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Elisabeth of Saxony

Schloss Wolkenstein, 18 Oct 1552 – Heidelberg, 2 Apr 1590

9 facts3 sources

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 18 Oct 1552

    Born in Schloss Wolkenstein

  2. 6 Jan 1581

    A daughter is born

  3. 2 Apr 1590

    Dies in Heidelberg, aged 37

Family

See the tree

Parents

Partner

Children · 1

During her lifetime

She lived through 5 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Schloss Wolkenstein.

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

The 1550s · Elisabeth is born in Schloss Wolkenstein

In the news1555

Peace of Augsburg enacted (1555)

The 1555 Peace of Augsburg established the legal principle that local princes could determine the religion of their subjects as either Lutheran or Catholic. If subjects disagreed with their ruler's choice, they were granted the right to emigrate with their property and families.

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

Mass bread distribution during 1572 famine

During the 1572 famine in Nuremberg, the city council distributed 10,400 loaves of bread in a single day to support the needy, accounting for about one-third of the population.

Music

Professional city musicians, the Stadtpfeifer

Stadtpfeifer, or city pipers, were professional musicians employed by councils to perform on towers, in dance halls, and at public festivities using instruments like shawms, sackbuts, and slide brass.

Daily life

School costs in pfennigs

Families sometimes paid quarterly school fees ranging from 12 to 18 pfennigs, while some also had to provide a log of wood during winter.