Charles V

What people wore

Flemish women's wool dresses

In the early 16th century, Flemish women frequently wore dresses of black light-weight wool (serge) that were so fitted they revealed their body shape. When going out, women would lift the edges of their outer dresses and secure them at the waist with iron hooks.

Daily life

Cooking and heating with peat

Instead of coal, residents heated their homes and cooked with peat, a type of earth found in abundance that burns well.

Work

Work bells structured the daily rhythm

Workers often relied on city bells, or work bells, to regulate the start, breaks, and end of their long days. Industrial tasks like textile production were tightly supervised, with bells dictating when labourers had to be at their workshops.

Music

Loud instruments at village festivals

At village festivals in Flanders, loud instruments such as trumpets, oboes, flutes, fifes, bagpipes, and drums were commonly used to entertain the crowds.

At the table

Ordinary household diet and cooking fat

While the wealthy enjoyed complex pies and ragouts, ordinary people often used leftover scraps to make soups and kept pigs, sheep, or chickens for meat, eggs, and cheese. Cooking was primarily done using pig fat rather than butter.

Getting around

Organized local transport market in Brabant

Local transport of commodities in Brabant was highly organized despite lacking corporations, relying on both professional carters and occasional transporters hired through tenders or temporary contracts. There was no price advantage for farmers offering transport services, as all contractors were paid at competitive market rates.

What it cost

Daily wages of a skilled worker

In 1500, a skilled worker in the Low Countries earned 5 stuivers per day, increasing to 6 stuivers by 1525.