Henriette Louise de Waldner de Freundstein, Baronne d'Oberkirch (5 June 1754 – 10 June 1803) was a French aristocrat, socialite, and memoirist.

Biography

She was born on 5 June 1754 in

Schweighouse-Thann Schweighouse-Thann () is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Haut-Rhin department The following is a list of the 366 communes of the French department of Haut-Rhin. The co ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

to François Louis Waldner de Freundstein, Baron de Waldner and Wilhelmine Auguste Berckheim de Ribeauvillé. After her birth, her father became the Comte de Waldner. She married Baron Charles Frédéric Siegfried d'Oberkirch. They had a daughter, Marie-Philippine Frédérique Dorothée (1777–1827), who married in 1798 to Count Louis Simon de Bernard de Montbrison. Their grandson edited and published the ''Mémoires'' in English in 1852 and in French in 1854. The baroness lived in and wrote about court society in her native Alsace, in Montbéliard, Stuttgart and (most importantly) in Paris and Versailles; her trips to the court of

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

occurred in 1782, 1784, and 1786. She was a childhood friend of the Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg), later the Empress of Russia, and of

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

. The writer

Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz (23 January 1751, or 12 January in the Julian calendar – 4 June 1792, or 24 May in the Julian calendar) was a Baltic German writer of the ''Sturm und Drang'' movement. Life Lenz was born in Sesswegen (Cesvaine), ...

fell in love with her in 1776 and wrote several works inspired by this love. Her writing provided insight into high society during the end of the

ancien régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

. The baroness notably praised the whipped cream served at a lunch at the

Hameau de Chantilly The Hameau de Chantilly ('hamlet of Chantilly') is a folly in the park of the Château de Chantilly built in 1774 and consisting of seven rustic thatched cottages with luxurious interiors set in a garden. Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé had his ar ...

, which would later be named

Crème Chantilly Whipped cream is liquid heavy cream that is whipped by a whisk or mixer until it is light and fluffy and holds its shape, or by the expansion of dissolved gas, forming a firm colloid. It is often sweetened, typically with white sugar, and ...

."Naissance de la crème chantilly", ''Tables princières à Chantilly, du XVIIe au XIXe siècle'', exhibit at the

Musée Condé The Musée Condé – in English, the Condé Museum – is a French museum located inside the Château de Chantilly in Chantilly, Oise, 40 km north of Paris. In 1897, Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale, son of Louis Philippe I, bequeathed the c ...

, 16 September 2006 - 8 January 200
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References

* ''Memoirs of the Baroness d'Oberkirch, Countess de Montbrison. Written by herself, and edited by her grandson, The Count de Montbrison'' (3 volumes). London: Colburn and Co., 1852.

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

Vol. 1
Vol. 2
c1c2
; Vol. 3
c1c2
. * ''Mémoires de la Baronne d'Oberkirch'' (2 volumes, edited by her grandson): ** Paris: Charpentier, Libraire-Éditeur, 1853. Google Books: Vol. 1
c1c2

Vol. 2
** Paris: Charpentier, Libraire-Éditeur, 1869. Google Books
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
c1c2
. ** Paris: Charpentier, Libraire-Éditeur, no date

880 __NOTOC__ Year 880 (Roman numerals, DCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Battle of Cephalonia: A Byzantine Empire, Byzantine flee ...

Google Books
Vol. 1Vol. 2
** Brussels: Meline, Cans et Compagnie, 1854. Google Books
Vol. 1Vol. 2Vols. 1&2
** Brussels: Comptoir des Éditeurs, 1854. Google Books: