The un-burial of Melanie Hahnemann - Marriage
- The un-burial of Melanie Hahnemann (M. Grimes)
Hahnemann was at that time living with his two daughters in the isolated Duchy of Anhalt-Kothen. Because of charges against him brought by the apothecaries, Hahnemann's license had been removed and he was unable to practice medicine. The Duke of Kothen, a fellow Freemason and patient, granted him asylum in his duchy, outside German law. Hahnemann's wife of 48 years had died four years before, and Hahnemann was cared for by his two younger daughters. His life in Kothen was restricted by the law and by its remote location.
Melanie's motives for marrying Hahnemann were questioned by some from the beginning. Hahnemann was 40 years her senior. She was a foreigner and newcomer. Many of his long time students were the most disgruntled.
As she was wealthy in her own right, she arranged to have all his money left to his family at the time of their marriage, and she accepted nothing from him, only a simple gold band. But the slanders ensued, and Hahnemann's lawyer published a letter explaining their financial arrangements:
This old man, grown grey with incessant work, much persecuted and aggrieved, but highly respected by all his more intimate acquaintances, soon experienced with Mlle d'Hervilly ...a higher enjoyment of life than he had previously surmised and this elicited a profound desire to end the last days of his stormy life in quiet and cheerfulness and in cordial union with her who was responsible for his higher happiness. The wife, who comes from a highly respectable and wealthy family and is 35 years old, possesses considerable unencumbered property of her own. She is talented and was educated for art and science. That she became a painter and poet has been proved. ...This woman, who had determined to devote herself to painting and scientific pursuits and not to marry, was noble-minded enough to sacrifice her beloved country, and her family ties, to neglect her artistic connections with France and Italy, to the wishes of an old man so as to render the evening of his troubled life as bright and cheerful as he deserved it should be.
Except for a plain gold marriage ring, Madame Hahnemann received nothing whatever, neither goods nor household effects, and not a penny in money of her husband's property. Shame on him who intends to disturb the peace of this couple in slanderous lies.
Isensee, Justizamtmann Kothen, March 11, 1835 (1835, Allgeem Anz der Deutschen 79 quoted in Haehl 2:329 )
Hahnemann was at that time living with his two daughters in the isolated Duchy of Anhalt-Kothen. Because of charges against him brought by the apothecaries, Hahnemann's license had been removed and he was unable to practice medicine. The Duke of Kothen, a fellow Freemason and patient, granted him asylum in his duchy, outside German law. Hahnemann's wife of 48 years had died four years before, and Hahnemann was cared for by his two younger daughters. His life in Kothen was restricted by the law and by its remote location.Melanie's motives for marrying Hahnemann were questioned by some from the beginning. Hahnemann was 40 years her senior. She was a foreigner and newcomer. Many of his long time students were the most disgruntled.
As she was wealthy in her own right, she arranged to have all his money left to his family at the time of their marriage, and she accepted nothing from him, only a simple gold band. But the slanders ensued, and Hahnemann's lawyer published a letter explaining their financial arrangements:
This old man, grown grey with incessant work, much persecuted and aggrieved, but highly respected by all his more intimate acquaintances, soon experienced with Mlle d'Hervilly ...a higher enjoyment of life than he had previously surmised and this elicited a profound desire to end the last days of his stormy life in quiet and cheerfulness and in cordial union with her who was responsible for his higher happiness. The wife, who comes from a highly respectable and wealthy family and is 35 years old, possesses considerable unencumbered property of her own. She is talented and was educated for art and science. That she became a painter and poet has been proved. ...This woman, who had determined to devote herself to painting and scientific pursuits and not to marry, was noble-minded enough to sacrifice her beloved country, and her family ties, to neglect her artistic connections with France and Italy, to the wishes of an old man so as to render the evening of his troubled life as bright and cheerful as he deserved it should be.
Except for a plain gold marriage ring, Madame Hahnemann received nothing whatever, neither goods nor household effects, and not a penny in money of her husband's property. Shame on him who intends to disturb the peace of this couple in slanderous lies.
Isensee, Justizamtmann Kothen, March 11, 1835 (1835, Allgeem Anz der Deutschen 79 quoted in Haehl 2:329 )
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