A herberg was an inn. Herbergen played an important role in the community. It was where people came after work or after church, where they stayed if they were travelling and where they met business partners to discuss deals. Innkeepers often played a role as informal scribes, writing documents for clients who could not read or write.
Things could get rowdy. When things got so rough that someone got injured or killed, so you can find inns featured in court records. If your ancestor was an innkeeper, it is well worth going through the local court records to find out if he was called to testify in such cases. The testimonies by him and his patrons can give you a vivid picture of what was going on in the inn.
Card-playing farmers at an inn. Vincent Malo, 1623-1650. Credits: Rijksmuseum
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