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The term robber baron (German: Raubritter) dates back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, originally referring to certain feudal lords of land through which the Rhine River in Europe flowed. They abused their positions by stopping passing merchant ships and demanding tolls without being authorized by the Holy Roman Emperor to do so. Often iron chains were stretched across the river to prevent passage without paying the toll, and strategic towers were built to facilitate this. Image File history File links Bingen_mauseturm. ...
Image File history File links Bingen_mauseturm. ...
It has been suggested that River Rhine Pollution: November 1986 be merged into this article or section. ...
Bingen am Rhein, or Bingen, or Bingen on the Rhine is a modern-day city located at the junction of the rivers Rhine and Nahe in southwestern Germany near the city of Mainz. ...
(11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ...
(12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ...
Feudalism comes from the Late Latin word feudum, itself borrowed from a Germanic root *fehu, a commonly used term in the Middle Ages which means fief, or land held under certain obligations by feodati. ...
The Media Centre at Lords Cricket Ground Lords Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in St Johns Wood in London. ...
It has been suggested that River Rhine Pollution: November 1986 be merged into this article or section. ...
World map showing the location of Europe. ...
Merchants function as professionals who deal with trade, dealing in commodities that they do not produce themselves, in order to produce profit. ...
For online phenomenon of shipping, see Shipping (fandom). ...
The Holy Roman Emperor was, with some variation, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the predecessor of modern Germany, during its existence from the 10th century until its collapse in 1806. ...
More goods have been moved through the Rhine than over any other river in Europe. This makes the Rhine a member of a small group of rivers — including the Congo, Mississippi and Amazon — which are the primary natural passageway through their continents. A good in economics is any physical object (natural or man-made) or service that, upon consumption, increases utility, and therefore can be sold at a price in a market. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
This article is about the river. ...
History
Early Development For one thousand years — from 800 AD to 1800 AD — tolls were collected from ships sailing on the Rhine River in Europe. During this time, various feudal lords — among them archbishops who held fiefs from the Holy Roman Emperor — collected tolls from passing cargo ships to bolster their finances. In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. ...
Under the system of feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted of inheritable lands or revenue-producing property granted by a liege lord in return for a form of allegiance, originally to give him the means to fulfill his military duties when called upon. ...
The Holy Roman Emperor was, with some variation, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the predecessor of modern Germany, during its existence from the 10th century until its collapse in 1806. ...
Only the Holy Roman Emperor could authorize the collection of such tolls. Allowing the nobility and Church to collect tolls from the busy traffic on the Rhine seems to have been an attractive alternative to other means of taxation and funding of government functions. It has been suggested that Ecclesia (Church) be merged into this article or section. ...
Funding or financing is to provide capital (funds), which means money for a project, a person, a business or any other private or public institutions. ...
The Holy Roman Emperor and the various noblemen and archbishops who were authorized to levy tolls seem to have worked out an informal way of regulating this process.
Among the decisions involved in managing the collection of tolls on the Rhine were:
- how many toll stations to have,
- where they should be built,
- how high the tolls should be,
- and the advantages/disadvantages.
While this decision process was made no less complex by being informal, common factors included the local power structure (archbishops and nobles being the most likely recipients of a charter to collect tolls), space between toll stations (authorized toll stations seem to have been at least five kilometers apart), and ability to be defended from attack (some castles through which tolls were collected were tactically useful until the French invaded in 1689 and leveled them).
Tolls were standardized either in terms of an amount of silver coin allowed to be charged or an "in-kind" toll of cargo from the ship. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
In contrast, the men who came to be known as robber barons violated the structure under which tolls were collected on the Rhine either by charging higher tolls than the standard or by operating without authority from the Holy Roman Emperor altogether.
Writers of the period referred to these practices as "unjust tolls," and not only did the robber barons thereby violate the prerogatives of the Holy Roman Emperor, they also went outside of the society's behavioral norms, since merchants were bound both by law and religious custom to charge a "just price" for their wares. Warez is a shortened leet speak (computer slang) derivative for the plural form of the word software meaning copyrighted material traded in violation of its copyright license. ...
Interregnum Period During the period in the history of the Holy Roman Empire known as the Interregnum (1250–1273), when there was no Emperor, the number of tolling stations exploded in the absence of imperial authority. In addition, robber barons began to earn their newly-coined term of opprobrium by robbing ships of their cargoes, stealing entire ships and even kidnapping. An interregnum is a period between monarchs, between popes of the Roman Catholic Church, emperors of Holy Roman Empire, polish kings (elective monarchy) or between consuls of the Roman Republic. ...
// April 30 - King Louis IX of France released by his Egyptian captors after paying a ransom of one million dinars and turning over the city of Damietta. ...
For broader historical context, see 1270s and 13th century. ...
In response to this organized, military lawlessness, the "Rheinischer Bund," or Rhine League was formed by and from the nobility, knights, and lords of the Church, all of whom held large stakes in the restoration of law and order to the Rhine.
Officially launched in 1254, the Rhine League wasted no time putting robber barons out of business by the simple expedient of taking and destroying their castles. In the next three years, four robber barons were targeted and between ten and twelve robber castles destroyed or inactivated.
The Rhine League was not only successful in suppressing illicit collection of tolls and river robbery. On at least one occasion, they intervened to rescue a kidnap victim who had been kidnapped by the Baron of Rietberg.
The procedure pioneered by the Rhine League for dealing with robber barons — to besiege, capture and destroy their castles — survived long after the League self-destructed from political strife over the election of a new Emperor and military reversals against unusually strong robber barons.
When the Interregnum ended, the new Emperor Rudolf of Habsburg applied the lessons learned by the Rhine League to the destruction of the highway robbers at Sooneck, torching their castle and hanging them. While robber barony never entirely ceased, especially during the Hundred Years' War, the excesses of their heyday during the Interregnum never recurred. The brass of the tomb of Rudolph I in Speyer Rudolph I (Rudolph of Hapsburg) (May 1, 1218 - July 15, 1291) was a German king. ...
Combatants France Castile Scotland Genoa Majorca Bohemia Crown of Aragon Brittany England Burgundy Brittany Portugal Navarre Flanders Hainaut Aquitaine Luxembourg Holy Roman Empire The Hundred Years War was a conflict between France and England, lasting 116 years from 1337 to 1453. ...
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