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Ernst of Saxony

Dresden, 5 Apr 1831 – Müglitztal, 12 May 1847

7 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 5 Apr 1831

    Born in Dresden

  2. 12 May 1847

    Dies in Müglitztal, aged 16

Family

See the tree

Parents

During his lifetime

He lived through 2 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Dresden.

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

The 1830s · Ernst is born in Dresden

In the news1834

Zollverein customs union founded in 1834

The Zollverein was founded to eliminate customs duties between German states, fostering economic integration under Prussian leadership.

Getting around

Difficult and slow travel by stagecoach

Traveling by stagecoach in Prussia was often grueling and uncomfortable due to poorly maintained, unpaved roads and cramped, unsprung carriages. A journey from Berlin to Königsberg, spanning 565 kilometers, typically took ten to eleven days by post coach.

At the table

Daily wheat cake despite poverty

In some villages, even the poorest people ate wheat cake daily, fresh from the oven, which was criticized by doctors for supposedly damaging their digestion.

Photography is born. The daguerreotype was presented in Paris: for the first time a face or a street could be kept exactly as it looked.Around the world · 1839

Photography is born. The daguerreotype was presented in Paris: for the first time a face or a street could be kept exactly as it looked.

Unknown · public domain

What people wore

Saving fabric with the Magsachte patch

Women saved money on expensive fabric by sewing a hidden patch of coarser linen, called a Magsachte, onto their dresses where it would be covered by an apron.

Music

The noisy brummtopf folk instrument

The brummtopf was a peculiar noise-making instrument used by groups of young people during winter festivities; it was made of a small wooden barrel covered with calfskin and played by rubbing horsehair strands inserted into the skin with wet hands.

Daily life

Homes heated by smoky, open hearths

Peasant homes often lacked chimneys, relying on open hearths that provided both light and heat while filling the living space with smoke. Small bundles of green pine brush, known as Kulelkes, were commonly used as fuel for these fires.