Textile industry in Aachen
It involved regulated steps including sorting, combing, washing, spinning, fulling, dyeing, shearing, and pressing the wool.
[7] Aachen textile manufacturing went through different phases, from rural craft and domestic production to organised forms of industry.
[1][4] Aachen is reported to have "thousand year old tradition as a cloth city", which has had a significant effect on the reputation of the textiles made there.
[6] After the decline of the Middle Ages, many of Aachen's artisans and merchants seemed resistant to adopting the technological and social changes that were occurring throughout western Europe.
[2] However, in the early modern period, it could not keep its status and compete with England and other rival centers because of its rigid guild institutions and illiberal political structure.
[8][9] The putting out system with domestic spinning and weaving was founded in the guild-free cities of Eupen, Montjoie, Burtscheid, and Vaals at the end of the 17th century.
[1]: 303 The city of Aachen experienced significant political and economic growth throughout its history, propelled mainly by the various industries that emerged around the local springs.
Aachen was renowned for lime-free water and the warm springs that were helpful in various textile manufacturing stages, such as dyeing and finishing the fabric.
The city offered better connectivity as it was situated on a Roman-built east-west road system, and it also had easy access to wool from nearby farms.
The aristocratic oligarchy in Aachen fiercely protected their right to appoint members to the guild, which fueled resentment among the common people towards the authorities, particularly feudal landlords and wealthy merchants.
After the 1450 revolt, an agreement called the Gaffelbrief was established, allowing guild representation in the Council, the highest legislative body in Aachen.
According to some accounts, in the early 1600s, the Hanseatic League, which held special privileges in this new trade, exported over 150,000 bales of English woolen fabrics to Germany.
While Protestants were initially excluded from the Wollenambacht guild, they eventually gained the right to join and were granted the privileges of burgher status.
This Protestant administration faced opposition from Catholic rulers, including the Spanish governors in the Netherlands who planned an attack on Aachen.
The expenses of military occupation and war contributions greatly strained the city's financial resources and disrupted traditional methods of trade, which also hindered the wool industry's access to raw materials.
[1]: 162 The wool industries in Aachen were unable to respond effectively to the competitive forces brought about by the introduction of new English textiles, such as draperies.
[1]: 172 Georg Forster, the German journalist, documented his Rhineland journey in 1790 and wrote, "proportionately, Burtscheid employs more operatives in the manufacture of cloth than Aachen.
Forster also remarked on the quality of the fine cloth and the general prosperity and growth that this unregulated industry had experienced in the past decades.
[10] In the second half of the 18th century, the Verviers, Eupen, and Aachen triangle had the largest fine cloth industry in Europe and with the most dynamism.
In 1814, Prussian factory inspector J. G. May recorded an increase at wool and cashmere output in Aachen, Eupen, Verviers, Monschau, and nearby hamlets during the war.
[14]: 65 Mechanized mills for spinning carding wool were established during and immediately after the Napoleonic Wars in Cottbus and Guben in the Mark Brandenburg, Grünberg in Lower Silesia, and Aachen in the Rhineland.
