Haller salt boiler
Hall salt boilers were active in Schwäbisch Hall . Salt was extracted there by salt boilers as early as the Iron Age . In the Middle Ages, the city also achieved prosperity through salt production and trade in salt. The saltworks operated until the 20th century, and the tradition of salt boilers continues to this day. The history of the city is closely linked to the history of the salt boilers.
Celtic salt works
A salt works was already operated in Hall in the Latène period , as excavations have shown. During the construction of the Kreissparkasse in 1939, numerous archaeological finds were discovered: three ovens, brine wells, seven wooden troughs and numerous brick structures that were identified as briquette floors . Schwäbisch Hall is the only place in southern Germany where prehistoric salt production can be reliably proven. Dendrochronological investigations dated a tree trunk used as a brine trough to the year 280 BC. The brine spring and the saltworks were buried by a landslide, which is presumably due to the deforestation of the slope; the wood was needed as an energy source for brine boiling. The end of the Celtic salt works cannot be pinpointed.
How the Celtic salt boilers work
The salt water was drawn from the brine well into wooden troughs or introduced via wooden channels. In the wooden troughs there were heated, porous clay pieces, and water evaporated when poured over. This enriched brine was poured into the boiling bowls on the heated ovens until enough water had evaporated and the salt had crystallized. When the salt was wet, it was put into the molding and drying vessels. The uniform shape ensured that the pieces of salt had the same volume, so that they represented an easily offset trading unit. The salt was usually removed from the shaped cup for transport and resale.
Medieval salt works
After the decline of the Celtic salt works, salt production has only been documented since the High Middle Ages . In the Öhringer foundation letter of 1037 Hall is referred to as in halle-… superiori . At this point in time, a saltworks must have already existed. According to legend, a Count von Westheim discovered the brine spring around 800 while hunting. The Lords of Hall were the Counts of Komburg, the Bergregal and the use of the salt works - as was customary at the time - in the hands of the king. At the beginning of the 12th century, Hall was inherited by the Hohenstaufen family , who also became the owners of the mineral treasure. The Hohenstaufen drove the expansion of the city. The most important indication of the new importance of the city was the establishment of a mint in which the Heller was minted, which was soon known throughout Central Europe. With the backfilling of a Kocher arm, the saline area, which had previously been outside the city on an island in the Kocher, was integrated into the city in 1250.
During the late Staufer period, the royal rights to the salt works - wells and boiling pans - were increasingly given as fiefdoms. The royal property thus became increasingly fragmented. Ownership of the Haalbrunnen and the right to boil was divided into boilers (1 pan = 20 buckets). Around 1300 the following ownership conditions existed:
| owner | Boiling property |
|---|---|
| king | 5 pans, 5 buckets |
| Church (monasteries, orders, pens) | approx. 20 boils |
| Altar in St. Catherine | 1 simmer |
| hospital | 5 pans less 5 buckets |
| common citizens | 17.5 simmer |
| meliores (later city nobility) | approx. 55 boils |
The citizens already had around 70% of the boiling rights around 1300. The citizens had to defend this property against the taverns of Limpurg , who wanted to make Hall the center of their territory. This also led to armed conflicts, which Rudolf von Habsburg finally settled. The neighboring lords of Hohenlohe were recognized as district judges for future cases, but the court in Hall remained responsible for all Hall citizens. After this victory, the city began to develop its own territory, which eventually consisted of the cities of Hall, Vellberg and Ilshofen as well as over 100 villages and hamlets. The area of the city, which was recognized as an imperial city as early as 1276, was surrounded by a border with ramparts and moats, the Haller Landheeg . Haller law was in force in this area until 1802 .
The owners of the boiling rights did not boil the salt themselves, but appointed administrators and employed boilers. The boilers had the right to live near the Haals and were rewarded in salt. Between 1324 and 136, two social groups emerged that determined the fate of the salt industry in Hall for centuries : the masters of the boilers and the boilers .
With the main basic contract from 1306 (or 1316), which is a list of those entitled to boil with their shares, the number of boilers was limited to 111 boilers for around 500 years. An increase in the boil was thus prevented. The masters of the boilers were the owners of the Haalbrunnen and the 111 boiling parts. The use of the brine was left to the settlers, although some of the boilers had already acquired boiling components and thus actually belonged to the masters of boiling. The granting of the rights of use to the boilers happened at the beginning of each year by coup . This only changed in the course of the 14th and 15th centuries, when an increasing number of settlers were given the right to boil, first for several years, then for life and later “to inheritance”. With the right of the Siedenserbleihe also grew the importance of the boilers, who were no longer unfree and could become masters of the boilers themselves. The first boilers moved into the city council in 1348.
Organization of the salt works
In addition to the feudal lords and the settlers, the organization of the salt industry also included the servants and maids, day laborers and clerks. The direction and supervision have held four chief from the boiler shaft, which in 1385 first documented Four Masters . They were also responsible for the timber trade, rafting and the procurement of pan irons. First the four masters were elected by the settlers, later determined by the city. At the end of the 16th century, the city gave the four masters the post of captain of the common Haals due to the increasing administrative work , the post was filled with lawyers. In the 18th century the management of the Haal was supplemented by the Haalkonsulenten . The Haalgericht, to which the four masters, the captain of the common Haal, the Haalkonsulent and the nurses (the council members responsible for the municipal boilers) and their clerks belonged, was responsible for the management of the Haal.
In the 14th century the salt works was largely self-organized and the settlers can be described as autonomous. The Haalordnung of 1385, for example, came into being without any recognizable involvement of the council. However, the influence of the city increased mainly through new ownership. The following ownership conditions existed around 1500:
| owner | Boiling property |
|---|---|
| city | 25 boilers, 8 buckets |
| Church (monasteries) | 12.5 boils |
| Church (altarists) | 7.5 boils |
| Citizen (city nobility) | 22 boiling |
| other citizens | approx. 31 boils |
| Others | less than 1 boiling |
As the ownership of the salt works increased, so did the city's influence on it. From the 15th century, the Haalordnung were issued by the city council, the four masters were bound by the council's right to give instructions and the Haalgericht was a municipal authority. After the city fire of 1728, in which the Haal was completely destroyed, the city's influence grew even further, as it received 24 special boilers to compensate for the reconstruction. Around 1700 boiling property was distributed as follows:
| owner | Boiling property |
|---|---|
| city | 21.25 simmer |
| Church (monasteries) | 10.75 simmer |
| hospital | 4 boils |
| Citizens (senior city officials and councilors) | approx. 40 boils |
| Citizen (clergy) | 9 boiling |
| Citizens (lower city officials and artisans) | approx. 8 boils |
| Citizen (without information on status and profession) | approx. 10 boils |
| Foreign | 7.75 simmer, 6 buckets |
In 1776, over 1,600 people owned rights to the Haller Saline. The city viewed the saltworks as private property rather than a shelf. This became particularly clear in 1804, when the new sovereign Friedrich acquired the saline rights of the citizens and the inheritance of those entitled to boil by a private legal title and by purchase. At that time, 193 families were members of the settlement community. To this day, their descendants receive a cash pension, which is regulated in the main contract of 1804: The heirs are guaranteed an unchangeable annual tax of 480 guilders for the enjoyment of the boiling in the inheritance. As the legal successor to the Kingdom of Württemberg, the state of Baden-Württemberg still pays this pension to the descendants of the salt boilers at that time. A total of around € 15,000 is paid out annually via the Haalamt , which is paid out to around 300 eligible families in varying amounts via a complicated system of old units of measurement (buckets, bottles, Maas and boilers).
Brine extraction and the Haalbrunnen
The spring was taken as a Haalbrunnen, until 1825 the brine was drawn and pumped there. Until 1739, the brine was concentrated exclusively using the Gewöhrd method, in other words in principle as in prehistoric times. This method was not abolished until 1786. Against the resistance of the boilers, the Haller Magistrate set up a more effective system for air grading in 1739 . This reduced the immense consumption of firewood that was brought to Hall from the Ellwang Mountains and the Mainhardt Forest .
The now Königlich Württembergische Saline near Hall has been drilling for concentrated brine since 1813 . At Uttenhofen in 1822 a salt seam 6 m thick was finally found at a depth of 95 m . First, this was drawn out until the Wilhelmsglück mine began mining the seam in piers in 1825 . The extracted salt was partially dissolved and transported over a 10 km long pipe through the Kocher valley to the salt works. The mine was shut down in 1900 due to the unfavorable traffic situation and competition from the Friedrichshall salt mine . The salt works continued to operate until 1924.
The town became very wealthy in the Middle Ages through salt production. In the 18th century the people of Hall were still producing up to 3,000 tons of salt a year.
The salt spring is still used today, but no longer for salt production, but only for medical purposes and for the brine bath.
Salt trade
Almost nothing is known about the salt trade in Celtic times. First evidence of the salt trade can only be found with the Öhringer foundation letter 1037. The widespread ownership of pans in the 13th and 14th centuries (including in the monasteries of Denkendorf, Esslingen, Gnadental, Neresheim, the Backnang monastery and the Teutonic Order in Bad Mergentheim) suggests that the salt from Hall was at least spread in these places. In the city itself, too, the salt was sold to traders who took porters and carts out of the city. There is evidence that the city of Basel obtained Haller salt in the years 1264/69, and Strasbourg (1314, 1338) and Speyer (1426) also bought salt from Hall. The widespread use of the Heller, the Haller Mint, also suggests widespread trade relationships. To distribute the salt, numerous factories were set up in the 17th century , including in Heilbronn, Neckarsulm, Wimpfen, Mosbach and Heidelberg. Until 1800, the Hall salt trade expanded particularly in the area between the Main, Rhine and Danube.
Customs care
The tradition of the historic salt-boiling guild is maintained by the Alt Hall association and the Großer Siedershof to this day.
literature
- Kuno Ulshöfer and Herta Beutter (eds.): Hall and the salt. Contributions to the history of the town and saltworks in Halle. 2nd Edition. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1983, ISBN 3-7995-7621-5 ( Research from Württembergisch Franconia. Volume 22).
- Theo Simon: Salt and salt production in northern Baden-Württemberg . Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1995, ISBN 3-921429-42-0 ( Research from Württembergisch Franconia. Volume 42).
- Hans Hagdorn and Theo Simon: Geology and landscape of the Hohenloher country . Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1985, ISBN 3-7995-7627-4 ( Research from Württembergisch-Franconia. Volume 28).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Simon (see literature), p. 74
- ↑ Peter Lau, Christian Litz: The worries of the winner . In: brand eins 3/2004
- ↑ Robert Meier: Hohenlohe in old times . Swiridoff Verlag, Künzelsau 2004, ISBN 3-89929-032-1 .