Legal Definitions - hedagium

Hedagium refers to a historical type of toll or fee that was collected at a wharf or dock. This charge was specifically levied on individuals or merchants for the act of landing or unloading goods from a ship onto the shore.

Here are a few examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a merchant ship arriving in a bustling port city in the 14th century, laden with silks and exotic spices from the East. Before the crew could unload the valuable cargo onto the city's main wharf for sale, the ship's captain would have been required to pay a hedagium to the local authorities or the lord who controlled the port. This payment was the specific charge for the act of bringing the goods ashore at that particular landing point.

• Consider a smaller coastal town in medieval England where local fishermen regularly brought their daily catch to the town's designated landing quay. If the town had the right to collect hedagium, each fisherman, upon docking and preparing to offload their baskets of fish for the market, would have owed a small fee. This fee was for the use of the wharf to land their goods (the fish).

• In the 13th century, a powerful baron might have been granted control over a river port by the King. As part of this grant, the baron would have acquired the right to levy various tolls, including hedagium, on all goods landed at his wharves. For instance, if a barge carrying timber downriver stopped at his port to unload its logs, the barge owner would have been obligated to pay the baron a hedagium for the privilege of using his wharf to land the timber.