2 – Beasts of burden on the Golden Trail
The first mode of transportation, if indeed one can call it that, which moved across Šumava was a man. Goods used to be carried either by the merchants themselves or by carriers they hired for that purpose. Despite being very strenuous, it had a certain advantage. The path could be narrow, waterlogged places were easily crossed. As years went by and loads got heavier, the path got wider and the human carriers were replaced by beasts of burden, either carrying the loads on their back or on a sleigh they dragged behind them. After all, the most suitable season for transporting goods was winter, because the path was more walkable when frozen than when waterlogged. There was also generally less work as it was after harvest. The goods could also be carried on wooden litters, either by two men or hinnies. On the narrow paths, the beasts of burden would walk behind each other in a line.
As the condition of the roads improved, carriages, which could carry much bigger loads, began to be used. A horse harnessed in a collar could then also pull much heavier weights. The men who used to transport the goods were called ‘soumars’ (here, following the Bavarian model, this word is used to refer to both the beasts of burden and the men leading them, despite the Czech language only officially recognising it as referring to beasts of burden). At first, it was most likely only Bohemians who were soumars, but from the mid-13th century it was also people from the other side of the border: from Waldkirchen, Fürholz or Böhmzwiesel. The trails thus had a large role to play in the colonisation of the so far uninhabited landscape. The soumars brought a different culture, new ideas and news from the surrounding areas. Places for an overnight stay grew up alongside the trail, as well as various service places like smithies (Horská Kvilda) or even guard posts (Stožecká rock) or castles (Kašperk, Kunžvart, Hus, Wolfstein) ensuring the security of traveling caravans on the trail. In 1312, the Prachatice regional governor Verner of Vitějovice and Jindřich of Leubelfing, the warden of the Oberhaus stronghold, agreed upon a joint protection of the trail. New villages grew up around these places and the soumars themselves would settle there. During bad weather, mist or during dusk, bells would ring on the guard posts to make allow for better spatial orientation.
The trails were kept up by the nobility, for which they collected tax in certain places.
There are no written records which would tell us who the very first merchants crossing Šumava were. We have some idea about the Celts. Their settlements probably lied on trading routes and were connected by them. One of those Celtic trails could be the predecessor of the Golden Trail. The safety of the traffic was overseen by strongholds on Věnec or in Passau. Even Passau’s original name Boidorum indicates a Boii stronghold. According to a Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemy, the settlements Brodentia, Setua (perhaps Sušice) and Kremisa (perhaps Křemže) existed alongside the trading route in the Šumava foothills. The most famous historical route is the Golden Trail.
The trails were kept up by the nobility, for which they collected tax in certain places.
There are no written records which would tell us who the very first merchants crossing Šumava were. We have some idea about the Celts. Their settlements probably lied on trading routes and were connected by them. One of those Celtic trails could be the predecessor of the Golden Trail. The safety of the traffic was overseen by strongholds on Věnec or in Passau. Even Passau’s original name Boidorum indicates a Boii stronghold. According to a Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemy, the settlements Brodentia, Setua (perhaps Sušice) and Kremisa (perhaps Křemže) existed alongside the trading route in the Šumava foothills. The most famous historical route is the Golden Trail.