The Mines of the Upper Harz From 1514 to 1589

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Excerpt from The Mines of the Upper Harz From 1514 to 1589: A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Literature in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of History The purpose of this essay is to draw the attention of the English reader to the historical importance of German mining. This branch of economic history has been the object of much study in Germany, but except the brief references made by Mr. G. R. Lewis in The Stanneries and the introduction and notes in the Hoover translation of Agricola's De Re Metallica I know of nothing in English on the subject. Germany included within its boundaries the most important metal producing centers of the Middle Ages and from them ore was exported to France and England. Moreover, the possession of great quantities of silver gave Germany an independence in solving the difficult problems of currency which was shared by no other country of northern Europe. The mines not only brought material prosperity, but played a part in that most important phase of German history, the eastern colonization movement. For it was the discovery of ore in the Erzgebirge which lured trained miners in great numbers, from the west to the mark of Meissen, Bohemia, Hungary and Silesia. The importance of these mines in the eyes of the sovereign is to be measured by the privileges granted to the workers which at the best spelled practical self-government. As a result of the careful regulation of the industry great codes of mining laws were developed. A general introductory chapter on German mining is included in the essay to emphasize the fact that the present study is concerned with but a tiny corner of a great and important field. The history of the Harz mines falls into two periods. The first was closed by the Black Death (1347), from that time the mines lay idle for more than a hundred years before work was recommenced in the late fifteenth century. Though there is no historical continuity between the two periods, the inclusion of the earlier one seemed justified by the demands of the subject as well as by the plan of Hake's chronicle on which this study was based. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.