Grimm Backgrounds
Important Dates
1785/1786 - Jacob, then Wilhelm were born in rural Hanau, Germany to Phillip Wilhelm Grimm and Dorothea Grimm. There were nine siblings alltogether, althought three of them died in infancy. (Ashlimand)
1791 - Grimm family moved to Steinau because Phillip was appointed magistrate. (Ashlimand)
1796 - Their father, Phillip suddenly died (Ashlimand)
1798 - With financial help from their mother's sister, who was a lady-in-waiting for a Hessian princess, the two brothers attended Lyzeum, an upper class high school, at the ages of 12 and 13. They studied and were top of their classes, but it took a toll on Wilhelm's health - he would always be sickly afterwards. (O'Neill)
1802/1803 - Jacob and Wilhelm attended the University of Marburg. It was here that they became interested in German folklore (Ashlimand). Jacob’s concentration was on law and linguistics, Wilhelm’s was on stories and literature. (Murphy, 7)
1806 - the brothers began collecting folktales. (Ashlimand)
1812 - Kinder-und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales), which contained eighty-six tales was published. (credoreference.com)
1815 - Second edition published, with 70 additional tales incorporated. (credoreference.com)
1816 - Deutsche Sagen (German Legends) published. (credoreference.com)
1822 - Thrid edition published. (credoreference.com)
1855 - Jacob's extensive Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology) published. (credoreference.com)
1859 - Wilhelm dies, at the age of 73. (Ashliman)
1863 - Jacob dies at the age of 78. (Asliman)
Religious Upbringings
The Grimm Brothers grew up in a deeply reformed, Calvinist family. Religious rituals were a part of their daily lives as their parents were very involved with the Church, and they grew up to be rather devout Christians (Echolls), which is very apparent in the symbolism and themes within their revised stories and fairy tales. Wilhelm was particularly religious, reading the Greek New Testament Bible every morning, and underlying various passages that he considered important within it. Jacob was more of a Reformed Christian than Wilhelm, like their family was, while Whilhelm focused more on the teachings of Jesus in the Bible, and the concept of religious love. (Echolls)
The idea of a Protestant work ethic represented the brothers entirely, and often appeared within the stories themselves. It is because of this religious upbringing and background that the fairy tales hold any religious significance at all - it was important to the Brothers Grimm that spiritual moral lessons were learned through the various "fables" they were reworking, and that religious messages were conveyed. (Echolls)
Collecting and Reworking the Tales
The Grimm fairy tales are arguably one of the most significant fairy tale collection in history. There are 210 stories in their collection, translated into over 160 languages, and taken mostly from oral narratives, which "represent an anthology of fairy tales, animal fables, rustic farces, and religious allegories that remains unrivaled to this day." (O'Neill) The brothers themselves collected these narratives from various sources around Germany, including Wilhelm's future wife. Many of the stories were adapted and retold from older versions, French, Italian, Russian and so on, so the idea that they were preserving German folklore was slightly askew. But in reworking the tales with various social, moral, and spiritual views of the German people at the time, they ultimately achieved their goal by making the fairy tales more German than other versions. (O'Neill)
It was mostly Wilhelm's religious views that surface within the works, as he was their editor and the one who reworked them from their original retellings. He was the "frailer and more romantic of the brothers" (Zaleski), which suited the stories just fine, though didn't help to omit any of their violence. The works were not very popular outside of Germany at the time - it wasn't until the later editions were reworked and some of the violence edited out that they became a popular story for children. (O'Neill)
“The brothers' contribution to folkloristic remains a paradox, for while they could not resist improving and altering the tales that they collected, their works are still in as much demand as the standard versions. Jacob and Wilhelm have become part of folklore and are inseparable as the Brothers Grimm.” (credoreference.com)