Anna Elisabeth of Palatinate-Simmern

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.

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.

Getting around

Uncomfortable carriage travel for the wealthy

While carriages existed, they were largely used by the sick or wealthy, as they were uncomfortable, unsprung, and known for their squeaky axles.

What it cost

Grain price surge during early 1570s famine

During the severe food crisis of the early 1570s, grain prices in Augsburg and Nuremberg soared to five to ten times their usual level.

Music

Professional city musicians, the Stadtpfeifer

Stadtpfeifer, or city pipers, were professional musicians employed by councils to perform on towers, in dance halls, and at public festivities using instruments like shawms, sackbuts, and slide brass.

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.