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Countess Palatine Eleonora Catherine of Zweibrücken

1626–1692

Born
17 May 1626, Stegeborg Castle
Country of birth
Sweden
Died
3 Mar 1692, Osterholz-Scharmbeck
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 · Stegeborg Castle

    Birth, Stegeborg Castle

  2. Child born: Christine of Hesse-Eschwege

    Birth, Kassel

  3. Died · Osterholz-Scharmbeck

    Death, Osterholz-Scharmbeck

What was it like?

The world around Stegeborg Castle, 1626: 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.

Women often carried keys to the farm on their belts, while both men and women kept leather pouches and knives attached to them.

Fashion
Around 1600–1624

Essential belt accessories

Women often carried keys to the farm on their belts, while both men and women kept leather pouches and knives attached to them.

Strict fashion laws for commoners

During the 1600s, Swedish commoners were strictly forbidden from using silk fabrics or other exclusive materials in public, with violators facing fines or imprisonment on bread and water.

Music

Dances at social gatherings

While dances like the minuet were associated with the upper class and graceful, dainty steps, common people in the countryside frequently performed the Polska dance at festivals. Social gatherings were often characterized by both music and dancing as central activities.

Popular instruments of the people

Popular instruments among ordinary people included the stem pipe, horn, nyckelharpa (key harp), and drums. String instruments like the violin and lute were also frequently played in domestic settings.

Getting around

Horseback travel was standard for long distances

Because roads were narrow, rocky, and often muddy, people typically traveled between towns on horseback rather than in wheeled carriages.

Winter roads over ice were essential for transport

Winter travel was often faster and easier because travelers could use sleds on frozen lakes and marshes, avoiding the potholes and mud of summer roads.

Daily life

Limited schooling and early work life

Most children did not attend formal schools; instead, they received basic religious instruction at home from their parents or the church to learn to read the Bible and the catechism. When schools did exist, they were insufficient for the general population, and for many, childhood was primarily defined by work and helping parents in their trade or daily tasks.

Simple homes with limited light

Homes were often simple, small wooden structures with tiny windows, and in many cases, windows were even nailed shut to conserve heat. Because glass was rare and expensive, lighting was provided by tallow or wax candles on brass or tin candle plates.

Food

Everyday meals of pea soup and beer

Everyday meals often featured pea soup, bread, porridge, and boiled turnips, typically accompanied by pork or fish and plenty of weak beer. Beer was consumed in large quantities, often three to four liters per day, as it was safer to drink than the available water.

Warm beer as a staple drink

A traditional morning drink was warm beer, sometimes served as a soup called ölsupa, made from warm beer, milk, and flour. People also flavored their daily beer with ingredients like wormwood, blackthorn, or rosemary to improve health and add flavor.

Prices and wages
Around 1600–1624

Wages in grain, meat, and fish

Temporary workers at the Ramnäs estate typically received 20 percent of their wages in grain and 10 percent in meat and fish.

Around 1600–1624

Wages paid in goods and necessities

In the 1600s, employees were often paid in goods rather than cash, with roughly 28 to 29 percent of their earnings spent on clothing and shoes.

Work

Daily wages for workers in the 1600s

In August, a worker could earn 12 öre for a nine-hour workday, while a full 12-hour day paid more.

Long shifts at the ironworks

In ironworks, workers often toiled in shifts, working for 3 hours and resting for 3 hours, around the clock. During lighter months, the workday could span from 5 in the morning until 7 in the evening.

News and letters

Long and uncertain delivery times

Mail delivery was often slow and unreliable, with the death of King Gustav II Adolf in 1632 taking almost a month to reach Stockholm. In the early 1600s, a letter from Stockholm to Reval could take over six weeks on average.

The cost of a letter

By 1693, sending a letter of about 13 grams between Stockholm and Helsingborg cost 18 öre in copper coin, which was equivalent to the price of two jugs of beer. Private citizens gained the right to use the public post for this fee during the 1620s.

During their lifetime

  1. 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.

  2. 1638

    Establishment of Swedish colony in America

    In 1638, the first Swedish ships, the Kalmar Nyckel and Fågel Grip, arrived in Delaware to establish a Swedish colony.

  3. 1649

    Copper production surge at Stora Kopparberg

    Production at the Stora Kopparberg mine surged significantly by 1649, reaching 14,323 skd compared to 2,400 skd in 1600.

  4. 1654

    Demonstration of vacuum power

    Otto von Guericke demonstrated the power of a vacuum in Regensburg using sixteen horses to pull apart two sealed hemispheres.

  5. 1654

    Legally binding serfdom in Mecklenburg

    The Servants Law of 1654 legally anchored serfdom in Mecklenburg, divesting serfs of personal freedoms and allowing them to be sold with property.

  6. 1660

    Invention of the berlin carriage

    The carriage known as the berlin was developed in Berlin, quickly becoming the most popular horse-drawn vehicle of the century.

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.