ENSAYOS DE ADHESIÓN EN DUPLAS:

An assessment of old age is a complex and highly subjective matter and we should not assume that all aged applicants viewed the onset of old age as the primary cause of their plight. In some instances the petitioner seems to have regarded their age as an incidental factor and they attributed their desperate situation to other physical causes. Examples exist throughout the period of study. In the 1577 correspondence relating to Adam Bingel from StorckelhauBen, he deemed himself to be ‘a poor, old, lame man without means’ who had always supported himself and his children through hard work [harte, saure und schwere

arbeit]. When however his ‘age and inability [unvermogeriy meant that he was

See also Rosenthal, Old, pp. 106 - 107. Borscheid, Geschichte. p. 1^.

no longer able to undertake such activities, he turned instead to herding cattle, and had been employed in this way by his neighbour for quite a number of years. His age did not, therefore, prevent him from working, but merely ensured that he altered his career to fit in with his physical capabilities. Bingel presently found himself unable to undertake even this employment as a cow-herd. The reason for this was not, however, specifically connected to his age, but rather to misfortune. As a result of ‘a darned fall [mistlichen fa liy he was now ‘completely lame in one arm’, and could no longer work."^^

In comparison, although Johannes Bretzen (from Obern Urff in Borken) was seventy years of age when he applied to Haina in 1709, the accompanying report from Abraham Kuhn, the treasurer (Rentmeister) of Borken did not dwell on this fact. Recounting a conversation that he had had with the applicant, Kuhn stressed Bretzen’s other (unrelated) physical incapacities. (Interestingly enough, the following conditions were summarised in the hospital official’s comments as

‘gebrechlich\ reiterating once more the catch-all nature of this term.) Some

years previously, Bretzen had been involved in ‘some accidents’. A dung-cart had run over his right leg and, ‘at Siberderoda [sic], where he had at the time been herding sheep’ he had broken his left leg in two. He had lost his hearing, and had no-one to care for him - his three sons had been killed in military service. While not the primary cause of his misfortune, it would appear that Bretzen’s advancing years had placed an added strain upon an already tenuous situation. He could not envisage how he would be able to support himself in the future, and thus offered to pay his final 10 Reichsthaler to the hospital in return for being accepted as an inmate."^"^ An accident had thus prevented him from continuing in the one line of employment that his age left open to him.

Similarities are also evident in the 1739 application of Jacob Rohleder (from LobenhauBen in the district of Milsungen). Once again, the official’s summary reduced Rohleder’s plight to that of ‘old age, poverty and impotence

{gebrechlichkeity. Rohleder signed himself as a ‘poor, suffering {elender),

impotent subject’. Landgrave Wilhelm by contrast, added that Rohleder ‘ [is] a

LWV, Bestand 13. Reskripte, 1577. '"Ibid, 1709.

really poor man who is burdened with two severe ruptures {starcken hruchenf.

Jacob’s report offers much more detail regarding the actual nature of these infirmities. It is clear that while his advanced age was not seen as the prime cause of his physical misfortune, it had exacerbated an existing situation to such an extent as to render him unable to cope. Describing himself as a ‘poor, old, impotent, seventy-two year old man’, Jacob explained that ‘for the past fifty years [he had been] really burdened on both sides with a secret [or internal?] hurt

\mit heimlicher schaderi\\ As a result of these ‘injuries’, Jacob had been ‘unable

to hold back ... [his] urine’. Added to this, he stated: ‘in my advanced old age

[hohen alter] [I] have no food and as a result of the great and arduous weakness

... [I am] also unable to earn even the smallest amount of money [keinen heller

verdienen kann], [I] also have no-one who would be able to provide me with

food’. His helplessness meant that he was unable to go to other people to seek alms and assistance from them. It also prevented him from appealing to such kind-hearted persons at all. Jacob had two sons but they were both in military service at the time and were thus unable to assist their father. He stated that he ‘does not know how ... [he], in... [his] advanced old age and [with his] burdensome severe physical infirmities’, would be able to support himself for the rest of his life."^^ The report of J. C. Waldschmidt, the pastor from Grebenauden, revealed that he had checked the church records (Kirchenbuch) and could confirm the applicant’s age - suggesting that in this locality at least, and at this point in time, it was possible to know one’s age. He described Rohleder as ‘severely broken [hart gebrochen]\ In spite of his physical frailties, Rohleder had lived a godly way of life (gottseeligen wandel). He was however ‘also poor, so that his age and inability [unvermogen] have left him without nourishment.. . ’. If we take the pastor’s report as being indicative of the community’s view of this individual, it is clear that society categorised Jacob as old and helpless, even if his medical condition revealed that other issues were also responsible for his condition.

We are fortunate that the doctor’s report for this case survives and is also relatively detailed. It offers an interesting counterpart to the comments of the

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pastor above. It must be noted that the physician, Georg Wagener from Kassel, made no mention of the applicant’s age. Instead, having seen Jacob’s condition, Wagener described it thus: ‘on [his] left side [he] had a considerable herniam

inguinalem completam, on the right side however one of the same kind, yet

incompletam detectable, to which malady the supplicant’s perpetual incontinance

[Urine incontinentia^ was connected.

As well as offering us a view both of the experience o f old age and also of living with a chronic condition, this source reveals the dangers of translating early modern material and the inaccuracies that can arise if one is only given limited information. In German, 'brucW can mean either ‘a fracture’ or ‘a rupture’. How are we to interpret these occasional ‘shady’ areas, where multiple meanings can be found in one term? Had only the pastor’s report survived alongside the Landgrave’s summary letter, as was often the case with the earlier petitions, we might have gained a different perspective. After all, the pastor merely stressed Rohleder’s frailties. It must be constantly borne in mind therefore that although these documents offer us a much more detailed picture of the lay person’s chronic illnesses that can be gleaned from the more commonly used documentation of patient lists, they are still not without their drawbacks. This seems particularly to be the case with the expression 'gebrechlich\ a term which can include (and thereby mask) a wide range of debilitating conditions.

Documentation from 1727 relating to Johannes Becker from Niedern Vorschiitz in the district of FelBberg is even more indicative of this potential problem. Becker described himself as ‘a poor, old [sic] seventy-six year old, very frail man’. He was suffering from what would appear at first glance to be ‘a severe fracture [starcken bruch]’. He had previously supported himself as a cowherd but, since the age of fifty-three, he was no longer able to continue this line of work. This was due to both his advanced old age {hohen alter) and his impotence

(gebrechlichkeit). He had no other way of ‘earning his bread’. In addition, he

was homeless and also wholly without means. This situation caused him great worry and he was often forced to go hungry.

So far we would have no reason to doubt that Becker was suffering from anything other than frailty and perhaps a fracture. Two points in the accompanying letter from the district officials o f Felbberg however suggests that the reality of the situation might be other than it at first appeared. The correspondence was written in a list form. It referred specifically to the 1722 ordinance and gave what it considers to be four corresponding answers (to unstipulated questions). Items three and four are of interest to us:

3) ‘the supplicant gives his age as seventy-six years and [he] is severely broken

{starch gebrocheri\ ... on both sides, which [injuries] by their appearance look

very serious [gefahrlich, and thus by implication, are a risk to his health].’

4) ‘He reports continuously that in his youth he had been attended to by a doctor but that the medicine had not wanted to take effect.

From the similarities to the earlier case - most notably the use of the term 'starch

gebrochen\ and the fact that specific mention was made to the condition being

on ‘both sides’, it seems reasonable to assume that Becker, like Rohleder, was also suffering from a double hernia.

It would appear that issues of age were more likely to be of secondary importance when an individual was suffering from a pressing illness such as a double hernia. The 1717 case of Peter Kruppel from Dodenhausen offers further indication that, in cases of incapacitating illness, the disease itself was usually of greater importance than the age of the invalid. Kruppel, a ‘poor, old, decrepit, eighty-year old and totally ailing {siechelhaft\ man’, recounted that he was suffering from a lengthy illness which had ‘made him very swollen’. As a result of this, he had been house-bound since Michaelmas and was ‘unahle to go outdoors’. (Indeed, the pastor described him as ‘bedridden’.) Owning nothing other than his small house {Haufigen), Kruppel relied on his ability to work to provide for himself, his wife and his children. Unable to earn ‘even a crumb of bread’, the family was therefore in a miserable state and ‘must suffer great hunger’."^^ Presumably Kruppel believed that if he entered Haina, the burden that he represented would be lifted from his family, who would then stand a slightly better chance of being able to be self-sufficient.

Ibid, 1727. Ibid, 1717.

Old age obviously played a role in the petitions above, but it was not always the primary one. One senses that in the cases in which other physical conditions were cited as the main motivation behind the application, this emphasis had as much to do with the subjectivity o f the individual supplicant as with the infirmity itself. None of these documents denied that old age necessitated changes in lifestyle. Indeed, we learn from Adam Bingel that his advanced years had forced a change in career many years previously. The decisive factor that caused him to apply to the hospital was not his age but rather the result of a fall. The common theme within each of these case studies is the way in which an external event - either an accident or an illness - had caused the acceleration of their descent into incapacity. While their seniority had long been lurking in the background, they had expected to be able to continue to support themselves in the foreseeable future. Other events changed this outlook however, and it was these issues that defined most clearly their new, incapacitated identity rather than their position as elderly persons. This factor may explain why, as noted in Chapter Two, the descriptions of patients’ conditions in the hospital account books frequently listed physical infirmities rather than the simple categorisation of ‘aged’ that the foundation ordinance would lead one to believe would have been sufficient justification for admission.

A study of old age requires a much subtler understanding than it has hitherto been afforded. One of the overriding - and hitherto all too often ignored - themes which arises from the case studies considered here relates to the social role of the aged. This usually displays itself within the remit of employment. All of the persons considered above displayed a remarkable ability to continue working throughout their lives. It is to questions of the ability o f the elderly to earn their keep that the second part of this chapter will now turn.