Prince Heinrich IV Reuss of Köstritz

At the table

Potatoes as the staple food

Ordinary rural families typically ate three meals a day, relying heavily on potatoes, buckwheat porridge, or milk with bread. Potatoes were so central to the diet that they were often eaten boiled in their jackets, sometimes without salt.

What people wore

Festive attire and heated ruffles

For feast days, women wore black cashmere or silk dresses with a white ruffle at the collar that was permanently set into waves using a heated iron.

Getting around

High cost of travel

A short stagecoach trip from Berlin to Magdeburg cost four Taler, which was nearly the entire monthly wage of a village schoolteacher.

What it cost

Marriage requirements and net worth

To obtain permission to marry, a couple often needed to prove a minimum net worth of 100 to 200 guilders.

Music

Daily castle tower music in Königsberg

City tower musicians performed chorales daily from Königsberg's castle tower, such as 'Ich weiß mein Gott, daß all mein Tun' at 11 am and 'Nun ruhen alle Wälder' at 9 pm.

Daily life

Daily lighting and water access challenges

Lighting was scarce and provided by tallow candles, oil lamps, or pine splinters that were often held in the hearth. Water for daily needs was typically retrieved from village pumps or springs, and chores like fetching water could be time-consuming, requiring one to wait for buckets to fill under a slow stream.