Grafenau

Grafenau grew through the packhorse salt trade across the Bavarian Forest toward Bohemia. In 1375 its surrounding territory passed from the extinct counts of Hals to Johann I of Leuchtenberg. At his request, Emperor Charles IV raised the market to town status on 14 May 1376. The route later called the Gulden Strass connected its merchants with western Bohemia, giving the small forest town a commercial purpose beyond its immediate countryside.

The same connection could be interrupted by violence. Bohemian forces plundered Grafenau in 1468 and made the trade road impassable. A treaty with Schärding in 1580 offers another marker of its trading relationships. Plague struck in 1634. During the War of the Austrian Succession in 1742, troops plundered the town and destroyed nearby Bärnstein Castle, the old administrative and military center. The road received its last recorded repair in 1772, preserving a late chapter in this long history of commerce and disruption.