Therese von Bayern - she, who opened the universities to all by Ella Marie Jacob

In 1850, a remarkable princess was born. Therese of Bavaria - daughter to Princess Auguste of Austria and future Prince-Regnet Luitpold, she was affectionately known as „Thereschen“. It was she, who would later go on to defy all of the societies’ norms. At 13 years old, after losing her mother, she began to take on the role of the consort at social and political events and often mediated arguments between her father and brothers. She persevered through all restrictions society had attempted to place on her and emerged as on of the most fascinating and lovable characters, history has to offer.

At four years of age she had first displayed her unmatched intelligence, as she, after spending the winter in Italy with her frequently ill mama, was apparently having conversations in Italian with her younger brother on the carriage ride back to Leuchtenberg - as the proud mother wrote in her diary. This was only be a small taste of what Therese‘s grandiose learning capabilities would allow her to be. Her lessons would be closely supervised by Auguste, as well as the books she so loved reading. Fantasy novels were not allowed, instead, she implored her daughter to read the works of Alexander Humboldt. For six days of the week she would learn with her younger brother, although she was never allowed to take part in lessons concerning mathematics and Latin, thus was the law at the time. Her most favourite teacher, Ludwig Soleder, highly influenced the young girl with an interest in tropical flora and fauna. Unbeknownst to him, Therese would later go on to travel, solely in hopes of discovering new unknown genera within the field. Has he left the household in 1860, young Therese apparently begged him, to review the German Grammar once more before doing so, to which he gladly agreed. Upon her 18th birthday she all but immediately took her chance to begin partaking in so called „ladies‘ courses“, offered by the „Polytechnikum“ and obtained knowledge in mineralogy, experimental physics, and chemistry. The fact that she lacked most mathematical knowledge required in the understanding of more advanced physics, only motivated her to learn even quicker. It was at the age of 27, that she finally began officially taking lessons in the subject. Her studies were encouraged by her father, though she often faced pushback by her brothers and relatives. At the time, she already spoke eleven languages, all of which she had taught herself. Though she more than disliked English and french, she spoke and improved herself in whatever language was necessary to get on with those around her. In her diary, she writes of a trip she had taken with her Russian friend and cousin Olga, Queen of Greece (Romanov) on the royal yacht, during which she spoke Russian with the Queen and her maid, Czech with the lady’s maid accompanying her, Greek with the officers of the yacht they spent their vacation on, German with her butler and french with a great many persons. Before going on a journey, she would dedicate a period of time towards gaining an understanding of and learning to speak the language spoken in the country of her destination. In her diary, one finds evidence of this habit in various instances. She learned Swedish within only a few weeks before visiting a Cousine in Sweden, and took up Spanish and Portuguese before embarking on her travels. In 1892, Therese became an official student at the academy of sciences, making her the first woman to ever accomplish such a thing. Ten years later, the institutions’ society of geography extended an honorary membership to her, which she happily accepted. From now on it would only be five more years, until she would be presented with a doctorate by the faculty of philosophy. Whilst her brothers had been awarded many a title, she never felt as though she and her work was deserving of any recognition. She had always preferred to remain quiet and hidden. Five years later, she would be presented with an honorary doctorate yet again, this time by the faculty of philosophy of the university of Munich. There had of course been voices against her, as some men stated feeling „uncomfortable“ with a woman‘s presence when discussing any procedure. Then finally, in the year of 1903, her father signed into law a decree, which would allow all Bavarian women to attend the university and to do so without any restrictions on the subject matter of their interest. The state of Baden had been the first to allow German women in its universities in 1900, while Mecklenburg adjusted its laws last in 1909.

The young princess embarked on the first of her many private voyages in 1871 to Greece. The diary entry mentioned above stems from this trip. Four years later she would join her brother and his wife on their trip to Tunis, Algeria, Spain, Portugal and France. Her observation would later be turned into her first ever publication, titled „Ausflug nach Tunis“. In her diary, she writes of this trip, that it was then that she found her true calling. Then, six years later she set foot upon a ship again, to set sail towards Northern Europe. For two and a half months she travelled under a synonym, to not be recognised as German royalty. One year after, Therese again left aboard a ship towards Russia. She had heard of the modern education women were recently allowed there, which undoubtedly peaked her interest. What she saw in Norway and its neighbouring countries can be read in „über den Polarkreis“, which she published in 1889. Upon returning from the colder parts of the European continent, there would be no keeping her at home for a very long time. In her life, she would take many a trip to Greece and Türkiye. If she was forced to spent longer periods at the family’s home, it was usually explained by the next voyage requiring more planning than anticipated or Therese needing to invest more time into learning the local language. Thus was the case for her journey into the Brazilian rainforest only starting in 1888. Again, she traveled as “Gräfin Elpen“, and without any „royal comforts“. Her company would usually consist of three other, trusted persons. Her footman, Max Auer, a Marshall named Maximilian von Speidel and her lady in waiting, Franziska von Lerchenfeld. The Marshall had been made responsible for the acquisition of any important documents, general organisation and any payments necessary. This was mainly due to the fact, that there were plenty of differing currencies, 17 to be exact. Max Auer would then ensure the safe transport of scientifically valuable evidence back to Europe. The lady in waiting to accompany her had also been chosen as to their squeamishness. On the princesses voyages, she would help Therese with preserving her zoological and botanical findings. As well as obtaining ethnographical and anthropological objects. On her first journey to America, Franziska and Therese took great joy in photographing their surroundings, the results of which they both took great pride in. As mentioned, they would be no comfortable ordeal in any way. The group would be on horse back for ten days or more and would sleep in tents. It was only as Therese got older that she would begin staying in lodges and even hotels. With great humour she writes of her complaints about unpunctual Brazilian trains or ships and of the conversations she would have with locals, who also suffered the „in-German“ nature of the railway system. Again, her experiences were summarised in a scientific piece of literature, „meine Reise in die brasilianischen Tropen“, published in 1897. The year of 1893 would then take her to Chicago where she intended to see the world exhibition. This would then turn into a four month long trip around Northern America. She visited various indigenous tribes who allowed her to study the villages they lived in. She spoke inthese experiences with great respect for the native Americans. Therese even bought many artefacts of their daily lives, which these days are part of the ethnographical collects held by the university of Munich. There would be no dedicated publication made for this voyage. In 1898, she again embarked in the direction of South America, this time travelling to the western regions, resulting in a new book titled „Reisestudien aus dem westlichen Südamerika“, this being available from 1908 onwards. In the same year, she accepted „la rosette d‘officer de l‘instruction public‘, the highest scientific honour granted by the french government. It had been presented to her on the basis of valuable geographical and other such scientific contributions. When returning from one of these expeditions, her days would always be taken up for the following routine: The collected items would be shown to the family and as she at times brought back live animals, it was necessary to immediately create suitable living conditions. She meticulously researched and crafted living spaces for her fury companions, who lived long and happy lives at Therese‘s home. More on this later. Then, there were purchases to be made. Cases to display any new additions to her zoological, ethnological and botanical collections, as well as literature, necessary for labelling said findings. Often, other scholars assisted her in those endeavours, however the princess always insisted on checking over all the work done by her colleagues and friends. The idea for starting these elaborate collections had come to her when visiting Munichs museums, where she had found there to be gaps in both knowledge and displays. These further heightened her own interest and wish to boarden her horizons. Still, she collected spontaneously and not to keep them as trophies, but rather as source material of academia. In her lifetime she identified 429 botanical species and 929 animal genera. 73 if them had been previously unknown. Her ethno-geographical findings were able to be sorted into 51 differing bone-groups. For this long and strenuous process, 70 person were needed. Today, those species identified by the princess and her assistants, all carry the classification „Theresiae“. Alongside books needed for identification, Therese would also order research materials for planning her next journey. There in hand, travel equipment would have to be repaired or new items would need to be ordered. In „how the Princess works“, Therese details her day-to-day and working routine. She had always been an early bird, therefore should could apparently work for six to seven hours, without being disturbed. The afternoon would then be taken up by „lighter work“, such as reading and writing letters, reading the papers, as well as physical movement. Since her childhood, she more than anything enjoyed rowing, horseback riding and mountaineering, which she did on most of her expeditions. The highlight of her days then followed in the evenings, as she, apart from all royal engagements, dinners and so on, spent them at conferences and lectures. There, she enjoyed the company of other scholars and found her own way of establishing herself within the community, in order to make her work known. Usually, the princess would be working on more than one book at the time, which resulted in publications concerning a specific voyage only reached the bookshelves years and years after. As mentioned, Therese brought back live animals to live with her, at her beloved villa AmSee. The most notorious of her pets was an Amarillo. It lived with her for eight years, where she was able to study her behaviour in a very natural habitat. If one were to take a tour of her estate with a child these days and were to book an audio tour guide, you would be able to experience this wonderful little creature, as it guides the younger visitors through the villa. Another one had even been given a name - Lora. Lora was a small Amazonian parrot lady, Therese had found in Brazil and to whom she had immediately taken a liking. The two were together in the princesses‘ villa for 37 years. The last of her foreign friend was a male proboscis bear, whom she lovingly called Coatí. The bear lived with her for all of 4 years, as he had already been of considerable age, and resided in her dressing room, which held a large staircase, on which the animal enjoyed climbing. In her diary, Therese notes a particularly adorable experience: Upon an evening, as she was spending time with her colleagues, the small bear had noticed a glass of beer, sat down on a side table. As the humans around him drank, he became interested and apparently attempted to bring down the glass for enough so that he might be able to drink. However, he had underestimated the weight of the glass, which caused it to fall, spill all over the little bear and scare him very badly. Therese lovingly writes, that her little Peruvian friend is finally becoming „a real Bavarian“. This only goes to show, that she did not keep them simply as mere pets, but rather regarded them with incredible love and friendliness. Sadly, her way of living would soon change - with the beginning of the Great War in 1914. After the Great War had begun, Therese stopped all her academic publications and work. She had been opposed to the ghastly business of war right from the beginning, which tore her relationship with her older brothers apart drastically. She would mainly spend the years in her villa, AmSee. In her later years, she would soon become very ill, as had her mother been. Therese died in 1925, at 74 years of age. Therese von Bayern - she who feared nothing, she who never even thought to sell her freedom to a man in marriage, whom she could never love. She, who opened the universities for Bavarian women and she, about whom we know not close to enough. We ought to look up to her, not only for what she accomplished but how she went about doing so. Nothing could deter her from her goals, she remained strong and focused - she did what had to be done to make a name for herself that would set her apart from her royal birth and family. Today, the princess is remembered by a bust in the university‘s library and a prize, awarded to female science students and scholars every year. Apart from this, much of the princesses life as been lost. Her collections remain, waiting to be studied by many scholars, who like her, fear nothing and can not be contained by societal norms.