[ . . . ] Some got away, but some were shot down and killed, and many of the women were captured and abused in all sorts of ways, and they later arrived in the city. The besieging force departed on July 10, leaving one company of cavalry and one of infantry.
[ . . . ]
The Terrible Year (1635) and the Peace of Prague
During this year, 1635, we experienced and endured a great deal of scarcity because of the war and plague, of which many thousands died and starved to death.
I have recounted above the main events of the war [in this year]. The dearth was so great that at Ulm grain rose to 13 fIorins, then up to 16, 17, even 20 fIorins. Then no grain came into the municipal granary at all, for the bakers secretly bought it all up. Rye cost 12 florins, peas 15 fIorins, oats 8 fIorins, fat and salt cost the same – between 9 and 12 batzen per pound and metzen – and a metzen of salt came very dear. At Weidenstetten [ . . . ] an Ulm metzen of salt cost 1 fIorin, a price I myself paid, as I can attest with tongue and pen, and with this chronicle. There was such terrible suffering, so bad I cannot describe it.
From this death and starvation arose an evil worse than all other evils, namely, a pestilence, and many thousands of persons died of hunger, war, and plague. The hunger, you see, drove many poor folk to eat nasty and disgusting things, indeed, all sorts of improper things, such as dogs and cats, mice and dead cattle, and horseflesh. And the flesh from dead carcasses thrown away by the renderer – horse, dog, and other animals – was taken away. Indeed, people quarreled over it and thought it fine stuff.
People were also glad to eat all sorts of plants from the fields, such as thistles, nettles, and [other plants]. Every kind of plant was favored, for hunger is a fine cook, as the proverb says. From this hunger a great pestilence and mortality arose, killing many thousand persons. Doctor Conrad Dietrich of Ulm wrote in his New Year's sermon for 1635 (4) that at Ulm more than 15,000 persons died and were carried out of the city, among them 5,672 poor folk and beggars, 4,033 peasants and strangers, and 168 foundlings. On many days 150, 160, even 170 at most were carried out. Wasn't that terrible? Yes, I believe it was the evil of all evils, for I have not only heard about it but saw it and heard it with my own eyes and ears.
About the Peace of Prague
In 1635 the emperor had beaten the Swede fairly well and driven him back, so that he decided to leave the Empire altogether, though in fact he did not leave the Empire but took up position at one end of the marshes in Farther Pomerania. At this time, the emperor made friends again with the Elector of Saxony, who had previously allied himself to the King of Sweden and been the emperor's foe.
(4)That is, the sermon delivered on New Year’s Day. The New Year’s sermon looked back on the previous year – trans.
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