Charlotte Schimmelmann

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Magdalene Charlotte Hedevig Schimmelmann, (Norway 1757-Copenhagen 1816), was a Danish salonist.

She was born to Lt. Carl Rudolph Schubart (1714-59) and Inger Løvenskiold (1732-1808) and married statesman Count Heinrich Ernst Schimmelan(1747-1831) in 1782. Aftet the coup of the crown prince in 1784, her husband became minister and she became Denmark's most famous salonist.

Her salon was organized according to the French pattern and was renowned abroad. The latest developments in science, politics and culture were discussed. She considered it a profession to be a salonist. Her salon gathered philosophers and politicians, and played a part in the country's political scene.It was inspired by a form of "aristocratic humanism", by the ideas of the French revolution in 1789. Her husband opened schools, which she protected, and argued for the abolition of slavery, even though they owned plantations in the West Indies. Until 1807, her political circle of ministers earned money by trading with countries involved in the Napoleonic wars, and was seen as a center of the politically corrupt, and it became unfashionable.