Wilhelm Grimm

Biography

Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859) was a German author and pioneering anthropologist. He was the younger brother of philologist Jacob Grimm. Wilhelm was born in the town of Hanau, in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, Holy Roman Empire. His parents were Philipp Wilhelm Grimm and his wife Dorothea Zimmer, respectively a jurist and a housewife. Wilhelm's maternal grandfather was a city councilman in Kassel. Wilhem was one of 9 children born to the couple, but 3 of his siblings died in infancy. In 1791, the Grimm family moved to the town of Steinau an der Straße, where Philipp Grimm had been appointed as the new Amtmann (district magistrate). They settled in a large house, surrounded by fields. Wilhelm initially did not attend school, but was educated at home by private tutors. He was given a strict, religious education as a Lutheran. In 1796, Philipp Grimm died in office, due to pneumonia. The Grimm family fell into poverty, and had to relinquish its house and servants. Jacob Grimm (only 11-year-old at the time) legally became the new head of household, and had to undertake some adult responsibilities. The Grimm family was, for the time being, financially dependent on Wilhelm's maternal grandfather and on Wilhelm's maternal aunt, who was serving as a lady-in-waiting at the court of William I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1743-1821, reigned 1785-1821). In 1798, the same maternal aunt arranged for both Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm to attend the Friedrichsgymnasium Kassel, a gymnasium (equivalent to preparatory high school) in Kassel. By this time, Wilhelm's maternal grandfather had died, and their aunt was their only protector. The two brothers Grimm became roommates in their school years, and formed a particularly close relationship which would endure into their adult lives. They relied entirely on each other in most matters. They were both hard-working students, but considered as inferior by several classmates who came from aristocratic families. The two brothers differed in temperament, with Jacob being the more intellectual and introspective, and Wilhelm being slower to grasp new ideas, but acting jovial and out-going. Wilhelm suffered from various illnesses, but his talent for music and storytelling made him more popular with their peers. In 1803, Jacob Grimm graduated the Gymnasium at the top of his class. In 1804, Wilhelm Grimm also graduated at the top of his class. Both brothers next started college life in the University of Marburg. They became roommates again while they were both college students, and would continue living together for most of their adult lives. They shared their books and other property items. At the University, the Grimm brothers were subject to class discrimination, disqualified from admission in certain courses in favor of aristocratic students, and denied tuition aid. However, they kept excelling in their studies. While initially interested in legal studies, both brothers were impressed with the teachings of professor Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779-1861). Savigny was an innovative historian, and awakened in the brothers a new passion for history, philology, and medieval literature. Savigny introduced the brothers to some of his own friends,who were leading romantic writers and intellectuals of the time. Due to increasing financial problems, Jacob Grimm (who was legally responsible for the financial care of all his siblings), quit school in 1805, and started seeking employment in various German courts. By 1808, Jacob became a librarian in Kassel. Wilhelm at the time suffered from heart and respiratory ailments, and Jacob paid for his medical treatments. Jacob then managed to arrange for Wilhem to be hired as a fellow librarian in Kassel, allowing the brothers to work together. Their salaries were rather small, but they had a steady income and plenty of time for research. An old acquaintance, the novelist Clemens Brentano (1778-1842) asked the brothers to help him in collecting traditional stories. Brentano was working on a new collection of folk tales, but did not have enough time to search for more tales. For the following few years, the brothers Grimm interviewed storytellers from various social backgrounds and collected 53 individual tales. But when they send their report to Brentano, he had lost interest in the project. Unwilling to waste years of effort, the brothers Grimm prepared to publish the tales under their own name. They worked on revising the various oral tales for a literate audience. In 1812, the first version of Grimms' Fairy Tales was published, containing 86 stories. Wilhelm, the storyteller of the duo, was responsible for many of the revisions to the stories. Over the following decades, the brothers kept revising and expanding their work. By 1857, the 7th edition of the collection, it included 211 individual tales. Following the success of their first published work, the brothers started producing philological books and studies on various European mythologies, primarily Irish and Norse mythology. They became literary celebrities and earned honorary doctorates from various universities. In 1825, Wilhelm Grimm married his long-time friend Henriette Dorothea "Dortchen" Wild. Her family had been among those interviewed for Grimms' Fairy Tales, and they had kept in touch for over a decade. Jacob Grimm never married and continued co-cohabiting with his brother and new sister-in-law. Wilhelm and Henriette had four children together: Jacob (April-December 1826), Herman Friedrich (1828 -1901), Rudolf Georg (1830 -1889), and Barbara Auguste Luise Pauline Marie (1832 - 1919). In 1830, both Jacob and Wilhelm were candidates for the position of head librarian at Kassel, but were overlooked despite their fame. They resigned their positions soon after, and took new jobs as professors at the University of Göttingen, in the Kingdom of Hanover. They pioneered the course of German studies. In 1837, the Grimms were fired from the University, as part of the so-called "Göttingen Seven". The new king of Hanover, Ernest Augustus (1771-1851, reigned 1837-1851), announced plans to abolish or heavily rewrite Hanover's constitution. Seven college professors opposed the abolition of the constitution and protested. They were all fired and deported from Hanover. Wilhelm and his brother returned to Kassel, but were now unemployed. They relied on financial support from friends and admirers, while working on a new dictionary. In 1840, their former mentor Savigny convinced new king Frederick William IV of Prussia (1795-1861, reigned 1840-1861) to employ the Brothers Grimm. They gained positions at the University of Berlin, and stipends from the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin. They continued jointly working on their dictionary, but each brother started producing individual works, since their intellectual interests had become much different. During the Revolutions of 1848, the Brothers Grimm were elected to the civil parliament in Mainz, but they resumed their teaching positions in Berlin at the end of the Revolution. Jacob chose retirement in the late 1840s, but Wilhem continued teaching until 1852. They devoted the rest of their lives to working on their incomplete dictionary. In 1859, Wilhem died in Berlin, due to an unspecified infection. He was 73-years-old. His brother Jacob survived him, but reportedly became increasingly reclusive following Wilhelm's death.