37 Facts About Caroline Massin

Caroline Massin was born in Chatillon-sur-Seine on 2 July 1802.

Caroline Massin's parents were Louis Hilare Massin and Marie Anne Baudelot, provincial actors.

Caroline Massin was raised in a warm and upright environment in Paris by her maternal grandmother, the wife of a tailor.

Caroline Massin seems to have been given some education since her surviving letters show she wrote well.

Caroline Massin was running a bookshop or reading room in 1822 when Auguste Comte met her through a mutual friend, a young and liberal lawyer named Antoine Cerclet.

Early in 1824 Caroline Massin sold the reading room, planning to live for a time off the proceeds.

Comte suspected that Caroline Massin was being unfaithful, possibly with Cerclet and others.

Caroline Massin guessed that he had gone to Montmorency, one of his favorite places, and found him there trying to set fire to his room.

Caroline Massin returned to Paris to get help from Cerclet, and he was able to find a place at the asylum run by the psychiatrist Jean-Etienne Dominique Esquirol.

Caroline Massin refused, and in revenge he slandered her to Comte's very respectable parents, telling them her infidelities had driven their son mad.

When Caroline Massin heard of this she asked Blainville for help and he arranged to have the interdiction cancelled.

Rosalie Comte stayed in Paris for six months, spending much time with Caroline Massin, and began to feel her daughter-in-law had been maligned.

Caroline Massin checked the register of prostitutes and found no trace of her name.

Caroline Massin showed Caroline the letter her father Louis Massin had written, and Caroline was profoundly shocked.

Caroline Massin was forced to submit to a Catholic wedding that Rosalie had arranged.

At first Comte was violent and unpredictable, but Caroline Massin began to nurse him back to sanity.

Caroline Massin acted as Comte's full-time secretary while he was writing his book.

Caroline Massin's mother died on 29 August 1833 and she suffered a strong emotional crisis.

Caroline Massin was given a financial settlement and moved to a new apartment.

In December 1839 Caroline Massin told Blainville she thought Comte was on the verge of another attack like that of 1826.

Caroline Massin did not know what to do, and feared that if he went mad again he would be lost forever.

At yet another crisis in the relationship, Caroline Massin found an apartment for herself in the 9th arrondissement and moved there on 5 August 1842.

Caroline Massin left Comte just after the completion of his Cours de philosophie positive.

Caroline Massin recognized that the problems with the marriage were due to her insistence on equality.

Caroline Massin was offered a job as a governess immediately after she finally separated from Comte.

Some sources say that Caroline Massin began an affair with Emile Littre.

Caroline Massin continued to give half his money to Caroline.

Caroline Massin continued to correspond with Comte, and continued to help him.

Caroline Massin wrote a "secret addition" to his will in which he insinuated that she was a prostitute.

Caroline Massin described her as meretricious, unworthy, heartless and ungrateful.

Caroline Massin heard of Comte's death in September 1857 and attended the commemorative ceremony in his apartment, to the horror of his disciples.

Caroline Massin exercised her rights as widow of an author and owner of their common property.

Caroline Massin had the rights to his writings, and could decide what could be published.

Caroline Massin specifically wanted the will and the correspondence between her husband and Clotilde de Vaux suppressed.

Caroline Massin encouraged Littre to write a biography of Comte in which he would promote his scientific positivism, but discredit the last years of his life when his mind was degenerating.

Caroline Massin helped establish the Revue de la Philosophie Positive, which was effective in consolidating Comte's reputation.

Caroline Massin Masson died on 27 January 1877 in Paris 75, aged 74.