Anna Amalia, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach
Anna Amalia Duchess of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach (
October 24,
1739–
April 10,
1807) was an influential cultural force in
Weimar,
Saxe-Weimar,
Holy Roman Empire, and regent of the states of
Saxe-Weimar and
Saxe-Eisenach from
1759 to
1775.
The daughter of
Karl I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, she was born at
Wolfenbüttel and married
Ernst August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach, in 1756. Ernst died in 1758, leaving her regent for their infant son,
Carl August.
During Carl August's minority she administered the affairs of the duchy with notable prudence, strengthening its resources and improving its position in spite of the troubles of the
Seven Years' War.
As a patron of the arts and literature, she attracted to Weimar many of the most eminent men in Germany, including
Johann Gottfried Herder,
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and
Friedrich Schiller. She hired
Christoph Martin Wieland, a poet and translator of
William Shakespeare, to tutor her son. She also established the
Duchess Anna Amalia Library, now home to some 850,000 volumes.
Anna Amalia was also a notable composer; among her significant works is a
Singspiel called
Erwin und Elmire (1776), basing her musical on a text by
Goethe.
In 1775 she retired into private life, her son having attained his majority. Carl August was also an influential German leader.
A memorial to the duchess is included in Goethe's works under the title
Zum Andenken der Fürstin Anna-Amalia.
* F. Bornhak,
Anna Amalia, Herzogin von Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Berlin, Germany: 1892
*
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, vol. 1, p. 886-887*
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