Editing History of Cologne (section)

=== Silk made in Cologne ===

[[Silk]] production, which had been costumary practice in Cologne since the early Middle Ages, experienced its last flowering by the middle of the 16th century.<ref>Hans Koch: Geschichte des Seidengewerbes in Köln vom 13. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert; Leipzig 1907, p. 67ff</ref> Along with Paris, Cologne was considered one of the great production centers north of the Alps.<ref>Gérald Chaix: Köln im Zeitalter von Reformation and Katholischer Reform, 1512/13-1610, Cologne 2022, p. 57</ref> Around 1500, silk cloth probably made up for Cologne's most successful export commerce.<ref>[https://www.rheinische-geschichte.lvr.de/Persoenlichkeiten/fygen-lutzenkirchen/DE-2086/lido/57c9462879e723.18645665 Rheinische Geschichte: Fygen Lutzenkirchen]</ref> The production of silk fabrics was controlled by the Silk Office (Seidenamt), a guild in which predominantly women were active. This practice, which was maintained only in Cologne except in Paris, allowed a larger number of female guild masters to achieve considerable wealth. For the daughters of upper class families, entering the silk business became a recognized career prospect. The most famous female guild master was [[Fygen Lutzenkirchen]], who is considered to be the most successful silk entrepreneur in Cologne and was one of the wealthiest citizens of Cologne around 1498.<ref>Wolfgang Herborn, Carl Dietmar: Köln im Spätmittelalter 1288-1512/13, Cologne 2019, p. 41</ref> Silk production was closely linked to the silk trade because the raw silk had to be imported from northern Italian trading centers, usually via Venice and Milan. The silk weaving and craft processing &ndash; braid weaving, silk embroidery<ref>Maria Männig: Review of: Marita Bombeck / Gudrun Sporbeck: Kölner Bortenweberei im Mittelalter. Corpus Kölner Borten, Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner 2012, in: [http://www.sehepunkte.de/2015/10/21636.html sehepunkte 15 (2015), no. 10 [15.10.2015<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</ref> &ndash; was organized mainly through the [[putting-out system]]. The wholesaler prefinanced the raw materials and left the craftswomen to work at home. The main buyers of Cologne's silk products were the clergy of Cologne and the export markets in Frankfurt, Strasbourg and Leipzig. On the markets in Flanders (Bruges, Antwerp, Ghent), Cologne merchants increasingly came up against intense local competition, which by the middle of the 16th century became increasingly noticeable in Cologne as well.<ref>Gérald Chaix: Köln im Zeitalter von Reformation und Katholischer Reform, 1512/13-1610, Cologne 2022, pp. 218, 222</ref> At the end of its heyday in 1560, Cologne counted 60 to 70 silk merchants who processed 700 bales of silk each year.<ref>Hans Koch: Geschichte des Seidengewerbes in Köln vom 13. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert; Leipzig 1907, p. 70</ref>