Sophia Magdalena of Denmark

At the table

Herring was the common daily meal

For ordinary people, salted herring eaten with water porridge was the most common daily meal, often consumed morning, noon, and evening.

What people wore

Men's hat styles changed

Men switched from tall conical hats to low, broad-brimmed black felt hats during the 1700s.

Getting around

Slow travel and exhausted horses

Traveling by carriage was slow due to poor road conditions, and horses used for relays were often exhausted animals taken directly from farm work. Travelers frequently had to endure long journeys, such as the 6 to 7 days it took the mail coach to travel from Copenhagen to Hamburg.

What it cost

Rising cost of rye relative to wages

Between 1770 and 1784, the price of rye was 31 percent higher relative to the wages of day-workers compared to the period of 1735 to 1744.

Music

Wedding Music and Musician Payments

Wedding musicians played 'over table' during meals and were often paid 3 to 6 marks by guests at the end of the feast.

Daily life

Shared living conditions in Nyboder

In 18th-century Copenhagen, Nyboder apartments often lacked private kitchens, forcing families to share a hallway-like cooking space with neighbors. People also relied on shared outdoor toilets consisting of sheds over pits that required periodic emptying by night men.