ABSTRACT
Emden's Burgermeisters and city councillors still remained fully dependent upon the countess for their appointments, a dependence which lasted until the Emden Revolution in 1595. The massive social and economic surges of the 1550s, which greatly affected social welfare institutions of the diaconates, did not leave the Gasthaus unaffected either. The growing population, coupled with two bad harvests in 1556 and 1557, provoked grain shortages and concomitant sky-rocketing grain prices, and the poor relief institutions in Emden were stretched to their limits. The city fathers chose a design for their new Rathaus based unashamedly upon that of the Antwerp Rathaus. Thus the assistance provided by the Kornvorrat made up a significant portion of Emden's total social welfare programme. In a 1578 mandate issued to supplement the Emden poor relief ordinance of 1576, the merger was announced along with reasons for the termination of the Becken deacons.
