Charles V

What people wore

Flax harvest festival traditions

After the flax harvest, Flemish women would run through the streets dancing in large groups and stop travelers to tie flax strands around their legs or stirrups, refusing to let them pass without receiving small coins to fund a communal celebration.

Daily life

Housing conditions and light

Homes were typically made of wood, often with small windows covered in oiled parchment instead of glass, which allowed little sunlight inside. In poorer households, multiple families might share a single room for cooking, eating, and sleeping.

Work

Work bells structured the daily rhythm

Workers often relied on city bells, or work bells, to regulate the start, breaks, and end of their long days. Industrial tasks like textile production were tightly supervised, with bells dictating when labourers had to be at their workshops.

Music

Margaret of Austria's rare dance book

Margaret of Austria possessed a dance book from around 1500 containing 58 songs with gold staves and silver notes, which included dance instructions in letters below the music.

At the table

Staple foods for ordinary families

Since bread was expensive to bake, many poor families relied on a porridge made from rye, wheat, or barley mixed with water. Eating breakfast as a general meal was not yet common, though children and the sick were sometimes allowed bread dipped in beer or wine.

Getting around

Foot messengers covered significant daily distances

In the early 16th century, messengers on foot could travel 25 to 40 kilometers daily, while professional runners sometimes covered over 60 kilometers per day.

What it cost

Cost of staple foods

A kilogram of rye bread cost between 1 and 2 stuivers, while a liter of milk or beer also cost 1 stuiver.