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Anna Maria of Brandenburg

Rheinsberg, 3 Feb 1567 – Wolin, 14 Nov 1618

8 facts2 sources

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 3 Feb 1567

    Born in Rheinsberg

  2. 14 Nov 1618

    Dies in Wolin, aged 51

Family

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Parents

During her lifetime

She lived through 6 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Rheinsberg.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1560s · Anna is born in Rheinsberg

In the news1569–1574

Famine and price crisis of 1569-1574

Between 1569 and 1574, a severe famine and price crisis struck the region, causing mass death among the poorest residents, while wealthy nobles remained largely unaffected. During 1573 and 1574, a 2.2-kilogram loaf of rye bread cost an unskilled worker in Krakow between 32% and 40% of their daily wage.

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

Walking as the primary mode of transport

Most ordinary people traveled on foot, often covering 20 to 30 kilometers in a day.

What it cost

Grain price surge during early 1570s famine

During the severe food crisis of the early 1570s, grain prices in Augsburg and Nuremberg soared to five to ten times their usual level.

Music

Wedding musician pay based on social status

City councils regulated the musicians employed for weddings based on social status, with pay for brass and wind players reaching two guilders, while bagpipers and fiddlers received half a guilder.

Daily life

Beer was safer than water

Drinking water was often unhygienic and contaminated, so beer was frequently consumed instead because brewing made it safer and provided essential calories.