Michel Stüelers Gedenkbuch (1629-1649)

This edition of a unique chronicle from the Thirty Years War offers insights into the everyday life of the urban classes during this period. The Bohemian tanner Michael Stueler from Krupka in Bohemia kept a journal for most of his life, and the section from the years 1629-1649 has been preserved. Unlike other writers of his time, he did not leave out details of his private life, so that his work also describes aspects that we would today regard as compromising: the author's alcoholism, sexuality and aggressiveness, and his latent non-catholicism. Stüeler not only recorded matters concerning himself and his family, but also noteworthy events in his environment such as the deaths and weddings of leading citizens and his acquaintances, the births of their children, economic information (the prices of agricultural produce, climate conditions, harvests, tin mining), details of enemy incursions and imperial visits, remarks on municipal administrative activities, comments on the local and neighbouring rulers, and of course also information on crime and interpersonal relations in general.