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Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark

1771–1843

Born
1771, Hørsholm
Country of birth
Denmark
Died
13 Jan 1843, Augustenborg
facts
10
sources
3
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Hørsholm

    Birth, Hørsholm

  2. Died · Augustenborg

    Death, Augustenborg

What was it like?

The world around Hørsholm, 1771: 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.

Princess was born around the same time as Thomas Young, Gaspare Spontini, and Giuseppe Acerbi.

Known for

Louise Augusta of Denmark and Norway was the daughter of the Queen of Denmark–Norway, Caroline Matilda of Great Britain. Though officially regarded as the daughter of King Christian VII, it is widely accepted that her biological father was Johann Friedrich Struensee, the king's royal physician and de facto regent of the country at the time of her birth.

Born around the same time
  • Thomas Young

    1773 · English polymath (1773-1829)

  • Gaspare Spontini

    1774 · Italian composer and conductor

  • Giuseppe Acerbi

    1773 · Italian naturalist, explorer, composer (1773-1846)

  • William Henry Harrison

    1773 · president of the United States in 1841 (1773-1841)

  • Klemens von Metternich

    1773 · Austrian diplomat, foreign minister and Chancellor (1773–1859)

  • Caspar David Friedrich

    1774 · German Romantic landscape painter (1774–1840)

Fashion
Around 1775–1799

Fashionable wide hip pads

Wealthy women used hip pads made of whalebone under their dresses to create an fashionable wide silhouette, sometimes so wide they had to walk sideways through doors.

Around 1775–1799

Peasant everyday clothing colors

Ordinary peasant men wore non-dyed homespun clothing that turned grey and muddy with wear, while women's everyday clothes were typically black or dark blue.

Music
Around 1775–1799

Music in Christiansfeld community

In the Moravian community of Christiansfeld, unmarried women gathered in the sisters' house to play instruments like harps, violins, and the harpsichord. The community also utilized a trombone choir for outdoor services, such as funerals, and for festive church occasions like Easter.

Around 1775–1799

Town musician performance fees

Professional town musicians, known as stadsmusikants, were hired for weddings and social gatherings, with fees set for specific ensembles; for example, violin and cello cost 6 daler, while adding trumpet, bassoon, and others increased the price to 16 daler. These musicians also performed in churches and for festive processions.

Getting around
Around 1775–1799

Slow horse-drawn travel between Danish towns

Travel between towns primarily relied on horse-drawn carriages, and journeys were slow, taking several days for even moderate distances. For example, a carriage leaving Copenhagen on Wednesday afternoon was only expected to reach Aalborg by the following Monday morning in summer.

Around 1775–1799

Travel hardships and self-protection measures

Travelers on major routes often had to share rooms and even beds with strangers, leading many to carry specialized sleeping bags and metal bowls to protect themselves from vermin. Additionally, travelers were advised to carry a small pistol for protection, and valuables were kept in a locked box bolted to the floor of the carriage.

Daily life
Around 1775–1799

Introduction of chimneys in peasant homes

Many peasant homes were renovated to include chimneys, which replaced the previous method of using open fires on the floor with a smoke hole in the roof. This allowed for ceilings to be installed, preventing smoke from lingering under the beams.

Around 1775–1799

Schooling and pay for boys in Nyboder

In Nyboder, boys started school at age 6 and finished at confirmation to become naval apprentices, receiving part of their pay in rye, specifically 4.5 kg per month. Education here was considered part of the naval service and was of a high standard compared to the non-military norm.

Food
Around 1775–1799

Common breakfast foods and habits

Ordinary breakfasts often consisted of ale porridge (øllebrød), porridge, milk, or bread with salted herring. In some households, children drank from bowls, while adults used tea cups.

Around 1775–1799

Institutional diets in Copenhagen

In Copenhagen institutions around this period, a medically sound diet included a daily allowance of 125 grams of beef in soup with vegetables, one pound of bread, and three pots of ale. Diet varied seasonally, with summer meals often featuring garden herbs, peas with pork, and cabbage.

Prices and wages
Around 1775–1799

Wages paid in goods instead of money

For many long-term manor workers, payments in kind like grain accounted for nearly half of their total salary value, though some individuals received up to 99 percent of their pay in products.

Around 1777–1798

Cost of boys' shoes in Copenhagen

At the Royal Orphanage in Copenhagen, a pair of boy's shoes cost 68 skilling in 1777, 76 skilling in 1792, and 80 skilling in 1798.

Work
Around 1775–1799

Common occupations by skill level

Common unskilled jobs included day laborers and farm laborers, while stonemasons and carpenters were medium-skilled; women frequently worked as washerwomen, domestic servants, and milkmaids. Children were also commonly employed as domestic servants and milkmaids.

Around 1775–1799

Long and intense working hours

Under 1771 regulations, villeins worked from 6 am to 7 pm in summer with two hours of rest, but some manors later prohibited breaks entirely from September to April. During the 1790s, some workers were observed starting as early as 3 am and finishing after 10 pm.

During their lifetime

  1. 1788

    Abolition of the peasant bond (1788)

    The abolition of the bond, known as Stavnsbåndet, was decreed in 1788 to transform peasants from semi-serfs into citizens.

  2. 1794

    Fire destroys Christiansborg Palace (1794)

    In 1794, the royal palace Christiansborg burned down, causing the royal family to relocate to Amalienborg.

  3. 1794

    First labor strike in Denmark (1794)

    Approximately 2,000 craftsmen went on strike in Copenhagen in 1794, in what is considered Denmark's first labor strike.

  4. 1795

    Major Copenhagen fire (1795)

    In 1795, a major fire in Copenhagen destroyed 941 houses, leaving 6,000 people homeless.

  5. 1813

    Danish State Bankruptcy

    Denmark suffered a state bankruptcy on January 5, 1813, following the economic devastation of the Napoleonic Wars.

  6. 1814

    Compulsory Education Law

    Compulsory education for children aged 7-14 was introduced in Denmark in 1814.

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.