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Anne of Leiningen-Dagsburg

1625–1668

Born
15 May 1625, Dabo
Country of birth
France
Died
24 Dec 1668, Idstein
facts
11
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 · Dabo

    Birth, Dabo

  2. Child born: George August Samuel of Nassau-Idstein

    Birth, Idstein

  3. Died · Idstein

    Death, Idstein

What was it like?

The world around Dabo, 1625: 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.

Common villagers typically wore the same basic garments daily, while the more prosperous members of the community had specific outfits reserved for Sundays and feast days.

Fashion

Clothing for feast days vs daily life

Common villagers typically wore the same basic garments daily, while the more prosperous members of the community had specific outfits reserved for Sundays and feast days.

Daily attire of ordinary women

Ordinary women often wore corsets over a shirt, with a skirt and an apron for daily chores, while their clothing was predominantly colored in black, grey, and red.

Music

Court ballet and street performance culture

The ballet de cour featured masked performers in elaborate costumes, with dances often organized around complex themes from mythology or daily life. These courtly performances influenced the repertoire of street singers, who adapted elite airs for wider public audiences.

Pipe and tabor in rural festivities

Common people danced on Sundays to the sound of the pipe and tabor, a practice defended by some clergy as a necessary relaxation after a week of labor. These instruments were also used to celebrate local events, such as the lighting of the Saint John's fire.

Getting around

Carriages were mostly for the wealthy

While wealthy travelers used private carriages, these vehicles were unaffordable for most people, who relied on walking or slower, less comfortable public coaches.

Travelers on foot wore out shoes quickly

Ordinary people frequently traveled on foot, covering 20 to 30 kilometers a day, which meant they wore out a pair of shoes every two weeks.

Daily life

Living conditions in modest urban homes

Ordinary homes in cities were often tall, narrow buildings where upper floors were darker and difficult to heat, with limited light due to overhanging structures. A single room often served multiple purposes, including cooking, sleeping, and childcare.

Schooling for children in the household

In many households, servants or parents ensured children received elementary education in reading, writing, and counting. Daily chores for servants included waking and dressing children and seeing that they got off to school.

Food

Stale bread soaked in soup

Ordinary families relied heavily on a bread-based diet, often consuming stale loaves by soaking them in liquid to make soup. Because bread was baked in large batches to last weeks, it was kept dense and sturdy.

Wine and cider over water

Fermented drinks like wine or cider were preferred over water, which was often considered unhealthy or unsafe to drink. People frequently drank inferior quality wine known as piquette, although better wine could be purchased for popular celebrations for ten sous per pint.

Prices and wages

Daily laborer wages in early 17th century

Between 1601 and 1625, the average daily wage of a common French laborer was approximately 2.28 livres.

Falling Daily Wages for Laborers

During the mid-17th century, the daily wage for a French laborer fell from 2.28 livres under early Louis XIII to 1.85 livres during the ministries of Richelieu and Mazarin.

Work

Common jobs for ordinary people

Common occupations in 17th-century French cities included masons, carpenters, tailors, bakers, and domestic servants, while the countryside relied on laborers, farmers, and vine-growers. Many small-scale artisans, such as cobblers, operated from narrow, street-level shops where they were known as neighborhood news sources.

Long hours and daily wages

A typical workday followed the sun, starting around dawn and often lasting 11 to 15 hours, including breaks for meals. Workers in Paris and Normandy generally earned about ten sous tournois per day for skilled labor and five sous for unskilled work.

News and letters

No envelopes for seventeenth-century mail

Letters were not placed in envelopes; they were folded and sealed with wax, and the recipient usually paid for the delivery.

Around 1600–1624

Fast delivery for important political news

Important political news could travel very quickly using extraordinary couriers, such as reports of the assassination of Henri IV in 1610, which reached Venice from Paris in just 8 days.

During their lifetime

  1. 1626

    Great plague outbreak kills one million

    Between 1626 and 1632, a devastating plague outbreak killed approximately one million people, causing many towns to lose one-third to one-quarter of their inhabitants.

  2. 1630

    Great famine causes mass starvation

    A series of continuous rains in 1630 led to widespread crop failures, causing a severe famine that lasted from August 1630 until May 1631 and caused massive demographic losses.

  3. 1631

    The Sack of Magdeburg

    In May 1631, the strategic city of Magdeburg was plundered and burned by Catholic armies, with most of its 30,000 inhabitants dying or fleeing. This event became a major media moment spread through over 250 newsletters, fueling intense sectarian anger and propaganda.

  4. 1631

    First French newspaper is founded

    Théophraste Renaudot founded La Gazette in 1631, which became the first newspaper in France.

  5. 1648

    The Fronde civil uprisings begin

    The Fronde, a series of violent civil uprisings against royal authority and high taxes, broke out in 1648 and lasted until 1653, forcing the royal family to flee Paris.

  6. 1648

    The Fronde Civil Wars (1648–1653)

    The Fronde, a series of civil wars between 1648 and 1653, led to food scarcity, high taxes, and fighting that caused the king to flee the capital.

Family

Parents

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.