The Sound Toll at Elsinore: Politics, Shipping and the Collection of Duties 1429-1857

摘要

Ole Degn's edited collection of articles represents a concerted effort to push the boundaries of scholarly research surrounding a variety of aspects of the Sound Toll. For those less than familiar with this publication's primary point of research, the Sound Toll was levied by the Kingdom of Denmark from the fifteenth century, until it was finally abandoned in the nineteenth century. The Danish Sound Toll was levied at the narrow belt of water between modern-day Denmark and Sweden. Known to English speakers-as the Sound (in Danish 0resund), it represents the only access point in and out of the Baltic Sea. For over 400 years the Danish government continued to police this body of water and tax ships and their goods when entering or exiting the Baltic. As the Sound was the point of contact between Western Europe and Baltic markets it was a vital access point for both commercial and political spheres.