Aachen fine cloth

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Aachen fine cloth (German : Aachener Feintuche) [1] is an old, fine, and high-quality fabric made of pure wool from the late Middle Ages in Aachen, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. [2] [3] The city's industrial importance stemmed from its status as a center of high-quality cloth production. [4] Aachen fine cloth diminished around the turn of the nineteenth century due to guild restrictions. [5] Georg Forster, the German Journalist, documented his Rhineland journey in 1790 and wrote, "proportionately, Burtscheid employs more operatives in the manufacture of cloth than Aachen. The largest factory there belongs to Mr. Loewenich and consists of spacious and well-constructed buildings." Forster also remarked on the quality of the fine cloth and the general prosperity and growth that this unregulated industry had experienced in the past decades. [5]

Contents

Aachen was the main woolen center in the Rhineland. [5]

Industry

Aachen was the site of one of Charlemagne's palaces and the main coronation site of Holy Roman Emperors from the Middle Ages through the Reformation. [6] During the late Middle Ages, Aachen was one of Europe's main industrial centers for making woolen cloth. [3] However, in the early modern period, it could not keep its status and compete with England and other rival centers because of its rigid guild institutions and illiberal political structure. [3] In the late 17th century, people in trade moved away from Aachen to the countryside and nearby places like Burtscheid, Leiden, Eupen, Forst, and also to Monschau, also known as Montjoie. [3]

While the Duchy of Berg's industry flourished in an unrestricted economic and social environment, it expanded into new territory. Aachen kept being an industrial city in the old way. [7] :226 The majority of the Aachen fine cloth industry was reliant on distant markets. [8] Cloth manufacturing was done in the neighboring countryside in the 18th century. [2] :180

The Aachen fine cloth industry thrived where there was no guild influence but withered gradually when it came under guild control. [7] [9] Bernard Schiebler, the founder of the Montjoie industry and the lower Rhine region's second wealthiest person with 680000 thalers, also attributed Montjoie's success in fine cloth to Aachen's strict guild structure. [9]

See also

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Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.

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References

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  2. 1 2 Kisch, Herbert (1989-07-27). From Domestic Manufacture to Industrial Revolution: The Case of the Rhineland Textile Districts. Oxford University Press. p. 175. ISBN   978-0-19-536405-7.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Tilly, Richard H.; Kopsidis, Michael (2020-10-26). From Old Regime to Industrial State: A History of German Industrialization from the Eighteenth Century to World War I. University of Chicago Press. p. 42. ISBN   978-0-226-72557-4.
  4. Commons, Great Britain Parliament House of (1908). Parliamentary Papers. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 39.
  5. 1 2 3 Kisch, Herbert (1964). "Growth Deterrents of a Medieval Heritage: The Aachen-area Woolen Trades before 1790". The Journal of Economic History. 24 (4): 517–537. ISSN   0022-0507.
  6. "Aachen | Germany, History, Map, Population, Cathedral, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-12-21.
  7. 1 2 Society, Economic History (1974). Essays in European Economic History, 1500-1800. Clarendon Press. p. 247. ISBN   978-0-19-877054-1.
  8. Hiemstra-Kuperus, Els (2016-04-01). The Ashgate Companion to the History of Textile Workers, 1650–2000. Routledge. p. 215. ISBN   978-1-317-04429-1.
  9. 1 2 Kriedte, Peter; Medick, Hans; Schlumbohm, Jurgen (1982-01-28). Industiarlization before Industiarlization. CUP Archive. p. 189. ISBN   978-0-521-23809-0.