Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (3 September 1757 – 14 June 1828) was a Duke of Saxe-Weimar and of Saxe-Eisenach (in personal union) from 1758, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach from its creation (as a political union) in 1809, and grand duke from 1815 until his death. He is noted for the intellectual brilliance of his court.
Born in Weimar, he was the eldest son of Ernest Augustus II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach, and Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
His father died when he was only nine months old (28 May 1758), and the boy was brought up under the regency and supervision of his mother, a woman of enlightened but masterful temperament. His governor was the Count Johann Eustach von Görtz, a German nobleman of the old strait-laced school; but a more humane element was introduced into his training when, in 1771, Christoph Martin Wieland was appointed his tutor. In 1774 the poet Karl Ludwig von Knebel came to Weimar as tutor to his brother, the young Prince Frederick Ferdinand Constantin, and in the same year the two princes set out, with Count Görtz and Knebel, for Paris. At Frankfurt, Knebel introduced Karl August to the young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and this would mark the beginning of a momentous friendship.
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