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Margherita von Erbach

17 May 1576 – 26 May 1635

9 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 17 May 1576

    Born

  2. 1600–1612

    4 children are born

  3. 26 May 1635

    Dies, aged 59

Family

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Parents

Partner

Children · 4

During her lifetime

She lived through 7 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like.

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

The 1570s · Margherita is born

In the news1575

Smallpox and measles epidemic (1575)

A widespread outbreak of smallpox and measles occurred in Holstein in 1575, severely impacting the lives of local families.

Getting around

Most travel was done on foot

Ordinary people primarily traveled between towns on foot, usually covering about 20 kilometers per day. For longer distances, they relied on walking, although they occasionally hitched rides on wagons belonging to farmers or carters.

In the news1572

Banking house collapse ruins economy (1572)

The collapse of the major merchant and banking house Loitz in Stettin in 1572 caused widespread economic turmoil throughout the region of Pomerania.

Daily life

Beer was safer than water

Drinking water was often unhygienic and contaminated, so beer was frequently consumed instead because brewing made it safer and provided essential calories.

What people wore

Class-based clothing regulations and currency limits

Strict regulations controlled social class appearance; for example, commoners were forbidden from wearing gold, silver, pearls, or silk. A wife of a commoner could wear a simple gold ring worth no more than five or six guilders, without gemstones.

Music

Moralizing Italian dance songs for students

Teachers and pastors replaced erotic texts of popular Italian dance-songs with moral or devotional words to create acceptable music for schoolboys to sing.

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.