Gyllembourg-Ehrensvärd, Thomasine (1773–1856)

Danish author and baroness. Name variations: Baroness or Countess Thomasine Gyllembourg. Pronunciation: Gullem-BORG AY-rens-verd. Born Thomasine Christine Buntzen, Nov 9, 1773, in Copenhagen, Denmark; died in Copenhagen, July 2, 1856; m. Peter Andreas Heiberg (writer), 1789 (div. 1800); m. Swedish baron Karl or Carl Frederik Gyllembourg-Ehrensvärd, Dec 1801 (died 1815); children: (1st m.) Johan Ludvig Heiberg (writer).

One of Denmark's 1st great women writers and one of its 1st realists, initially attracted notice because of her great beauty; before age 17, married famous writer Peter Andreas Heiberg; the following year, gave birth to son Johan Ludvig Heiberg, who would become an acclaimed poet and critic; after husband was exiled for liberalism, obtained a divorce (1800); married Swedish baron Carl F. Ehrensvärd (1801) who, as a political fugitive, had taken refuge in Denmark and adopted the name Gyllembourg, having been implicated in assassination of Sweden's Gustavus III; followed son to Kiel (1822), where he was appointed professor; returned with him to Copenhagen (1825); when son married legendary actress Johanne Luise Heiberg (1831), lived with them as part of an intense menage à trois; published 1st novel Familien Polonius (The Polonius Family) in son's newspaper Flyvende Post (1827); with a style considered by critics to be clear, sparkling, and witty, published the immensely popular En Hverdags historie (Everyday History), followed by 3 volumes of Old and New Novels (1833–34), New Stories (1835–36), Montanus the Younger (1839), Ricida (1839), One in All (1840), Near and Far (1841), A Correspondence (1843), The Cross Ways (1844), and Two Generations (1845); brought out a library edition of her collected works in 12 volumes (1849–51), but her literary identity remained a secret, even from closest friends, until the day she died.

See also Women in World History.