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Tobias Holländer

1636–1711

Born
24 Nov 1636, Schaffhausen
Country of birth
Switzerland
Died
3 Aug 1711, Schaffhausen
facts
7
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth24 Nov 1636, SchaffhausenProbable1 source
  • Titleguildmaster, 1666Confirmed1 competing claim1 source
  • TitleMayor of Schaffhausen, 1683Confirmed1 competing claim1 source
  • Death3 Aug 1711, SchaffhausenProbable1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · Schaffhausen

    Birth, Schaffhausen

  2. Event · guildmaster

    Event

  3. Event · Mayor of Schaffhausen

    Event

  4. Died · Schaffhausen

    Death, Schaffhausen

What was it like?

The world around Schaffhausen, 1636: 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.

It was a widespread custom for Swiss men to carry a saber as an accessory to their festive attire when attending special occasions such as weddings.

Known for

Titles held

  • guildmaster1666
  • Mayor of Schaffhausen1683
Fashion

Saber as a Festive Accessory

It was a widespread custom for Swiss men to carry a saber as an accessory to their festive attire when attending special occasions such as weddings.

Music

Bagpipes used for dancing

The bagpipe was a popular instrument for dances, mentioned in court records such as the 1650 case where a player identified as Spilmann provided music for a woodland dance.

Fines for dancing on Sundays

Authorities punished citizens for dancing on Sundays or holidays, such as a 1650 incident in a wood in Riniken where participants were fined 10 schillings for men and 5 for women.

Getting around

Common modes of transport

For most, the primary methods of travel were walking or riding on horseback, sometimes with two people on one horse.

Daily travel distances on foot or cart

Most people traveled on foot or by ox-drawn cart, covering 20 to 40 kilometers per day.

Daily life

The custom of sharing spoons

Families shared individual wooden spoons that were licked clean after meals and stored in a wall drawer, a custom linked to the idiom for dying.

The soul hole window

When a family member died, their soul was released through a small window on the upper floor called a soul hole.

Food

Frequent daily meals for laborers

While city dwellers typically ate three meals a day in winter and four in summer, laborers and those performing heavy work often consumed four or more meals daily, frequently including wine with each meal.

Rural diet of potatoes and salt

In the Bernese Oberland region, many rural people subsisted for most of the year on potatoes eaten without any seasoning other than salt.

Prices and wages
Around 1630–1630

Food purchasing power of one hour's work

In 1630, one hour of labor could buy approximately 0.21 kg of grain, 0.17 kg of beef, or only 0.04 kg of butter.

Around 1642–1642

Construction workers' high daily wages

In 1642, Zurich construction workers earned 16 schillings per day, a high wage driven by labor shortages toward the end of the Thirty Years' War.

Work

Children Working in Diverse Trades

Children as young as nine to eleven years old contributed to family income by spinning silk, chopping wood, or making wicker baskets.

Low Daily Wages for Laborers

Poor day laborers frequently worked for only 3 to 4 Batzen per day, often receiving part of their pay in food or lodging.

News and letters

Establishment of Swiss Postal Routes

In the first half of the 17th century, Klingenfuss from Schaffhausen created postal routes between various Swiss cities and as far as Geneva that carried both letters and passengers.

Frequency of Mail Deliveries

Starting in 1630, Zurich maintained foot messengers to Lyon, while other services typically operated at a maximum of two deliveries per week.

During their lifetime

  1. 1648

    Formal Independence from Empire

    The Swiss Confederation gained formal legal independence from the Holy Roman Empire through the Treaty of Westphalia.

  2. 1652

    Currency Devaluation and Financial Crisis

    Authorities in Bern, Solothurn, and Fribourg devalued their currencies, wiping out the savings of many rural peasants.

  3. 1653

    Swiss Peasant War of 1653

    Peasants revolted in 1653 due to currency devaluation and high taxes, but the uprising was defeated by city authorities.

  4. 1656

    First Villmergen War of 1656

    The first Villmergen War broke out in 1656 after tensions between Protestant and Catholic cantons over federal reform and legal assistance.

  5. 1665

    Plague epidemic of 1665–1668

    A major plague epidemic affected Switzerland between 1665 and 1668, impacting local populations in various regions.

  6. 1685

    Huguenot refugee influx in 1685

    Following the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France, thousands of Huguenot refugees sought sanctuary in Swiss cities.

Family

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.