Did the German countess Margaretha von Waldeck impressed the character of Snow White to the Grimm brothers? | EUROtoday

On Mar 22, 2025

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Dhe actuality with legend, there is just one step, usually taken brilliantly by writers. Thus, the story of Snow White, introduced updated with a brand new cinematographic model, can be impressed by a very dramatic true story, that of the younger German Margaretha von Waldeck, who lived within the XVI^e century. It is in any case the thesis relayed for a number of years by researchers, together with the educational Eckhard Sander, who has made a number of rapprochements between the historical past of this younger aristocrat and that of Snow White, suggesting that the Grimm brothers, firstly of the XIX^e century, would have been largely impressed by his future to write down their story.

Number of coincidences are certainly disturbing. Margaretha comes from a noble household. She is the daughter of the Count of Waldeck-Wildungen, an influential Protestant within the coronary heart of the Holy Roman Empire. After the demise of her mom when she is simply 4 years outdated, she was raised by a extreme and rascal mother-in-law who hardly appreciates the primary kids of her husband. Especially since Margaretha turns into a splendid younger lady, with porcelain pores and skin, vermeil lips and hair of a superb blond.

Margaretha courted by a prince

At 16, in 1549, Margaretha was despatched to Brussels, beneath domination of the Habsburgs, inside the refined court docket of Marie de Hungary, sister of Charles V, who governs the Spanish Netherlands. For his father, it’s a query of bettering his relations with probably the most highly effective dynasty of the time and presumably discovering a good looking get together for his daughter. The great thing about the younger Margaretha hits the bull’s eye, the contenders court docket, together with Philippe II, son of Charles V, prince of blood and inheritor to the throne. A narrative is fashioned, however marriage is inconceivable: Margaretha is Protestant and a rank too decrease to change into the spouse of the Catholic emperor.

Read too Myths, tales and legends: between fiction and actualityHas it burned its wings, like Icarus, approaching too near the solar and glory? At 21, Margaretha all of a sudden falls unwell and mysteriously died, a lot in order that some see it as a hint of political poisoning, undoubtedly within the arsenic … The stepmother, jealousy, deadly magnificence, the prince and the demise that lodges, these are all parts that recall the story of the Grimm brothers – even when they’ve undoubtedly been influenced by different German folks tales.

Margaretha von Waldeck buried in Brussels

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Answer

To high it off, you must know that the Von Waldecks drew a part of their fortune by exploiting copper mines the place many kids grouped in teams labored in devoted homes. The working situations within the low galleries have been such that they have been affected by deformations and progress delays, in order that these younger minors have been known as “dwarfs” by the inhabitants of the environment.

Read too 100 years of Disney: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, the movie wherein nobody believedLast twist of historical past: the Brussels residents are actually satisfied that the stays of “real” Snow White relaxation beneath their toes. Indeed, Margaretha von Waldeck was undoubtedly buried within the Convent of Récollets or within the Church, beneath the place of the present Stock Exchange, because the newspaper revealed The free. 100 graves have already been listed throughout archaeological excavations carried out for the reason that Nineteen Eighties. But to place their arms on the well-known physique, it is a problem since 10,000 burials have been recorded within the Récollets. Snow White took off her secrets and techniques within the grave …

https://www.lepoint.fr/histoire/la-comtesse-allemande-margaretha-von-waldeck-a-t-elle-inspire-le-personnage-de-blanche-neige-aux-freres-grimm-22-03-2025-2585362_1615.php