“All things must; man is the only creature that wills.”
-Friedrich Schiller-
Welcome to the Friedrich Schiller website.
Here you find some important facts about his life…
Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller who was a German poet, philosopher, historian and playwright, was born on November 10, 1759 in Marbach, Württemberg. He spent all his childhood in Marbach, Lorch and Ludwigsburg. His parents, Johann Kaspar Schiller (1733-96) and Elisabeth Dorothea Kodweiß (1732-1802) had six children but Friedrich was the only son they had.
Friedrich´s father, Johann Kaspar, was rarely home during war, but he managed to visit the family once in a while.
Friedrich Schiller was regarded as a talented child and therefore, his parents decided to send him to a military school lead by Duke Karl Eugen. Schiller missed his family a lot and he did not feel comfortable at the military school because he was not free in choosing the studies he wanted to do. At first, he studied law but after a certain time, he decided to study medicine instead. Works and writings written by famous philosophers and playwrights had to be read secretly because each aesthetic activity was forbidden. Schiller made friends with numerous schoolmates but also with certain teachers. Since Schiller´s earliest childhood, it is obvious that he suffers from an unstable health condition and during his time at the military school in Stuttgart, he became ill numerous times.
Because of the fact that his aesthetic activities like writing poetry or dramas were restricted, Schiller decided to break out of his "old life" and escaped from the military school in order to become a playwright and a poet. After his escape, he spends some time in Mannheim, Leipzig, Gohlis and finally in Weimar. Although he found people who were interested in his writings and who published some of his works, the money he earned was not enough to make a living. His life is defined by money troubles and the constant struggle for appreciation. In 1789, Schiller was offered a professorship at universtiy in Jena. It seemed as if his money troubles had come to an end and therefore, he decided to start a family. Consequently, he married Charlotte von Lengefeld on February 22, 1790. Friedrich and Charlotte had four children. After a short period of living in Württemberg again, Schiller finally moved to Weimar. Because of the court in Weimar, the city had developed into a centre of culture and literature. Goethe, Herder and Wieland lived in Weimar as well. After some troubles at the beginning, Goethe and Schiller had been good friends since 1794.
Friedrich Schiller died on May 9, 1805 at the age of 46 because of a pneumonia.
