18th Century
Caroline and Auguste, accompanied by Wilhelm Schlegel, arrived in Leipzig between mid-July and 20 July 1793, where they initially stayed with the publisher Georg Joachim Göschen before the threat of discovery prompted a move to Lucka, south of Leipzig.
(G. F. Hauer, Prospect in Leipzig von der St. Niclaus Kirch gegen das Grimmische Thor, n.d. [2nd half of 18th century].)
Leipzig and Lucka
Because of her and her hosts’ fear that Caroline’s pregnancy and identity would eventually be discovered in Leipzig, the publisher Georg Joachim Göschen secured a place for her to carry her pregnancy to term in anonymity in the tiny village of Lucka southwest of Leipzig. She and Auguste lived there from August 1793 till late January 1794. The child was born on 3 November 1793.
(Johann Baptist Homann, Tabula geographica in qua…principatus Gotha, Coburg et Altenburg cum omnibus eorundem praefecturis tam in Thuringia quam Misnia et Franconia sitis ostenduntur [1724].)
Georg Joachim Göschen
Georg Joachim Göschen: Leipzig publisher who assisted Caroline during her pregnancy after her imprisonment, even taking her and Auguste into his house after their arrival from Kronberg and Frankfurt. Fear of her discovery prompted him to find other accommodations for her. Caroline on 15 August 1793 from Lucka:
“Göschen himself seems as upright as he is eager to help…. Through his mediation, I am now living in a small country town, as quiet as a cemetery, three [German] miles [ca. 23 km] from Leipzig in the Altenburg area, in the house of an elderly, unmarried, sickly physician who is allegedly quite skilled in the specialty in which I require his assistance.”
(Portrait: frontispiece to Viscount Goschen, The Life and Times of Georg Joachim Goschen, publisher and printer of Leipzig, 1752–1828, vol. 1 [London 1903].)
Henriette Göschen
Henriette Göschen, née Heun, in later years: wife of Georg Joachim Göschen in Leipzig, with whose family Caroline initially stayed in July 1793. Caroline writes in her first letter from Lucka in August 1793:
“I, too, realized that because Göschen knew so much, and because he and his wife were in a position to guess so much, it would be much safer for me to confide in them. They have been so active on my behalf and have accepted me so warmly that I would be severely mistaken were it not they whom I should have to thank first and last.”
(Portrait: Viscount Goschen, The Life and Times of Georg Joachim Goschen, publisher and printer of Leipzig, 1752–1828, vol. 1 [London 1903], following p. 294.)
Friedrich Schlegel
Friedrich Schlegel: Wilhelm’s younger brother and one of the leading figures of early German Romanticism. Friedrich took care of many practical matters for Caroline while she was carrying her child to term in Lucka in 1793 and rode down from Leipzig on horseback to visit her there regularly during her entire stay. He was also present at the birth of her child in November 1793. This picture dates from approximately that period.
(Drawing ca. 1790 by Caroline Rehberg.)
Friedrich writes to Wilhelm in late November 1793 after Wilhelm has paid off Friedrich’s not inconsiderable Leipzig debts:
“Please accept my sincere gratitude for wanting to help me; in so doing you have performed an immeasurably grand and meritorious service benefiting the entire rest of my life, which as it were I have now received from you that I might also enjoy it with you.”
Unfortunately, Friedrich’s frequent debts and requests for help constitute a lifelong refrain in his correspondence with Wilhelm.
(Title vignette to August von Kotzebue, Die Verläumder: Ein Schauspiel in fünf Akten [Leipzig 1808].)
After the considerable trouble Caroline went to to find a hiding place in which to bring her illegitimate child to term, she then learned that her secret had been divulged in any case. Friedrich Schlegel writes to Wilhelm in late August 1793:
“I . . . brought her two letters from . . . Frankfurt. The first contained the words, ‘I know about your entire situation.’ The second, which she opened first, ‘People know about it in Maynz . . .’ She was fairly stunned with fright and pain, and for a long time could utter only single words . . . crying out with the voice of the most profound suffering . . . ‘Oh, my mother!‘ and ‘My child! my child!‘ . . . though afterward it was her emotional breakdown that showed itself far more intensely . . . all amid the most vehement changes from sudden tears to utterly deranged thoughts to the joking and laughter of utter despair.”
(Title vignette to Heinrich Leopold Wagner, Die Kindermörderinn: ein Trauerspiel [Leipzig 1776].)