Robber baron

Robber baron or robber knight is a historical term and title of disdain that was applied to the behavior and practices of a group of unscrupulous and despotic landowners (nobles) of the medieval period in Europe. They hindered commerce by imposing unauthorized tolls and tariffs and at times by sometimes ransoming or hijacking the goods outright of (pack-animal-dependent) caravans and riverine traffic amidst the poorly roaded tracts of the vast and far-flung demesnes of the Holy Roman Empire, in particular. The term has slightly different meanings in different countries, and has changed somewhat over time. In modern U.S. parlance, the term since the mid-nineteenth century had also come to be used to describe unscrupulous industrialists (see robber baron (industrialist)) and stock speculators, who like the Germanic robber barons enriched their own pockets without adding to the common good by adding value.

Germany

Early development

For one thousand years, from around 800 AD to 1800 AD, tolls were collected from ships sailing on the River Rhine in Europe. During this time, various feudal lords, among them archbishops who held fiefs from the Holy Roman Emperor, collected tolls from passing cargo ships to bolster their finances.

Robber baron (industrialist)

A robber baron is a wealthy and powerful businessman that employs practices included exerting control over natural resources, influencing high levels of government, paying subsistence wages, squashing competition by acquiring their competitors to create monopolies and raising prices, and schemes to sell stock at inflated prices to unsuspecting investors..

The term robber baron appeared as early as the August 1870 issue of The Atlantic Monthly magazine. By the late 19th century, the term was typically applied to 19th century American businessmen who used exploitative practices to amass their wealth. The term combines the sense of criminal ("robber") and illegitimate aristocracy (a baron is an illegitimate role in a republic).

Historian Hal Bridges argues, "The most vehement and persistent controversy in business history has been that waged by the critics and defenders of the “robber baron” concept of the American businessman."Richard White, historian of the transcontinental railroads, says he has no use for the concept, which has been killed off by historians Robert Wiebe and Alfred Chandler. He notes that, "Much of the modern history of corporations is a reaction against the Robert Barons and fictions."