Valdemar Christian of Schleswig-Holstein

Getting around

Travel by horse, wagon, and ferry

In 17th-century Denmark, people traveled between towns primarily by horse and wagon, on horseback, or on foot, as no railways or steamships existed during this period. Cross-country travel often required crossing water bodies using established ferry routes to connect the different Danish provinces.

Daily life

Drinking Beer Instead of Water

Water was often contaminated, so adults and children preferred to drink weak beer; it was sometimes even forbidden to drink from wells.

What people wore

Mourning skirt used for napping

Funerals in Store Magleby until the 1880s featured a black skirt called a job, which women pulled over their heads to hide their grief and sometimes to nap.

Music

Popular musical instruments of the era

Common people frequently used the recorder, bagpipe, shawm, and harp, while the lute, zither, and clavichord were considered noble instruments.

At the table

Bread was baked monthly in community ovens

Ordinary households relied on community ovens to bake large batches of bread only once a month.