Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), better known by his pen name Novalis (; German: [noˈvaːlɪs]), was a German aristocrat and polymath, who was a poet, novelist, philosopher and mystic. He is regarded as an influential figure in Jena Romanticism. Novalis was born into a minor aristocratic family in Electoral Saxony. He was the second of eleven children; his early household observed a strict Pietist faith. He studied law at the University of Jena, the University of Leipzig, and the University of Wittenberg. While at Jena, he published his first poem and befriended the playwright and fellow poet Friedrich Schiller. In Leipzig, he met Friedrich Schlegel, and the two became lifelong friends. Novalis completed his law degree in 1794 at the age of 22. He then worked as a legal assistant in Tennstedt immediately after graduating. There, he met Sophie von Kühn. The following year Novalis and Sophie became secretly engaged. Sophie became severely ill soon after the engagement and died just after her 15th birthday. Sophie's early death had a life-long impact on Novalis and his writing. Novalis enrolled at the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology in 1797, where he studied a wide number of disciplines including electricity, medicine, chemistry, physics, mathematics, mineralogy and natural philosophy. He conversed with many of the formative figures of Early German Romanticism, including Goethe, Friedrich Schelling, Jean Paul and August Schlegel. After finishing his studies, Novalis served as a director of salt mines in Saxony and later in Thuringia. During this time, Novalis wrote major poetic and literary works, including Hymns to the Night. By August 1800, he fell terminally ill with a severe lung condition, rendering him unable to continue his professional duties. In 1800, he began showing signs of illness, which is thought to have been either tuberculosis or cystic fibrosis, and died on 25 March 1801 at the age of 28. Novalis's early reputation as a romantic poet was primarily based on his literary works, which were published by his friends Friedrich Schlegel and Ludwig Tieck shortly after his death, in 1802. These works include the collection of poems, Hymns to the Night and Spiritual Hymns, and his unfinished novels, Heinrich von Ofterdingen and The Novices at Sais. Schlegel and Tieck published only a small sample of his philosophical and scientific writings. The depth of Novalis's knowledge in fields like philosophy and natural science came to be more broadly appreciated with the more extensive publication of his notebooks in the twentieth century. Novalis was not only well read in his chosen disciplines; he also sought to integrate his knowledge with his art. This goal is evident in his use of the fragment, a literary form in which he wrote alongside Friedrich Schlegel, publishing his pieces in Schlegel's journal, Athenaeum. The fragment allowed him to synthesize poetry, philosophy, and science into a single art form that could be used to address a wide variety of topics. Just as Novalis's literary works have established his reputation as a poet, the notebooks and fragments have subsequently established his intellectual role in the formation of Early German Romanticism.
Biography
Birth and early background
Novalis, baptized Georg Philipp Friedrich, was the Freiherr (Baron) von Hardenberg, born in 1772 at his family estate in the Electorate of Saxony, the Schloss Oberwiederstedt, in the village of Wiederstedt, which is now located in the present-day town of Arnstein. Hardenberg descended from ancient, Lower Saxon nobility. Novalis's father was Heinrich Ulrich Erasmus Freiherr von Hardenberg (1738–1814), the estate owner and a salt-mine manager. His mother was Auguste Bernhardine (née von Böltzig) (1749–1818), who was Heinrich's second wife. Novalis was the second of eleven children. Although Novalis had an aristocratic pedigree, his family was not wealthy. Novalis's early education was strongly influenced by Pietism. His father was a member of the Herrnhuter Unity of Brethren branch of the Moravian Church and maintained a strict pietist household. Until the age of nine, Novalis was taught by private tutors who were trained in pietist theology; subsequently, he attended a Herrnhut school in Neudietendorf for three years.
When he was twelve, Novalis was put under the charge of his uncle Gottlob Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Hardenberg (1728-1800), Land commander of the Teutonic Order, who lived at his rural estate in Lucklum. Novalis's uncle introduced him to the late Rococo world, where Novalis was exposed to enlightenment ideas as well as the contemporary literature of his time, including the works of the French Encyclopedists, Goethe, Lessing and Shakespeare. At seventeen, Novalis attended the Martin Luther Gymnasium in Eisleben, near Weissenfels where his family had moved in 1785. At the gymnasium, he learned rhetoric and ancient literature.
Jena, Leipzig, Wittenberg: legal studies Between 1790 and 1794, Novalis went to university to study law. He first attended the University of Jena. While there, he studied Immanuel Kant's philosophy under Karl Reinhold, and it was there that he first became acquainted with Fichte's philosophy. He also developed a close relationship with playwright and philosopher Schiller. Novalis attended Schiller's lectures on history and tended to Schiller when he was suffering from a particularly severe flare-up of his chronic tuberculosis. In 1791, he published his first work, a poem dedicated to Schiller, "Klagen eines Jünglings" ("Lament of a Youth"), in the magazine Der Neue Teutsche Merkur, an act that was partly responsible for Novalis's father withdrawing him from Jena and looking into another university where Novalis would attend more carefully to his studies. In the following year, Novalis's younger brother, Erasmus, enrolled at the University of Leipzig, and Novalis went with him to continue his legal studies. In 1792, he met the literary critic Friedrich Schlegel, the younger brother of August. Friedrich became one of Novalis's closest lifetime friends. A year later, Novalis matriculated to the University of Wittenberg where he completed his law degree.
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