Cornelis de Hooghe

At the table

Porridge was a common staple food

Since bread was expensive to bake, poorer families frequently relied on a porridge made from rye, wheat, or barley mixed with water.

What people wore

Men's tight-fitting mantle clothing

Ordinary men in Holland wore a tight-fitting, sleeveless mantle called a heycke, fastened at the throat with a hook or button, which displayed the shape of the body.

Getting around

How people traveled between towns

Ordinary people typically traveled between towns on foot, while the wealthy used horses or carts. Roads were often unpaved, muddy, and difficult to navigate, making travel slow and physically demanding.

What it cost

Everyday prices for food and shoes

Ordinary daily food prices included 1 to 2 stuivers for a kilogram of rye bread, 1 stuiver for a liter of beer, and 4 to 10 stuivers for a pound of pork. Simple leather shoes cost between 3 and 8 guilders.

Music

Luxury manuscripts for choral singing

The Mechelen Choir Book, produced around 1515, is a beautifully decorated music manuscript containing seven multi-part Latin masses. Singers performed this polyphonic music together by reading from a single large book placed on a lectern.

Daily life

Water scarcity in Amsterdam, 1540

In the exceptionally hot summer of 1540, Amsterdam suffered from a severe water shortage as canals filled with animal waste dried up, making clean drinking water almost impossible to find. Emperor Charles V cut his visit short after only one day due to the unbearable stench and lack of potable water.