Antoinette de Bourbon

What people wore

Keeping garments clean while working

When performing dirty work, peasant women tucked their long cotes into the waistbands of their aprons to keep the hems clean.

Daily life

Home lighting and water collection

Common dwellings featured floors of beaten earth covered with straw, and interiors were lighted by doors or small, unglazed windows. Water was a heavy burden to collect, with women often carrying it in jugs from distant sources for household use.

Work

Common jobs in rural Lorraine

Most people in the Duchy of Lorraine were peasants who worked in agriculture, mainly focusing on cereal crops like grains. Additional industries like glass manufacturing, salt mining, and paper production were also important rural occupations.

Music

Chapel choir life and rewards

The Duke's chapel choristers at Saint-Georges received an annual salary of 96 francs, a well-paid position at the time. On Saint Cecilia's Day, children of the choir were treated with distributions of small pastries.

At the table

Daily Bread, Porridge, and Soup

Ordinary Lorrainers typically ate one to two pounds of bread daily, often supplementing it with soup, porridge made from grain cooked in lard, and cheese. Vegetables like legumes were dietary staples, while meat was primarily consumed as boiled soup meat.

Getting around

Daily travel distance for pack animals

In level country, merchant trains using pack animals could cover fifteen to twenty-five miles per day.

What it cost

Cost of shoes

The cost of shoemaking, specifically a pair of shoes, ranged from 0.6 to 1.34 sols tournois during the 16th century.