Road toll (historical)

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Not to be confused with Road toll (Australia and New Zealand).

The road toll was a historical

staple rights
, was an important source of income.

History

Road tolls usually had to be paid at strategic locations such as

Ulzburg,[2] as well as the Gabler Road with the Karlsfried Castle as its toll station. Another form of road tax was Liniengeld, which had to be paid when entering the city of Vienna
from the beginning of the 18th century.

A special form of road toll was the Pflasterzoll, which had to be paid to fund the initial cobbling of a road and its subsequent upkeep.

River toll

Pfalzgrafenstein Castle in the Rhine near Kaub

Another form of toll on medieval travel was the river toll that was raised for the use of a waterway. Outside the towns themselves, toll stations were established in some cases at special locations; for example, Loevestein Castle in the Netherlands was built at a strategic point on the confluence of two rivers. Ships and boats had to pay a river toll here in order to proceed down the river.

The Kingdom of

Sound Toll, a toll on ships for using the Sound
of Denmark.

In a document at the

imperial castle of Cochem dated 17 March 1130, which Count Palatine William of Ballenstedt had made out, mention was made of the usual river toll charged on the Moselle at one of its toll stations. The building also had the status of a toll castle. By contrast, the castle of Pfalzgrafenstein Castle in the Rhine near Kaub was exclusively used to collect river tolls. Another well known toll site on the Rhine was the imperial palace of Kaiserswerth built in 1174, while the toll station at Stolzenfels Castle
was also well positioned between Koblenz and Frankfurt.

In mythology

In

Charon, charged the dead a river toll of one obolus for transporting them over the Acheron (also called the Lethe or Styx) so that they were able to enter the Underworld or Hades
. This was called Charon’s obul. Coins were placed either in the mouth or on the eyes of the dead. This practice gave the mourning relatives peace of mind knowing their loved ones would be able to cross safely into the afterlife.

Extortion

In the Middle Ages, road tolls were occasionally demanded from towns, monasteries, castles and villages by roaming armed bands; in return for which they would waive their use of force. This was especially true of the

robbers. This type of payment was also referred to as Danegeld
(payment to Danish warriors). In England, it is estimated that 30,000 pounds of silver were paid in the 9th century as Danegeld.

See also

References

  1. ^ Thomas Kühtreiber: Straße und Burg. Anmerkungen zu einem vielschichtigen Verhältnis, pp. 286ff. In: Kornelia Holzner-Tobisch, Thomas Kühtreiber, Gertrud Blaschitz (eds.), Die Vielschichtigkeit der Straße. Kontinuität und Wandel in Mittelalter und früher Neuzeit, Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit 22, Vienna, 2012, 263-301
  2. ^ Klaus-Joachim Lorenzen-Schmidt, Ortwin Pelc (ed.): Das neue Schleswig-Holstein Lexikon. Wachholtz, Neumünster, 2006, Lemma Zoll.
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