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Princess Vjera of Montenegro

1887–1927

Born
22 Feb 1887, Rijeka
Country of birth
Austria–Hungary, today Croatia
Died
31 Oct 1927, Antibes
facts
7
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Rijeka

    Birth, Rijeka

  2. Died · Antibes

    Death, Antibes

What was it like?

The world around Rijeka, 1887: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Princess was born around the same time as Charlie Chaplin, Boris Pasternak, and Jean Cocteau.

Born around the same time

  • Charlie Chaplin

    1889 · English actor and filmmaker (1889–1977)

  • Boris Pasternak

    1890 · Russian writer (1890–1960)

  • Jean Cocteau

    1889 · French writer and film director (1889–1963)

  • Niels Bohr

    1885 · Danish physicist (1885–1962)

  • Charles de Gaulle

    1890 · French general and statesman (1890–1970)

  • Harry S. Truman

    1884 · president of the United States from 1945 to 1953; politician (1884–1972)

Fashion

Adoption of urban fashion

During the late 19th century, many women in parts of the Posavina region began rapidly replacing traditional homemade clothing with modern, middle-class styles influenced by Vienna and Budapest.

Clothing as a social signal

Clothing served as a complex social code; for example, a Moslavina girl wearing a diadem-shaped band signaled she was eligible for marriage, while a Slavonian man stopped wearing gold and silk embroidery after his wedding to indicate he was now focused on work instead of dancing.

Music

Carnival mischief and dance music

During pre-Lenten carnival celebrations in Đurđevac, men masquerading as Gypsies or ruffians would walk the streets on stilts, yelling and banging on old pots to frighten young women. They would also enter homes to play music and dance before the midnight curfew.

Glagolitic church singing tradition

In Novi Vinodolski, the Glagolitic singing tradition was a vital part of church life, with specific liturgical songs preserved orally and through manuscripts for over a century. Known examples include pieces like Oh, Blessed Saint Sebastian and Jesus Rose Up From the Grave.

Getting around

Pushing trains and greased tracks

Travelers at the time were sometimes forced to push the train themselves on steep sections because locomotives could not handle the incline, or wait while children greased the tracks with figs.

Trains slow enough to jump off

On the slow Parenzana narrow-gauge railway in Istria, trains traveled so slowly that passengers could occasionally jump off to pick fruit or relieve themselves and then catch up with the train.

Daily life

Compulsory school versus farm work

Although elementary schooling became compulsory in 1874, many children, especially girls, were kept home to tend livestock or help with farm chores. By the 1890s, the school curriculum included practical training in gardening and fruit cultivation.

Fetching water in wooden brentas

In many areas, water was fetched from communal ponds or wells, with women often carrying heavy wooden containers called brentas (30-50 liters) on their backs to supply their homes. Rainwater cisterns became more common toward the end of the century.

Food

Boiling milk with hot stones

Mountain shepherds in the 19th century heated milk in wooden bowls by dropping red-hot stones taken from an open fire directly into the liquid. This technique brought the milk to a boil within a few minutes.

Dining hierarchy at the family table

In central Croatia, households followed a strict dining hierarchy where the male head of the household sat at a place of honor, while women stood behind their husbands to eat. Meals were served in a shared bowl from which everyone ate with spoons or their hands.

Prices and wages

Large gender and age wage gaps

Women in the late 19th century typically earned 40 to 70 percent less than men, while children were paid four to five times less than adults.

Long workdays and insufficient wages

In the late 19th century, industrial workers in Croatia endured grueling workdays lasting between 11 and 16 hours, often with wages that were insufficient to cover basic living expenses.

Work

Agriculture dominated daily life

Eighty-two percent of the population was engaged in agriculture, with most working on small family farms of five hectares or less.

Exhausting daily working hours

Agricultural workers typically toiled for 15 to 18 hours per day, while those in industry or mining frequently worked between 11 and 16 hours.

News and letters
Around 1892–1899

Fast carriage travel replaced three-day journeys

A fast horse-drawn carriage service (diligence) between Gospic and Ogulin took 18 to 19 hours to travel 126 kilometers, whereas standard carts took three days.

During their lifetime

  1. 1891

    First Horse-Drawn Tram, 1891

    The first horse-drawn tram began operating in the streets of Zagreb in 1891.

  2. 1895

    Industrial workers equaled agricultural workers

    By the mid-1890s, the number of industrial workers in the German Empire grew to match those in agriculture, marking a major demographic shift toward urbanization and factory labor.

  3. 1900

    Paris Metro opens in 1900

    The first Paris metro line opened on July 14, 1900, allowing travel across the city in half an hour for 20 to 25 centimes.

  4. 1907

    Electricity transforms Zagreb's streets (1907)

    Electricity began powering Zagreb on November 5, 1907, visibly transforming the city's streets with electric lighting.

  5. 1915

    Wartime bread rationing and substitutes (1915)

    Starting in 1915, the Austrian government mandated bread be made with 50 percent ersatz products like potato or sawdust due to severe food shortages.

  6. 1921

    Public radio broadcasting starts in 1921

    Public radio broadcasting officially began in France in 1921, with regular programs transmitted from an antenna atop the Eiffel Tower.

Family

Parents

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.