Johanna von Puttkamer

Johanna Friederike Charlotte Dorothea Eleonore, Princess of Bismarck, Duchess of Lauenburg (née von Puttkamer; 11 April 1824 – 27 November 1894) was a Prussian noblewoman and the wife of the 1st Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck. Early life She was born at Viartlum manor near Rummelsburg in the Prussian Province of Pomerania (present-day Wiatrołom, Poland), the daughter of Heinrich von Puttkamer (1789–1871) and his wife, Luitgarde Agnes von Glasenapp (1799–1863). Her ancestors of the Puttkamer family, first mentioned in the 13th century, belonged to the circle of Uradel families of Farther Pomerania and were known for their devoted pietism. Johanna grew up in neighbouring Reinfeld palace (Barnowiec), which her father acquired shortly after her birth. Life Johanna met Otto von Bismarck, then owner of Kniephof estate (Konarzewo), in 1844. The Prussian Junker had associated with Pomeranian pietist circles around Adolf von Thadden-Trieglaff (1796-1882), mainly because he had desperately fallen in love with Thadden's daughter Marie. The young woman appreciated his advances, nevertheless, as she was already engaged to Bismarck's school friend Moritz von Blanckenburg, she introduced him to her friend, Johanna von Puttkamer, at her wedding ceremony. However, not until the married couple took both Otto and Johanna on a journey to the Harz mountains in 1846 did the two seem to become closer to each other. Marie's sudden death from meningitis in November 1846 tipped the scales and Bismarck finally asked Heinrich von Puttkamer for the hand of his daughter.