bavarikon4URequest for an advance (1537)
Town piper Merwolt asks for an advance on his salary (1537)
Nördlingen R36 F10 Nr. 17 p. 11
In this letter from 1537, the Nördlingen town piper Georg Merwolt (also Merwalt or Morwallt) asks the town council for an advance on his salary.
He had purchased "etlich aimer heffen und buentzeug" (small pots and fabrics) from abroad and now wanted to sell them on. The profit he hoped for, he assures, he wants to use exclusively "for my food and nothing else".
To finance this transaction, he now requires an amount of three guilders from his salary as town piper, which he asks the town council for here. The advance should then be deducted from his wages in instalments of one "ort" (old currency unit) each.
From this letter it is obvious that the salary of a town musician at that time was apparently not enough to earn a living. The musician was dependent on obtaining financial means through other activities – in this case Georg Merwolt is working as a merchant. The wording "as has happened before" indicates that he has done this many times before. It is also known from other documents relating to him that he had learnt the demanding craft of a cloth cutter in Ingolstadt.
