Clara ''Aurora'' Liljenroth (7 June 1772 – 28 February 1836), also incorrectly referred to as ''Charlotta Liljeroth'', was a Swedish
scholar
A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...
. She was one of few contemporary women to have attended and graduated from the
gymnasium (1788) before they were officially opened to women, and attracted attention because of her unique position.
[En qvinlig svensk gymnasist för hundra år sedan. Af G. E-m 84 ur Tidskrift för hemmet Årgång 22 (1880)]
Biography
Aurora Liljenroth was born at
Visingsö
Visingsö is an island in the southern half of Lake Vättern in Sweden.
Visingsö lies north of the city Jönköping and west of Gränna from which two car ferries connect the island. The island is long and wide, with a total area of .
Accor ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. She was the daughter of professor Sven Peter Liljenroth (1743–1801), lecturer at the Visingsö Gymnasium, and Hedvig Mariana Rudebeck (d. 1779). Liljenroth was accepted as a pupil after having excelled in a test where she gave proof of high academic knowledge in the
sciences
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. Her father also pointed out that there had been female students at the institution previously. She was formally accepted as a student at the gymnasium at Visingsö 8 December 1780. The same term, she gave a public speech to the school and several other important guests about the return of King
Gustav III of Sweden
Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia.
Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...
from his travels abroad and about the birth of the Crown Prince. Her position as a student at a gymnasium was unique for her gender, and therefore attracted attention in the press. Her speech about the birthday celebrations of the crown prince in 1781, her speech in verse about the birth of the king's younger son in 1782, and her speech in verse about the birth day celebration of the crown prince in 1786 were all reported in the press.
On 2 November 1788 Aurora Liljenroth gave her graduation talk in French and graduated in "all sciences" with the highest honors and the recommendation that she had the ability to "explain both Cornelium and Ovidium with greater ease and further understanding of the Latin language than other students"
As a person, Aurora Liljenroth were described as shy and introvert, and she reportedly disliked the attention she attracted
Her relation to her father was described as tense as he, reportedly, neglected her in private and had her displayed as a "parade doll" in public.
The attention directed toward her, in parallel to the contemporary prejudices against education for women, was to have affected her and her opinions against educated women.
In her own papers, she wrote: "A sensible woman is anxious about her reputation but fear fame".
When she was included in an encyclopedia about women, she was deeply bothered, and when asked whether she was "the learned mademoiselle Liljenroth", she usually answered that the latter was her now deceased sister.
After her graduation, she tended to her father's household. During a stay in
Växjö
Växjö ( ) is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 70,489 inhabitants (2019) out of a municipal population of 95,995 (2021). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of Kronoberg County ...
, she met Anders Eneström of Lässebo manor (d. 1824), with whom she married on 14 May 1798. She had five children and her further life was anonymous. She died at
Ramsberg, Sweden.
Aurora Liljenroth was included in the encyclopedia of
Carl Westrin: ''"Försök till en historia öfver namnkunniga men i synnerhet lärda fruntimmer"'' (Attempts to a history over known but especially learned females) in 1793.
Liljenroth was not the only one of these exceptions. Ursula Agricola from
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
and
Maria Jonae Palmgren Maria Jonae Palmgren (1630, Gränna - before 28 May 1708) was a Swedish female scholar.
In 1645, she was accepted as a student at the Visingsö college of Count Brahe. Alongside her fellow student, the German Ursula Agricola from Strassburg, who w ...
from
Grenna were both accepted at Visingsö Gymnasium in 1644 and 1645 respectively.
Hedvig Eleonora Klingenstierna was allowed to give lecture in Latin at the
Gymnasium of Linköping, and
Erika Leibman (1738–1803), the daughter of a professor at the
University of Lund
, motto = Ad utrumque
, mottoeng = Prepared for both
, established =
, type = Public research university
, budget = SEK 9 billion [Betty Pettersson
Betty Maria Carolina Pettersson (Visby 14 September 1838–7 February Stockholm 1885), was a Swedish teacher. She became the first official female university student in Sweden in 1871. She was also the first female student of Uppsala University ...]
in 1871.
See also
*
Sophia Elisabet Brenner
*
Anna Åkerhjelm
*
Elena Cornaro Piscopia
Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (, ; 5 June 1646 – 26 July 1684) or Elena Lucrezia Corner (), also known in English as Helen Cornaro, was a Venetian philosopher of noble descent who in 1678 became one of the first women to receive an academic ...
*
Laura Bassi
Laura Maria Caterina Bassi Veratti (29 October 1711 – 20 February 1778) was an Italian physicist and academic. Recognized and depicted as "Minerva" (goddess of wisdom), she was the first woman to have a doctorate in science, and the second wo ...
*
Cristina Roccati
Cristina Roccati (24 October 1732 in Rovigo – 16 March 1797 in Rovigo) was an Italian physicist and poet who earned a degree at the University of Bologna (1751). This was the third academic qualification ever bestowed on a woman by an Italian un ...
*
Juliana Morell
Juliana Morell (16 February 1594 – 26 June 1653) was a Catalan Dominican nun and intellectual child prodigy. Some sources assert that she received a doctorate in canon law in Avignon in 1608. In 1941, Sylvanus Morley traced this to an 1859 mis ...
*
Maria Jonae Palmgren Maria Jonae Palmgren (1630, Gränna - before 28 May 1708) was a Swedish female scholar.
In 1645, she was accepted as a student at the Visingsö college of Count Brahe. Alongside her fellow student, the German Ursula Agricola from Strassburg, who w ...
*
Francisca de Lebrija Francisca de Lebrija was a 16th-century lecturer at the University of Alcalá de Henares in Spain.
Francisca lived in a time when it was very uncommon for educated women to teach and lecture in a university. Spain was one of the few places where wo ...
*
Isabella Losa Isabella Losa, also known as Isabella Losa of Cordova or Losa de Cordova (1491-1564) was a doctor of theology and nun.
Isabella Losa was known for her knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. She received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the U ...
*
Luisa de Medrano
Luisa de Medrano (Atienza 9 August 1484 – 1527), was a Spanish scholar. She is known as the first female Professor in the Universtiy of Salamanca. Luisa belonged to the group of Renaissance women who were famous for their knowledge and called by ...
*
Beatriz Galindo
Beatriz Galindo, sometimes spelled Beatrix and also known as La Latina ( – 23 November 1535), was a Spanish Latinist and educator. She was a writer, humanist and a teacher of Queen Isabella of Castile and her children. She was one of the mos ...
*
Timeline of women's education
The Timeline of women's education is an overview of the history of education for women worldwide. It includes key individuals, institutions, law reforms, and events that have contributed to the development and expansion of educational opportuni ...
Notes
References
Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor
Den notis hennes berömmelse vilar på
* http://www.ub.gu.se/kvinn/digtid/02/1880/index.xml
* http://www.ub.gu.se/kvinn/digtid/02/1880/02/tfh1880_2_84_91.pdf#02084
* Wilhelmina Stålberg: Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor (Notes on Swedish women)
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liljenroth, Aurora
1772 births
1836 deaths
People from Jönköping Municipality
Gustavian era people
18th-century Swedish women