Sophie Mereau
The writer Sophie Mereau. Caroline writes to Wilhelm Schlegel about Mereau’s 1801 divorce:
“In the Mereau affair, the duke indicated without further ado to the consistory that it was to list the marriage as having been annulled…The issue now is to dispose him to grant such a privilege a second time, since he might well be disinclined to do so precisely because he recently granted the same privilege and does not want the exception to become the rule.”
(Portrait: ca. 1798, by unknown artist.)
Caroline’s Divorce Petition
The concluding paragraphs to Caroline’s divorce petition, which was sent to Duke Karl August of Weimar at latest by early November 1802:
“Contributing even further to our confidence that this application might be compassionately granted is the fact that Your Ducal Excellency has already earlier condescended to provide an example of precisely such graciousness, as well as that the complete concurrence on our part with respect not only to the primary decision but also to the partition of our economic and other circumstances, whose adjudication in other instances similarly can be effected solely through the civil courts, frees us, with respect to how we view our own situation, from the necessity of having to resort to those civil authorities.
We will remember with the greatest gratitude and for the entirety of our lives the graciousness Your Ducal Excellency will be demonstrating to us in granting our most humble petition, just as we similarly abide with the deepest devotion
Your Ducal Excellency’s
Most humble
Berlin etc. A. W. S.
Jena etc. C. S. née M.”
(A. W. v. Schlegel. Briefwechsel. August u. Caroline Schlegel; Signatur Mscr.Dresd.e.90,XIX,Bd.22.)
Duke Carl August of Sachsen-Weimar
The duke would grant Caroline and Wilhelm’s divorce in May 1803 with at least nominal circumvention of the consistory, though Schelling writes to Wilhelm Schlegel in September 1802:
“The person who gave this advice has also offered to take on the task of bribing this particular member of the consistory in a pious enough fashion…The amount one would have to countenance would be approximately 100 Rth., of which Caroline is offering to pay half.”
The divorce was granted on 18 May 1803; Schelling and Caroline departed Jena forever on 22 May 1803.
(Portrait: 1795 by Johann Friedrich August Tischbein.)
Caroline as a Caricature
In July 1803, August von Kotzebue published a satirical caricature in his Berlin periodical Der Freimüthige portraying various figures associated with that circle, including allegedly Caroline herself — as “boredom” — riding on the triumphant carriage of the “most recent aesthetics.” Caroline, however, had already left Jena forever with Schelling.
(Insert in Der Freimüthige oder Berlinische Zeitung für gebildete, unbefangene Leser (1803) 115 [Thursday, 21 July 1803].)
Murrhardt
Murrhardt’s multi-story parsonage visible to the right of the Church of St. Januarius, the latter at center right. Caroline writes on her arrival:
“Greetings to you from this distant and peaceful region…This place is situated at the foot of the mountain range, one not at all so wild, separating Franconia and Swabia, amid a setting that is not only even more charming than we had anticipated, indeed, not even just charming alone, but absolutely delightful, situated in a broad valley between various hills and brooks.”
(Water color ca. 1850 by Pieter Francis Peters; Württembergische Landesbibliothek, catalogue 379840278, Graphische Sammlungen Württembergica, Signatur Schef.qt.5385c.)
Church of St. Januarius, Murrhardt
Early anonymous photograph of the church in which Caroline and Schelling were married.
Friederike Unzelmann as Maria Stuart
The actress Friederike Unzelmann, here in Schiller’s Maria Stuart, a role Caroline saw her perform not only in Weimar on 21 September 1801, but also in Stuttgart on 10 June 1803. Caroline recounts the Stuttgart performance:
“That evening, Maria Stuart was performed…Although the actors are abominable, Madam Unzelmann played the role of Maria even more magnificently than when we saw her before.”
(Sketch by Heinrich Anton Dähling [1805?]; Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, Porträtstichsammlung, Inventar-Nr. ICIII, 286 Bl. 63.)
Ludwig Ferdinand Huber
“Fickle fate” played a trick on Caroline during Friederike Unzelmann’s performance of Maria Stuart in Stuttgart, seating her just behind Therese Huber’s (née Heyne) husband, Ludwig Ferdinand Huber, neither of whom Caroline had seen since 1792 in Mainz:
“During the performance itself, fickle fate arranged things such that I ended up with the only neighbor to whom I could not be completely indifferent. Huber sat in front of me. I did not want to speak to him, for I had actually intended not to see the Hubers at all, specifically because ‘he had lost his wit’ and I had leveled some bitter truths at him concerning his stupid review of Athenäum that I can never retract. He for his part followed my lead and also did not speak.”
(Portrait: oil by Carl Ludwig Kaaz [1801].)
Therese Huber
Fate also brought Caroline and Therese Huber, née Heyne, into close proximity in Stuttgart while Caroline and Schelling were there. Caroline writes about her meeting with Friederike Unzelmann:
“The very next morning, Madam Unzelmann immediately spoke to us about the Hubers, praising them highly and admonishing me to see them after all. She did, by the way, already know from Schlegel about our relationship, but maintained that Therese had spoken about me with considerable warmth etc. I told her I was still uncertain, especially because I had already silently declared myself against Huber — she said that I should then at the least try not to be startled if Madam Huber might perhaps enter the room at any moment — though in the meantime we left before she came.”
(Portrait: miniature ca. 1820, possibly by Carl Ludwig Kaatz.)
Stuttgart, Hotel King of England
Caroline continues in the account of her meeting with Friederike Unzelmann, who mentioned the imminent presence of Therese Huber:
“— a half hour later, however, Therese sent me news through Madam Unzelmann’s manservant that she would be coming over to see me from Madam Unzelmann’s. This did indeed happen, and not without considerable emotions on both sides.”
This meeting, as Therese Huber would later relate in her letter to Schelling’s parents in November 1803, took place in the genteel Stuttgart inn Der König von England, where Caroline and Schelling were staying.
(Max Bach and Carl Lotter, Bilder aus Alt-Stuttgart [Stuttgart 1896], 104.)
Sailor’s Lament
One of the most popular songs from one of Friederike Unzelmann’s most popular roles was the aria “Ueber die Beschwerden dieses Lebens klaget heut zu Tag so mancher arme Wicht,” or “Sailor’s Lament,” from the singspiel The Little Sailor, which her character of Leopold sings in scene 5. Caroline writes about her and Schelling’s meeting with Unzelmann in Stuttgart:
“One funny thing is that she made a gift to Schelling (who wears a large, three-cornered hat all the time) of the same, large kind of hat she had just bought in Frankfurt for her role as the “little sailor.” It was one of those one can fold up and thus pack quite well; it also fit him perfectly and has prompted great jubilation, especially here at the prelature, where they could not for the life of them figure out how one hat could fit both the actress and the philosopher.”
(Musikalischer Hausschatz der Deutschen: Eine Sammlung von über 1100 Liedern und Gesängen mit Singweisen und Klavierbegleitung, ed. G. W. Fink, new ed. ed. Wilhelm Tschirch [Leipzig 1901], 29.)
Friedrich Hölderlin
During June 1803, the poet Friedrich Hölderlin spent a day and a half visiting Schelling and Caroline in Murrhardt after traversing most of France between Bordeaux and Stuttgart on foot after a strange and fateful stay in Bordeaux. Schelling writes to Hegel on 11 July 1803:
“The sight of him unsettled me; he has neglected his external appearance to the point of disgust, and though his speech is less suggestive of madness, he has otherwise wholly assumed the mannerisms of someone in such a condition.”
Schelling and Caroline would see him once more — their final meeting — in Würzburg.
(Portrait ca. 1792 by Franz Karl Hiemer.)
Church of St. Januarius, Murrhardt
The church is visible to the right. Schelling’s father married Caroline and Schelling here on the afternoon of 26 June 1803. Schelling writes to Hegel in Jena on 11 July 1803:
“Write me again in Murrhardt if you do write, since I am unsure where I will be staying next. I will, however, not be leaving Württemberg before the end of August. Because of your friendship you will not be indifferent to the news that I have recently been married to my lady friend; she sends her warm regards and asks that you extend them to the Frommanns [in Jena] as well; we have been so distracted here that it has not been possible for her to write to them herself.”
(Excerpt from Franz Schnorr, Stadt Murrhardt von der Nord-Seite [Stuttgart 1843]; Württembergische Landesbibliothek; Graphische Sammlungen; Württembergica, Signatur Schef.fol.5382.)
Cannstatt
On 28 June 1803, after their wedding in Murrhardt, Caroline and Schelling journeyed to Cannstatt, just outside Stuttgart, so that especially Caroline could take advantage of the spa facilities and mineral springs. They remained until early August 1803, likely visiting Heidelberg as well, then returned to Murrhardt.
(Frontispiece to J. C. S. Tritschler, Cannstatt’s Mineralquellen und Bäder, 3rd ed. [Cannstatt 1841].)
Hotel King of England, Stuttgart in 1905
On 11 June 1803, Caroline met with Therese Huber (formerly Therese Forster) in the Hotel King of England in Stuttgart. The two woman had not seen each other since December 1792, when Therese left Mainz with her children, leaving Georg Forster behind.
Caroline remarks that the meeting was “not without considerable emotions on both sides.” A month later, Therese wrote a catty, critical, and tendentious letter to her 17-year-old daughter Therese Forster concerning Caroline.
(Hotel King of England in Stuttgart, anonymous photograph; Gustav Wais, Alt-Stuttgarts Bauten im Bild [Stuttgart 1951], 578.)
Tübingen in 1774
After visiting, among others, Therese Huber in Stuttgart in early September 1803, Caroline and Schelling visited Tübingen, where Schelling (and Hegel and Hölderlin) had gone to school. Caroline recounts:
“From Studtgard we went first to Tübingen, where Schelling had not yet presented himself to the old caricatures who call themselves professors there.”
(Frontispiece to August Friedrich Bök, Geschichte der herzoglich Würtenbergischen Eberhard Carls Universität zu Tübingen im Grundrisse [Tübingen 1774]; portrait of Professor August Friedrich Bök: 1777, by Jakob Friedrich Dörr in the gallery of Tübingen professors..)
Tübinger Stift, 1802
Caroline continues regarding their visit to Tübingen:
“I got to see all the places where he lived and languished, the Stipendium [the school, or Stift] where he resided and took his meals, the place where he wore the robe of the master’s degree, the Neckar flowing beneath his window with the rafts, and all the old stories he so charmingly relates.”
(Illustration by Johann Christian Partzschefeldt, reprod. in Christina Melk, Tübinger Ansichten und Maler im 19. Jahrhundert [Tübingen 1986]; Tübinger Kataloge Nr. 27, Stadtmuseum Tübingen, Inventarnummer: 3163.)
Munich, Georg Friedrich von Zentner, Maximilian von Montgelas
Caroline and Schelling arrived in Munich on 7 September 1803. On 14 September 1803, Schelling dined with Georg Friedrich von Zentner and Maximilian von Montgelas in Munich. During the meal, he learned of his appointment in Würzburg. Caroline and Schelling departed Munich on 24 September 1803. The decision would essentially determine Schelling’s Bavarian employment for the rest of Caroline’s life.
(Munich: frontispiece to Joseph Anton Eisenmann, Beschreibung der Haupt- und Residenzstadt München und ihrer Umgebungen [Munich 1814]; portrait of Zentner by Gottlieb Bodmer, Porträtsammlung des Münchner Stadtmuseums, GMI/2143; portrait of Montgelas by Joseph Hauber [1806].)