Christiane Vulpius

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Christiane Vulpius ( 1765-1816 ) was the mistress and wife of Goethe. In 1788, when a young woman of Weimar, Goethe addressed to her the Römische Elegiens, an epithalamium. They lived together quasi-maritally from 1788 till their marriage in 1806, and afterward till her death in 1816, to his own satisfaction, but to the scandal of the ladies of Weimar and the vexation of Bettina von Arnim-Brentano. Christiane was the sister of Christian August Vulpius; she became the dearest woman in the life of Goethe, having replaced Frau von Stein.

Goethe married her the day after she saved his life by physically resisting French soldiers who had invaded his house. Christine Vulpius and Goethe produced a son, Karl August, who died in 1828, and whose wife, Ottilie, cared for Goethe until he died in 1832.

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