Therese von Bayern

Therese von Bayern (Research on women; Julia Mantel, Simon Jarvers, Lion Deger)

Therese Charlotte Luise Friederike Amalie von Sachsen-Hildburghausen“, short Therese von Sachsen, was born on the 8^th of July in 1792 in Seidingstadt as the daughter of Duke Friedrich von Sachsen-Hildburghausen and his wife Princess Charlotte. She grew up in the castle of Hildburghausen, where she spent most of her childhood. Due to the high depts of the house in 1806 an imperial secondman was sent to take care of the financial imbalances, which at this time meant a huge humiliation to the family´s reputation.

In 1809 Therese found herself on a list of princesses gathered by the self-proclaimed emperor Napoleon, in order to get married into one of the old Europian royal houses. In this task he was beaten by crown prince Ludwig von Bayern, who chose her sooner than Bonaparte. This occurred for the following reasons: on the first hand Ludwig urged for an early marriage because he didn’t want to get forced into one by Napoleon. Secondly he valued a familial connection with the small region of Hildburghausen as politically harmless and last but not least he fell in love with his future wife, after he got aquainted, which you can see by looking at their correspondence.

After getting engaged on 12^th of February in 1810 they got married in the court chapel in the residency of Munich on 12^th of October of the same year. When the celebrations ended on 17^th, a huge horse race was arranged, which took place on the Theresienwiese, a large bare field named after the bride Therese. By repeating the race around the same date one year after the world-famous annual “Oktoberfest” was born. Soon besides the race carousels and beer-tents were built and that’s how the “Wiesn” was developed as the world’s biggest and most famous beer festival with over six million visitors each year. In addition to the “Oktoberfest” the Theresienwiese hosted, and still does, many other events like the annual TollWood Festival, the “Frühlingsfest” or circuses, but also demonstrations like in 1918, when the citizens demanded Germany´s capitulation in WW1, or parades, e.g. when the Nazis celebrated the union between Germany and Austria in 1938.

After the death of Maximilian I. his son Ludwig and his wife Therese became the new royal couple. In the further history Therese was known as a very sensitive and loyal wife, who had to deal with her unfaithful husband and his excesses but also as a politically very smart woman. She believed that a king, in the interests of the citizens, should know anything, what’s going on in his country. Therefore she informed her husband about those things when he was traveling other kingdoms.

Therese von Bayern died as a victim of Cholera on 26^th of October in 1854. She left 9 children and Ludwig who lived another 14 years.

Written and by: Lion Deger

Research on women Germany (Isabella Rosch, Julia Mantel, Simon Jarvers, Fabio Nebauer, Lion Deger)

Beatriz Galindo (La Latina)

Beatriz Galindo

Beatriz Galindo was a Spanish writer and humanist, preceptor of Queen Isabela of Castille and her daughters. She was one of the most educated women of her time and lived in a time of great historical events of which she was a privileged witness for her proximity to Queen Isabella.

Beatriz was born in Salamanca in 1465 and from a very early age she showed great intelligence and skills for the learning of the Latin language. This early ability gave her the nickname of La Latina by which she would become known in history

She was destined to be a nun and while preparing for entering the convent, she was able to attend lessons at one of the institutions depending of the University of Salamanca. We must remember that the XV century was a time in which women were not allowed to attend lessons at University.

Her great inclination for reading, studying and learning Latin, (in which she was fluent at the age of 15) gave her a fame which reached the court of the Catholic Monarchs.

In 1486, Queen Isabella wanted to improve her knowledge of Latin, as she had not really been educated to be a Queen, the heir to the throne being her brother, Henry IV. One of her counsellors had stayed in Salamanca for some time and had heard about Beatriz Galindo, her wisdom and many qualities and he recommended her to the Queen.

Beatriz was then taken to court and there she became the Queen’s Latin instructor. Later she was also the teacher of Queen Isabella’s daughters, Isabel, Juana, María and Catalina who, all of them became queens of different countries in later days

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Beatriz’s wisdom and great personal qualities made the Queen appreciate her so much that she ended up being much more than a teacher, also an advisor and someone whom Queen Isabella really trusted.

In 1491 Beatriz married Francisco Ramírez de Madrid, a widower 25 years older than her, who was captain of the army of King Ferdinand and also his secretary. Francisco Ramírez was greatly appreciated, one of the best soldiers of his time who won many favours, titles and properties from his accomplishments in battles and conquering . Consequently this marriage also brought Beatriz a still more prominent position in the court of the Catholic Monarchs. She had two sons from him; Fernán and Nuflo.

Beatriz was not just a teacher, she wrote poetry and was a great fan of Aristotle, whose work she studied deeply and also wrote an important work about him.

After his husband’s death in 1501 and specially, after Queen Isabella’s death in 1504, Beatriz retired from the court and devoted herself to administrate her properties and to pursue charitable and religious purposes. She also enjoyed the company of her sons and grandchildren, while she continue writing and studying.

In the last years of her life she founded a hospital for the poor and two convents, in one of which she was buried when she died in 1534. Her name and memory still lives in the many schools in Spain and the neighbourhood in Madrid which have inherited her name and nickname: Beatriz Galindo, La Latina.

Antonio de Nebrija

Antonio de Nebrija

We're going to explain the life and importance of Antonio de Nebrija’s work in 4 different parts. First of all, we're going to explain the historical context of the time when Antonio de Nebrija lived; then we’ll talk about his life, the importance of his work and his relationship with Salamanca

Historical context.

He lived from 1441 from 1522, in a time of tremendous changes and most important events. The first thing we have to remember is that at that time, there was a war between Christian kings and Arabic people who had occupied Spain's land from the year 711. This war was called "Reconquista" and it finished in 1492, when the Catholic kings conquered the last place held by a Moorish king which was Granada..

Another important fact that characterized this time is the reigning of Isabella and Ferdinand, the Catholic Monarchs, a time of territorial expansion. Apart from the union of Castile and Aragon, they also conquered the south of Italy, some parts from the north of Africa and some islands of the Atlantic Ocean.

And then in 1492, came the biggest discovery of all, the one that was the beginning of Spanish Empire: America. Cristobel Colón was commissioned and supported, mostly by Queen Isabella in his search for a different route to the Eastern lands discovered what he first thought –it was the Indias and which later would be called America.

After the Catholic Kings, their grandson, Carlos I of Spain and V of Germany reigned in Spain. He was the first king of the Austria's.

Antonio de Nebrija's life.

The real name of Nebrija was Antonio Martínez de Cala and Jarava, he was born in Sevilla in 1441 and died 1522 in Alcala de Henares. However he is better known as Elio Antonio de Nebrija, the name he chose honouring his home town. He was a Spanish humanist who studied in Salamanca first and then at the Royal College of Spain in Bologna. He is prominent in the history of the Spanish language because he wrote the first grammar of Spanish, a language considered vulgar by then, as only classical languages had written rules in those days. He wrote this grammar in 1492 and it would be of the outmost importance in the spreading of Spanish language in the newly discovered American continent. Nebrija was not only a linguistic, He was a truly Renaissance man, very accomplished as a historian, teacher, grammarian, astronomer and poet.

Born in Lebrija, in the province of Sevilla. Nebrija began studying humanities at the University of Salamanca at the age of 15. When he was 19, he moved to Italy where he studied at the College of San Clemente in Bologna. Back in Spain, he worked in Seville for the Archbishop Fonseca. He taught in the chapel of Granada, and then came back to teach grammar and rhetoric at the University of Salamanca.

He married Isabel de Solis, from whom he had 7 children. In the last years of his life, Nebrija was in Seville at the service of the archbishop.

Nebrija wrote on several subjects: cosmography, botany, and theology. He is famous for his efforts to reform the teaching of Latin. In 1492 he published his famous Spanish Grammar, work for which has passed into history. This was the first grammar of a vernacular language was written in Europe.

The importance of his work.

The Spanish Grammar was the most important work of Antonio de Nebrija, who was the first who noted the importance of the vernacular language, called "the vulgar language". By a happy coincidence, at the same time when Nebrija finished his grammar, Colón was about to discover the New World, a new land where this new language would spread all over the continent thus making Spanish one of the most important languages in our days.

Nebrija’s work is the first study of a contemporary language. In the XVth century the romance languages weren't studied because medieval men thought that only Latin and Greek were important enough to be the subject of study. Politic reasons or a premonition made Nebrija to write the Grammar, because he thought that it was necessary to fix the language with a set of rules. This would later allow Spanish to become the language of the Empire.

In 1495 he also published a new important work: a dictionary Spanish -Latin, Latin -Spanish, and this was the first dictionary of our language.

Nebrija in Salamanca.

Nebrija lived in Salamanca at three different times. The first time he came was when he was 15 years old to start his studies at university and he stayed here for 4 years . After studying at Salamanca, Nebrija resided for ten years in Italy, and completed his education at Bologna University He returned to Salamanca in 1473 decided to be a teacher and with the firm purpose of revolutionizing the teaching of Latin. However some events made him give up and move to Sevilla. In 1513, he filled the chair of rhetoric of the newly founded University Complutense in Alcalá de Henares, Nebrija died in Alcala de Henares in 1522

He returned to Salamanca again in 1505 but disagreements with his colleages made give up and definitively move to Seville first and to Alcalá later where he died in 1522.