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Cornelis de Hooghe

1541–1583

Born
1541, The Hague
Country of birth
Spanish Empire, today Netherlands
Died
29 Mar 1583, The Hague
facts
6
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

  • Birth1541, The HagueProbable1 source
  • Death29 Mar 1583, The HagueProbable1 source
  • ParentCharles VConfirmed1 source

A life in time

  1. Born · The Hague

    Birth, The Hague

  2. Died · The Hague

    Death, The Hague

What was it like?

The world around The Hague, 1541: 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 first half of the 16th century, men's fashion evolved to a square silhouette with broad shoulders, while women's clothing featured a wide, conical shape with emphasis on the hips.

Fashion

Changing silhouettes of the era

During the first half of the 16th century, men's fashion evolved to a square silhouette with broad shoulders, while women's clothing featured a wide, conical shape with emphasis on the hips.

Men's tight-fitting mantle clothing

Ordinary men in Holland wore a tight-fitting, sleeveless mantle called a heycke, fastened at the throat with a hook or button, which displayed the shape of the body.

Music

Luxury manuscripts for choral singing

The Mechelen Choir Book, produced around 1515, is a beautifully decorated music manuscript containing seven multi-part Latin masses. Singers performed this polyphonic music together by reading from a single large book placed on a lectern.

Popular peasant dances and instruments

Peasant dances like the ronde and branle were traditionally performed at feasts using loud instruments such as bagpipes and fiddles. These dances later became popular in bourgeois urban circles, where they were adapted for ensembles of recorders or viols.

Getting around

How people traveled between towns

Ordinary people typically traveled between towns on foot, while the wealthy used horses or carts. Roads were often unpaved, muddy, and difficult to navigate, making travel slow and physically demanding.

The slow pace of mule transport

Traveling by pack mule was significantly slower than walking due to terrain difficulties and the need to pay tolls. A journey that took a walker three days could take nine days if carrying goods with a pack mule.

Daily life
Around 1540–1540

Water scarcity in Amsterdam, 1540

In the exceptionally hot summer of 1540, Amsterdam suffered from a severe water shortage as canals filled with animal waste dried up, making clean drinking water almost impossible to find. Emperor Charles V cut his visit short after only one day due to the unbearable stench and lack of potable water.

Around 1550–1550

Baptismal gifts and customs

Baptisms were major family events where children often received gifts of silver, such as cups or telioren, which are frequently listed in household inventories. To ensure the safety of the child's soul, baptisms were performed as soon as possible after birth, with godparents chosen from a close circle of relatives or high-status friends.

Food

Breakfast consisted of beer and bread

Ordinary people and the elite typically started their day with a meal of bread and beer because water was often unsafe to drink.

Cooking with pork fat instead of butter

People used animal fat, such as pork fat, for frying and cooking rather than butter.

Prices and wages

Everyday prices for food and shoes

Ordinary daily food prices included 1 to 2 stuivers for a kilogram of rye bread, 1 stuiver for a liter of beer, and 4 to 10 stuivers for a pound of pork. Simple leather shoes cost between 3 and 8 guilders.

Work

Family labor in peat production

After 1530, the peat extraction technique shifted to slagturven, a highly labor-intensive process that allowed entire families to work together. Men dredged the peat, while women and children were often responsible for treading the mud and drying the peat blocks.

Ban on rural industry

In 1531, major cities successfully petitioned for a prohibition against brewing, weaving, leather-working, and masonry outside of walled towns to suppress rural competition.

News and letters

Flexible city messenger networks

Local city messengers often remained preferred over the imperial post because they were more flexible, traveled daily, and could perform additional tasks like carrying money or escorting prisoners.

Guaranteed delivery times for letters

A letter from Brussels to Paris was required to be delivered within 36 hours in summer and 40 hours in winter under the Thurn und Taxis contracts.

During their lifetime

  1. 1549

    Pragmatic Sanction unified provinces in 1549

    The Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 established the Seventeen Provinces as a single, unified Habsburg territory to prevent fragmentation among future heirs.

  2. 1550

    The Blood Placard law was established

    Charles V issued the Blood Placard, a law requiring the death penalty for heretics and those aiding them, regardless of local customs.

  3. 1557

    Food price crisis in 1557

    In 1557, government officials created artificial food shortages by seizing Baltic rye for military garrisons, causing the price in Antwerp to double between April and June.

  4. 1566

    Iconoclasm destroys church religious images

    The Beeldenstorm, or Iconoclasm, saw the general population and Calvinists smash sacred images in many churches across various cities.

  5. 1579

    Union of Utrecht founds Dutch Republic

    The Union of Utrecht established a closer union among northern provinces, becoming the foundation of the Dutch Republic.

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.