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More diaries of our favorite 18th-century Prussian diary-keeper have been unearthed and have been synopsized!

January 18th: Blessed be thou to me! Under your light, my Prince Heinrich was born!

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From:

selenak

One of the ways Hagendorf and his wife support themselves when the plunderings are slim and the cash from the army is non existent is this way:

On the way, we were doing badly A pound of bread was a head piece, a measure of salt three Gulden, a measure of wine three Taler, a pound tobacco six Taler, a pair of shoes three Gulden. Peas, beans were our best meal in this time. I myself and my wife had enough bread, though. We were even able to sell some, for we made ourselves a mill out of two grindstones and dug into the earth to make an oven and baked bread.

Sometimes, the Hagendorf gets separated because one of them is ill (or pregnant), like this:

On April 9th, my wife was delivered of a young daughter. She got baptized here in Tirschenreuth in the Oberfallz near the Bohemian Forest. Her name is Barbara. God grant her long life.
On the 12th we went to Waldsassen, then Cham and to Straubing at the Danube. When I came to Straubing, the Colonel was gone already, to Ingolstadt. So my quarters were gone as well.
From Straubing to Paring. At Paring, my wife got sick, and had such pain in her thights that I could not bring her with me. I had to let her lie at Paring, with the judge there, who was my good aquaintance. I went with the colonel to Ingolstadt. There I got my quarters at an ale inn.
The wife with the child and the horse remained at Paring. After fourteen days, I went there again, and got them. She still could not walk, so I sat her on the horse and led her. I travelled like Joseph in Egypt. I had left her on April 16th, and picked her up again on April 30th. She could not go further as where I carried her.
On May 19th in the year 1641
my daughter died at Ingolstadt.
The good lord grant her a merry resurrection.
Barbara

On the 24th I had to sell my horse. It was worth 24 Gulden, for I needed the money here. On May 26th I approached the town master because of my wife, and pleaded for her, so he took her in. But this needed money, for she was like a cripple. She could walk only with two crutches. For seven weeks. But the executioner's wife who bathed her regularly managed to make her healthy again after seven weeks.

Eventually, one of the Hagendorf kids survives beyond the baby stage, and Peter Hagendorf is able to pay for his schooling, leaving the boy with a schoolmaster in a secure (as secure as you could get in this war) area so the kid gets a good education. Which was important to him. You can tell Peter Hagendorf made it to the ranks among other things by the way he's able to list godparents for his later children, and they are officers and officer's wives. When the war is finally over, the famiily reunites. The diary breaks off suddenly shortly after the war, so Jan Peters in the original edition wasn't sure whether the diarist managed to adjust to civilian life, but later research which was able to identiy the diariest as Hagendorf was also able to tell he became a mayor in the place he finally settled down. We don't know whether his second wife was still alive then, since it's no longer covered by the diaries, and the church register entries in towns were only starting to get reestablished. But that Hagendorf made it through the entire war and found despite all the tragedies some personal happiness was certainly the exception, not the rule.

From:

cahn

We were even able to sell some, for we made ourselves a mill out of two grindstones and dug into the earth to make an oven and baked bread.

Heh, that's kinda neat.

On April 9th, my wife was delivered of a young daughter...
The wife with the child and the horse remained at Paring. After fourteen days, I went there again, and got them. She still could not walk, so I sat her on the horse and led her. I travelled like Joseph in Egypt. I had left her on April 16th, and picked her up again on April 30th...
On May 19th in the year 1641
my daughter died at Ingolstadt. .

ARGH. You could not pay me enough to live in the past, especially as a woman!! part seventeen million. (Yeah, and when I had my first kid I also could barely walk after a couple of weeks, and that was without getting sick!) But also, all those dead babies :(

but later research which was able to identiy the diariest as Hagendorf was also able to tell he became a mayor in the place he finally settled down.

I'm glad he made it through! But wow.

From:

mildred_of_midgard

We were even able to sell some, for we made ourselves a mill out of two grindstones and dug into the earth to make an oven and baked bread.

There are so many neat details here!

so the kid gets a good education. Which was important to him.

That makes sense, since Hagendorf was more educated than the average soldier (which is why we have a diary from him at all).

And at least per Wikipedia, oldest surviving son Melchior Christoph becomes a judge and church leader, and one of the largest landowners in the area, so that education must have paid off.

But that Hagendorf made it through the entire war and found despite all the tragedies some personal happiness was certainly the exception, not the rule.

Yeah, definitely. Just surviving those two bullets was something!

This was extremely educational and interesting, thanks so much for the write-up, Selena! <3