“Halle has never been an agricultural town,” says speaker Wolfgang Schindler, who deals intensively with the history of the entire county of Ravensburg. However, when researching the merchants in Bielefeld, he found a wealth of information about the Hall merchants and their special feature: Löwendlinnen.
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This linen, which is coarser than the fine Bielefeld linen, was spun and woven in large quantities in Halle and was the most important trade item between 1670 and 1850.
In his lecture, Schindler addresses production and use, exports and extensive trade connections at the time, as well as the Hall merchants involved. He also talks about problems and crises in retail, because “in times of crisis, the density of deliveries is particularly high.”
There is information about the respected Hagedorn family and the Kisker and Brune families as well as other merchant families. Families in which the entrepreneurs’ widowed wives sometimes ran the business. Reports on how the whole of Halle had to do directly or indirectly with the Löwendlininnen round off the lecture.
The lecture is a cooperation between the Haller ZeitRäume and the Historical Association for the County of Ravensburg and the VHS Ravensburg. “The county of Ravensberg is much more than the regional center of Bielefeld,” says Dr. Bernhard Suermann, head of the Medieval and Early Modern Working Group at the Historical Association, “and I am pleased that such a well-researched lecture about the unusually high density of merchants in Halle can take place in a historical setting.”
Stefan Kuntze, head of the VHS Ravensberg, based in an old merchant’s house in Hall, is happy to invite you to the exciting, approximately 90-minute historical excursion in the coach house. “Desire for home” has been a theme in the VHS for a long time, he says, and it can be seen that people have a great interest in the history of their homeland.
“Trade and merchants from 1600 to 1850” will take place on November 14, 2024 at 7 p.m. in the Remise hall in Halle. Registrations are not required.
