WPrincess Elisabeth Charlotte, was a German princess member of the House of Wittelsbach and, as Madame, the second wife of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, and mother of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, France's ruler during the Regency. She gained literary and historical importance primarily through her correspondence, which is of cultural and historical value due to her sometimes very blunt descriptions of French court life and is today one of the best-known German-language texts of the Baroque period.
WKatharina Elisabeth Goethe, known as "Frau Rat" was the mother of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
WSusette Gontard, dubbed Diotima by the German poet Friedrich Hölderlin after Diotima of Mantinea, was the inspiration for Hölderlin's novel Hyperion, published in 1797–1799. She was the wife of Hölderlin's employer, the Frankfurt banker Jakob Friedrich Gontard. It is generally believed that the poet's fatal passion for her contributed to his descent into insanity and ultimate death. Hölderlin and Gontard exchanged a large body of letters, which was preserved and has been published in many editions.
WEmma Hauck was a German outsider artist.
WEmma Herwegh was a German salonniére and letter writer who participated in the 1848 uprisings, undertaking at least one secret quasi-diplomatic mission on behalf of the Legion of German Democrats. She is known to posterity in particular, partly because she married the poet and activist Georg Herwegh, and partly because she was an exceptionally prolific letter writer.
WEva Catharina Lessing was a German woman of letters. She was born Eva Catharina Hahn on March 22, 1736 in the southern German city of Heidelberg. In 1756 she married the Hamburg businessman Engelbert König, giving her the married name Eva König. It was in 1767 that she first became friends with the playwright Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, who was also godfather to her son Fritz. After her husband König died in 1768, Eva was looked after by Lessing. In 1771 they became engaged, though circumstances did not favour a timely marriage. In fact, due to matters related to König's estate, Eva was obliged to make several visits to Vienna, over a lengthy period of time, and then accompany the young Prince Leopold of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, a future Prussian general, on a journey to Italy in 1775. As a result, the couple's main mode of contact during their engagement was through written correspondence, much of which has survived. In 1776 they were finally married, in Jork near Hamburg. Eva Lessing then moved to Wolfenbüttel with her husband. She died there, aged 41, in 1778, of neonatal sepsis soon after the birth of their son Traugott.
WGraf Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke was a Prussian field marshal. The chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years, he is regarded as the creator of a new, more modern method of directing armies in the field. He commanded troops in Europe and the Middle East, commanding during the Second Schleswig War, Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War. He is described as embodying "Prussian military organization and tactical genius." He was fascinated with railways and pioneered their military usage. He is often referred to as Moltke the Elder to distinguish him from his nephew Helmuth Johann Ludwig von Moltke, who commanded the German Army at the outbreak of World War I.
WCornelia Friederica Christiana Schlosser was the sister and only sibling of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe who survived to adulthood.
WCountess Louise Augusta zu Stolberg-Stolberg, is known for her lively correspondence with the poet and thinker Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; she is known as Goethes Gustchen in the history of literature. By birth she was member of the House of Stolberg and by marriage member of House of Bernstorff.