The recent notes about the Guild system were inspired by Robert Rabe, a Professor of German at Chapman University. He has published two volumes of German Professions of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. He sells these and contact with him can be made at 14466 Sunrise Drive NE, Bainbridge, WA 98110.
In the last issue of German Life , a magazine, there is an article by Nicholas Corder about a group of German miners who led the way in England in developing an industrial society. The area in England in which they practiced their calling was the Lake District. The time was the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The more exact locality was Keswick. Copper was badly needed, but England lacked the expertise to mine the mineral deep underground. Besides a national need for copper, the crown earned a percentage of the minerals that were mined. Nine-tenths of the gold and silver were taken by the Crown, and lessor amounts for the other metals.
England, especially as led by the Crown, decided to turn to German miners from Franconia in Germany. These people were considered to be the best miners in the world. The Society of Mines Royal was founded as a means of enticing German experts to take over the management of mining throughout the kingdom. A group of miners from Augsburg, under the leadership of Daniel Höchstetter, arrived in the valleys around Keswick in June 1564. They very quickly found rich veins of copper. They brought with them technologies that were unknown to the Brits.
The Germans applied names they knew to the countryside, to the mines, and all aspects of the enterprise. Because the Germans kept to themselves, used their own language, and enjoyed special privileges, friction broke out between the Brits and the Germans. The local girls were not put off by the foreign language. They noted the Germans earned more. Feelings ran strongly and one German was killed.
The Germans bought an island in a lake on which to make their homes. Here they built houses, a brewery, a bake house, a pigeon cote, and a windmill. They planted a garden and orchard also. But the island was small and they couldn’t keep animals. Without them, they lacked manure for the garden and orchard. They solved this by buying manure from a nearby estate. They had to move it to the island in the winter when the lake was frozen.
There were several mines. At the largest, the facilities included the workshops, assay chambers, smelting houses, smithies, and bathhouses. It was believed to be the largest pithead in England and possibly in Europe.
(02 Oct 02)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.