Schiller Friedrich

The German playwright Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805) was born in Marbach am Neckar in Württemberg. Many of his ancestors were winegrowers. His father Johann K. Schiller (1723-1796) published a book on viticulture in 1767 as head of the court gardens and tree nurseries of Duke Carl Eugen von Württemberg (1728-1793). His mother Elisabeth D. Schiller was the daughter of an innkeeper. He was therefore heavily influenced in this respect and wrote the verse "The name Wirtemberg is derived from the innkeeper on the mountain. A Wirtemberger without wine, can he be a Wirtemberger?"

First encounter with wine

By ducal order, Schiller had to enter the Karlsschule military academy (Stuttgart) in 1773. Here, the school regulations ordered him to consume wine, so to speak. Duke Carl Eugen, a great patron of viticulture, had decreed that pupils were to be given up to half a litre of wine a day with their meals, depending on their age. According to the doctors' advice, "the consumption of wine in hot weather is good for young people". In a letter dated 29 August 1787 to his editor Christian G. Körner (1756-1831), Schiller describes a celebration in honour of Johann W. von Goethe (1749-1832): "We ate heartily, and Goethe's health was drunk by me in Rhine wine ". Goethe remarked to his secretary: "Schiller never drank much, he was moderate".