Bettina of Savigny

Bettina von Savigny (born April 11, 1805 in Paris , † August 24, 1835 in Athens ) was a German politician's wife and the niece of Clemens Brentano . Her letters are an important source for the history of Greece in the reign of King Otto I.

Life

Bettina was the oldest child of Friedrich Carl von Savigny and Kunigunde von Savigny , nee Brentano, a sister of Clemens Brentano and Bettina von Arnim , geb. Brentano. She grew up in Berlin and learned Latin and modern languages. In 1824 she met Konstantinos Dimitrios Schinas , who came from Constantinople(1801–1857) who studied with her father. Despite mutual affection, a marriage seemed out of the question, as Schinas declared that he had lost all of his fortune due to the political turmoil and was therefore releasing Bettina. After he returned to Greece his circumstances improved and in 1833 he asked if Bettina was still free. After the wedding in Ancona on October 9, 1834, the couple first moved to Nafplio , the then capital of the Kingdom of Greece. Bettina suffered greatly from the cold, wet Naupliotic winter and pronounced homesickness. After relocating the capital, the couple moved to Athens in 1835 , where conditions in the new Greek capital in the ruins of the War of Liberation (1821–1827) were particularly difficult. She died in Athens in August 1835 as a result of an epidemic.

Bettina often wrote to her parents from Greece. Her letters report very colorfully about her everyday worries and meetings with leading personalities. You give valuable insights into the social and political life in Greece.

literature

• Ruth Steffen (Ed.): Life in Greece 1834–1835. Bettina Schinas, b. from Savigny. Letters and reports to her parents in Berlin . Cay Lienau publishing house, Münster 2002, ISBN 3-934017-00-2

Web links

• Literature by and about Bettina von Savigny in the catalog of the German National Library