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Heinrich Schenk von Limpurg

1573–1637

Born
2 Feb 1573, Obersontheim
Country of birth
Germany
Died
13 May 1637, Obersontheim
facts
7
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 · Obersontheim

    Birth, Obersontheim

  2. Child born: Ludwig Kasimir, Reichserbschenk und Herr zu Limpurg-Obersontheim

    Birth

  3. Child born: Anna Christine Gräfin zu Limpurg-Sontheim

    Birth

  4. Died · Obersontheim

    Death, Obersontheim

What was it like?

The world around Obersontheim, 1573: 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.

Strict regulations controlled social class appearance; for example, commoners were forbidden from wearing gold, silver, pearls, or silk. A wife of a commoner could wear a simple gold ring worth no more than five or six guilders, without gemstones.

Fashion

Class-based clothing regulations and currency limits

Strict regulations controlled social class appearance; for example, commoners were forbidden from wearing gold, silver, pearls, or silk. A wife of a commoner could wear a simple gold ring worth no more than five or six guilders, without gemstones.

Commoner daily attire and accessories

Ordinary men wore simple tunics, pants often made of wool or linen, and carried belt pouches, while women commonly wore dresses with aprons, sometimes carrying keys or knives on their belts. For warmth or adornment, women added capelets, and unmarried girls were known to wear velvet headbands.

Music

Professional city musicians, the Stadtpfeifer

Stadtpfeifer, or city pipers, were professional musicians employed by councils to perform on towers, in dance halls, and at public festivities using instruments like shawms, sackbuts, and slide brass.

Singing during communal round dances

People often sang while performing round dances in squares or streets, a practice sometimes restricted by city councils to prevent the singing of shameful songs.

Getting around

Fast river travel downstream

Travelers could use rivers to move faster, sometimes reaching up to 150 kilometers in 24 hours when traveling downstream.

Uncomfortable carriage travel for the wealthy

While carriages existed, they were largely used by the sick or wealthy, as they were uncomfortable, unsprung, and known for their squeaky axles.

Daily life

Beer was safer than water

Drinking water was often unhygienic and contaminated, so beer was frequently consumed instead because brewing made it safer and provided essential calories.

Cooking with embers and kettles

Kitchens often featured a large metal kettle for boiling, while smaller quantities were baked in bowls placed on a grid and covered with glowing embers.

Food

Rare Festive Pastries

For ordinary families, sweet pastries fried in fat, known as Nonnenfürzle, were rare festive delicacies served on special occasions like church festivals. They were made from choux pastry and, according to local tradition, were named for the hissing sound they made as steam escaped in the hot fat.

Around 1575–1599

Daily beer consumption in northern regions

In northern regions like Münster, beer was the standard everyday beverage, with people consuming between 2 and 3 litres daily. Wine was reserved only for the four most important religious feast days.

Prices and wages
Around 1579–1579

Cost of men's shoes, 1579

In 1579, a pair of men's shoes in Dresden was valued by guild masters at approximately 7 to 8 groschen.

Around 1579–1579

Daily food costs for seven workers

To feed a group of seven workers in 1579, the cost for meals, including meat, bread, and beer, totaled 1 gulden and 3 groschen and 5 pfennig for one day.

Work

Daily wages for city laborers

In 16th-century cities like Zwickau and Nuremberg, skilled tradespeople such as carpenters and masons earned between 15 and 26 pfennige per day, while simple daily tasks like weeding paid about 8 pfennige with food provided. Additional benefits sometimes included bathing money, as guilds often mandated regular time off for hygiene.

Rural work and household roles

Annual wages for rural servants were strictly regulated; a good farmhand earned 6 florins per year, while a general maid earned about 4 florins. Beyond field labor, women managed household gardens and helped with harvesting, and they could occasionally take over a husband's shop if he passed away.

News and letters

High costs for international mail shipping

When sending mail to England, people paid high rates, such as four Brabantine stivers per sheet of paper in London, prompting them to bundle letters to reduce costs.

Unreliable and slow letter delivery times

Letter delivery was highly unreliable, with some letters arriving after months or taking 26 days on average from Heidelberg to Zurich, and others taking over 100 days.

During their lifetime

  1. 1575

    Smallpox and measles epidemic (1575)

    A widespread outbreak of smallpox and measles occurred in Holstein in 1575, severely impacting the lives of local families.

  2. 1618

    Destruction of the Thirty Years' War

    The Thirty Years' War, lasting from 1618 to 1648, caused a demographic catastrophe where roughly one-third of urban residents and two-fifths of the rural population perished. Soldiers and camp followers frequently destroyed crops and seized food, leading to widespread famine and forcing villagers to abandon their land.

  3. 1618

    The Kipper and Wipper Economic Crisis

    Between 1618 and 1623, Germany suffered the Kipper and Wipper economic crisis, where rulers debased coins by reducing silver content, causing rapid inflation. This made it impossible for people with fixed incomes, such as teachers and pensioners, to afford basic living expenses.

  4. 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.

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.