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Margaret of Austria

1536–1567

Born
16 Feb 1536, Innsbruck
Country of birth
Austria
Died
12 Mar 1567, Hall in Tirol
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 · Innsbruck

    Birth, Innsbruck

  2. Died · Hall in Tirol

    Death, Hall in Tirol

What was it like?

The world around Innsbruck, 1536: 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.

In the 16th century, cloth was so valuable that it was often used as a form of currency to pay workers. Because clothing was expensive, it was rarely discarded and instead circulated through society via pawning, second-hand markets, and inheritance.

Fashion

Cloth functioned as valuable currency

In the 16th century, cloth was so valuable that it was often used as a form of currency to pay workers. Because clothing was expensive, it was rarely discarded and instead circulated through society via pawning, second-hand markets, and inheritance.

Daily versus festive peasant wear

Peasant women wore a fine linen blouse called a harbene Pfoad on feast days, but used a coarse linen blouse known as a rupferne Pfoad for everyday work. Many peasant dresses were notably shorter than town styles, frequently stopping at mid-calf to allow for easier movement.

Music

Instruments for Civic Parties

Instruments depicted at a 1522 civic garden party included shawms, bombards, slide trumpets, lutes, flutes, bagpipes, and large drums. These ensembles were common for dance music in urban settings.

Paying Musicians for Weddings

City wedding regulations in 1489 set specific fees for musicians, such as two guilders for brass and wind players or half a guilder for bagpipers, fiddlers, and drummers. Status often dictated which musicians could be hired for celebrations.

Getting around

Fast travel via river boats

Travelers used rivers for faster journeys, covering up to 150 kilometers in 24 hours when moving downstream by boat.

Most people traveled on foot daily

Most people traveled on foot, covering between 20 and 40 kilometers per day.

Daily life

Dark and smoky homes

Homes were dark, cold, and smoky, often featuring very small windows that provided little daylight and lacking chimneys for the open fires used for cooking.

Fetching water daily

Water was scarce and had to be fetched from distant public fountains or wells, as only few houses had their own water supply.

Food

Common beverages of the period

Beer was the common daily drink, having completely replaced mead in many areas by 1500, while apple and pear cider (Most) was also traditional. Wine was typically reserved for the upper classes and official gatherings.

Staple diet of ordinary people

Ordinary families relied on staples like soup, porridge (made from oats, barley, or legumes), cabbage, turnips, and bread. Meat was a luxury for commoners, reserved primarily for festive occasions like the slaughtering of pigs or geese.

Prices and wages

Vienna day laborer wages, 1525–1549

In 1525, a daily laborer in Vienna earned 6.83 Kreuzer per day. By 1549, this wage had decreased to 6.00 Kreuzer per day.

Work

Daily Distances Covered by Messengers

Foot messengers typically traveled 25 to 40 kilometres a day, while elite runners could cover over 60 kilometres in the same time.

Difficult Working Conditions for Miners

Miners in the community of Schwaz, Tyrol, faced hazardous working conditions, irregular wage payments, and were forced to buy everyday goods at high prices.

News and letters

Communication via Traveling Pedlars

Most ordinary people relied on oral communication carried by pedlars, students, and journeymen, who were known as the legs of the community.

Rapid Mail Delivery Times

Using relay stations where horses and riders were changed, messages could travel from Innsbruck to Brussels in five and a half days, and from Tyrol to Rome in four days.

During their lifetime

  1. 1539

    Record of food prices in Linz

    By 1539, the price of food was recorded in Linz as 5 pfennigs for a pound of beef and 4 pfennigs for a pound of mutton.

  2. 1540

    Vienna's first plague ordinance established

    To combat the plague, Vienna established its first official infection ordinance in 1540 to organize isolation and public health measures.

  3. 1545

    Introduction of drawbar wagons

    In 1545, new vehicles called drawbar wagons (Deichselwägen) began to be used in the area above the Enns.

  4. 1565

    Danube River permanently changes course near Vienna

    Between 1565 and 1571, severe ice jams and floods caused the Danube to permanently relocate its main current to the northern Wolf arm, radically altering the landscape near Vienna.

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.