Princess Maria Carolina, Duchess of Aumale

At the table

Meat Consumption Among Workers

Ordinary workers typically ate meat only twice a week, usually on Saturdays and Sundays.

What people wore

Hairstyles and Straw Hats

In parts of the Ennstal region, women wore their hair in two braids wound around a large hair needle above the nape of the neck. They covered their heads with a wide-brimmed straw hat featuring black trim, which was pinned to their hair and often kept on all day, even during meals.

Getting around

Walking and river travel habits

In the early 19th century, people frequently traveled on foot, with messengers and workers walking between 25 and 40 kilometers daily. On the Danube, cargo boats called ordinari took at least a week to travel the 450 kilometers from Regensburg to Vienna.

What it cost

Extreme food price volatility

Food prices in the Austrian Empire were highly volatile during this period, particularly around 1811 when a bushel of wheat cost 60 florins, compared to just 4 florins in 1812 and 1824. Such sharp fluctuations made it difficult for ordinary people to maintain a stable supply of basic grains like wheat and corn.

Music

The eight-minute court waltz mandate

By imperial order, a waltz played at a court ball was required to last exactly eight minutes.

Daily life

Compulsory schooling and social control

Education was compulsory for children aged 6 to 12, but country schools often operated only half the year so children could work, and crowded classrooms sometimes forced half-day schooling. Curriculum emphasized religious instruction over reading, writing, and arithmetic to ensure students learned their station in society.