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Ernst of Saxony

1831–1847

Born
5 Apr 1831, Dresden
Country of birth
Kingdom of Saxony, today Germany
Died
12 May 1847, Müglitztal
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 · Dresden

    Birth, Dresden

  2. Died · Müglitztal

    Death, Müglitztal

What was it like?

The world around Dresden, 1831: 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.

Ernst was born the same year as Frederick III, German Emperor, Richard Dedekind, and Joseph Joachim.

Born the same year

  • Frederick III, German Emperor

    as King of Prussia German Emperor (1831–1888)

  • Richard Dedekind

    German mathematician (1831–1916)

  • Joseph Joachim

    Hungarian violinist, composer, and teacher (1831–1907)

  • David Edward Hughes

    Welsh-American scientist and musician (1831–1900)

  • Filippo Marchetti

    Italian opera composer (1831–1902)

  • James Clerk Maxwell

    Scottish physicist (1831–1879)

Fashion

Festive attire and heated ruffles

For feast days, women wore black cashmere or silk dresses with a white ruffle at the collar that was permanently set into waves using a heated iron.

Head-carried baskets with embroidered rings

Deliverers carried their goods in round white baskets called Mange on their heads, supported by embroidered cloth rings that served as both cushions and decorative accessories.

Music
Around 1833–1833

The 1833 Prussian Music Festival in Marienburg

In 1833, the first Prussian Music Festival took place in Marienburg, featuring over 200 participants including 49 singers and 143 musicians and singers from across East and West Prussia.

The noisy brummtopf folk instrument

The brummtopf was a peculiar noise-making instrument used by groups of young people during winter festivities; it was made of a small wooden barrel covered with calfskin and played by rubbing horsehair strands inserted into the skin with wet hands.

Getting around

Difficult and slow travel by stagecoach

Traveling by stagecoach in Prussia was often grueling and uncomfortable due to poorly maintained, unpaved roads and cramped, unsprung carriages. A journey from Berlin to Königsberg, spanning 565 kilometers, typically took ten to eleven days by post coach.

Faster express coaches were costly

The introduction of the "Diligence" or express post coach in 1821 allowed for faster travel at speeds of around 10 km/h, making trips of 100 km possible in a single day. However, travel remained expensive, with a short trip from Berlin to Magdeburg costing four talers, nearly a schoolteacher's monthly salary.

Daily life

Child labor and rudimentary schooling conditions

Children in rural areas were often tasked with labor, such as preparing and binding daily bundles of fuel for the household fire, a chore that frequently left their hands bleeding. Schooling was frequently held in the teacher's house, where the teacher was often a poorly paid local craftsman.

Homes heated by smoky, open hearths

Peasant homes often lacked chimneys, relying on open hearths that provided both light and heat while filling the living space with smoke. Small bundles of green pine brush, known as Kulelkes, were commonly used as fuel for these fires.

Food

Daily wheat cake despite poverty

In some villages, even the poorest people ate wheat cake daily, fresh from the oven, which was criticized by doctors for supposedly damaging their digestion.

Potato schnapps among common men

Potato schnapps was a popular and widespread drink among common men in East Prussia, so much so that some would sell their last chicken to afford it.

Work

Common jobs in 19th-century Prussia

Common jobs included agricultural work, such as farm laborers and servants (Gesinde), as well as home-based textile work like weaving. Many also worked as day laborers in both rural and growing urban areas.

Hardship and low weaver wages

A weaver could earn 3.5 Gulden for completing 40 ells of fabric in 8 to 10 days, while a child spooling thread earned only 2 to 3 Kreuzer per spool. Families often slept on the floor without beds in huts where frost and rain penetrated the roof.

News and letters
Around 1824–1824

Cost and Expense of Sending Letters

In 1824, postage costs were based on distance, ranging from 1 Silbergroschen for distances up to 2 miles to a maximum of 19 Silbergroschen. Sending a letter daily could have consumed up to a quarter of a person's annual income.

Around 1832–1849

Informal letter delivery and optical telegraphy

To send letters, people often relied on informal opportunities like acquaintances traveling to save money, as official postage was expensive and based on distance. For urgent official business, Prussia operated an optical semaphore telegraph line between Berlin and the Rhine from 1832 to 1849, which could transmit a signal across the entire line in minutes.

During their lifetime

  1. 1834

    Zollverein customs union founded in 1834

    The Zollverein was founded to eliminate customs duties between German states, fostering economic integration under Prussian leadership.

  2. 1842

    Freedom of movement laws in 1842

    Prussia introduced new laws enabling greater freedom of movement and settlement for individuals not dependent on public relief.

  3. 1844

    Weaver uprising in 1844

    Handloom weavers in Upper Silesia led a famous protest against their publishers due to harsh competition from mechanized factories.

  4. 1846

    Hunger crisis of 1846-1847

    A severe potato blight caused a major hunger crisis across Europe, leading to unrest in Prussian markets and bakeries.

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.