German Literature

Friedrich von Schiller
1759 - 1805

German poet, playwright, philosopher and historian. Schiller was born on November 10, 1759 in Marbach (Württemberg) and died on May 9, 1805. He was the most important playwright in the history of German theatre and one of the most distinguished figures of European literature. Son of an officer in the Prussian Army, he received his education at the military academy of the Duke of Württemberg.

As a doctor in a military regiment, he was arrested in 1781 and banned from all literary activities as punishment form abandoning his post in order to go to the opening of his play The Robbers at the Mannheim National Theatre. A year later he escaped prison, embarking on a long 10-year journey during which he published his work under various different pseudonyms so as to avoid being found out, while he shifted his place of residence between several different German cities: Mannheim, Leipzig, Dresde and Weimar, among others.

During this period, Schiller finished the tragedy Intrigue and Love (1783) and Don Carlos (1787). He then turned to writing historical and philosophical texts. In 1790 Goethe helps him to find a position as a history professor at Jena University. Two years later, when he meets with Goethe again in Jena, their friendship blossoms until Schiller's death in 1805. Goethe convinces him to return to literature; in 1799 he finished what is considered to be his master piece, a trilogy in verse, based on events that took place in the Thirty Years' War, called Wallenstein.

In 1979 Schiller moved to Weimar, where he remained until the end of his days. It was here that he completed the historic dramas Mary Stuart (1800), The Maid of Orleans (1801), The Bride of Messina (1803) and William Tell (1804), besides translating the works of Shakespeare and Racine into German.