Wilhelm Meinhold

Who was Wilhelm Meinhold?

Johannes Wilhelm Meinhold was a Pomeranian priest and author.

Meinhold was born in Lütow on the island of Usedom, where his father Georg Wilhelm Meinhold was a Lutheran priest.

Growing up in the atmosphere of the Napoleonic Wars, he enrolled as a student at the University of Greifswald in Swedish Pomerania in the fall of 1813. After his theological education, he was priest in Koserow on Usedom from 1821 until 1827. For the next 17 years, he was priest in Krummin, also on Usedom, before he relocated to Farther Pomerania.

He retired early on account of his insubordinate behavior and died in 1851 in Berlin-Charlottenburg.

Meinhold was a poet, playwright, and novelist. His best known works are two historical novels:

⁕Maria Schweidler, die Bernsteinhexe, which was first published anonymously in 1838. It was translated into English as The Amber Witch by Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon in 1843.

⁕Sidonia von Bork, die Klosterhexe, which was translated into English as Sidonia the Sorceress by Jane Wilde, the mother of Oscar Wilde, in 1849.