Sauerland itinerant traders

The Sauerland itinerant traders were people who made their living by trading various goods in trading areas, some of which were far from home. The trade developed in the 16th century. During the 19th century, its importance began to wane until it completely disappeared in the first half of the 20th century. In the beginning there was the trade in rough wood, iron and steel goods from the closer region. Since the 18th century, the distribution of wooden goods from Wittgenstein and high-quality iron and steel goods from the county of Mark and the Bergisches Land was added. In particular in the scythe trade, the Sauerland traveling traders at times held almost a monopoly position.

Spatial and conceptual delimitation

The phenomenon of the Sauerland migrant traders essentially related to the upper Sauerland with expansion to neighboring areas in the former county of Wittgenstein and the county of Waldeck . In the sources and literature, in addition to the term "traveling trader", the terms "traders", "traders", "Kramer", "shopkeepers", "peddlers" and "peddlers" are sometimes mentioned. In all cases this refers to dealers who acted in direct sales with private customers. This distinguishes them from the “merchant”, “merchant” or “wholesaler” type. They had standing shops or acted as suppliers for the traders. The delimitations are typological; Transitions in both directions were possible. From the usual intra-regional peddling trade, which also existed in the Sauerland, the traveling trade is differentiated by its supraregional trade focus.

Framework

Economic geographic conditions

The upper Sauerland comprises the river basin of the upper Ruhr and Lenne to Meschede in the north-west and Schmallenberg in the south-west. In the south the ridge of the Rothaargebirge forms the border. In the east it is the current state border between North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse up to about the level of Olsberg . Historically, the upper Sauerland essentially comprises the old Medebach office and the so-called Grund Assinghausen (before 1800) and the southern part of the old district of Brilon (after 1815).

Winterberg around 1800. The illustration shows a heather-like landscape, especially for charcoal burning, after the forests have been cleared

This is the highest area in the Sauerland and western Germany. All places are more than 400 meters above sea level, some are even over 700 meters high. The area is quite barren: poorly productive slate soils, deeply cut valleys, a climate rich in precipitation and short vegetation periods characterize the landscape.

Because of this, settlement remained very low until the 20th century. The settlements mainly consist of villages in a protective valley location. There are also the small towns of Winterberg , Hallenberg and Medebach .

The area was mostly on its own. Its economic potency was quite small. There was hardly any economic promotion until the 19th century. The roads were also in an extremely poor condition up to this point.

Sources of income on site

At the end of the 19th century, 88% of the farms in the Brilon district could not feed their owners - compared to 69% in the entire Kingdom of Prussia . The soil essentially only allowed the cultivation of oats, wheat did not thrive at all and rye and later potatoes only poorly. In addition to the unfavorable geographical conditions, an important reason was the fact that smallholders predominated. This forced their owners to take on sideline jobs. The relationship could be reversed and agriculture became a sideline. A social differentiation between smallholders and day laborers or people without a permanent job was largely absent. Typical branches of employment developed in the villages, such as haulage companies, nail forges, wood goods production and the peddler trade.

Legal and social position of the population

Personally, the majority of the farmers in the upper Sauerland were free. Of course, this applies to the population in cities throughout. The change from the country to the city was therefore hardly hindered, and there were various family relationships with one another. The right of inheritance was pushed back by the real division since the late Middle Ages , when there was more land than could be cultivated as a result of the desertification . During this time, so many people migrated from the countryside to the three small towns that half of the population of the Medebach office soon lived there. When the population increased sharply in the early modern period up to the Thirty Years War and then from around 1700 onwards, the real division meant that the already poorly productive country was able to contribute less and less to a living. As a result, from around the 18th century onwards, smallholder farms were by far the predominant forms of farming.

There were hardly any noticeable social differences between the farmers. The initially still existing demarcations between richer farmers and small farmers became more and more blurred due to the heavy burden of war in the 17th and 18th centuries, as the "large farmers" were burdened with higher burdens than the other farmers.

In the 18th century the population increased sharply and with it the number of leaflets . Very often these were later born farmer sons who no longer had their own farm to run. They were forced to take up other activities. Often enough they were economically more successful than those who mainly earned their living from agriculture. In addition, real estate was often more heavily taxed than income from craft or trade. This contributed to the fact that the social differences in the rural population were not particularly pronounced - unlike in the fertile Münsterland, for example.

In the upper Lennetal it was also customary to bequeath the farm to the eldest daughter. So the sons were forced from the outset to look for a living elsewhere. This led to a markedly high mobility of people.

Situation and development of the Sauerland migrant trade

General development of migrant trade

In the late Middle Ages, especially in the 14th century, there was evidence of a not inconsiderable amount of long-distance trading. Medebach and Winterberg were members of the Hanseatic League together with Brilon as a suburb . But already in the 15th century this trading activity subsided. While Medebach and Hallenberg became arable towns , there was a continuity of trade in Winterberg. One reason for this was the poor agricultural conditions in this area.

It is not certain with which goods were first traded. There is evidence that both wood and iron goods were the trade items with which traders first went on tour. The beginning of the traveling trade cannot be precisely dated. The first sources for this come from the 16th century. It is unclear whether the transition from long-distance trade to traveling trade took place seamlessly, whether both existed in parallel or whether long-distance trade ceased and traveling trade was started with an interruption.

There is no source evidence of the beginnings and development of the actual migrant trade. However, by the middle of the 18th century it had reached a considerable size. In Grönebach , around 70% of the male population were peddlers or served them as clerks. In Hildfeld it was 50% and in Niedersfeld 40%. Towards the end of the 18th century, trade fell sharply as a result of the coalition wars and political changes, and many traders had to give up their trade. Nonetheless, around 1800 a traveler reported for the new Hessian-Darmstadt sovereigns about Winterberg against the background of the poor agricultural opportunities “Despite this, the place is prosperous and trades heavily in iron and hardware. Almost all of the residents are blacksmiths, iron dealers and iron peddlers and the town itself reveals to the stranger, through its sooty appearance, the nature of its trade. However, the number of dealers initially increased due to the lack of other purchase opportunities. In addition, as the population grew, so did demand, while a lack of transport infrastructure, especially in rural areas, made it necessary for the traveling traders to visit. In the 19th century, trade also reached the quantitative height of its importance. In 1849 the official statistics in the Brilon district counted 745 traveling traders. 145 of them in Winterberg alone. Ten years later, 167 people were active there as traders. In the Hallenberg office there were 69, in the Niedersfeld office 136, in the Bigge office 161, in the Thühlen office 68, in the city of Brilon 35, in the Fredeburg office 128 and in the Schmallenberg office 74. Only those acting in Germany are included. There were also those working abroad. The authorities estimate that this would increase the general numbers by about 25%. In 1880 there were 588 in the Amt Medebach, in 1890 there were only 520 traveling traders. After 1815, the traveling trade in the Niedersfeld district increased slightly from year to year and then increased sharply between 1840 and 1860. Then it gradually decreased again until it was almost completely interrupted around 1940 and finally ended around 1950.

One of the main reasons for the decline was that the rural regions, the main sales areas for traveling traders, were increasingly being opened up by rail and other means of transport. Also in the country stood shops that offered all year round the goods that the traveling traders had previously sold.

In order to understand the traveling trade, it is important to consider the manufacture of the goods and their distribution. As a rule, the goods were initially manufactured in the same area from which they were sold. In the course of time, production and sales were spatially separated from one another. The transport of the goods was therefore of some importance. How it worked until the railway line was opened in an accessible area around 1900 will be described below.

Product groups

Wooden goods

In the 16th century, wooden molls and bowls were made in the Nordenau area , which were then sold by traders. At the end of the 17th century, the nobleman Caspar Christian Vogt von Elspe describes the Winterbergers as “wooden jubilarians” who “acted with wooden truth and honored this figure”. In the Winterberg head tax list from 1717, two brothers can still be found who traded in wooden dishes. Most of the merchants, however, made their living with completely different goods.

From the middle of the 18th century, the traveling merchants increasingly obtained their wood products from the neighboring communities in the county of Wittgenstein-Berleburg ( Girkhausen , Wunderthausen , Diedenshausen , Alertshausen , Wingeshausen and Wemlighausen ). Above all, the peddlers from Fredeburg and the surrounding area succeeded in bringing the manufacturers of wood products into economic dependency. These were so poor that they were forced to manufacture wooden products all year round. When the prices for wooden goods fell around 1830, attempts were made in Fredeburg to set up a "mechanical wooden goods factory". However, this could no longer stop the decline in sales, so that the Fredeburg traveling merchants also switched to other goods, especially textiles and fire sponges.

In the 19th century, the manufacture of wood products was concentrated in the area around the Kahler Asten , above all in the so-called Höhendörfer , but also in the lower-lying villages of Düdinghausen and Siedlinghausen . Wooden goods were spoons, jars for butter, salt and coffee, butter jars, salt mortars, soap pots, as well as items for agricultural use such as throwing shovels and butter churns . There were also barrel cranes for innkeepers, winemakers and breweries as well as cans for pharmacies. For a long time it was sold exclusively by Sauerland traveling traders. The main sales area was the Netherlands.

From around 1830 the production of wood products fell sharply because "substitute items" made of earthenware, enamel and sheet metal were now hardly expensive. Around 1850 there was little trade in wooden goods. There was another upswing around 1880, when two factories were set up in Oberkirchen and Siedlinghausen which operated the manufacture of turned and milled wood products. The distribution was no longer carried out by merchants, but by wholesalers. In the 20th century there were still a few wooden merchants who were very poor and only traded in the Sauerland and neighboring areas.

Iron goods

Iron smelting and iron processing can be proven in the upper Sauerland since the late Middle Ages. Since the end of the 17th century, the Assinghauser Grund began manufacturing small iron goods such as scissors, knives, axes, scythes and, above all, nails for domestic production. These items were sold to Sauerland traders. Some of the nail smiths were also traveling traders themselves. From around 1830 at the latest, the economic situation of these small producers deteriorated because the production of domestic iron was no longer competitive compared to iron from England and the Ruhr area. This apparently also applied to iron products that were manufactured in the factory. As a result, these small manufacturers got more and more economic hardship. Nevertheless, nails were manufactured in the upper Sauerland until around 1940. The focus of the trade was Bruchhausen near Olsberg .

The iron goods trade was the most widespread among the traveling traders and had a long tradition. This trade can be documented for the 19th century, but it is probably much older.

The trade in hardware that is not produced in the local area seems to have started early. It is clearly pronounced from the middle of the 18th century. Apparently, up to this time, the Brandenburg scythe production was mainly sold by Bergische merchants and then initially by Brandenburg merchants. In any case, the producers did not sell their products themselves. Around the middle of the 18th century, traveling merchants from Winterberg appear in the sales registers of the Harkort company in Hagen as buyers of scythes and cutting knives from Enneperstraße . Around 1780 there are two traveling traders from Deifeld and Oberschledorn among the customers of this company.

Around 1800, Winterberg traders had established themselves as buyers of scythes. In 1835 almost all traders from the Sauerland obtained their goods from the factories of the former county of Mark and the Duchy of Berg, mostly from Solingen and the Hagen area. Around this time only knives with staghorn handles from local production in Schmallenberg were apparently sold by traveling traders.

Around the middle of the 19th century, the traveling traders from Sauerland seem to have developed into the most important buyers for the products of the Brandenburg scythe factories. Gradually a dependency on the traveling traders developed, which increased more and more until the end of the century. One important reason was that the scythe manufacturers from the Rhineland and southern Germany were also interested in selling their goods through the Sauerland traveling traders.

Until around 1850 the traveling traders visited their producers to conclude contracts in their production facilities. Then the producers came to the traveling traders in their hometowns in order to conclude contracts there. Winterberg has developed into the most important "trade fair location". They met for the Jakobi fair (July 25th) because at this time most of the traders were there. The producers and their representatives came from Northern Germany, the Grafschaft Mark and the Bergisches Land, from the Rhineland, from Berlin and the Sophienhammer in Müschede . The negotiations took place over a period of three to four weeks. Due to the fierce competition, the dealers often managed to get very good purchase prices and conditions. In addition to Winterberg, there were the “secondary exhibition locations” Assinghausen, Niedersfeld and Siedlinghausen. Here the negotiations took place in winter between Christmas and January 6th (Epiphany).

The establishment of an association of scythe manufacturers in 1898 was able to slowly improve the unfavorable situation of the producers. Until 1916 almost all north German scythe manufacturers were organized there. In return, the steel merchants founded the "Association of scythe and steel merchants of the Upper Sauerland" in 1911. There was a unique attempt to get back on more favorable terms by means of a peddler strike. Because not everyone took part, it was only partially successful. After all, the producers refrained from further price increases. There were price agreements with the southern German and Austrian competitors.

After the First World War , the scythe manufacturers tried to revive the trade, which had been badly shaken by the war, by paying every trader a start-up capital of 100 marks when he went back to trading. There was also an interest-free loan to buy goods. Nonetheless, other forms of distribution and dispatch are gaining acceptance. The establishment of standing shops and an improvement in the transport infrastructure contributed significantly to this. So the Sophienhammer, which in 1930 still handled 75% of its production via Sauerland traveling traders, remained rather a special case.

The importance of the Winterberg Jakobi-Messe expired around this time. The attempt to set up a "fair" in 1934 was only an unsuitable short-term attempt by the Nazis to better monitor business deals in this area. In addition, from 1933 they introduced a compulsory organization of the scythe dealers, largely unsuccessfully. Shortly before the Second World War , all visits by representatives to traveling traders were banned.

Textile goods

Textile goods were mostly made of linen or wool . The cultivation of flax was important for the production of linen, but due to the unfavorable climatic conditions it was of poor quality and was no longer cultivated towards the end of the 19th century. The main focus of the linen house industry in the upper Sauerland was the communities Bigge and Assinghausen .

For their own use of wool and woolen goods, a large number of residents in the villages and towns had their own sheep. A few have owned larger flocks of sheep. In 1662 there were three sheep farms in Hallenberg with a total of 1582 sheep. Cloth makers, woolen cloth makers and wool weavers can be identified here in the 17th and 18th centuries. In Winterberg in 1717 a man traded wool and sheep. There were over 600 sheep here around 1836. The surplus of wool was partly sold to Meschede , a place with an old wool weaver tradition. Otherwise, wool was processed from home, especially in the villages around Bödefeld, Winterberg and Medebach, into stockings, vests and jackets.

Originally, textiles in the upper Sauerland were mainly produced for personal use. So it is not surprising that in the 18th century there was only a small trade in textiles from the upper Sauerland, which were made in domestic domestic industry. The corresponding peddlers came from Hildfeld , Niedersfeld and Winterberg at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century . After all, there were eight cloth dealers here in 1784, five of which were expelled as linen dealers.

The production of textiles in the upper Sauerland seems to have increased more strongly only after 1815. Some of the goods were made in home workshops and some in factories. The trade in knitwear and woolen goods spread quickly, as this opened up extremely profitable opportunities. From around 1830 the trade in woolen goods (especially stockings) experienced an upswing, through peddlers from Fredeburg and the surrounding area, from the villages of the Ruhr Valley and occasionally from Altastenberg. For example, after 1830, Fredeburg peddlers bought stockings at the Bödefeld industrial school . The upswing in the textile trade probably also contributed to the fact that at about the same time the sales opportunities for wooden goods fell sharply. It was around this time that the first stocking-knitting factories appeared in Fredeburg and Schmallenberg.

Around 1850, like the iron producers, textile manufacturers began visiting Sauerland traders. These "fairs" seem to have happened in such a way that the producers presented their collections in restaurants or visited the dealers in their private homes. The company representatives came mainly from the Münsterland, Rhineland, Wuppertal and Kassel. Until the end of the 19th century, the conditions were very favorable for traders.

From 1890 onwards, local textile producers faced strong competition from the penal institutions, who were able to produce considerably more cheaply. Temporary attempts were made to eliminate this competition through better quality, but without lasting success. There was also competition from Saxony and southern Germany. Around this time, sheep farming as well as weaving and knitting in house production were given up in the upper Sauerland.

The dealers, on the other hand, were faced with devastating competition in the long run due to a constant increase in shops and the mail order business, which was made possible by the expansion of the transport and postal network and which was then increasingly simplified. After the First World War, customers increasingly placed their orders by mail and rail. In addition, there was the introduction of a 10% import duty on textiles, which the Netherlands introduced in 1895 and thus hit the main sales area of ​​the Sauerland traders. Many textile traders therefore switched to trading in hardware.

Other goods

Around 1776 the main part of the trade in iron goods took place from the Medebach office , followed by textile goods. In addition, luxury goods (tobacco, snuff, coffee) were widespread. Around this time a so-called "Tubackspänner" can be found in Winterberg, a producer of cigars and other tobacco products.

From the 18th century, sponge can be identified as a commercial good. Fire sponge was used as a tinder and wound sponge as a hemostatic agent. In the 19th century, trading with this was the most important branch of business in Fredeburg. The tree sponge was extracted on site using the so-called "sponge dumpers". The sponge soon became scarce in the Sauerland, so that it was imported from Sweden and Austria-Hungary. The processing continued in Fredeburg, the distribution was mainly carried out to southern Germany. A clear decline was caused by the introduction of matches from around 1840. But in 1888 there was evidence of a Fredeburg sponge processing.

Before 1830 there were hardly any traveling traders in haberdashery and junk goods. Until then, it was understood to mean small, cheap items such as thread, ribbon, buttons, thimbles, pencils and the like. The product group has increased in importance since the decline in the timber trade. From 1850 onwards, you can see the combination of rough ironware and junk goods. The junk goods were bought from large cities in the trading area, such as Berlin, Breslau, Hamburg. The term "junk" was taken very broadly around this time. In an official order from 1840, this included all goods made of wood, brushes, turned goods, baskets, sieves, carved goods, tobacco pipes, toys, faience, porcelain, earthenware, buttons, knives, needles, thimbles, pencils, gaiters and perfumeries. This detailed definition was based on the reduction in the trade tax that is usual for other goods. The softening of the term, however, means that the development of trade in relation to these products in the 19th century is difficult to understand. From around 1900 the junk trade declined rapidly. Junk goods were only secondary items in the textile trade.

Haberdashery goods were fashion and jewelry (fans, handkerchiefs, finger rings and earrings, brooches, combs and the like). After 1904, peddlers were banned from trading because customers were assumed to be defrauded.

Differentiation from merchants according to goods

Peter Höher does not consider the other traders to be traveling traders. An important difference to the horse dealers was probably that they went to trade fairs with the horses. An important area in northern Germany, where the horse traders bought the horses, was Friesland. There were the most valuable horses in all of Germany. Ebsdorf in Hessen was an important horse fair .

In addition, there seem to have been merchants who supplied the residential area of ​​the traveling traders, i.e. the upper Sauerland, with goods. Here, for example, the wine merchants should be mentioned, as well as lederhosen merchants and salt merchants . In any case, these groups of traders can be found in the head treasure tables of 1717 and 1784.

Legal forms of trade

Hiking pass from Conrad Schröder from Bödefeld dated September 30, 1844

Most of the Sauerland traders were so-called foreign peddlers. They did not manufacture the goods they were selling themselves. There were probably dealers who were dependent on the producer, but that seems to have been the exception. It was not until the end of the 19th century that there were four wool and knitted goods manufacturers in Winterberg and Niedersfeld, who employed a total of 10 dependent dealers. However, these mainly supplied business people and only to order. Rather, they were traveling salesmen with sample collections.

The most important legal form was that of the single peddler. These were "loners" who occasionally wandered through the country with an assistant (who did not act independently). An assistant could, if he had enough experience and courage, become a solitary peddler himself. There were also “companies”, associations of independent and mostly equal peddlers. They can be traced back to at least the 19th century, very early in Winterberg and Fredeburg. These companies were widespread among the iron and steel merchants. Their size ranged from two to six people. There were often family companies. In the textile traders in the 20th century, mostly father and son traded together. These companies broke up when the father left for health reasons.

There were also "columns", groups of wage vendors who were employed and paid for by one or more independent traders. These were called "servants", "assistants" or "goods carriers". The transition to the self-employed trader was also possible here if the wage peddler himself had demonstrated sales talent. Not everyone was a trader. Young men often went abroad with experienced traders to test their negotiating skills. If it succeeded, it could mean independence, prosperity and reputation in the home town in the long run.

By 1820 most of the columns consisted of two to three men. As a rule, they got larger during the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the columns were four to five men strong. The largest columns, probably exceptions, were 20 to 30 men. These were mainly iron dealers. At the beginning of the 19th century there were columns of up to five people among the timber merchants. Around 1900 the timber traders usually went alone, presumably because of the low profit margin. Textile traders usually moved alone or with partners. They have had assistants from their own families before. It was not until around 1930 that they had assistants from the trading areas. Until then, they came exclusively from the upper Sauerland.

Before 1800, it appears that traveling trade was not taxed. The first time peddlers were taxed in Prussia was from 1821. The maximum tax rate was 12 Reichstaler per year. Not everyone had to pay this rate, for example the merchants with earthenware, who were usually very poor. Taxation was tied to a trade license, which not every trader acquired by any means, as controls on the part of the state were difficult to carry out for a long time.

Commercial areas and customers

The individual trading areas are difficult to identify. But there seem to have been traditional trading areas. For the Winterbergers, one of these areas was West Friesland in the 18th and 19th centuries . There were many family ties to Leeuwarden , as documented by the church records of the Catholic parish in Winterberg. Thereafter, another important trading area was Holstein .

In 1772 Kortrijk can be identified as a branch of Westphalian, presumably Sauerland, scythe dealers. This was an important trading area until the 20th century. The main sales area of ​​the rather small canvas production was also the Netherlands around 1820. It seems to have stayed that way for a long time. From 1895, the Netherlands imposed an import duty of 10% on all textiles imported from abroad. As a result, the trading conditions for linen merchants deteriorated.

Linen dealers from Bigge settled in Heerenveen from 1793. They mainly sold their products in the four northern provinces of Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel, where they were welcomed. This family company initially consisted of about six family members with four servants, from the middle of the 19th century up to 17 servants.

Wooden cross of a Winterberg traveling trader living in Denmark

The Eisenhandel Winterberger trade people can be proven, for example, by means of the sales lists of the Hagen company Harkort. Around 1750, Königsberg , Danzig and Pillau were important delivery locations for the company for its products. The trading areas were therefore probably East and West Prussia. The delivery took place at the expense of the producer via Duisburg , Amsterdam and Lübeck , presumably by ship over rivers and the sea. A hardware dealer from Oberschledorn presumably had this company deliver Sensen overland to Berlin . Its sales areas were probably around Berlin in Brandenburg.

Around the middle of the 19th century, the traders from Bödefeld seem to have mainly supplied Belgium and the Netherlands, those from Fredeburg to the Rhineland and the Lower Rhine, and those from Silbach, Grönebach and Hildfeld to Pomerania, Posen, Silesia and Schleswig-Holstein with their goods . The Hildfelder acted just like those from Elkeringhausen in Austria-Hungary up to the Banat , in Russia and in Bavaria. Niedersfeld junk and hardware dealers traded in Holland, Württemberg, Baden and Bavaria. In contrast, the cloth merchants traveled to Märkische (in the Iserlohn and Hagen districts) and the Rhineland. Scythe dealers from Siedlinghausen migrated to northern France and Belgium. The timber traders from Nordenau, Altastenberg and Lenneplätze moved to Münsterland, the Netherlands and East Frisia. At the end of the 19th century the sales areas were in the north, east and center of Germany. They were particularly well represented in the agricultural Prussian provinces of the East Elbe. In addition, Denmark and Holland played a role as sales areas.

Usually the scythe dealers had to visit more areas than the other dealers, as the same farmers did not need new scythes every year. Unlike the traders from Wittgenstein, who all moved to the same areas and created great competition for each other, the Sauerlanders seem to have made agreements on trading areas early on. So it came about that the Wittgensteiners lost to the Sauerlanders. Apparently towards the end of the 19th century this division of areas no longer existed in a strict form because increasing competitive pressure forced a switch to “neighboring areas”. Nevertheless, one seems to have continued to strive for territorial agreements in order to alleviate the competitive pressure.

In the 20th century, trade regulations abroad became unfavorable for peddlers, mainly because of the declining reputation of the German Empire in neighboring countries. Especially from 1933 onwards, trade there soon came to a standstill. At the beginning of the Second World War it was reported that the Sauerland merchants had moved with scythes and haberdashery to Silesia, Pomerania, Bavaria and even as far as Holland. The invasion of the Wehrmacht in the Netherlands in May 1940 put an end to this, however.

The main buyers for all goods were the rural residents. In East Germany these were mainly farm workers and Polish seasonal workers. The scythe wear contributed to a predictable demand. As a rule, a new scythe was needed every 2-3 years. An important, if not decisive, sales argument was the quality of Solingen steel goods. However, the spread of the mower from around 1920 onwards severely restricted the customer base.

Transport of goods

Since the traveling traders were often on foot, they could only take a few goods with them. Having your own wagon was uneconomical, if only because of the poor roads for a long time. The railway was only available from the second half of the 19th century. Therefore traders often had warehouses in the trading area. For example, in the 18th century, Winterberg scythe merchants had the iron manufacturer Harkort transport their hardware to a destination at his expense.

The traveling traders carried at least some of the goods with them. In this case, an important means of transport was the box. It was a light, about 1 meter high wooden box with drawers on the side. This is where the term “Kiepenkerle” or “Kastenmänner” comes from to describe the traveling traders. This means of transport does not seem to have been a specialty of the Sauerland peddlers.

These boxes were abandoned as soon as they specialize in scythes and sickles. These were wrapped in waterproof oilcloth, leather or rubberized linen. Placed on top of one another, an elongated package was created, called a violin ("Vigeleyne"), which was placed over the shoulder like a gun. Smaller parts such as knives or scissors were packed in suitcases or backpacks.

The timber merchants kept the box until the end. The linen traders gave up the box in favor of a linen sack by the end of the 19th century at the latest.

Horses and wagons were uncommon until the end of the 19th century, because those who used them had to pay a higher rate of trade tax. In addition, the maintenance costs made it an expensive means of transport. Therefore only dealers with iron, steel, textiles, junk and haberdashery use this. In order to reduce operating costs, the wagon remained in the trading area. Local innkeepers or farmers were allowed to use it in return for the maintenance costs.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the bicycle became very popular as a means of transport. It was affordable, easy to transport and easy to drive on the train, especially in the flat areas of northern Germany. The motorcycle was added from around 1920. The use of the car, which began around 1930, was abruptly ended by the Second World War. Since there was hardly any traveling trade after 1945, it never took on the importance of other means of transport.

Warehouse

With the existing possibilities for transporting goods, only a small part of the goods could be taken. The use of warehouses was all the more important, known by dealers as “defeats”. Therefore, most of the traveling traders rented such warehouses in the trading area. Such camps can certainly be proven at the beginning of the 19th century. They probably existed much earlier, as the delivery of iron goods to the trading area in the 18th century suggests. Camps in an inn were gladly accepted. In addition to storing the goods, the warehouse often also served as an office, bedroom and lounge. An inheritance from father to son was common.

Due to the very close contact between the tradesman and the innkeeper, marriages between traders and relatives of the innkeeper were frequent. He has also already received powers of attorney, for example to accept goods or to exchange rejected goods. In some cases sales outlets developed from the warehouses of the textile dealers, and from them even permanent stores, so that the peddlers became "sedentary" business people.

Times of trade

Trading took place almost exclusively in the winter months. Winter was the best opportunity to meet customers. Customers were often farmers. During the harvest season, they often had no time for trade talks, because then they mostly worked in the fields. In winter, however, they were mostly to be found on their farm.

There was an exception at the beginning of the 19th century when beggar peddlers tried to get rid of their goods when possible. These were often old, frail people who wandered around with junk, wood or earthenware. They only sold in the vicinity of their homes.

The average trading season in the 19th century fluctuated between four months (textiles) and five months (hardware) per year. The distance between the trading areas seems to have influenced the annual trading duration. Those who acted in neighboring areas were often only on the move three to four months a year, while those who acted furthest away could be away from home for up to nine months a year. Here is the example of a trader from Elkeringhausen who traded in Austria-Hungary in 1853.

In the 20th century, with the advent of the railroad, the distance between trading areas played an increasingly minor role in the trading season. The beginning was now mostly between mid-October and Martini (11.11.), When the farm work was finished. In order to forestall the competition, the other peddlers were kept in sight. Some people then left their work and stand when the departure of individual traders became known. Individual traders felt this situation as a mobilization.

Traders without their own domestic agriculture usually stayed longer in the trading area (mostly until Pentecost). The others returned around Easter, if possible, to quickly plant the fields and then go on trading for another month or two. Over the decades, the trading season has lengthened more and more due to increasing competition. The average trading season in the 20th century for all goods was about 6 months per year. Much more did not make sense because on the one hand the customers were difficult to reach and on the other hand the expenses for food and the like were not in a meaningful relationship to the income.

It took the textile traders from Bigge two weeks to reach their destination in Friesland. They did this walk twice a year. They weren't at home from March to early August and from mid-September to Christmas. It was not until 1868/1869 that the same journey was made in two days by train.

It took a trader from the upper Sauerland five days to walk to Holland. With the expansion of the railroad, he only needed two days. Since the railway connection in Bigge-Olsberg (today Olsberg ) was established, his journey to his destination has only taken one day. A dealer traveled to Rügen by stagecoach for up to three weeks around 1890, and only two days by train around 1925. A traveling merchant from the Sauerland region who traded in Austria-Hungary took two months to migrate to Budapest in 1853.

Socio-historical aspects

The traveling traders were basically men. In the 19th century it was mostly the sons who took up the father's profession. After finishing school, they initially hiked with us as an assistant and then after some time went into business for themselves. The youngest son took over when his father retired or died. But he was also obliged to support his parents. The vast majority of the traveling traders were married and had families. There were significant differences in economic terms. A small group with a fortune of up to 30,000 marks could be considered very wealthy for the regional conditions. A far larger group, however, had far less wealth. However, almost all of them had their own house and a small farm. This was mainly operated by the female members of the household. In addition, the traveling traders paid small farmers to do camper service and similar work. For them this meant a considerable additional income and made it possible to keep their own property.

Dealer mobility

In the minds of the traders and their relatives, the time of absence had a major impact on everyday life. The extremely long distances, but also the daring of the merchants, are expressed in a short rhyme. For example, after the First World War, emergency money bills that were printed in Winterberg read: “Columbus when he went ashore, who came running? A Winterberger trader and wanted to sell him something. "

In comparison, the traders who moved to the Soest Börde were much closer and could therefore reach the trading area much faster. This is reflected in the (orally transmitted) saying: “Just go to Soest” (“just emol no Saust choän”). The distance between Winterberg and Soest is about 60 kilometers.

Secret language

The merchants often used a secret language among themselves, the “ Schlausmen ” or “Slausmen”, a mixture of Yiddish and Low German.

dictionary
term	meaning
Masematte	Merchant
Baukert	mayor
Jack	Trade license
Uskes	Public house
Krüwwe	Box of goods
Riäpp	Scythe box
Poscher	penny
Mailocher	Valleys
Goie	woman
Rüspes	straw

Sources

The sources of the history of the traveling traders are very poor. It is difficult to make quantitative statements. The city archives of Medebach and Winterberg have hardly received any documents from the time before 1800 due to devastating city fires in the 18th and 19th centuries. Hallenberg has a rich archive, but it does not seem to contain any references to long-distance trading or other trading activities. Tax lists from the 17th and especially from the 18th century are important. In the enclosed list from the Medebach Office from 1776, the trading activities are often documented. After 1815 Prussia introduced a trade tax for traveling traders (1821). Isolated business tax roles of the Brilon district have been handed down.

statistics

Office Medebach :

• 1776: 57 peddlers (including 25 hardware dealers) (based on the supplements in the villages)

District of Brilon :

• 1821: 445 traveling traders

Winterberg:

• 1717: 23 dealers (including 2 iron dealers, 3 wood goods dealers, 1 wool dealer)
• 1784: 122 dealers (including 59 iron dealers, 11 wood goods dealers, 8 cloth dealers)
• 1821: 159 traveling traders (including 6 textile traders)
• 1830: 180 traveling traders
• 1856: 170 traders
• 1895: 54 traveling traders (including 34 textile traders)
• 1913: 36 traders

Grönebach:

• 1821: 17 iron and steel goods dealers (no textile dealers)
• 1895: 47 linen, junk, wool and iron goods dealers; 19 of them deal exclusively with hardware

Silbach:

• 1821: 7 hardware dealers (otherwise none)
• 1895: 39 traveling traders (26 textiles, 13 iron goods)

Office Niedersfeld:

• 1821: 93 traveling traders
• 1856: 342 traders

Merchants

Surname	place of origin	Trading place / area	Merchandise	time	Source
Padberg Brothers	Bigge	Heerenveen, NL	Textile goods	1793	Frisia catholica
Caspar Mertens	Fredeburg	Schwelm	Wooden goods, stockings and tinder (sponge)	1809/10	Higher p. 123
Lorenz Braun	Winterberg	?	?	1821	Higher p. 132
Friedrich Dohle	Winterberg	?	Hardware	1844	Higher p. 99
Carl Sieber	Silbach	Brandenburg	?	1857	Higher p. 131
Ferdinand Schöne	Bigge	Heerenveen, NL	Textile goods	1867	Biography beautiful
Christoph Loerwald	?	Saxtorf near Eckernförde	?	?	Higher p. 160
Franz Braun	Winterberg	?	?	before 1888	Fitter box 2 p. 9
Lorenz caps	Winterberg	Sprottau	?	1889	Fitter box 2 p. 18

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Schwarze, p. 195
2. ↑ cf. Wilhelm Benkert: Economic geographic conditions, population density and settlement studies of the Ederkopf-Winterberg platform. Diss., Marburg 1911
3. ↑ Schwarze, p. 194
4. ^ Thea Enste: The economic development in the Sauerland in the 19th century. Diss. Cologne, 1923 p. 145
5. ^ Schatzmann: Entries for the history and constitution of the Duchy of Westphalia. Darmstadt, 1803
6. ^ Wilfried Reinighaus / Georg Korte: Trade and commerce in the Arnsberg, Meschede, Brilon, Soest and Lippstadt districts. In: Karl-Peter Ellerbrock / Tanja Bessler-Worbs (ed.): Economy and society in south-eastern Westphalia. Dortmund, 2001. p. 156, Enste, p. 145
7. ↑ Schwarze, p. 196
8. ↑ Schwarze, p. 195
9. ↑ Hamper, Winterberg p. 36.
10. ↑ Biography Schöne, p. 8
11. ↑ Erhard Treude: Elkeringhuaser traveling merchant in the Banat around the middle of the 19th century. In: Südwestfalenarchiv 13/2013 p. 241–250
12. ↑ Schwarze, p. 195
13. ↑ Bergenthal p. 61.
14. ↑ Biographie Schöne, pp. 10–11
15. ↑ see also Schwarze, pp. 198f.
16. ↑ Schwarze, pp. 197f.
17. ↑ H. Aukes, Frisia Catholica III, kathieke Friese geslachten, Groningen 1941, p. 75 f.

literature

• Josef Bergenthal: The Sauerland, Münster 1940.
• Alfred Bruns: Hallenberger sources and archive directories, Münster 1991.
• De Fitterkiste, History of Winterberg and its Villages, Volume 2, p. 9, p. 18.
• Klaus Hamper: Winterberg Hochsauerland. Landscape, history, customs, Winterberg without a year (1967), pp. 36–38.
• Klaus Hamper: Winterberg in Westphalia. A guide through the landscape and its history, Winterberg without a year (1948), pp. 43–46.
• Peter Höher: Home and Foreign. Wanderer from the Upper Sauerland, Münster 1985.
• Hedwig Kleinsorge. The peddlers of the upper Sauerland. Diss., Cologne 1919.
• Head treasure tables of the town of Winterberg from 1717 and 1784.
• Ferdinand Schöne: Wat een handelsman in Friesland beleefde (biography Schöne / Padberg company), Heerenveen 1930.
• Wilhelm Schwarze : The Sauerland peddler trade. In: Studies on the situation of the peddler trade in Germany. First volume. Leipzig 1898. pp. 193–206 (publications of the Verein für Socialpolitik )
• Statistical review for the Brilon district, Düsseldorf 1967.
• Ruth Tempel: The Sauerland Wanderhandel. From myth to reality. In: Kiepe, plow and vice. Economic life in the Sauerland. Arnsberg 1999. pp. 181-187.