page_title: Isaac von Sinclair
section_title: Diplomacy, writing and death
hierarchical_section_title: Isaac von Sinclair / Life / Diplomacy, writing and death
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Gedenkplakette an Isaac von Sinclair. An der Stelle wo sich das ehemalige Wohnhaus des Diplomaten befand. Jetzige Adresse: Dorotheenstrasse 6 in Bad Homburg.
context_page_description: Isaac von Sinclair was a German writer and diplomat. He was a friend of the poet Friedrich Hölderlin.
context_section_description: Von Sinclair represented the interests of Hesse-Homburg and Frederick V on several diplomatic missions, as well as frequently chairing cabinet meetings. In late autumn 1805 he was sent to the Prussian court in Berlin and stayed with his mother in the home of Charlotte von Kalb. His enthusiasm for revolutionary ideals had already cooled and there he came into contact with anti-Napoleonic and anti-French figures. He increasingly advocated a return to the pre-revolutionary Holy Roman Empire led by the nobility.  Already strained by the events of the trial, his friendship with Hölderlin also came to an end. In August 1806 von Sinclair informed Hölderlin's mother that he could no longer look after him, since Homburg was about to be mediatised. On 11 September 1806 its mediatisation was completed, upon which Hölderlin was taken to Tübingen to assist at the university hospital, then run by Johann Heinrich Ferdinand Autenrieth.
  Von Sinclair also became much more active as a writer in order to express his new political ideas, contributing to journals and publishing his own poems. In 1806-07, under the pseudonym "Crisalin", he wrote a play about the Camisards' revolt against French central authority, using it as an exemplar for Germany's own struggle against Napoleon - the same theme was later also taken up by Ludwig Tieck. He also wrote two extensive philosophical works - Wahrheit und Gewißheit (Truth and Certainty) in 1811-13 and Versuch einer durch Metaphysik begründeten Physik (An Attempt at a Physics Grounded in Metaphysics) in 1813. He backed German states fighting Napoleon in 1812-1814, became increasingly religious and was also in contact with Hegel. However, von Sinclair's own poems and philosophical works gained little notice during his lifetime and were forgotten soon after his death.
  It was partly down to his efforts that the state was un-mediatised at the Congress of Vienna. There he became a member of the nobility association 'Kette'. He was largely able to implement Hesse-Homburg's concerns and wished to fight in the Hundred Days against Napoleon following the latter's escape from Elba on 1 March 1815. His mother died on 20 April 1815, possibly exacerbating his own bad health - he had already suffered several strokes before 1815 and a final one on 29 April that year killed him while he was in a brothel in Vienna. The exact circumstances of his death were uncertain for a long while, since its insalubrious location necessitated a cover-up.
caption: Plaque at the house Dorotheenstraße 6
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