We are still with Landgrave Ernst Ludwig in Hesse-Darmstadt. This was really quite a small principality, much too small to support the ambitions of Ludwig. The population rose from about 1,900 to more than 3,000 by 1721, due mainly to the importation of labor to build Ludwig's projects such as the opera house and the hunting lodges. At the end there was surplus labor, more than Darmstadt could support. At the same time, Ludwig undertook measures to improve the quality of work, especially that done by the Guilds. A proficiency test was required.
The largest Guilds were the shoemakers and the tailors, who were busy in wartime supplying the soldiers, but who had insufficient markets in peacetime. The butchers, bakers, locksmiths, blacksmiths, saddlers, hat makers, and building trades had more members than necessary to meet the normal demands of the population.
Average people were barred from enjoying the productions of the town opera and court orchestra; these were restricted for the pleasure of the Landgrave and the highest caste of courtiers and town fathers. Church music, including bell ringing, organ playing, and choral productions were open to wider audiences, however.
The Landgrave's sumptuous hunts, his major building programs, the opera companies, orchestra productions, and other trappings of princely life run up huge debts that tax income could never accommodate. Economically hard-pressed citizens often chose to emigrate to Hungary or other places. A local School Master was complaining by the late 1720's that so many of the locals had emigrated or sunk into poverty that his income from school taxes was shrinking fast. Immigrants' reasons for leaving included too many compulsory services, the huge and destructive hunts, and the predation of their fields by the game animals protected by the Landgrave.
The Landgrave debased the currency in an effort to make it stretch, which caused inflation and economic hardship. When Ludwig died in 1739, he left behind a debt of four million guilders. His son was as avid a hunter as his father but even poorer in financial management. The financial affairs of the state continued to drift during his reign. In the War of the Austrian Succession, the French army marched into his lands in mid-1743 and seized Darmstadt. The usual requirements for quartering troops at local expense and providing food, money, and provender were laid on the populace. Over the next two years, the lands were plundered of grain, vegetables, beets, and other food. The recently introduced potato crop was ravaged by French foragers.
(This discussion of Hesse continues in Note Nr. 1582, dated 29 January 2003 . GWD WebMaster) (27 Jan 03)
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.