.jpg/1670px-Struensee_Juel_(cropped).jpg)
Recent from talks
Johann Friedrich Struensee
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Johann Friedrich Struensee
Lensgreve Johann Friedrich Struensee (5 August 1737 – 28 April 1772) was a German-Danish physician, philosopher and statesman. He became royal physician to the mentally ill King Christian VII of Denmark-Norway and a minister in the Danish government. He rose in power to a position of de facto regent of the country, and he initiated a number of widespread reforms. His affair with Queen Caroline Matilda ("Caroline Mathilde") caused a scandal, especially after the birth of a daughter, Princess Louise Augusta, and he contributed to the intrigues and power play that led to his downfall and execution.
Born at Halle an der Saale and baptized at St. Moritz on 7 August 1737, Struensee was the third child of six born to Pietist theologian and minister Adam Struensee (baptized in Neuruppin on 8 September 1708 – Rendsburg, 20 June 1791) and his wife Maria Dorothea Carl (Berleburg, 31 July 1716 – Schleswig, 31 December 1792). The elder Struensee attended the University of Halle and served in a number of pastoral postings before being appointed Royal General Superintendent of Schleswig and Holstein between 1760 and 1791. The Struensees were a respectable middle-class family that believed in religious tolerance. Three of the Struensee sons went to University, but none became theologians like their father; two of the daughters married ministers.
Johann Friedrich entered the University of Halle on 5 August 1752 at the age of fifteen where he studied medicine, and graduated as a Doctor in Medicine ("Dr. Med.") on 12 December 1757. The university exposed him to Age of Enlightenment ideals, and social and political critique and reform. He supported these new ideas, becoming a proponent of atheism, the writings of Claude Adrien Helvétius, and other French materialists.
When Adam and Maria Dorothea Struensee moved to Altona in 1758, where the elder Struensee became pastor of Trinitatiskirche (Trinity's Church), Johann Friedrich moved with them. He was soon employed as a public doctor in Altona, in the estate of Count Rantzau, and in the Pinneberg District. His wages were meager and he expected to supplement them with private practice.
His parents moved to Rendsburg in 1760 where Adam Struensee became first superintendent (comparable to bishop) for the duchy, and subsequently superintendent-general of Schleswig-Holstein. Struensee, now 23 years old, had to set up his own household for the first time. His lifestyle expectations were not matched by his economics. His abilities and manner led to his acceptance in elite social circles and he entertained his contemporaries with his controversial opinions.
Struensee was ambitious and petitioned the Danish government through Minister of Foreign Affairs Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff for funds.[editorializing] He wrote Enlightenment treatises and published many of them in his journal Zum Nutzen und Vergnügen ("For benefit and enjoyment").
During Struensee's near ten-year residence in Altona he came into contact with a circle of aristocrats who had been sent away from the royal court in Copenhagen. Among them were Enevold Brandt and Count Schack Carl Rantzau, who were supporters of the Enlightenment. Rantzau recommended Struensee to the court as a physician to attend King Christian VII on his forthcoming tour to princely and royal courts in western Germany, the Netherlands, England, and France.
Struensee received the appointment in April 1768. The king and his entourage set forth on 6 May. While in England Struensee received the honorary degree of Doctor in Medicine from the University of Cambridge.
Hub AI
Johann Friedrich Struensee AI simulator
(@Johann Friedrich Struensee_simulator)
Johann Friedrich Struensee
Lensgreve Johann Friedrich Struensee (5 August 1737 – 28 April 1772) was a German-Danish physician, philosopher and statesman. He became royal physician to the mentally ill King Christian VII of Denmark-Norway and a minister in the Danish government. He rose in power to a position of de facto regent of the country, and he initiated a number of widespread reforms. His affair with Queen Caroline Matilda ("Caroline Mathilde") caused a scandal, especially after the birth of a daughter, Princess Louise Augusta, and he contributed to the intrigues and power play that led to his downfall and execution.
Born at Halle an der Saale and baptized at St. Moritz on 7 August 1737, Struensee was the third child of six born to Pietist theologian and minister Adam Struensee (baptized in Neuruppin on 8 September 1708 – Rendsburg, 20 June 1791) and his wife Maria Dorothea Carl (Berleburg, 31 July 1716 – Schleswig, 31 December 1792). The elder Struensee attended the University of Halle and served in a number of pastoral postings before being appointed Royal General Superintendent of Schleswig and Holstein between 1760 and 1791. The Struensees were a respectable middle-class family that believed in religious tolerance. Three of the Struensee sons went to University, but none became theologians like their father; two of the daughters married ministers.
Johann Friedrich entered the University of Halle on 5 August 1752 at the age of fifteen where he studied medicine, and graduated as a Doctor in Medicine ("Dr. Med.") on 12 December 1757. The university exposed him to Age of Enlightenment ideals, and social and political critique and reform. He supported these new ideas, becoming a proponent of atheism, the writings of Claude Adrien Helvétius, and other French materialists.
When Adam and Maria Dorothea Struensee moved to Altona in 1758, where the elder Struensee became pastor of Trinitatiskirche (Trinity's Church), Johann Friedrich moved with them. He was soon employed as a public doctor in Altona, in the estate of Count Rantzau, and in the Pinneberg District. His wages were meager and he expected to supplement them with private practice.
His parents moved to Rendsburg in 1760 where Adam Struensee became first superintendent (comparable to bishop) for the duchy, and subsequently superintendent-general of Schleswig-Holstein. Struensee, now 23 years old, had to set up his own household for the first time. His lifestyle expectations were not matched by his economics. His abilities and manner led to his acceptance in elite social circles and he entertained his contemporaries with his controversial opinions.
Struensee was ambitious and petitioned the Danish government through Minister of Foreign Affairs Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff for funds.[editorializing] He wrote Enlightenment treatises and published many of them in his journal Zum Nutzen und Vergnügen ("For benefit and enjoyment").
During Struensee's near ten-year residence in Altona he came into contact with a circle of aristocrats who had been sent away from the royal court in Copenhagen. Among them were Enevold Brandt and Count Schack Carl Rantzau, who were supporters of the Enlightenment. Rantzau recommended Struensee to the court as a physician to attend King Christian VII on his forthcoming tour to princely and royal courts in western Germany, the Netherlands, England, and France.
Struensee received the appointment in April 1768. The king and his entourage set forth on 6 May. While in England Struensee received the honorary degree of Doctor in Medicine from the University of Cambridge.
Recent media