Walburgis, Countess of Rietberg

At the table

Rare Festive Pastries

For ordinary families, sweet pastries fried in fat, known as Nonnenfürzle, were rare festive delicacies served on special occasions like church festivals. They were made from choux pastry and, according to local tradition, were named for the hissing sound they made as steam escaped in the hot fat.

What people wore

The high value of clothing and tailoring

Clothing was highly valuable, often made to measure by tailors, and could be pawned to raise funds quickly. A typical working man's entire wardrobe might be worth only a few shillings to a pound.

Getting around

Fast river travel downstream

Travelers could use rivers to move faster, sometimes reaching up to 150 kilometers in 24 hours when traveling downstream.

What it cost

Dramatic loss of purchasing power for bread

In 1565, a miner in the Erzgebirge could buy nearly 6 kilograms of bread with his daily wage of 24 pfennige, but by the famine years of the early 1570s, that same wage bought only 1.3 kilograms.

Music

Professional city musicians, the Stadtpfeifer

Stadtpfeifer, or city pipers, were professional musicians employed by councils to perform on towers, in dance halls, and at public festivities using instruments like shawms, sackbuts, and slide brass.

Daily life

Cooking with embers and kettles

Kitchens often featured a large metal kettle for boiling, while smaller quantities were baked in bowls placed on a grid and covered with glowing embers.