The New International Encyclopædia/Amalia, Anna

AMALIA, ȧ-mä'lḗ-ȧ, Anna (1739-1807). The wife of Duke Ernest Augustus of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. She was born at Wolfenbüttel. On the death of her husband, in 1758, she was appointed Regent for her infant son, Karl August, whom, aided by his tutor, Wieland, she trained in the love of literature and art, also doing much to foster education and material prosperity throughout his domains. Soon after assuming the government, the Duke, with his mother's active co-operation, gathered at Weimar a galaxy of literary talent probably never equaled. Goethe, Herder, and Schiller were its brightest stars, but they shone in goodly company. Weimar continued during and beyond her life what she, more than any other, had made it, the literary centre of Germany. She died at Weimar, April 10, 1807. Consult Gerard, A Grand Duchess, The Life of Anna Amalia, and the Classical Circle of Weimar (New York, 1902).