|
In the Middle Ages, Hellweg was the official and common name given to main travelling routes in Germany. Their breadth was decreed as an unimpeded passageway a lance's width, about three metres, which the landholders through which the Hellweg passed were required to maintain. In German scholarship and literature, however, ''Hellweg'', i.e. when employed without an adjective, usually refers to the well-researched ''Westphalian Hellweg'', the main corridor from the region of the lower Rhine east to the mountains of the Teutoburg Forest, reaching from Duisburg, at the confluence of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, to the imperial city of Paderborn, with the slopes of the Sauerland to its south. At Paderborn, it very probably continued into at least two other main imperial roads leading further east and north to the Harz mountains and the middle Elbe, and the lower Elbe and Weser rivers, respectively.〔John W. Bernhardt, ''Itinerant Kingship and Royal Monasteries in Early Medieval Germany, c.936-1075'' (2002), "Westphalia as a transit zone— the 'Hellweg'", pp 177ff, introduces the medieval use of the Hellweg and offers a bibliography.〕 The Westphalian Hellweg, as an essential corridor that operated in overland transit of long-distance trade, was used by Charlemagne in his Saxon wars and later was maintained under Imperial supervision. In the 10th and 11th centuries this Hellweg was the preferred route of the Ottonian and Salian kings and emperors travelling at least yearly between their main estates in Saxony and the imperial city of Aachen, when they were not in Italy or on campaign; very important imperial palaces were located in both Duisburg and Paderborn.〔Bernhardt 2002:177, noting A.K. Hömberg 1960 and Goetz 1990.〕 From the Early Modern period, with the rise of the coal and steel industries, medieval towns founded along the trading route, e.g. Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Essen or Dortmund, evolved into industrial hubs and absorbed most of the population growth of the region.〔(J. Hamhaber, ''Route Industrie Kultur: geographers' perspectives and contributions to an itinerary of industrial heritage'' ) 2007.〕 The name ''Hellweg'', connoting the wide "bright" clearway (''heller Weg'') through the forest, derives from Low German ''helwech'' with this same significance. Another etymology for ''Hellweg'' is from ''Salzweg'', the "Salt road", on the ancient roots ''hál-s'' (Greek), and ''hal'' (Celtic), "salt". Yet another meaning connotes a "Way of the Dead"; e.g., in Grimm's ''Worterbuch'', ''Helvegr'' is the route to ''Hel'', the Underworld. ==Notes== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hellweg」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|