Hedwig, Tell's Wife -William Tell-Friedrich Schiller

1883 Steel Engraving

An Original Historical Print from HistoryOnPaper 

This is an 1883 steel engraving from Schiller-Galerie, Characters from his Works, published in Leipzig, Germany, by Brodhaus.  

The print features the character Hedwig from William Tell (Play). William Tell, who originally came from Bürglen, was known as an expert shot with the crossbow. In his time, the Habsburg emperors of Austria were seeking to dominate Uri. Albrecht (or Hermann) Gessler, the newly appointed Austrian Vogt of Altdorf, raised a pole in the village's central square, hung his hat on top of it, demanding that all the townsfolk bow before the hat. When Tell passed by the hat without bowing to it, he was arrested. As punishment, he was forced to shoot an apple off the head of his son, Walter. Otherwise, both would be executed. Tell was promised freedom if he successfully made the shot. On 18 November 1307, Tell split the apple with a bolt from his crossbow. When Gessler queried him about the purpose of a second bolt in his quiver, Tell answered that if he had killed his son, he would have turned the crossbow on Gessler himself. Gessler was angered, and had Tell bound. He was brought to Gessler's ship to be taken to his castle at Küssnacht. A storm broke on Lake Lucerne, and Tell managed to escape. He went by land to Küssnacht, and when Gessler arrived, Tell shot him.

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (10 November 1759 – 9 May 1805) was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Perhaps the greatest playwright in German history, Friedrich von Schiller also produced important historical works, philosophical tracts, and poetry in the late 1700s until his death in 1805. His plays highlight human dignity, optimism, and moral idealism. His philosophical works helped establish German idealism and German classicism.  Schiller's masterpiece was Wallenstein a historical drama set during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648).