Theophilia Elisabeth Franziska Felicitas von der Pfalz

What people wore

Festive clothing regardless of heat

To manifest their status during feast days, peasants sometimes wore wadded caftans and fustian skirts even in the summer, regardless of the intense heat.

Getting around

Waterways as Efficient Travel Routes

Water travel was often faster and more comfortable than land travel; for example, Tsar Peter I covered 370 kilometers in 8 days by boat in 1709, averaging about 46 kilometers per day.

At the table

Common morning and breakfast drinks

Warm beer mixed with ginger, sugar, and eggs was a common morning drink, while coffee was initially rare and often consumed by the less affluent as a mixture of roasted peas, chicory, or grains.

Music

Instruments in Inns and Churches

Bagpipes were popular instruments at village and city inns, and in Żywiec, court trumpeters played music from the church tower.

Daily life

Heating and housing of the poor

Most peasant homes were simple huts, sometimes lacking chimneys, where smoke escaped through roof openings, while wealthier households used tile stoves and fireplaces for heating. Many poorer people lived in houses where they shared space with their animals, or in primitive earthen dwellings after wartime destruction.

What it cost

Huge inequality in food consumption

While ordinary townspeople struggled to afford meat, magnate courts consumed massive quantities of food, such as 15 sheep and 5 oxen or heifers weekly.