Yours, Frederikke Reventlow ”I seek you once again in the green temple, to converse an hour’s time with you, or stroll with you in your thicket, between flowering jasmines and rose bushes; there we could perhaps also talk about the major events of our time, which will cast blessings or misfortune on our descendents to come. I hope for the first …” On the intimacy Frederikke and Louise shared, 1791 From her marriage to Christian Ditlev Frederik Reventlow in 1774, until her death in 1822, Frederikke Reventlow exchanged weekly letters with her sister-in-law Louise Stolberg. Despite the fact that they rarely saw one another, the two friends had a confidential and close relationship that lasted over six decades and was expressed in the letters they wrote to each other. Museum Lolland-Falster’s annual exhibition this year is based on a selection of the letters Frederikke wrote to Louise. It is in these letters that she puts the life she lived and the thoughts she had about existence and the major events of one of Denmark’s most turbulent periods of history into words. Frederikke’s letters are a key to understanding the developments society and family life underwent at the end of the 1700s. Whilst war and economic depression rolled over Denmark’s borders, and the winds of political change blew in France, new values based on close family ties and a happy marriage gained ground. Values that Frederikke, in the many letters and papers she left to posterity, was an early spokeswoman for. In Frederikke’s own words, the exhibition invites us into a world of happy family times, the glamour and festivity of royal balls, and the joys and sorrows of raising children. Her letters also chart the political and literary debates of the time, all of which contributed to the values of society today. With this year’s exhibition, Museum Lolland-Falster wants not only to unveil new aspects of Reventlow family history, but also to show how the family and other values we have today emerged during the period Frederikke describes in her letters. Taking Frederikke Reventlow by the hand, visitors are invited to experience how life unfolded for the Reventlow family at a time when the world was in flames and democracy was on the doorstep. Museum Lolland-Falster would like to thank the descendents of Frederikke Reventlow, The State Archives and Knuthenborg for their generous loan of exhibits. The exhibition is curated by Mia Ramsing Jensen (MA) and museum curator Jesper Munk Andersen. BACKGROUND AND CHILDHOOD On June 1st, 1747 Frederikke Reventlow was born at Oldenborg Castle southwest of Hamburg, where her father, Christoph Ernst von Beulwitz, was governor of the royal Danish counties of Oldenborg and Delmenhorst. A few days later she was christened Sophie Frederikke Louise Charlotte von Beulwitz, and according to her letters and records was known as Frederikke. Frederikke’s father was close to the Danish royal family, and especially to the pietistic queen, Sophie Magdalene. After her marriage to Christian VI, the queen brought not only most of her family to Denmark from Brandenburg-Kulmbach, but also a whole army of German nobles, who were granted some of the most influential positions in the kingdom. Frederikke’s father was one of them. In 1738 he was summoned from a position in Stuttgart to take charge of the education of the then crown prince Frederik (V). Frederikke’s father was part of the burgeoning Enlightenment movement, his initial qualification for the position of royal educationalist. Later, from 1743-1745, he became prefect of Sorø Academy, where due to his education and erudition he was able to contribute to the re-establishment of this Danish academy for nobles, which had been closed for some time. Frederikke was raised in a home befitting her rank. Music by the leading composers of the day was played on the family’s collection of violins, games of cards were played at elegant, lacquered card tables, there were hunts with ‘Copenhagen Pistols’, and tea and coffee were served in costly East Indian porcelain. The tone and language were German, which was also the language Frederikke spoke throughout her life - apart from when speaking the French she was also fluent in. She did not learn Latin until 1783, something she did with her eldest son, and which she complained progressed at a ‘snail-like’, ‘crawling’ pace. Her upbringing and education adhered to contemporary, cosmopolitan norms for the daughters of the social elite. She learned how to behave among her peers at the court, and to read, write and converse in several languages. She also mastered the skills of needlework and drawing, which were obligatory for a woman of her social standing. A LIFE IN THE SHADOWS The life of the family was governed by Frederikke’s father’s career. In 1757 he died at the age of 62, and the family was left suddenly destitute, with no regular income. They had to sell their gold, silver and porcelain collection, as well as a yellow, damask throne bed. The father’s extensive book collection also had to be auctioned. The family were forced to leave the Danish duchy of Holstein, and in the 1760s they moved to Sorø in Zealand. Frederikke’s younger brother was send into the military in 1758 - one less mouth to feed - whilst the widow and her two daughters withdrew to a life of seclusion. Several of Sorø Academy’s scholars visited their home, as did some of the students, including C.D.F. Reventlow, who attended the academy from 1764-66. It was a time of economic uncertainty for the family, and they were highly dependent on the benevolence of others. Frederikke’s older sister was appointed lady-in-waiting for Queen Juliane Marie, and Wolf Veit Christoph von Reitzenstein, the new principal of Sorø Academy from 1766, secured her younger brother a place at the school. Two years later the principal also came to play a key role in Frederikke’s life. In the summer of 1768 Frederikke’s mother passed away and von Reitzenstein became her guardian and the administrator of her small inheritance. Whilst the situation of her siblings was settled, Frederikke had no security – especially with no prospect of marriage. A solution was provided by her parents’ old patron, the queen dowager Sophie Magdalene. The year after the death of her mother, Frederikke was granted a place at a home for unmarried ladies of rank at Vallø near Køge, an institution the dowager queen had founded, and in which she played an active role. With the prospect of a secluded life surrounded by similarly disposed gentlewomen, Frederikke set out for Vallø in the spring of 1769. “When I arrived I had lost those who were dearest to me in the world, and had to consort daily with people with whom I perhaps did not feel the greatest of affinities. I may have grown unhappy, if some of my sisters had not been so very good to me. To win their friendship I endeavoured to feel affection for them, to discover and cherish all their good qualities. This was rewarded with such good fortune that they all became fond of me, and I found myself in their midst as in the bosom of my own family.’ On life at Vallø. Frederikke Reventlow, 1769 2. THE PEAK OF HAPPINESS AND INFLUENCE During the summer of 1772, whilst the broken body of J.F. Struensee - the former royal physician and lover of the queen - was still fresh on the wheel beyond Copenhagen’s ramparts, Frederikke Reventlow’s life at Vallø was about to change radically. At the height of the summer, she was contacted by her friend Carl Wendt, who on behalf of C.D.F. Reventlow asked for her hand in marriage. Frederikke accepted the proposal, and on August 21st the young couple were engaged. LOVE AND MARRIAGE C.D.F. Reventlow had fallen in love with Frederikke during the 1760s, when he paid regular visits to her family home. In keeping with the contemporary cultivation of grand emotions and romance, the young couple fell in love, and in their subsequent correspondence their devotion to each other knew no bounds. He looked at dresses for her – ‘never could I love a dress as I love you!’ – whilst only ‘God and Faith’ could compete with her love for him. In Frederikke, C.D.F. had found the perfect wife. She was of noble descent, affectionate and popular. They moved in the same circles, had the same religious convictions and, perhaps most importantly, she was willing to acquire the skills and attributes C.D.F. and his family expected of his bride-to-be. Two years after their engagement in May 1774, they could sign a marriage settlement that made Frederikke financially secure for the rest of her life. She was given 400 rix dollars annually for personal expenses, and the couple has 2,000 rix dollars to keep house for at Aalstrup Manor in Lolland, which was at their disposal free of charge. On their wedding day on July 24th their happiness was complete. Tears poured down the count’s cheeks, and ‘she was so moved and with such devout earnestness on her brow’ that her sister-in-law Louise completely forgot that she did not actually consider Frederikke to be beautiful! Their marital bliss reached new heights the year after the wedding, when Frederikke gave birth to the couple’s first child - a son. He was christened Christian, after C.D.F.’s recently deceased father. By 1791, Frederikke had given birth to 12 children, three of whom died as infants.