Introduction
Danzig
The Kulmus Family
Intellectual Life
Education

The Kulmus Family

The Kulmus family did not belong to the patriciate, but had close ties to it. Luise Kulmus's father, Johann Georg Kulmus, was the son of a baker from Breslau in Silesia. Since he completed a degree in medicine, probably his father had been a wealthy baker. After earning his degree Kulmus traveled and, settling in Danzig, became resident doctor to the Polish Court. This was a prestigious position, but in view of the relations between Poland and Danzig it proved to be a difficult one. During the plague of 1709 Kulmus had taken some measures that earned him the displeasure of the municipal Council. When he tried to claim exemption from its control, the Council demonstrated its supremacy by forcing him to pay a penalty.

If they were not already married, new residents of Danzig were expected to find a spouse within a year. Shortly after his arrival in 1704, Kulmus married Regina Konkordia Tessin, the daughter of Valentin Ernst Tessin, a member of one of the three governing bodies of the city, the Schöppen. Tessin was a wealthy brewer, and this marriage soldified Kulmus high standing in the community. After his first wife died during the plague in 1711, Kulmus remarried. This time he married Katharina Dorothea Schwenk, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, Nathanael Schwenk.

The social standing of the family is also apparent in the choice of godparents for Luise Kulmus, probably patients of Johann Georg Kulmus. In addition to her maternal grandmother, they were Baron Johann Victor Besenval, French ambassador to the Polish court, and the Countess Bielinski, daughter of the Royal Treasurer of Poland, the poet Jan Andrzej Morsztyn, and wife of the Starost of the fortress Marienburg and Morsztyn's successor as Royal Treasurer of Poland. The Countess's father had translated Tasso, Marino and Corneille into Polish in addition to writing his own verse. These connections illustrate the rich patterns of cultural exchange available in Danzig to members of these circles: Polish nobility, French nobility, wealthy German merchants, all highly educated.

Luise Kulmus was born into her father's second family. We know almost nothing about her mother except the name of her father, that she was religious, knew French fluently, was interested in poetry and corresponded regularly with a learned Kielmannsegg.

After the death of her father in 1731, Luise Kulmus's uncle, Johann Adam Kulmus, became her guardian. This Kulmus had also become a doctor and taught medicine at the prestigious Danzig Academy. His compact, German-language anatomical tables earned him recognition throughout Germany and were translated into other languages. Like many learned men and women of the day he wrote poetry and Gottsched informs us that it was this uncle who taught Luise the fundamentals of prosody.

Surviving childhood were two siblings: a half-brother, Johann Ernst, who, when given lessons in English, immediately repeated them for Luise; and a half-sister, Johanna Konkordia, who also wrote poetry.