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Prince Heinrich IX Reuss of Köstritz

1827–1898

Born
3 Mar 1827, Kowary
Country of birth
Poland
Died
1 Aug 1898
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 · Kowary

    Birth, Kowary

  2. Child born: Prince Heinrich XXX Reuss of Köstritz

    Birth, Kowary

  3. Died

    Death

What was it like?

The world around Kowary, 1827: 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.

Prince was born around the same time as Abdülaziz, Eadweard Muybridge, and Hans von Bülow.

Known for

Titles held

  • member of parliament
Born around the same time

  • Abdülaziz

    1830 · 32th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1861–1876)

  • Eadweard Muybridge

    1830 · English-American photographer (1830–1904)

  • Hans von Bülow

    1830 · German conductor and pianist (1830–1894)

  • Jules Verne

    1828 · French writer (1828–1905)

  • Henrik Ibsen

    1828 · Norwegian playwright and theatre director (1828–1906)

  • Emily Dickinson

    1830 · American poet (1830-1886)

Fashion

Adjustable everyday trousers

Men's everyday trousers were held up by a simple string with loops, allowing for adjustable width by using knots tied at different intervals.

Peasant men's everyday attire

Ordinary men often wore wide, sack-like linen trousers and a coarse linen shirt, sometimes greased with animal fat to repel insects during long journeys.

Music

Chopin's early musical immersion in village life

To play along with peasant bands, young Chopin once accompanied a violinist by playing the bass on an instrument that had only one string left. He also frequently participated in village festivals and dances, such as the oberek, where he observed and recorded improvised folk songs.

Instruments used in the Polish countryside

Village children learned to play simple instruments like willow flutes, whistles, reed pipes, or small trumpets bought at fairs while tending geese. For larger gatherings, ensembles often featured violins, a cello, flute, clarinet, horn, bass viol, and a gensla, which is a type of zither.

Getting around

Postal coaches remained the primary transport mode

In the Kingdom of Poland under Russian rule, most travel during the first half of the 19th century still relied on slower horse-drawn postal coaches, as railways were only introduced to Warsaw in 1845.

Seasonal goods transport by wagon and sledge

Internal commerce in Poland was managed through fairs, with goods transported by heavy wagons in the summer and by sledges during the winter months.

Daily life

Home-based education and etiquette

Formal schooling was limited, and parents frequently kept children at home to teach them personally or hired tutors to instill knowledge in the Polish spirit. Manners and etiquette were considered essential parts of a child's home education for those of higher status.

Sleeping on ovens and cold water hardening

Children in peasant and manor households often slept on top of large clay bake-ovens, which were the only source of warmth in the home. In manor houses, children were sometimes hardened by being poured over with cold water after waking in unheated rooms.

Food

Everyday and Special Occasion Drinks

Peasants drank bread or beet kvass and beer, while tea and coffee were sometimes considered luxury or special occasion items, occasionally even prepared with butter or salt in poor households.

Staple Diet of Ordinary Families

Peasant families commonly relied on rye bread, potatoes, and vegetable soups like cabbage soup, often eating meat only during major religious holidays like Christmas or Easter.

Prices and wages

Soldiers' daily pay, 1820s

A private in the capital city's garrison received 16 gr in daily pay, whereas a soldier on the provinces earned 15 gr per day. Starting in 1816, they also received an additional 0.5 gr per day as compensation for the consumption tax on meat.

Around 1820–1820

Food prices in Warsaw, 1820

In Warsaw around 1820, a pound of rye bread cost 6 gr, while a pound of good beef cost 8 gr. A bochenek (loaf) of rye bread weighing over 3 pounds cost 12 gr.

Work

Daily Wages and Prices

In Southern Podlasie, common daily wages for manual labor were 12 grosz, while work with draft animals earned 24 grosz. For comparison, a goose cost 15 grosz, a rooster 12 grosz, and an egg half a grosz.

Life in Smoke-Filled Cottages

Peasant huts were often smoke-filled, with the fire built on a clay hearth without a chimney, forcing inhabitants to sit or walk stooped to avoid suffocation. The tops of large bake-ovens were used as sleeping areas, especially in winter for children and servants.

During their lifetime

  1. 1830

    November Insurrection begins in 1830

    The November Insurrection in 1830 against Russian rule caused significant instability and triggered migration, particularly for those fleeing the resulting conflict.

  2. 1846

    Peasant land protection decree in 1846

    In 1846, Russian authorities issued a decree prohibiting the removal of peasants from small holdings of less than 1.7 hectares to provide greater land security.

  3. 1854

    Mechanical textile production begins in Łódź

    In 1854, the Scheibler factory was founded in Łódź, marking a technological shift with the introduction of 100 mechanical looms and 18,000 spindles.

  4. 1864

    Peasants granted freedom by 1864 reform

    The abolition of serfdom in 1864 granted peasants legal freedom and equality, a major step in building a modern nation.

  5. 1870

    Railway connections expand to Russia

    Railway expansion linked Poland to the Russian interior, with connections established to Moscow in 1870 and Kiev in 1871.

Family

Spouses

Children

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.