Friedrich Schiller

Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) was a German playwright, poet, historian and philosopher, the great dramatist of the Sturm und Drang and, with Goethe, of Weimar Classicism. Born at Marbach in Württemberg and trained in medicine at the duke's Karlsschule, he wrote The Robbers. After leaving his post for its Mannheim premiere in 1782, he was jailed and banned, fleeing Stuttgart that September. In 1785 he wrote the Ode to Joy.

He became Jena's history professor in 1789; a January 1791 collapse, probably tuberculosis, made him a lifelong invalid. From 1794 he grew close to Goethe, once his rival, and they founded the Weimar Theater. Persuaded back to the stage, he wrote Wallenstein, Maria Stuart and William Tell.

France made him an honorary citizen in 1792, and the Duke of Saxe-Weimar ennobled him in 1802. He died at Weimar on 9 May 1805, aged 45; his dramas became German theatre standards.