Novalis

In 1794, he first met Sophie von K�hn and fell in love with her. The following year in March, when Kuhn turned thirteen, they were formally engaged to marry.

Tragedy struck the life of the much-in-love couple as Sophie, who was suffering from tuberculosis, breathed her last in March 1979. He was flabbergasted and went into a state of mourning and suffering.

Recovering from his loss, he got engaged to Julie von Charpentier in December 1798. She was the daughter of Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Toussaint von Charpentier, a professor in Freiberg

Novalis was born as Georg Philipp Friedrich von Hardenberg at Oberwiederstedt manor, in the Harz Mountains to Heinrich Ulrich Erasmus Freiherr von Hardenberg and Auguste Bernhardine von B�ltzig.

His father was an avid follower of pietism and a member of the Moravian (Herrnhuter) Church. He was the second of the eleven children born to the couple.

Coming from Low German nobility, he was christened Georg Philipp Friedrich in the church. It was later on that he took on the pseudonym Novalis from ‘de Novali’ a name that his family formerly used.

He was initially home schooled by private tutors. It was only later that he attended the Lutheran grammar school in Eisleben, learning rhetoric and ancient literature.

From 1790, he studied law at the University of Jena. It was there that he befriended Friedrich von Schiller. He then moved to Leipzig for studies where he became acquainted with Friedrich von Schlegel. Schlegel first introduced him to the philosophies of Immanuel Kant and Johann Gottlieb Fichte.

In 1794, he started working as an actuary for August Coelestin Just, who was his friend and superior. He worked there for two years until January 1796 when he took up the position of an auditor for the Saxon government saltworks at Weissenfels.

Meanwhile, from 1795 to 1796, he underwent a detailed analysis of the scientific doctrine of Johann Gottlieb Fichte, who changed his view and thinking. He carried Fichte’s work and doctrine further by transforming the latter’s view and hence laying the foundation for his Liebesreligion, religion of love.

In 1797, circumventing from the deep emotional loss of his fianc�e, he got himself enrolled at the Mining Academy of Frieberg in Saxony. It was there that he befriended Professor Abraham Gottlob Werner who in turn trained him in the study of geology.

At Frieberg, he guided himself to learn a number of subjects such as mining, mathematics, chemistry, biology, history and philosophy. It was while studying these subjects that he collected material for his famous encyclopaedia projects.

His first ever written matter was published in 1798 in the Athen�um magazine under the title, ‘Bl�thenstaub’ (Pollen). It was for this publication that he for the first time used his pseudonym, ‘Novalis’.