Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller [johan/joːhan krɪstɔf friːtʁɪç fɔn ʃɪləʁ/ʃɪlɐ] (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist. During the last few years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang Goethe, with whom he greatly discussed issues concerning aesthetics, encouraging Goethe to finish works he left merely as sketches; this thereby gave way to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism. They also worked together on Die Xenien (The Xenies), a collection of short but harshly satirical poems in which both Schiller and Goethe verbally attacked those persons they perceived to be enemies of their aesthetic agenda.
Schiller was born in Marbach, Württemberg (located at the river Neckar in southwest Germany, north of Stuttgart, the region of Swabia), as the only son, besides five sisters, of military doctor Johann Kaspar Schiller (1733-1796), and Elisabeth Dorothea Kodweiß (1732-1802). On 22 February 1790, he married Charlotte von Lengefeld (1766-1826). Four children were born between 1793 and 1804: the sons Karl and Ernst, and daughters Luise and Emilie. The last living descendent of Schiller was a grandchild of Emilie, Baron Alexander of Gleichen-Rußwurm, who died at Baden-Baden, Germany in 1947.
