Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg

Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg-Stolberg (7 November 1750 – 5 December 1819), was a German poet, lawyer, and translator born at Bramstedt in Holstein (then a part of Denmark).

Friedrich Leopold belonged to a cadet branch of the Stolberg family. He was born the son of a Danish magistrate and owner of a manorial estate, Count Christian zu Stolberg. Together with his brother Christian, Friedrich Leopold went to the University of Halle in 1770, in order to study German Law. His other studies embraced the Classics and various historical courses. The two brothers then studied in Göttingen and were a prominent members of the famous Hain or Dichterbund, a society of young men who had high aspirations for the unity of the country, and who cultivated German poetry. After leaving the university the brothers made a journey to Switzerland in company with the famed poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

In 1777 Friedrich Leopold was appointed envoy of the prince bishop of Lübeck at the Court of Copenhagen, but often stayed at Eutin to spend time with his college friend and member of the Dichterbund, Johann Heinrich Voss.

In 1782 Stolberg married Agnes von Witzleben, whom he celebrated in his poems. After six years of happy married life, leaving two sons and two daughters (one of them, Marie Agnes, married Ferdinand, son of Christian Frederick of Stolberg-Wernigerode), Agnes died an early death in 1788. Friedrich Leopold then became Danish envoy to the Court of Prussia, and contracted a second marriage with the Countess Sophie von Redern in 1789. After their wedding he and his wife took a grand tour through Germany, Switzerland, and Italy; he documented this trip in a series of letters, Travels through Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Sicily.

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