Countess Sabine Elisabeth Oelgard von Bassewitz (15 December 1716, Gut Dalwitz,

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...

– 7 February 1790 Gut Dalwitz, Mecklenburg) was a German writer.

Life

From the old Mecklenburgian family of

Bassewitz The House of Bassewitz is a German family of ancient nobility whose roots come from the Mecklenburg region. According to tradition, the family was named after the village of ''Basse'' (now a district of the municipality of Lühburg). In German hun ...

, her parents were the privy councillor

Joachim Otto von Bassewitz Joachim Otto von Bassewitz or Bassewiß (8 February 1686 - 10 March 1733) was a German statesman and politician. He was a ''Geheimrat'' of Holstein-Gottorp, president of the chamber and bailiff (''amtmann'') at Kiel. Adolph Graf von Bassewitz:''Aus ...

(1686–1733) and his wife Catharina Ilsabe (1693–1717). On 15 July 1733 she married her cousin count Bernhard Matthias von Bassewitz (1706–1783), chamberlain in the grand-princely court of Holstein. The marriage proved childless. After her husband's death on 29 December 1783, she inherited his estate at Gut Dalwitz, where she spent her old age, met with the widowed Duchess Louise Friederike von Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1721–1791) and finally died in 1790. Her contemporaries considered her a "woman of great and rare talents" and was mentioned in the works of the philosophers Christian Wolff and

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathema ...

. In 1772, Bassewitz wrote the foreword to ''Freye Betrachtungen über die Psalmen David’s'' (''Free Reflections on the Psalms of David'') by Friderike Elisabeth von Grabow. She also wrote poems, including an ode marking her survival of

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

, which she is said to have achieved almost solely with the use of reticulum roots. Schlichtegroll, S. 142. She considered herself a good harpsichord player and wrote another ode dedicated to music. Schlichtegroll, S. 144. The anonymous 1768 pamphlet ''Das wirksamste Hülfsmittel für das entkräftete Mecklenburg: der gegenwärtigen ansehnlichen Convocations-Versammlung angerathen, von einem wohlgesinnten Patrioten'' (''The most effective aid for exhausted Mecklenburg'') is also attributed to von Bassewitz. Von Bassewitz corresponded with several scholars, including

Johann Joachim Spalding Johann Joachim Spalding (1 November 1714 – 25 May 1804) was a German Protestant theologian and philosopher of Scottish ancestry who was a native of Tribsees, Swedish Pomerania. He was the father of Georg Ludwig Spalding (1762–1811), a profess ...

and

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

. She and Voltaire collaborated on a ''Histoire de Charles XII'' (''History of

Charles XII Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of t ...

'') and other works. Her letters were admired at the time for the "purity and elegance of their style, their sharpness, their acquaintance with our literature, and for the heart of this rare woman".

Bibliography

* ''Bassewitz, Sabine Elisabeth Oelgard von''. In: Elisabeth Friedrichs: ''Die deutschsprachigen Schriftstellerinnen des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts. Ein Lexikon''. Metzler, Stuttgart 1981, , (Repertorien zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte 9), S. 16. * Friedrich Schlichtegroll: ''Nekrolog auf das Jahr 1790''. Justus Perthes, Gotha 1791, S. 141–146.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassewitz, Sabine Elisabeth Oelgard Von 18th-century German poets German women poets 18th-century German women writers German women historians 18th-century German historians German letter writers Women letter writers 1716 births 1790 deaths German countesses Bassewitz family