The salt trade was the most important
economic factor for Passau during the Middle Ages., because salt was an important
raw material for the different branches of tride. It was for example used in
the processing of furs, in the production of glass and ceramics and in the refinement
of metal. Salt also played an important role in religion. Salt has for example
been offered to the adult aspirant during his baptism of adults. Above all salt
was the most important food preservative.
Passau has always been very short on natural resources, and therefore the trade
with the so called "white Gold" has played an exceptional role which
was undermined by the favourable topographic setting of Passau. The confluence
of Danube, Inn and Ilz made Passau an important junction and reloading point
for the commercial traffic between Bavaria, Austria and Bohemia.
Salt had been imported from the alpine salt mines around Salzburg as early as
the pre-Christian ages. But it was not until the 7th century, when the salt
mine in Reichenhall regained its supraregional importance. Thanks to a donation
of Tassilo III the bishop of Passau started to participate by himself in the
exploitation of the salt mine in Reichenhall during the 8th century. Since the
end of the 12th century the salt mine in Hallein gained an important role for
the salt trade north of the Alps again and pushed back the import of salt from
the coasts of Italy.
The salt was transported from the salt mines downstream the Inn along with other
expensive goods. The transport on the river was preferred over the transport
by land since it was a lot quicker due to the fact that there were only very
few roads and most of them were not even solid ones. Wooden ships also were
able to carry more cargo than donkeys or so called "Säumer",
people who carried the goods on their own back.
At the same time horses were used to tow the ships up the river as well. Depending
on whether the ships went upstream or downstream the journey took between 8
days and 2 weeks, also depending on the amount of the cargo that was carried.
In the end of the 10th and with the beginning of the 11th century Bohemian merchants
discovered that they would be better of if they loaded salt in Passau rather
than in Linz. The reason for this change was that emperor Heinrich II donated
a large part of the northern woods towards the bohemian border to the monastery
of Niedernburg in 1010. This enabled the monastery to collect the so called
"Bohemian Toll" between Inn and Danube.
The bishops always have had a great interest in controlling this "Bohemian
Toll" but they had to leave this right to the monastery since bishop Wolfger
had decided that half of the toll would go to the nuns of the monastery. This
income enabled Passau to erect new public buildings and to maintain old ones
like the Cathedral, the "Residenzplatz", the city walls, the Inn-bridge
and the Danube-bridge.
Before the salt from the alpine salt mines could reach its customers in the
northern and eastern territories it had to go through several processing stations
in Passau. This logistic task was performed by private entrepreneurs called
"Salzfertiger" who were from 1256 on given the possibility to store
the costly good in large warehouses. This way they gained not only economic
but some political influence. The basic laws to regulate the salt trade were
drawn by Bishop Otto. He ruled that salt which was transported on the Inn had
to be stored and offered for sale in Passau for at least 3 days. Therefore the
merchants in Passau established a powerful monopoly against their competition
from Bohemia and Austria.
After customs clearance and after the 3 day sales in Passau the salt could continue
its way towards the north and east through the Ilzstadt. The trade route from
Passau to Bohemia was called "Golden Path" which stresses the value
of the "White Gold". In exchange for the salt other goods were transported
through Passau on their way towards the south.
The salt trade was highly profitable and Passau soon became an attractive centre
of life and culture. The bishop of course profited highly from the taxes on
the salt but the private entrepreneurs made most of the profits.
There were also many other businesses that benefited indirectly from the salt
trade. For example the craftsmen who build the salt barrels, the sailors on
the salt ships or all the other craftsmen who couldn't run their business without
salt. Indirectly a lot of other industries in Passau profited from the salt:
restaurants or the craftsmen who built the vessels to carry the salt. Like all
the other craftsmen they were organized in a guild and were highly important
for the transport of all goods via the Danube and the Inn.
Next to their wealth many of the master craftsmen gained a certain reputation
within society, either directly by trading salt or indirectly. Some of them
even entered politics.
Until the late Middle Ages Passau remained a powerful merchant city. But in
1526 the trade with salt came to an end when Bohemia came under Habsburg rule.
Crucial for this development was that the Bavarian Duke set up an own loading
point for salt close to Passau in the "Hofmark of St. Nikola". Passau
was since then cut off from the salt trade. The fate of Passau fate was determined
8 years later when Duke Maximilian of Bavaria and the arch-bishop of Salzburg
negotiated that the salt mine in Hallein would from now on belong to Bavaria
and that Bohemia would receive its salt from Austria.
In 1706 all salt imports to Passau were forbidden and the formerly flourishing
city lost its economic importance continously.
working:
Kyung Hendrich
translation: Volker Pfeifle
(18.8.2004/23.5.2005)