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Countess Julie von Brandenburg

1793–1848

Born
4 Jan 1793, Neuchâtel
Country of birth
Switzerland
Died
27 Jan 1848, Vienna
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 · Neuchâtel

    Birth, Neuchâtel

  2. Died · Vienna

    Death, Vienna

What was it like?

The world around Neuchâtel, 1793: 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.

Countess was born around the same time as Ferdinand Raimund, Nicola Vaccai, and Luigi Legnani.

Born around the same time

  • Ferdinand Raimund

    1790 · Austrian dramatist, actor and writer (1790-1836)

  • Nicola Vaccai

    1790 · Italian composer (1790-1848)

  • Luigi Legnani

    1790 · Italian musician (1790-1877)

  • John Tyler

    1790 · president of the United States from 1841 to 1845

  • Alphonse de Lamartine

    1790 · French author, poet and statesman (1790-1869)

  • Jean-François Champollion

    1790 · French classical scholar (1790-1832)

Fashion

Everyday working attire in the Vaud region

In the Vaud region, working winemakers wore simple knee breeches, gaiters, open vests, and shirts, while women wore half-length skirts with colorful stripes and distinctive chimney-shaped hats.

Festive silk aprons in Central Switzerland

In the Central Swiss Reuss valley and lake communities, women wore aprons made of damask silk, with married women specifically choosing black versions for their outfits.

Music

Music and parades at public festivals

In Vevey, the Vignerons festival parade featured musicians, Bacchus and Ceres performers, and costumed figures, while in Estavayer, nocturnal Resurrection processions used brass instruments and torches.

Spontaneous choral and home instrumental music

Common people in Swiss villages practiced spontaneous choral singing, and ambitious schoolmasters taught instrumental lessons at home on pianos or chamber organs.

Daily life

Mirrors as expensive household items

Families often purchased mirrors that cost between seven and fourteen batz, and these were placed high on the walls to prevent accidents.

Shared lamp oil for winter economy

To save money on oil for lamps during long winter evenings, two or three families would gather in one house to share the light together.

Food

Commemorative cheeses marked family milestones

Alpine shepherds created special celebration cheeses to mark remarkable family events, such as weddings, often engraving the date and the couple's names directly onto the cheese.

Coffee became a popular breakfast drink

Coffee consumption became popular among common people, often replacing soup at breakfast, though it was considered a luxury and children were sometimes given it as well. Milk was commonly added to make it more nutritious.

Prices and wages

Daily diet of bread and soup

For many in Neuchâtel, bread and soup were the daily staples until potatoes became a widespread food source after the 1770s. Fresh meat was considered a luxury and was eaten only rarely.

Work

Child Labor and Payment in Kind

Young laborers in agriculture were sometimes paid with clothing and shoes known as doppelten Häs, consisting of two head-to-toe sets of clothing. Children also began working in cottage industries or agriculture as early as age five to support their impoverished families.

Textile Cottage Industries Were Common

Many families engaged in cottage industries, such as spinning and weaving textiles, using tools and raw materials like wool or cotton provided by merchant-employers. This work often involved the entire family, including children, and allowed rural populations to bypass guild regulations.

News and letters
Around 1798–1799

Opera-playing postmen

Postmen sometimes played opera arias on their horns to entertain people along the route, despite being reprimanded for performing such undignified music.

Insecure mail handling

Many towns lacked public mailboxes, forcing people to hand letters to agents—often innkeepers—who left mail piled haphazardly on tables for anyone to see.

During their lifetime

  1. 1798

    French invasion and Helvetic Republic, 1798

    French troops invaded Switzerland in 1798, collapsing the old Confederation and establishing the centralized Helvetic Republic.

  2. 1799

    Battles of the Second Coalition, 1799

    Switzerland became a major battlefield in 1799 during the War of the Second Coalition, with foreign armies fighting across the region.

  3. 1801

    Mechanical spinning machines introduced in 1801

    In 1801, the first mechanical spinning machines were installed in St. Gall, marking an early step in the mechanization of the Swiss cotton industry.

  4. 1802

    The Stecklikrieg civil war of 1802

    In 1802, the Stecklikrieg, or War of Sticks, broke out as a civil conflict involving federalist rebels against the government of the Helvetic Republic.

  5. 1816

    Economic crisis and emigration, 1816-1817

    Switzerland experienced significant economic crisis in 1816 and 1817, forcing many people to emigrate to find new opportunities.

  6. 1831

    Cholera epidemic of 1831

    A cholera epidemic struck the area around Vienna in 1831, causing significant mortality and leading to systematic expansions of the sewage system.

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.