Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark

Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark was Queen of Sweden as the wife of King Charles XI. She is often admired for her generosity and charity.

Everyday footwear and trousers

Peasant men often wore knickers made from tanned buckskin, and both men and women typically wore clogs for everyday and festive activities.

Cost of footwear and livestock

In the 1640s, a pair of new shoes was valued at one daler, while an ox cost between 8 and 13 daler.

Minuet arrives in Denmark

The minuet began to establish itself as a fashionable dance in Denmark around 1667, appearing in wedding poetry.

Town musicians held exclusive performance rights

Privileged town musicians held a monopoly on all paid musical performances for citizens and farmers, often charging for their services at weddings and feasts.

Introduction of passenger mail coaches

In 1653, the Danish postal service began operating mail coaches that carried both passengers and parcels twice a week.

Cost of travel and accommodation

For official travel, the cost of an overnight stay with meals was 17 skilling, equivalent to what a good worker earned in two weeks of labor on Copenhagen's fortifications.

Dark and Smoky Homes

Ordinary homes often lacked chimneys, relying on open fires on the floor with smoke escaping through holes in the roof, making interiors dark, smoky, and stifling.

Limited and Specialized Schooling

Schooling was not universal; in rural areas, children often only attended school in winter, while in places like Nyboder, boys were trained as future naval workers with rye as part of their pay.

Beer consumption in daily life

Beer was an essential part of the daily diet, consumed morning, afternoon, and evening by people of all social classes. Adults typically consumed at least twelve barrels of beer per year.

Common breakfast of beer porridge

A common breakfast for many, including school children, consisted of warm beer and bread porridge, sometimes served with butter.

Daily Wages for Workers

In the 1650s, a laborer typically earned about 16 to 24 skilling per day, while a master mason could earn 36 to 40 skilling daily.

Food Costs in the 1650s

A pound of coarse rye bread usually cost 1 to 2 skilling, while a pound of pork cost about 5 skilling in the 1650s.

Common jobs in 17th-century Danish towns

In cities like Ribe, most of the population consisted of manual workers, including craftsmen, skippers, merchants, and unskilled laborers, while a significant portion of the urban population lived in poverty.

Structure of the daily workday

A working day typically lasted between 8 and 13 hours depending on the season, with tasks strictly divided by gender and household hierarchy. Common rural labor included plowing and harvesting for men, while women managed dairying, baking, and textile production.

Organized postal routes and costs

The national postal service used fixed routes served by mail coaches and riders, though postage costs remained high for ordinary people.

Establishment of the Danish Postal Service

Denmark's formal postal service, established by Christian IV in 1624, connected major cities with routes like the one from Copenhagen to Hamburg. Initially, mail was mostly carried by foot, but the use of mounted riders increased significantly after 1640.