Editing Old Salt Route (section)

==History==
[[File:Alte Salzstrasse Breitenfelde.jpg|thumb|Old Salt Route: historical pavement near [[Breitenfelde]]]]
Historians generally recognize the Old Salt Route as part of a much longer path, which functioned as an important connection between the northern and southern reaches of the country. One of the oldest documents that confirms [[Lüneburg]] and its role in refining and transporting salt dates from 956 A.D. According to that document, [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|King Otto I the Great]] granted the [[St. Michaelis, Lüneburg|St. Michaelis Monastery]] in Lüneburg the customs revenue from the [[Saltern|saltworks]]. Even at those early times, the city's wealth was based in large part on the salt found in the area.<ref name="Michaelis">{{Cite web |title=St. Michaelis Lüneburg. "St. Michaelis Lüneburg - die Bachkirche im Norden". |url=http://www.sankt-michaelis.de/allgemein/Allgemeines.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090317055959/http://www.sankt-michaelis.de/allgemein/Allgemeines.html |archive-date=2009-03-17 |access-date=2009-04-21}} 2003.</ref> The Old Salt Route attained its peak of success between the 12th and the 16th century.<ref name="Sell"/>

The trade route led from [[Lüneburg]] northward to [[Lübeck]]. From that port city, most of the salt was shipped to numerous destinations that also lie on the [[Baltic Sea]], including [[Falsterbo]], which boasted a [[Scania Market]]. There it was used for the preservation of [[herring]], an immensely important food in the Middle Ages, as well as for other foods. The salt trade was a major reason for the power of Lübeck and the [[Hanseatic League]].<ref name="Pulsiano">{{Cite book |last1=Pulsiano |first1=Phillip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-XiZO8V4qUC&q=salt+scania+market+herring&pg=PA651 |title=Medieval Scandinavia |last2=Kirsten |first2=Wolf |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1993 |isbn=0-8240-4787-7 |page=651}}</ref>