Between Leipzig and Görlitz the B6 largely follows the historic course of the Via Regia (apart from the ring roads around Meißen, Dresden and Bischofswerda).
Freeland grew as a ribbon development along the Via Regia between Eynsham and Charlbury.
It is named after St. Nicholas, the patron saint of merchants and wholesalers, and is situated in the very heart of the city at the intersection of two then important trade roads, the Via Regia and Via Imperii.
From Emperor Charles IV, he received toll privileges in Steinau an der Straße (on the trade route from Frankfurt to Leipzig), in Sterbfritz (on the route from Fulda to Würzburg) and in Kesselstadt at the bank of the river Main.
Regia Marina | Via Regia | Delonix regia | Bulla Regia | Curia Regia | Avanzada Regia |
A trade and military road was already mentioned in Ptolemy's Geography about 150 AD, parts of it formed the medieval Westphalian Hellweg trade route, vital for the transport of salt and crops, and the course of the Via Regia, the Ottonian "royal road" trough the Holy Roman Empire from Aachen to Magdeburg.
First mentioned in 1248 the settlement arose around a fortress in the Bohemian crown land of Upper Lusatia where the Via Regia trade route crossed the border with the Margraviate of Meissen.