Maulbronn [*]
During the autumn of 1807, Schelling’s father was appointed prelate of the Protestant secondary school in the former Cistercian monastery and abbey of Maulbronn, ca. 45 km northwest of Stuttgart, where from 1558 some of Württemberg’s future Protestant theologians traditionally received part of their education (Friedrich Hölderlin studied there, as did the writer Hermann Hesse [1877–1962], whose story Unterm Rad (“Beneath the wheel”) [Berlin 1906] is based on his experiences there).
Maulbronn is located ca. 280 km from Munich (“Central Europe: Wars of the Third Coalition 1805–7,” Cambridge Modern History Atlas [Cambridge 1912]):
On the map below, Joseph Friedrich Schelling’s earlier parishes in Schorndorf and Murrhardt are also shown, also Schelling’s birthplace, Leonberg (William R. Shepherd, Historical Atlas, 2nd ed. [New York 1921], 143):
It was during the first few days of September 1809 that Caroline, Schelling, his brother Karl, and others take a 3-day excursion in the surrounding area, possibly to Leonberg (Clemens Kohl, Ein Mann und eine Frau bei einem Spaziergang [1795]; Herzog August Bibliothek; Museums./Signatur Graph. A1: 1394; Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, from the Reise nach Paris; National Gallery of Art):
Here the former monastery complex in a drawing from 1882 in its immediate — and bucolic — surroundings (Eduard Paulus, Die Cisterzienser-Abtei Maulbronn, 2nd ed. [Stuttgart 1882], fig. 217, 96; 3rd ed. [Stuttgart 1889], 98):
Here a key to the various buildings in the complex (Königliches statistisch-topographisches Bureau, Beschreibung des Oberamts Maulbronn [Stuttgart 1870], illustration following p. 164). The Ephorat or Herrenhaus, no. 28 below, was during Caroline’s time the prelate’s residence where she and Schelling would stay during their visit and where, in September 1809 she would spend her final days; the former monks’ cemetery where she is buried is the shaded area off the top right-hand corner of the Ephorat; the church shown in the illustration below is no. 15; the Faust Tower — where the legendary Dr. Faust allegedly made his pact with the devil — also shown below, is no. 31 in the top right corner of the complex:
Here an illustration from the east, showing the rear of the church and, to its left, the Faust Tower (Königliches statistisch-topographisches Bureau, Beschreibung des Oberamts Maulbronn [Stuttgart 1870], frontispiece):
Here the front gate (no. 1 on the key) at the bottom right-hand corner on the keyed illustration above (top left-hand corner in the previous overview illustration), and then a view back toward that gate from the interior of the monastic walls (Eduard Paulus, Die Cisterzienser-Abtei Maulbronn, 3rd ed. [Stuttgart 1889], 13, 91):
Here the foyer to the main building (Eduard Paulus, Die Cisterzienser-Abtei Maulbronn, 3rd ed. [Stuttgart 1889], 32):
The western and southern cloister arcades (ibid., 57, 104):
The refectory (ibid., frontispiece):
The fountain in the fountain chapel (ibid., following p. 96):
The fountain chapel from the outside (ibid.):
The Herrenhaus, where Schelling’s mother and father — who was ephorus or rector at the time — lived and where Caroline spent her final days and died (ibid., 79; illustration from Aglaia: Jahrbuch für Frauenzimmer auf 1802 [Frankfurt], Inhaltsverzeichnis deutscher Almanache, Theodor Springmann Stiftung):
The west side of the monastery church; Caroline would later be interred around the east, or steeple side (ibid., 10):
And finally, once more the east side of the monastery church, behind which Caroline is buried (Eduard Paulus, Die Cisterzienser-Abtei Maulbronn, 3rd ed. [Stuttgart 1889], 1; illustration: Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki, Höltys Elegie auf ein Landmädchen [1794]; Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum; Museums./Signatur DChodowiecki AB 3.985):
See also the supplementary appendix on Caroline’s gravesite in Maulbronn.
Notes
[*] Initial illustration: “Kloster Maulbronn,” Schwäbisches Taschenbuch auf das Jahr 1820 (Stuttgart). Back.
Translation © 2018 Doug Stott