Freiherr von Ludwig Achim Arnim

Born in Berlin on January 26, 1781, Achim von Arnim became one of the central writers of the German Romantic movement. He is especially remembered for co-editing Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Clemens Brentano, a landmark collection of German folk songs and poems that shaped later literature and music.

Arnim wrote poetry, short fiction, and novels, often drawing on folklore, national history, and supernatural motifs. His best-known novel, Die Kronenwächter, was left unfinished, but it shows the same wide historical imagination that runs through much of his work.

He was married to the writer Bettina von Arnim, and the two are among the best-known literary couples of the period. He died on January 21, 1831, but his writing remains an important bridge between folk tradition and the literary ambitions of early nineteenth-century Romanticism.