Yakob i Vilgelm Grimm

The Brothers Grimm (Jacob, 1785–1863, and Wilhelm, 1786–1859) were German linguists and researchers of German folk culture.

By origin, the Brothers Grimm belonged to the middle class. Their father was first a lawyer in Hanau and later entered the service of the Prince of Hanau in legal matters. The Brothers Grimm were born in Hanau: Jacob on January 4, 1785, and Wilhelm on February 24, 1786.

From their earliest years the brothers were bound by close ties of friendship, which remained strong throughout their lives. Their father died in 1796, and only thanks to the help of their maternal aunt were the Brothers Grimm able to complete their education, for which they showed excellent aptitude at a very early age.

After graduating from the Kassel Lyceum, the brothers entered the University of Marburg, wishing to study law, following their father’s example. However, later the Brothers Grimm began to devote more and more of their free time to the study of German and foreign literature, and ultimately made this their life’s work.

From 1805 to 1809 Jacob was in government service. At first he was for a time librarian to Jérôme Bonaparte at Wilhelmshöhe, and later a state auditor. In 1815 he was sent together with a representative of the Electorate of Hesse to the Congress of Vienna. However, service was burdensome to him, and in 1816 he left it, declining a professorship offered to him in Bonn, and took a position as librarian in Kassel, where his brother Wilhelm had been secretary of the library since 1814.

Both brothers were constantly engaged in scholarly research. This period in their lives was highly productive. In 1825 Wilhelm Grimm married, but the brothers continued to work together. In 1829 the director of the Kassel Library died, but the post went not to Jacob, but to a complete outsider. The brothers were forced to resign. In 1830 Jacob was invited to Göttingen as professor of German literature and chief librarian at the local university. Wilhelm entered the same institution as junior librarian, and in 1835 was promoted to full professor.

But the brothers’ stay in Göttingen was brief. A new