Kriidener, Barbara Juliana ^•ON, a religious vis- ionary and enthusiast, was a granddaughter of the Rus- sian field-marshal Von Munich, and daughter of the states councillor baron Von Wletinghoff, and was born at Riga in 1764 according to some authorities, or in 1766 according to others. In 1782 she married baron Von Kriidener, the Russian ambassador at Venice, and a great admirer of the French philosopher Rousseau, But, unfortunately, the baron, who had been twice mar- ried before, succeeded much better in making his wife an ardent disciple of the phUosopliical principles which he himself espoused than in winning her affections for himself, and after the birth of a son and a daughter tlie husband and wife separated, the latter to take up her residence at Paris. Here, in the vortex of dissipation, her better feelings would sometimes assert themselves, but tliey were smothered by the adulations of all the brilliant personages who surroimded her, among wliom figured conspicuously Chateaubriancl and Jladame de Stael. In imitation of the latter she gave the world her biography, in the shape of a sickly sentimental novel entitled Valerie, describing an immoral relation concealed beneath the fragrant veil of romance, and red- olent with a religious Romish and fanatical sentimental- ism. Tlie work is said to have been written ^vlth the assistance of St. Martin, and created quite a sensation, meeting with great success, especially in the liigher cir- cles of society. After many adventures, IMadame von Kriidener came to reside at Berlin, where she enjoyed the close intimacy of that noble woman queen Louisa, of whose projects she was the confidante and sharer in the stormy period of Prussia's warfare with France. In 1808 she became acquainted with Jung Stilling and Oberlin, and thereafter we find her devoted to reHgious mysticism in its most aggravated forms. She l)Ought a place for the mystics at Bormingheim, in Wiirtem- berg, and did all in licr power to promote their inter- ests. Unfortunately, however, the disorders occasioned by the seeress Kumrin, and by pastor Fantaine, \\-hom she protected, were visited upon her head, and she was exiled by king Frederick. She now retired to Baden, and then went to Strasburg, and finally to Switzerland. Wherever she went she attracted attention, both by her political predictions and by the preaching of her pecid- iar doctrines, heralding a new religious a^ra, tliat of unity in the Church — "the period when there should be one flock and one shepherd." At Geneva especially she cre- ated quite a stir in religious circles, and among the cler- gy of distinction whom she won to her views may be
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mentioned pastor Empaytaz, the eventual head of the jMomicrg (t\. v.). AVitli the assistance of men of talent and L'ducatiou of Empaytaz's stamp she formed " prayer unions," and urged the community to a more vital Chris- tian li\ing, and the liberal use of jjroperty for the good of t lie poor. The fidtilment of her predictions of the fall of Napoleon, his return from Elba, and the final cri- sis at Waterloo, aided her cause, and emboldened her to the assertion that she enjoyed the favor of God in a spe- cial degree. Among her most ardent followers at this time she counted no less a personage than the Russian emperor iVlexander, who, with the Bible in his hand, was her frequent guest ; and it is known that her influence over Alexander brought about the Holy jUliance. Her love of humanity, however, and her gigantic schemes for its moral and social elevation, often led her to over- step the bounds of prudence and propriety, and made her appear a dangerous character in the eyes of persons of authority, so that she gradually lost the favor of men of political prominence. She was obliged to quit France and other countries successively, and even lost the friend- ship of the emperor Alexander, as is evinced by the treatment she received in Russia when she was called thither in consequence of the sickness of her daughter. She was not only refused admittance to the emperor, but when aftervvards she advocated tlie cause of the in- dependence of Greece, and pointed to the Russian em- peror as the instrument selected by God for the accom- jilishment of this great work, she was requested to re- frain and to leave St. Petersbiu-g. Under the influence of the Moravians her life and habits had been changed after she quitted Paris, and she had often dreamed of founding a great correctional establishment for the ref- ormation of criminals and persons of evil life. Now driven from St. Petersburg, and the attack of a cutane- ous disease necessitating her residence in the south, she started in 182-i with the design of founding such an in- stitution, and of establishing a German and Swiss colony on the other side of the Volga. On the way, however, death overtook her at Kara-su-bazar, Dec. 13, 1824. The life thus suddenly brought to a close lias been variously commented upon. In her day " passion oscillated in the public judgment beween favor and hostility to her," but now, when nearly half a century has passed, and it is easy in deliberation to pass judgment upon her life and acts, she is generally spoken of favorably, and her en- deavors to inspire the people with religious zeal, and a feeling of love for each other as a common brotherhood, are recognised. Says Ilagenbach (Ch. Hist. 18/h and Idth Centuries [transl. by i3r. J. F. Hurst], ii, 413 sq.), '•It is a remarkable phenomenon, that a woman trained in the dwellings of vanity, and humbled by her sins and errors, had such a spirit of self-denial as to minister on a wooden Ijench to the poor and suffering, to seek out criminals in prison, and to present to them the consola- tions of the Cross; to open the eyes of the wise men of this world to the deepest m3-steries of divine love, and to say to the kings of the world that everything avails nothing without the King of kings, who, as the Cruci- fied, was a stumbling-block to the Jews and foolishness to the (irceks. She was derided, defamed, persecuted, driven from one country to another, and yet never grew weary of preaching repentance in the deserts of civiliza- tion, and of iiroclaiming the salvation of believers and the niiserv of unbelievers. . . . "Wherever she set her foot, great multitudes of pco|)le physically and spiritu- ally hungn,', of suflerers of every class, and jiersons witli- out regard to confession, surrounded her, and received from luT food — yea, Mouderful food. The woes which she jironouuced on the impenitent awakened in many an oppressed and troubled spirit, a feeling of joy at mis- fortune, while many a genial word of love fell iuto-good ground." Besides the novel already mentioned, slie wrote Le Camp des Vertus (Paris, 181.^). jSIany curious details of her conversations and opinions are preserved in Krug's Convergationen mit Fran r. Kriideuer (Leipz. 1818). See also C. Maurcr, Bikkr uus d. Leben eines Pre-