The ''Liniengeld'' was a

historic road toll The road toll was a historical fee charged to travellers and merchants in return for permission to use the roads and waterways of the country or state concerned. It was reinforced in the Holy Roman Empire by the law of ''Straßenzwang'' which ...

that had to be paid on entering the city of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

from the 18th century.

Term

The ''

Linienwall The ''Linienwall'' was an outer line of fortifications for the city of Vienna, Austria, which lay between the city's suburbs and outlying villages. Constructed in 1704, it was razed in 1894 to make way for the Vienna Beltway. Construction The ...

'' ("line(s) rampart") was built in the early 18th century as a simple fortification line around the outskirts of Vienna to protect the city from invading

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

and other raiders. On crossing the "line" (''Linien'') a toll, the ''Liniengeld'' had to be paid for each horse and wagon. This fee was charged each time someone entered the city which led to

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

s and chamberlains, for example, both inside and outside the city boundaries, protesting that they had to pay the toll several times a day. The historian,

Leopold von Ranke Leopold von Ranke (; 21 December 1795 – 23 May 1886) was a German historian and a founder of modern source-based history. He was able to implement the seminar teaching method in his classroom and focused on archival research and the analysis ...

, described the ''Liniengeld'' in his magazine, ''Historisch-politische Zeitschrift'', as a "very important" source of income for the city of Vienna.Ranke (1833-36).

References

Literature

* * * {{citation, author=

Friedrich Nicolai Christoph Friedrich Nicolai (18 March 1733 – 11 January 1811) was a German writer and bookseller. Life Nicolai was born in Berlin, where his father, Christoph Gottlieb Nicolai (d. 1752), was the founder of the bookseller ''Nicolaisc ...

, title=Beschreibung einer Reise durch Deutschland und die Schweiz im Jahre 1781 , volume=Band 11, location=Berlin und Stettin, page=88, date=1796, language=German, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VSJKAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR88 Medieval law Former toll roads History of Vienna Transport in Vienna Toll roads in Austria