Kurd von Schöning



Kurd Wolfgang Wilhelm Gustav von Schöning (13 August 1789, Morrn (Murzynowo), Landsberg an der Warthe – 2 April 1859, Potsdam) was a Prussian major general and historian of the Army.

He was educated in the cadet corps in Berlin and was commissioned in the Prussian Army on April 1, 1806. His uncle was the distinguished General Field Marshal Hans Adam von Schöning. Appointed Major in 1821, retired in 1827 as a lieutenant-colonel, Chamberlain of Prince Carl. The Grand Duke of Weimar appointed him Commander of the Order of the White Falcon.

Schöning wrote several volumes of Prussian historical notes which served as a primary source for the English work by historian Thomas Carlyle's 'History of Friedrich II of Prussia'. His handwritten papers are located in the Berlin State Library in Berlin.

Villa Schöningen is a historic building in Potsdam at the corner of Berlin Street and Swan Avenue where Schöning and his family resided until his death in 1859. It was built in 1843 under Friedrich Wilhelm IV by court architect Ludwig Persius in an Italian villa style.

His apparent verbose writings lead Carlyle to comment, "(One) specimen distilled faithfully out of that huge jumbling sea of Schöning and rendered legible."