Page - 266 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

266 Gabriel Zeilinger 13th century, some60–70 towns emerged, in addition to the relatively fewalready in existence before (particularly Strasbourg). But themonk did not leave it at that. Although not directly adjoint in thetext,healsodescribes theenormousdeforestationof the landscapeanditseffects. Fornow,around1300, rivers and floodswere supposedlymuchstronger thanbefore,when the roots of the trees ‘would still retain the humidity of snowand rainwithin themountains for a longer period’.While, asmentioned, theDominican chronicler does not drawadirect line be- tween urbanisation, deforestation and floodings, we do know about it – and I suppose some contemporarieswouldhavedone so, too. On thebasis of an intensive studyon theearlyurbanisationofAlsacebetween the 12th and 14thcenturies,6 in the following Iwill firstly (andmainly) point out the relevanceofwater as a material resource in thebuildingandmaintenanceof early towns, andsecondly, takea shorter look at the environmental challenges of water for and in towns of that era. Due to the scarce sourcematerial for that time spanand region, I cannot provideplentyof insight into thenutri- tional aspect ofwater need, as the problemof cleanwater ismentioned only implicitly in the written sources of that time and place. That issue is discussed and tackledmore amply in the later 14th andparticularly in the 15th century.7 Yet, another aspect of fluvial nutrition ought to beadded: theDominicanchronicler fromColmarclaimsthat,around1200, therehadsupposed- lybeen 1500 fishermendoing their business on the river Ill, a confluxof theRhine,whichalso streams through Colmar. The relevance of urban fishermen is also portrayed by the fact that just about every city in the regionhad its fishermen’s guild.8 Water and thebuilding,maintenanceanddomination ofmedieval towns Having stated thatwater is an indispensable prerequisite for human settlement, evenmore so for towns, the importanceofwaterways for the transport of buildingmaterialshas tobeunder- lined. The increasingly intensive use of the river Rhine, and its tributaries for thatmatter, pre- cedes theperiodof our examinationbymore thanamillennium–due to the scarcity of settle- ment and broader overland routes up to the High Middle Ages.9 Therefore, landing sites or harbour areaswere often pre-urban nuclei and later on developed distinct infrastructures10 – thus figuring as step stones of and for urbanisation itself. To examineurban constructionwith regard towater in the 13th century, Iwant to take a short lookbeyondAlsace toKoblenz, some 200kmto thenorthat the–eponymous–confluenceof theRhineand theMoselle.At the site ofmodernKoblenz, therehadalreadybeenaRomancastrum, thenaterritorial stronghold, later a townof thearchbishopsofTrier,who,asecclesiastical lords,startedtohavethewallsexpand- ed and fortified from around 1250. From this development, there are several accounting rolls preserved for the years 1276–1289which show the expenses, the seasonal operation, andmore. It is significant throughout these rolls that the costs for thequarrymenare equal to that for the transport.Often, the cost of transportwas evenhigher than the cost of labour–quite different to today.Thatdoesnoteven includeanycharge formaterial,whichwasobtainedperhaps from Winningen quarry, 5kmup theMoselle river, whichmay have been in the hands of the arch- bishops (attestedonly later).11 6 Zeilinger 2018. 7 Fouquet 1999, 224–250; Schott 2014, 109–123. 8 Seenote 4andZech 2017. 9 Preiser-Kapeller –Werther 2018;Himmelsbach 2017;Maschke–Sydow1978. 10 Hirschmann 1998; Matheus 1985; for the concept of ‘harbourscapes’ (with regard to Northern Germany), see Müller, this volume. 11 Sander-Berke 1997.