The big bloodletting

The population of the Falkenstein and Rannariedl dominions were exposed to extreme war conditions in the first half of the 17th century.

In 1610/11 the Passau war people, 12’600 mercenaries, roamed the area plundering and murdering. Shortly afterwards in 1612 Wolfgang Hutsteiner had to borrow 200 Gulden from the parish of Pfarrkirchen, which is a quite large amount and equivalent to approx. 100’000 US $ today. With this sum it was possible to build up a farm again.

parish record from fiscal year 1612/13

This debt was mentioned later in a letter from Paul Grubaur, the successor of Wolfgang Hutsteiner, that his debts were a result of the wars and the war people passing through the region. So, it could have been that the Passau war people devastated the Themel Hutsteiner farm. Noteworthy to say that the place of the Hutsteiner farms is a good location for soldiers to observe the surrounding area. 

Then, in 1626 the great peasant war began here and in 1641, during the 30-years war, the Swedes stood at the gates of the parish forest and and our fellow ancestors had to built entrenchments again. Only in 1648 the 30-years war ended.

Each of these wars had a great loss of life in our main dominions, perhaps some Hutsteiner perished in these times, too.

 

entrenchment sample

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