Skip to content
VitrineVitrine
Sign in

Archduchess Magdalena of Austria

Innsbruck, 14 Aug 1532 – Hall in Tirol, 1590

10 facts2 sources

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 14 Aug 1532

    Born in Innsbruck

  2. 1590

    Dies in Hall in Tirol

Family

See the tree

Parents

During her lifetime

She lived through 7 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Innsbruck.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1530s · Archduchess is born in Innsbruck

In the news1535

Currency reform introduces the gulden

A currency reform in 1535 introduced the gulden, which was worth 60 kreuzers or 240 pfennigs.

Getting around

Fast travel via river boats

Travelers used rivers for faster journeys, covering up to 150 kilometers in 24 hours when moving downstream by boat.

In the news1539

Record of food prices in Linz

By 1539, the price of food was recorded in Linz as 5 pfennigs for a pound of beef and 4 pfennigs for a pound of mutton.

Daily life

Fetching water daily

Water was scarce and had to be fetched from distant public fountains or wells, as only few houses had their own water supply.

What people wore

Cloth functioned as valuable currency

In the 16th century, cloth was so valuable that it was often used as a form of currency to pay workers. Because clothing was expensive, it was rarely discarded and instead circulated through society via pawning, second-hand markets, and inheritance.

Music

Instruments for Civic Parties

Instruments depicted at a 1522 civic garden party included shawms, bombards, slide trumpets, lutes, flutes, bagpipes, and large drums. These ensembles were common for dance music in urban settings.

At the table

Weekly routine of peasant meals

In rural areas, families frequently followed a set weekly schedule, such as Monday for dumplings, Tuesday for noodles, and Wednesday for strudels. Friday and Saturday were designated fast days in accordance with religious tradition.