The Grimm Brothers

The two brothers – Jacob (the older) and Welheim (obviously the younger) were born in consecutive years. Jacob (full name Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm) was born in 1785 and Welheim (or Welheim Karl Grimm) was born in… well, I’ll leave you to work that out.

Both the brothers were taught in the University of Marburg, Jacob studied science and Welheim studied literature. After various jobs in Kassal they were accepted for jobs in the University of Gottengen. Jacob worked as a lecturer on Ancient Law, Literary History and Philosophy and Welheim as Librarian. However in 1837 they moved back to Kassal for political reasons. 4 years later they settled in Berlin under jobs of Frederick William 5th of Prussia. They worked in the University there until the end of their lives.

As a scientist Jacob wrote many books on science, his most famous being ‘Deutsche Grammatic’ or ‘German Grammar’. The book was written over an 18-year period (1819 – 1837) and is considered one of the most important German Philosophy books.

As a literary person Welheim also wrote books. He wrote many on medieval German literature, folk songs and folk stories.

The most famous of all their books was a joint effort. They both had an interest for folklore, so from 1812 – 1815 they wrote and collected many German legends and folk stories. The collection was updated in 1857. The book was written in two volumes and was translated to English in 1884. The book is simply known as ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales.’

Welheim died in December the 16th 1859 at 73 years old and four years later Jacob died in 1863 at 78 years of age.

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