Caroline von Schelling

Schelling, Caroline von (Göttingen, 1763-1809, Maulbronn), daughter of Professor J. D. Michaelis (1717-91), a distinguished Hebraist at Göttingen, married in 1784 a physician named Böhmer. A widow at 25, she moved in 1790 to Mainz and associated there with persons of revolutionary sympathies, including G. Forster. On the capture of Mainz by Prussian forces in 1793 she was accused of collaboration with the revolutionary party and imprisoned for a time at Königstein near Frankfurt. In 1796 she married August Wilhelm Schlegel and lived with him in Jena, frequenting the Schiller household. She has been blamed for causing trouble between Schlegel and Schiller, though Schlegel was quite capable of falling out with Schiller on his own account. She encouraged and assisted Schlegel in his great translation of Shakespeare. From 1800 she was often seen in public with F. W. J. Schelling, and in 1801 she and Schlegel were divorced. She married Schelling in 1803. She was a fascinating and witty conversationalist and a brilliant letter-writer. A selection of her letters was published in 1871.