Charlotte Buff
Charlotte Sophie Henriette Kestner (née Buff, 11 January 1753, Wetzlar – 16 January 1828, Hanover) was a youthful acquaintance of the poet Goethe, who fell in love with her. She rejected him and instead married Johann Christian Kestner (1741–1800), vice-archivist and privy councillor to the Hanoverian court. The character of Charlotte, in Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, is partly based on her.
Charlotte Buff
Rabanus Flavus · Public domain
- Full name
- Charlotte Sophie Henriette Buff.
- Nationality
- Kingdom of Prussia and Germany.
- Occupation
- writer.
- Languages
- French and German.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q63639 · wikipedia · Charlotte Buff
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1753
Charlotte Buff born at Lottehaus.
1828
Charlotte Buff died at Hanover.
Places
Named by the record
Places
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Lottehaus.
Birth place
Hanover.
Death place
Film portrayal
Their relationship was characterized by heartiness and lack of constraint. Goethe bought the wedding rings for her and Kestner, in Frankfurt am Main. Charlotte and Kestner had four daughters and eight sons, among them August Kestner. Thomas Mann wrote a novel, published in 1939, "Lotte in Weimar", about a trip she made to Weimar in 1816 when she was 62 and a widow to see her family and also to meet Goethe.
In the 2010 German film Young Goethe in Love, the character of Charlotte Buff is portrayed by Miriam Stein.
Documentary record
Charlotte Buff, born on 11 January 1753 in Wetzlar and died on 16 January 1828 in Hannover, is documented in the authority records of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Both events are recorded by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Um 1800: Schattenriss der Charlotte Kestner (geborene Buff) und ihres Ehemannes Johann Christian Kestner...
ungenannt · Anne Viola Siebert: Kindheit und Jugend in einer 'Hübschen Familie': Familie Kestner [nebst, Querverweisen
![Das um 1782 in Hannover von dem Maler Johann Heinrich Schröder (Maler)|Johann Heinrich Schröder]] in Pastell auf Pergament gemalte Porträt der Charlotte Kestner, geborenen Buff. Laut Maisak,](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/52/1782_circa_Johann_Heinrich_Schr%C3%B6der_Pastell_auf_Pergament_Portrait_Charlotte_Kestner%2C_geborene_Buff.jpg/777px-1782_circa_Johann_Heinrich_Schr%C3%B6der_Pastell_auf_Pergament_Portrait_Charlotte_Kestner%2C_geborene_Buff.jpg)
Das um 1782 in Hannover von dem Maler Johann Heinrich Schröder (Maler)|Johann Heinrich Schröder]] in Pastell auf Pergament gemalte Porträt der Charlotte Kestner, geborenen Buff. Laut Maisak,
Johann Heinrich Schröder · Anne Viola Siebert: Charlotte Kestner geb. Buff [nebst, Querverweisen
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Charlotte Buff, revision 1331160563 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Charlotte Buff. www.wetzlar.de.
- 2.Charlotte Buff-Kestner. FemBio.
- 3.Mandelkow, Karl Robert (1962). Goethes Briefe. Vol. 1: Briefe der Jahre 1764-1786. Christian Wegner Verlag. pp. 590–592
References
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reference work
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Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
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Died at
1- HanoverPlace
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Charlotte Alington BarnardAuthor
- Charlotte Birch-PfeifferAuthor
- Charlotte BouretteAuthor
- Charlotte BrookeAuthor
- Charlotte BuryAuthor
- Charlotte de HuybertAuthor
- Charlotte DelboAuthor
- Charlotte DespardAuthor
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