Maria Karoline Herder (born 28 January 1750 in Reichenweier, Alsace, died 15 September 1809 in Weimar)[1] was a German editor who collected and published the works of her famous husband, philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder.

Orphaned at a young age, she went to live at the home of her sister Friederike Katharina (1744–1801) in Darmstadt, which in 1761 got married statesman Andreas Peter von Hesse [de] (1728–1803).

[4] Karoline (sometimes spelled Caroline or Carolina) was considered very open-minded, highly educated, and proficient in several languages.

[3] A year before Johann Gottfried Herder's death in 1802, he was ennobled by the Elector-Prince of Bavaria, and this act permitted him to add the prefix "von" to his last name.

[8][7] Maria Karoline von Herder died in Weimar on 15 September 1809 at 59 years of age and was buried there in the old Jakobsfriedhof (Jacob's cemetery).