Page - 189 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

11 MeetingWaterNeedsasaMajor Challenge in anUrbanContext 189 years later, the territorial lord felt impelled to restrictuncontrolled fishing in theentireAustrian part of the Danube. Laying down a closed season that ended on the 29th of September was meant to limit extensive fishing. This, however, was not quite successful, because 1506 saw another reaction to the still existing nuisance and a regulationwas decreed to protect specific fish indigenousto theDanube.53Theurbancommunitywas inchargeof theconcrete implemen- tation of these instructions. In 1546 and 1579, they issued an order for fishers. In addition to generalguidelineson thepracticingof the tradeandqualityassurance,basic conditions for the sellingof fishwere laiddown.54 Bridging thewater It is obvious that bridges had important functions in theMiddle Ages.55 They represented an indispensable component in roadnetworks and traffic connections and created transport links particularly vital for townsand cities. As installations that couldbeusedbya largenumber of people for crossing, theycontributed to theexchangeof goodsand information,but also to the proliferationof danger anddisease. Dating back to the 14th century, Viennese account books list numerous expenses for con- struction work spent on the maintenance of bridges. In the north of Vienna, many wooden bridgeswerebuilt in theDanube floodplain to connect the inner city to the surroundingarea. Thereasonswhybridgeswerebuiltweremanifold:manycommercialbusinesses, suchas leath- er production or viticulture, were located in the regions to the north of the city. Cattle from Hungary grazed at the so-calledOchsengries before theywere sold at themarket or continued on theirway toUpper Germany. Agricultural products from the areas on the northern bank of theDanubewerealsobrought into thecityontheseaccessways.Documents repeatedlyempha- sised the common good to justify the construction of bridges.56 The provisions of Duke Al- brecht II, for instance, laid down in 1439 for the Vienna Danube Bridge toll that the bridge shouldbemadeaccessible toanyonewhocould ride,drive,walkor carrygoods.Everyonewas free to choose the traditional formof crossing on ships below the bridge, or theway over the bridge on foot or on horseback. The construction of the bridge was justified by the fact that many inhabitants andvisitors had to cross the river to pursue their business. Both their goods and their own liveswereexposed todangerous situations. Inviewof thehighcosts involved in the construction,maintenance and securing of bridges and their connecting routes,mandated feeshad tobepaid.57 The permission granted by the Austrian duke to the towns of Krems and Stein to build a bridge across the Danube represented an important milestone in the development of trans- regional tradingroutes.Aroundthemiddleof the15thcentury, the townofKrems-Steinobtained anumber of rights that fundamentally changed its positionas a centre of tradeandcrafts. The staple right bestowed in 1462 and the permission for direct tradingwithVenice using the road towards the south via Mariazell were the start of a phase of favoured conditions. Apart from 53 Hoffmann– Sonnlechner 2011, with sources; Simon-Muscheid 2006, 30 onwater protection and fish as a re- source ingeneral. 54 Brunner 1953, 234f. 55 SeeMaschke 1977; Hirschmann 2005; Becker 2010; Fouquet 2018 for a survey of significance, functions and construction of bridges with various evidence, and Gruber 2019 to the connecting and separating properties of bridges. 56 This idealised conceptwas expressed inurbanbuildings andobjects that serveda commonpurpose andheld asymbolicvaluesuchas townwalls,bridges,or the town’smainwellat thesquare–oftendecorated for represen- tational purposes. Isenmann2010, 109f.; Gruber 2017, 41f.; Zajic 2014, 398–426. 57 Brunner 1929, 383; Lessacher 2016, 156–162.