Marie Margarita von Habsburg

What people wore

The high cost of fashionable hats

A beaver hat from Paris could be so expensive that its cost equaled the price of six mantles for poor widows to attend mass.

Daily life

Cooking in the kitchen

Cooking was done over low-burning fireplaces, using iron trivets to support pots or a "llar" chain to hang caldrons. Food was often prepared and eaten in the kitchen, which served as a primary gathering space for poorer families.

News and letters

Secret notes hidden in objects

People used small, secret notes called billetes, which were sometimes hidden in everyday objects like conservation boxes or inside water jugs to maintain privacy.

Music

The controversial zarabanda dance

The zarabanda was a popular but controversial dance known for its lascivious movements, often accompanied by singing, guitar, tambourine, and castanets.

At the table

Wine as a staple drink

Wine was considered a primary necessity and healthier than water, which was often contaminated; people frequently drank it diluted with water to gain calories and mitigate thirst.

Getting around

Freight carts daily travel speed

Freight carts typically carried up to 1,000 pounds of cargo and traveled at a speed of ten to twelve miles per day.

Work

Strikes and municipal control of labor

Agricultural workers once went on strike in Cordoba in 1595 demanding higher wages; the city responded by arresting strikers in taverns and sentencing them to public pillory time and jail. In other instances, municipal councils prohibited harvest workers from leaving the town until all local crops were fully reaped.