Origins The Via Regia ran west–east through the centre of the
Holy Roman Empire, from the Rhine at
Mainz-Kastel (
Elisabethenstraße) to Frankfurt am Main, trade city and site of the
election of the
King of the Romans, continuing along
Hanau, the
Kaiserpfalz at
Gelnhausen, the towns of
Steinau an der Straße,
Neuhof,
Fulda and
Eisenach to
Erfurt, a centre of
woad production. It ran further eastwards to
Eckartsberga, crossing the
Saale river between
Bad Kösen and
Naumburg and reached
Leipzig, another trade city. The eastern part continued through
Upper Lusatia (
Via Regia Lusatiae Superioris) along
Großenhain,
Königsbrück,
Kamenz,
Bautzen and
Görlitz to
Wrocław in Silesia with further connection to
Kraków in
Poland.
Medieval period The road was first mentioned as
strata regia in a document issued by Margrave
Henry III of Meissen in 1252, while its origins date back to the 8th and 9th centuries. After the downfall of the Imperial power in
Central Germany in favour of the Saxon
House of Wettin following the 1307
Battle of Lucka, the road lost its royal status and from the 14th century this route could no longer really be spoken of as a "Via Regia". Nevertheless, the important section of the road between Frankfurt and Leipzig continued to exist under the name
Hohe Straße ("High Road"). It remained under sovereign control of e.g. the
Bohemian Crown in Upper Lusatia, the
Saxon electors, the
Abbey of Fulda, and the
Archbishopric of Mainz and was chartered through tolling. Also the branch-off from Frankfurt am Main to
Cologne via
Wetzlar was called
Hohe Straße. The road had a large economic significance for interregional trade and bartering. From the west came Flemish blankets, from the east wood, pelts, wax and honey, and the middle section controlled the German indigo (
Isatis tinctoria) of the
Thuringian Basin as well as the mining products of the Saxon
Ore Mountains. The High Road also provided the direct route between the largest German trade fairs of
Frankfurt and
Leipzig. Pilgrims who took part in the
Aachen Cathedral shrine pilgrimage used the road in large numbers. Thereto they turned off the trunk road at Eisenach along the "Long
Hesse" road to
Marburg and Cologne. Testimonies of the pilgrimage to
Santiago de Compostela are known from Großenhain, Leipzig, Erfurt,
Gotha,
Vacha, Fulda, Frankfurt am Main and Mainz. The road was repeatedly used by armies. Some large battles came to pass in its catchment area (e.g.
Breitenfeld 1631,
Lützen 1632,
Rossbach 1757,
Hochkirch 1758, and
Jena-Auerstedt 1806 as well as the Battles of
Bautzen,
Lützen (Großgörschen) and
Leipzig in 1813).
19th century to present day After the final defeat of
Napoleon, the significance of the road declined, since, as a result of the reduction of the
Kingdom of Saxony by large parts of its
Lusatian territories at the
Congress of Vienna, the toll on behalf of Leipzig was no longer continued. Parts of the historic Via Regia route are today marked by major national roads: between Eisenach and Erfurt by the
Bundesstraße 7 (B7); between Eckartsberga and Leipzig by the B87; and between Leipzig and Görlitz by the
Bundesstraße 6 (B6) and eastwards to Kraków by the Polish national road 94. In Hanau the
Birkenhainer Strasse branches off the Via Regia crossing the
Spessart mountain range towards
Gemünden am Main in Franconia, also as a high road. ==Tourism==