The Brothers Grimm in Marburg
» I don't know, my friend, whether you were ever here yourself, but the location of Marburg and the surrounding area is certainly beautiful. Especially when you stand near the castle and look down at the panorama. The city itself is quite ugly, though.. I think there are more stairs on the streets than in the houses. One house is even entered through the roof. «
The Philipps-University at Marburg recorded only 170 students in 1802 , and one of those is Jacob Grimm. In the above cited words written to his school friend Paul Wiegand, he describes his first impressions of the town at the beginning of his study of law. A year later his younger brother Wilhelm arrives in Marburg with their mutual friend Paul Wiegand, and the actual story of the Brothers Grimm in Marburg can begin.
The most important personal relationship for the brothers cultivated during their years of study in Marburg had been there since 1795: the young and freshly graduated doctor of law, Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779 - 1861), who was already giving lectures at age 20 and who is responsible for inspiring Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm with the decisive stimulating ideas for their subsequent academic, cultural and political work.
Savigny is namely not only a brilliant and witty instructor, but also above and beyond his professional field a profound expert of historical and contemporary literature with a strong preference for critical analysis of texts and original sources. Savigny is quick to discern the unusual commitment and keen interest of the Grimms during his lectures, and it isn't long before a strong personal relationship develops between the three young men, not least due to the proximity of their living quarters.
» In Marburg you have to move your legs around and climb endless stairs up and down. «
This is how Jacob Grimm described his student days in Marburg, which includes personally handing in his homework to his professor, so that the brothers not infrequently climb the steps from their flat in Barfüsser St. 15 over the Wendelgasse to the rooms of their venerated Professor Savigny in the Ritterstrasse, who always gives them a hearty welcome. Apart from lectures held in an almost private atmosphere, above all the Grimms become acquainted with the richly stocked private library. Powerfully influenced by such bounty, the brothers' interest for literature expands, especially for Tieck, Schlegel, von Arnim, Novalis, Goethe and Schiller. They are particularly fascinated by Middle High German prose, which Jacob Grimm got to know in the Ludwig Tieck version of "Minneliedern aus dem Schwäbischen Zeitalter". During this time the Brothers Grimm began to develop a powerful desire to work more intensively with the Romantic folk poets. Typical for the time - the early Romantics had just rediscovered the Medieval Age for themselves - and yet with their own individual touch, the Grimms began putting together their own impressive collection of European books and manuscripts in the years and decades to follow. 
No significant literary works were created in Marburg at the beginning of the (Romantic) 19th century; the attraction of the surrounding university towns, first and foremost Heidelberg, Jena and Göttingen, was simply too great. Marburg remained a productive and stimulating intermediate station - some things most likely never change. But nevertheless, Marburg can be counted among the sites of German literature, since it hosted the "Marburger constellation", a community of Romantic scholars around Friedrich Carl von Savigny, whose changing members were guests in the small town on the Lahn for a time, and some of whom later left a notable stamp on the intellectual history of the era. Among this group of friends there were well-known philosophers and theologians (Leonhard Creuzer, Karl-Wilhelm Justi), physicians (Johann Wilhelm Heinrich Conradi), jurists (Savigny's teacher Philipp Friedrich Weis), scholars of antiquity (Friedrich Creuzer) as well as the periphery of Clemens Brentano, his future wife Sophie Merau (they married in the Lutheran parish church in Marburg in November 1803) as well as Karoline von Gründerrode.
Thus Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were surrounded by an extremely fruitful and inspiring group of intellectuals in Marburg who conducted stimulating conversations with a lively exchange of ideas, a group which they presumably would not have been a part of in this form without Savigny. On the 50th anniversary of his doctors degree, Jacob Grimm dedicated the following lines to his friend and teacher:
» The gentle wafting of your mild teaching awoke my spirit, bestowing it with a scholarly touch. «
Following the footsteps of the Brothers Grimm in Marburg then also means learning to understand the liberation of the mind, the freedom and vitality of education and scholarship experienced by the Grimms in those Marburger days, perhaps inducing us to scrutinize our current system of education from another point of view.
