This is the saddest thing I have ever read.
I have been "reading" the history of Rockenberg, my Sulzbach great-grandparents' hometown. The towns of Rockenberg and Oppershofen, 2 km away, have been intertwined for centuries, so it was on the website of the Culture and History Society of Oppershofen, http://www.marienschloss.de/arc-roc800.html, that I found Heimatbuch Rockenberg (hometown book of Rockenberg). This history was written in 1950 by Johann Jakob Gesser to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the town. You read that right, 800 years! From 1150 to 1950. Yes, people were writing down what they thought was important in 1150.
The Heimatbuch runs 376 well-sourced pages. But before you go for it, I need to warn you, it is written in German. That's why I say I am "reading" it. I copy a paragraph or two, paste it in Google Translate, and then try to combine the high school German I learned 45 years ago with what Google Translate thinks it says. So I am not at all sure I am getting the true story.
Here is a sample:
"This was believed even before the great, devastating Thirty Years' War People have to see evil omens as war reporters."
Which I translate as, "Already before the great army-something Thirty Years' War, people believed that angry omens must be seen as war-something."
So when I read further about the comet in the sky between St. Martin's Day and Christ's Day, and the Mouse Year, when half of all the wheat and grain in town was eaten up by a lot of mice, I conclude that people saw these events as signs of a terrible war coming. And they were right.
The trauma these poor people endured! And it went on for 30 years. I think what added to the trauma was that it came fairly suddenly and had no rhyme or reason. You didn't know which people were enemies, and it would seem to stop and get better only to suddenly start all over again. How many times would your house burn down before you stop trying to rebuild it?
We're fairly used to seeing lists of dead people: the Vietnam War Memorial, Officers Down Memorial Page, monuments to hometown sons killed in the World Wars. But the 30 Years' War was so devastating, when it was over, they published the names of people who survived.
Every record I've seen says, Goes back before the 30 Years' War. When I asked what that meant, it was explained that all records were destroyed in that war, and it is impossible to trace anything before then. Our ancestors the Sulzbachs and the Dietzes lived in Rockenberg before the war, so I thought I would start there to see what happened.
The 30 Years' War was ostensibly between Catholics and Protestants, but rulers changed sides based on where they could get the most power, and generals changed sides depending on who offered the most money. Europe had tons of "kingdoms," some tiny and others large, so there were a lot of rulers - princes, counts, dukes. Some kingdoms were ruled by large countries far away, like Spain ruling Holland. And the biggest "kingdom" was the Holy Roman Empire in central Europe, ruled by the Kaiser.
Friedrich V von der Pfalz, who started it by accepting the crown of Bohemia, which he had no business doing - Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt, artist
War started in 1618, but the first 2 years was only fought in Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic), so the residents of the Wetterau Valley, where Rockenberg is located, were spared. However, in March 1620, the troops of several German Counts came to where the Bishop of Mainz was staying only 3 miles away, and quartered there. By the end of September, 10,000 men and 2500 horses plundered and razed 2 nearby towns in 2 days. Then the Dutch troops came, under Prince Frederick Henry of Orange, and attacked the 2 Catholic villages again, plus one more. A few days later General Spinola, the head of the Spanish troops, along with Austrian government troops, came to 4 nearer towns. In Spring 1622 they plundered and burned again. A letter written on 15 January 1622 said that the Spanish and Bavarian warriors plundered Rockenberg and Oppershofen and set a fire on 11 January, which burned 2 barns and 2 stables.
(That was just a little taste of what was to come).
It is no wonder that the government troops of the Kaiser plundered Catholic places as well as Protestant places, because they weren't fighting for patriotic or religious reasons. They were fighting to plunder and rob. They were called the "gartende Knechte," or garden knights, and they were a big scourge in every part of the land. Not only did they steal, they also demanded money. On 5 March 1622, the Spanish demanded 3000 Reichsthalers from the people in Braunschweig and their storehouse in Butzbach, only 6 km away. Rockenberg, Oppershofen, and the plundered towns had to pay a large sum by Easter.
On 1 April 1622, the Spanish and and the cavalry from Darmstadt departed across the Rhein River at Mainz, but the inhabitants didn't have any peace from the terror of war, because Duke Christian of Braunschweig, called "The Mad Duke," planned to rescue the Pfalz region with General Ernst von Mansfeld. On their way from Westphalia they crossed the Main River into Upper Hesse, and plundered everything. General von Mansfeld was the terror of the Catholic places of the Wetterau Valley. The Count of Kassel, with 30,000 men, joined him, so all the herds of cattle between Mainz and Rockenberg were driven away, and all the Catholic places lay in ashes. The inhabitants were afraid for their lives if their houses were plundered and burned, but I am not sure if they stayed in their houses or left. During a large part of the year, the people lost their possessions and goods. One report says that 12 men left Rockenberg to become soldiers.
Rockenberg is about half-way between Mainz and Hesse-Kassel
Mad Duke Christian did not rule according to his intention. On 20 June, General Tilly beat him, and his troops fled through the Wetterau Valley. Many of his murderers drowned in the Main River, having been beaten by the farmers. New troops new sorrow! In November 1622, General Tilly quartered his soldiers in a nearby town for the winter. They enjoyed themselves stealing food. On 15 May 1623, General Tilly led his troops to Westphalia without doing any damage. During the spring and summer of 1623, Rockenberg shone, as its houses lying in ashes were rebuilt. A report from the Abbess Margarethe Krach says that in 1623 the cloister and its farm buildings were repaired.
Fall came, and General Tilly led his troops, after a victory over Mad Duke Christian, to quarter again in the same town for the winter. Plundering, thieving, burning, highway robbery, and robbery of other places happened daily; only the fields in the town centers were left alone. No farmer risked his life to go far from the town center because it was not safe. The vagabond "garden knights," leaderless people, had an outlook towards robbery, gold, and rape of women and girls. The great danger of the streets made it so that food was not supplied from the land to the cities.
The storehouse accounts in Mainz had no income in these years. This is clear in how expensive crops were. In 1624, 1 Meste of salt cost 1 gulden of gold, (a gulden being the largest coin). The poor people ate their cows. People whose lives had become so difficult exchanged their worries for a soldier's life of robbery, because they could take their wives and children with them. Kreidius, the famous preacher, said, "People left scissors, needles, awls, and strips and took the musket over the axle. It was a much more comfortable life, if one robbed the gardens and committed burglaries at night, and in daytime stole pigs, geese, and chickens from the street. Some girls ran after the calfskin and became whores." p.115
In May and June of 1625 General Tilly left the Wetterau Valley, and then King Christian of Denmark landed. But in the first years the German-Danish wars came to no conclusion. Both parties found winter quarters to strengthen their troops. On 29 September 1625, First Lieutenant Don Franzisko de Verdigo quartered in Friedberg, 5 miles away, with the understanding that his troops could take parts of the villages. Constant large invasions began. They took a lot of money from one village and brought the mayor and the Keller (storehouse manager) to Rockenberg in chains.
The danger became greater. They tied people up and beat them, even hanged them, as they pressed them for money. If the people didn't have any, they smashed the windows, ovens, and everything in the houses, or took with them everything that the farmers hadn't been able to hide or take with them when they fled. If the people didn't do what the soldiers commanded, soldiers did whatever they wanted until the demands were met. To this misery, the Plague was added in 1626, which found a good breeding ground in the starving people. "These times were so bad, that more people died out of desperation, want, hunger, and sorrow, than of old age". p. 116 On 28 March, Johann Volhard, who at one time had been the burgermeister of Friedberg, a butcher by profession, stabbed himself during the church sermon because of sorrows of war and melancholy for the future.
When the Plague came, a large part of the houses were already burnt and not completely rebuilt, so many people were together in few rooms. The residents could not withstand sickness. The death rate was so high, bones had to be dug out of graves and stored in bonehouses, so new corpses could be buried in the graves. One bonehouse stood where today's chapel stands.
After winter the Plague left, and in spring 1627 the troops left too. The people hoped for luckier days. The fields were sown in spring. This made the disappointment all the greater in the summer. A man passed through the Wetterau Valley whose crimes scream to Heaven. This terror of the Wetterau was Adam Wilhelm von Dornfurt, Baron of Gorzenich, one of General Wallenstein's officers. He brought unspeakable sorrow and misery to our place. Wallenstein freed the world from this Un-human by beheading him on October 4, 1627.
General Albrecht von Wallenstein, on the Kaiser's side - Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, artistUnfortunately there are no entries in the church books for these years, so it is not possible to get a number of the dead from the pestilence. We can get an idea from a report in an old church book from 1613 that wrote, "All sorts of things died from pestilence all over Rockenberg and other towns." p. 117 And another report from the same year said that 330 people were buried in one town between 1 and 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
As the year 1627 ended, the Danish war also came to a good end. General Tilly led his troops back over the ruined Wetterau Valley, but there was no plundering in both following years. Life began again, and the fields in the whole Wetterau were useful again.
An eighth of wheat cost 3 to 4 florins in 1630, an eighth of hay cost 1.5 florins, and an eighth of grain cost 2.5 florins.
King Gustav Adolf of Sweden
Johann Jakob Walter, artist
A new twist to the unfortunate war was brought in the Swedish-German Period. In July 1630, Swedish King Gustav Adolf landed, traveled thru Germany and struck General Tilly. He conquered cities along the Main River and threatened Mainz. Almost all the Protestant princes joined him. In a few hours, one town was overtaken and plundered, with 90 farms with barns and stables burned. The Swedes took whatever was in the monastery, but the monks had fled. Several cloisters in the Wetterau were robbed, including the Marienschloss in Rockenberg. Monks and priests who were arrested were ransomed for high amounts. But their freedom didn't last long, because the Swedes remained until 1634 as lords of the land. The monks had to leave their cloisters, and all their goods were presented to King Gustav Adolf. The Swedes set up Protestant pastors Findius in Rockenberg and Dach in Oppershofen. The cloister Marienschloss was called by another name, but the paper is too faded to read what it was.
1631 Battle of Breitenfeld between General Tilly and the Swedes
The harassment under the Swedes mainly consisted of taxes and recruitment. Looting and rioting subsided, tithes were delivered, and farming was possible. More burdensome than the taxes was the forced recruitment decreed in the Heilbronner Resolution. The nearby town of Friedberg couldn't raise the required 24 men, so they offered to pay 30 and 40 Reichsthalers. On 9 December 1633, the Swedish Chancellor announced that he was dissatisfied with the deliveries of crops and wine, and if he was still not satisfied in 14 days, military executions would begin.
On 27 August 1634, the Battle of Nordlingen broke the power of the Swedish army. As the troops from the Holy Roman Empire approached, the Protestant Princes collected various Swedish soldiers under their command. But the Protestants didn't want the Emperor's army to be able to quarter in Hesse for the winter, so they burned everything in their retreat. Bernhard of Weimar led the murder, looting, robbing, burning, shooting, stabbing, and other unheard-of excesses. More than half the Wetterau Valley was left in ashes, and both officials and their subjects were captured. More than 40 companies of Krabats, Hungarians, and Poles participated so that the skies over the destroyed Wetterau were dark with smoke, red with fire, and the air was full of howling and cries of lament. No religion, age, gender, or social standing was excepted.
woodcut of a peasant begging for mercy by his burning farm, unknown artist
The war had now lost its religious character. International mobs roamed the area. In 1634 alone, 4 armies marched through our homeland. Again the fields were not tilled. The country people subsisted on bran bread and nettles. In the spring of 1635 the Kaiser's people grew crops in the fields and took them away from the farmers. Famine arrived and brought with it the Plague again. The Plague ripped apart any line between the army and the people. At the cloister Marienschloss, a second cemetery was created for Rockenberg. Both Rockenberg and Oppershofen had no pastor. Death rates must have been very high. Abbess Anna Mailachen reported that "through pestilence the place will die and perish." p. 120 In 1635, an eighth of grain cost 12 thalers 18 florins, (whereas in 1630, it had cost not even one thaler and only 2 florins). No crops were reported that year, neither hay nor wheat.
plague victimsA later clergyman wrote, "In the 30 Years' War Oppershofen was unlucky, burned, and miserably plundered. In 1635 the Weimar troops burned down the church, parish barn and stables, except for a small section at the bottom of the rectory. By 1640 most of the buildings still standing were burned; that's why 13 men with 33 gulden moved to Rockenberg and lived there until their deaths." p. 120 (I am not sure about the 33 gulden, whether the men were worth that amount, brought that much to Rockenberg, left it in Oppershofen, or what).
I will try to translate this letter from Weygell Gest, owner of the Klappermuhle (Klapper Mill) in Rockenberg, to the Churfurst in 1637:
"Most Reverend in God/Archbishop and Elector! Your Grace has my complete and obedient service in more prosperous times. Recently I bought a small mill with a gear. And all my something were applied as payment. I have been thinking about the mill for over 2 years now, because as they withdrew, the enemy warriors became friends. I was not able to live and serve my needs. There are more remembered mills lying in the open fields and roads that were laid to waste, robbed, and plundered when they twice went through among the Hessian people. On the other hand, General Mansfeld's and the Kaiser troops that we had thought before would remain our friends, and had brought our stolen cows back home, took my beef, swine, donkeys, and everything that I had produced for my housekeeping needs.
After this, General Lamboy's people (allies of the Holy Roman Empire) attacked daily with strong parties, and took everything that at that time was supplied for stables and haymaking, as well as crops and everything on hand, and carried it away. They have also committed their malice in the remembered mills; they did not rob and loot what served them alone, but on the contrary, broke, destroyed, and laid waste to everything therein: the mill case, the incoming chute, gates, doors, and everything was destroyed. No one was permitted to take care of the mill out of great fear. I had not touched the mill in such a long time, that I couldn't use it, and this recent winter, through carpenters and joiners at great distress and cost, in hope of a piece of bread, the mill was rebuilt and directed through adversity.
Now when Your Grace's Keller (storehouse manager) demands the rent of 4 eighths of grain for 1636, and I, because of the highly harmful conditions in terrible times, and everyone is poor and can buy no crops at these expensive prices, the picture becomes bad, and I with my wife and children are in great need and hunger and poverty. Therefore, to Your Grace with obedience and diligence I plead with emotion, that you show grace to me, and of the 4 eighths of crops and grain demanded of me in peaceful times for rent, show a gracious indulgence, so that I and my poor wife and children can remain on the land, and not go after the precious bread under the foreign governor, for which the Almighty God richly reward Your Grace here and in eternity. God the Almighty grant Your Grace long health, a fortunate rule, and every prosperity.
In Rockenberg, the 21st after St. Martin's Day, in the Year of our Lord 1637, Humble and Obedient Weygell Gest, Miller and Neighbor" pp. 120-122
p. 124The year 1635 had ruined the Wetterau Valley, for the most part. In the next 2 years, the "exposed and impoverished Wetterau" p. 122 had some peace from the soldiering. Nevertheless, the poverty was great. One of Rockenberg's subsidiary Kellers complained that in the nearby towns, "Nothing has been delivered, neither fruit nor anything else." p. 122 The cellar invoices show no income, yet had expenses. Only a note shows that a few cows which had been hidden were brought back, but not enough, and cows which were robbed from the monastery were stolen back from General Lamboy's people.
At the end of 1638, Colonel Deveroux appeared with a regiment of Irish cavalry. He quartered in nearby Friedberg, and his dragoons made the area unsafe through their requisitions. Upon their withdrawal, unaffordable sums were demanded of the inhabitants for the return of the requisitioned livestock. Deveroux's Field Chaplain Carwe wrote of this in 1639, "We left with a stench. Which blessings follow us, God only knows." p. 122
There was not one instance of complete peace after the withdrawal of the Kaiser's troops. In the last phase of the war, people of all nations roamed through our homeland. An entry in the church book in Oppershofen says, "In 1640 most of the buildings remaining standing were burned. This is when the 13 men moved to Rockenberg with 33 gulden. At Pentecost, Oppershofen burned, except for about 10 houses remaining standing. It was supposedly the people from the city of Luneberg, quartered there, who did it." p. 122 There was horror left from all the troops who passed through. Often a few residents fled to the woods for a long time. They hid cattle and the last remnants of their food, which they retrieved during quiet times using secret routes. However, they were often surprised in the middle of the peace. On 18 December 1643, Abbess Anna Mailachin reported that, "Swedish Lieutenant Baltasarn with his people at midday at 12 o'clock the attack on Rockenberg happened unexpectedly, our poor monastery as well as the village, were completely plundered by the people. A few cattle had to be sacrificed without a cry, that we had kept back, along with 51 thaler that was difficult to get. We had to give up all beds, many other furniture, and other wanted items, so they were hit and ruined rather than hidden." p. 123
Another time the Kaiser's people came again, which the following report shows: "8 March 1645 - Overlord Heilmann's people plundered the village of Rockenberg and also the Marienschloss Convent, in overtaking them in such a way that not everything was burned and robbed, the church smashed, but also the young nuns were set upon with such fury that their virginal honor and lives were saved." p. 123 (I obviously don't understand this part).
The nuns, who often had to submit themselves to the cruelty of the warriors, this year were completely robbed and displaced and wandered around homeless. The heroic Father Schrenkelius looked for them in various hiding places and all possible disguises, comforted them, brought them Holy Communion, and encouraged them to persevere. The Munchwald in Rockenberg today, his secret route, reminds us of his sad mission. On such a walk he was taken by his pursuers and dragged through the Wetter River. He lay on the bank until, after a slow recovery, he was able to drag himself along again. Then a nobleman took him prisoner and charged a ransom of 1000 ducats. When he explained that he couldn't pay such a sum, they tore off his beard and pulled a noose around his neck so that his eyes popped in front of his head. They left him hanging by one foot, tore off his clothes, and left him to the cruelty of violent people. The Father withstood all suffering and, after recovery, returned to his service.
The years 1643 and 1645 were probably the death blow to most places in the Wetterau Valley. For 1646 the Keller registers say that again no grain came in, while all crops were taken away by the warriors.
Signing of the Peace of Munster, 30 January 1648, by Gerard ter Borch
The Peace Bells of 1648 could not ring away the great misery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhenish_gulden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florinhttps://www.britannica.com/money/coin/Germany-and-central-Europe#ref302329
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