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Maria Anna Caroline of Bavaria

1696–1750

Born
1696, Brussels metropolitan area
Country of birth
Spanish Netherlands, today Belgium
Died
9 Oct 1750, Munich
facts
9
sources
1
images and files
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Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Brussels metropolitan area

    Birth, Brussels metropolitan area

  2. Died · Munich

    Death, Munich

What was it like?

The world around Brussels metropolitan area, 1696: 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.

During the late 17th century in the region, men's clothing primarily consisted of heavy, durable fabrics, whereas women's fashion began to change more rapidly with the emergence of the dress as a distinct garment.

Fashion

Evolution of clothing materials and styles

During the late 17th century in the region, men's clothing primarily consisted of heavy, durable fabrics, whereas women's fashion began to change more rapidly with the emergence of the dress as a distinct garment.

Music

Dance music at taverns

Common people enjoyed dancing to the music of fiddlers and bagpipe players at taverns and festivals, often using instruments held against the chest or shoulder.

Christmas carols in church

During Christmas, churches performed Cantiones Natalitiae, polyphonic motets in Dutch or Latin that featured pastoral themes, such as shepherds playing bagpipes and flutes for the newborn Jesus.

Getting around

Antwerp to Brussels travel schedule

A journey from Antwerp to Brussels took a full day, departing at 8 a.m. and arriving in the evening after stopping in Mechelen at noon for a meal.

Subsidized travel for the poor

While ordinary people traveled by boat, the poor could sometimes travel at a reduced fare thanks to city-funded armenkassen (poor funds), which also helped remove beggars from towns.

Daily life

Lighting and candles in daily life

By 1700, an average household in Ghent possessed about six lighting-related objects, such as candles and candlesticks, which doubled by 1800. Candles provided brighter light than lamps but were more expensive, leading people to use oil lamps and small lanterns for daily tasks.

Portable cooking stoves and tools

Households used metal komforen, portable stoves filled with glowing coals, for heating and as a cooking device. These allowed the transition toward frying and roasting food, which required pots and pans with flat bottoms.

Food

Beer as the daily beverage

Beer was the standard drink for all, with records from Zichem indicating an estimated annual consumption of 456 liters per person. It was considered safer and healthier than water, which was often contaminated.

Simple diet of the ordinary people

Ordinary people in the Spanish Netherlands relied on a simple diet primarily consisting of rye bread, porridge, and soups made from vegetables grown in their own gardens. Meat was eaten only occasionally.

Prices and wages
Around 1701–1724

Rye prices in the 18th century

Between 1701 and 1792, rye prices in the Ghent and Deinze region fluctuated between 50 and 100 groten Vlaams per halster.

Food prices in the 17th century

A pig cost 24 livres, while a bushel of red wheat was priced at 47 sous in the 17th century.

Work

Long working days from dawn to dusk

Working days were long, typically starting at 5 am in summer or 6 am in winter and lasting until 8 pm, with only short breaks.

Unusual labor tasks for the lord

In earlier times, peasants sometimes had to perform labor services like stirring pond water to keep frogs silent so the lord could sleep, though such feudal obligations were increasingly rare by the late 17th century.

News and letters

Many undelivered letters remained stored for centuries

Thousands of letters from the Spanish Netherlands were never delivered because recipients could not be found or refused to pay the high postage costs.

Postal travel times across Europe varied greatly

News traveling by post between major European hubs like Brussels and San Sebastian took about ten days, while long-distance dispatches to capitals like Vienna could take weeks.

During their lifetime

  1. 1709

    Great famine after the 1709 winter

    A severe winter caused the Bodensee to freeze completely, leading to widespread crop failures and famine across Europe.

  2. 1714

    Widespread cattle plague outbreak

    Between 1714 and 1741, the region suffered from a severe cattle plague that repeatedly decimated livestock across the country.

  3. 1717

    Christmas flood kills 11,000 people

    A major storm surge on Christmas claimed over 11,000 lives along the German North Sea coast.

  4. 1717

    Compulsory education introduced in Prussia

    Prussia introduced compulsory education for children between the ages of five and twelve.

  5. 1719

    Execution of guild leader Frans Anneessens

    On September 19, 1719, Frans Anneessens, dean of the Brussels masons' guild, was beheaded for resisting changes to city government that threatened guild power.

  6. 1720

    Arrival of Chinese goods in Ostend

    In 1720, the merchant ship Saint-Joseph returned to Ostend from Canton, bringing tea, porcelain, silk, and Chinese roots to the region.

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.