The Original Cottage Industry
Henrich Leimbach lived in the right place to practice his trade in the linen-weaving industry. Langenselbold is in the Wetterau, a vast, fertile plain where flax thrives. Weaving has been called the original "cottage industry." The work was usually done in the weaver's home and involved the entire family.
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A field of flax in bloom.
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It is an elaborate process to get flax fiber into cloth:
- Seeds are planted in the spring. The plant grows to a height of about 3 feet and is usually harvested in July or August. During harvesting, the plants are pulled up by the roots and gathered into bundles. The stems are deseeded by pulling a bundle through a comb. This is called rippling. The seeds are saved for making linseed oil.
- Next, the fiber is separated from the woody stalk. This is called retting, and there are two methods, each producing a different kind of thread. Either way is a smelly process. Bundles of the stems can be tossed into a stagnant pond where the outer parts rot away. This takes a week or two. The messy result is hung up to dry. This method results in a golden or cream-colored thread. The flax can also be left in a field to let the morning dew do the same work as the pond. This takes much longer -- up to six weeks. This way produces a silver-gray thread.
- To separate the fibers from the woody part, a large mallet is used to beat the stems. The woody part -- called boon -- falls to the ground and is saved for mulch or kindling. The fibers are combed in a process called hackling. Short fibers -- called tow -- are used to make insulation. The long fibers -- line -- are used to make the linen.
- The line is put on a wheel and spun. The long thin fibers resemble human hair and must be handled carefully to keep them from tangling. The flax must also be kept moist while spinning. The finished yarn, now called linen, is stretched and boiled to set the twist put in by the spinning. Spools of yarn are mounted onto a rack next to a loom, where the weaver works his craft and produces sheets of cloth.
In the "putting-out" system that developed in Germany, a merchant -- who had already paid for the raw materials -- would gather up the finished cloth (the "put-out") and sell it. This system was an early form of merchandising: The farmer-weaver had the raw materials, and the merchant had the capital and means of distribution.
It would make a great story if Henrich Leimbach sold his cloth to merchant Johannes Lerch, who introduced the enterprising young weaver to his daughter, Barbara. But there's no evidence, so it's only speculation.
A German weaver and his family. (Bernard Winter, Die Webstube, 1896, Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Oldenburg,) |
Back to Chapter 2
Sources
Maggie Blanck. "Linen Weaving." www.maggieblanck.com/Blanck/Linen.html
Dr. E.L. Skip Knox. "Europe in the Age of the Reformation." Boise State University. www.boisestate.edu/courses/reformation/economics/manufacturing.shtml
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