Charlotte Felicitas of Brunswick-Lüneburg

What people wore

Men's multi-functional hat design

The Winkelmann hat for men featured an integrated fabric bag designed to carry items like a prayer book, bread, and a hip flask.

Daily life

Limited and seasonal schooling

Schooling was not compulsory, and rural children often only attended in winter because they had to work on farms during the summer. Instruction focused primarily on memorizing the Bible to learn how to pray and read scripture.

Work

Memorable Facts: Wages and Quotas

Female servants often earned very low wages, with a 1631 list showing they received only about 3.8 Gulden annually, which was 42 percent of the average male servant's wage. Additionally, compulsory labor duties often included specific quotas, such as women being required to spin 6 pounds of flax per year.

Music

Church and celebrations used town pipers

In early modern German towns, town pipers’ wind instruments were used at church services and also for special occasions such as weddings or house concerts.

At the table

Avoiding Contaminated Water

Water was rarely drunk, as people relied on beer or watered-down vinegar for safer hydration. Often, drinking water was avoided entirely due to the high risk of contamination from nearby cesspools.

Getting around

Travel speeds for foot passengers

Most travelers were foot passengers who could expect to cover about 100 kilometers in a week, accounting for rest days and potential travel obstacles like bad weather or floods.

What it cost

Wheat prices doubled during a food crisis

During a severe food crisis in Turin between 1676 and 1678, the price of a measure of wheat rose from less than 43 soldi to 105 soldi.