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The youth came from
a good enough background, knew how to behave, was clever, good looking and
quick-witted, so Sybille hoped that he would have a good career. And
her hopes were justified.
In the autumn of 1737 Duke Karl Braunschweig-Wolfenbuettel received
a letter from Saint Petersburg from his younger brother, Prince Anton
Ulrich, with a request to find him two pages. The prince had
lived in Russia since 1733 because it was planned for him to marry Princess
Anna Leopoldovna, the goddaughter of Russia’s Empress Anna
Joanovna (the Empress’s older sister Catherine Joanovna was married
to Mecklenburg’s Duke Karl Leopold in 1716 and in 1718 they had a
daughter Elizabeth Catherine Kristina but on converting to the Orthodox
Church she was renamed Anna. Her life in Russian court was shaped
largely by Juliana Mengden and Governess Aderkass), with the hope of providing
a legal heir to the throne. However, the marriage important to both
families was delayed for an indefinite time... |
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| Karl Friedrich
Hieronymus von Münchausen was born on 11 May, 1720,
in Bodenwerder, a town in West Germany. His father, Colonel
Otto von Munchausen, died four years later (1682–1724).
Widow Sybille Wilhelmina (born von Reden, 1689–1741) was left with
eight children in her care. Hieronymus was the fifth of these.
Following in his father’s footsteps, the boy was sent to work as a
page in the court of Duke Braunschweig-Wolfenbuettel, but first
he was sent to Bern castle – one of the Duke’s residences, where
he was taught etiquette and manners. In 1735 he became a page in the
suite of Ferdinand Albrecht II. There the new baron started
to learn the difficult skill needed for life in court – to understand
and manipulate the Duke’s fanciful moods, to grasp the competitive
and hostile relationships between the favourites, to hide his thoughts,
avoid the incitement of various plots, to hold his tongue, while at the
same time keeping up good relationships with those around him. |
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