The Hanseatic League in the Early Modern Period 105
end of the sixteenth century, Riga developed into the most important trading
center of Livonia; however, in the period following, it was generally ignored by
Lübeck, and frequented most by Dutch ships.
In the west, exchange shifted to England due to the interests of Hamburg.
However, Iceland also became increasingly important as a result among other
things of the decline of the Hanseatic Bergen-Norwegian trade.6 In particular,
criticism from the Upper German buyers over the quality of Lübeck’s dried
cod deliveries became more and more frequent. At the same time, the market
share of dried cod decreased further because Lübeck did not adapt to com-
petition from cheaper fish from the Netherlands and Iceland. While Lübeck
firmly retained a trade office in Bergen in the sixteenth century, Hamburg had
already co-opted the disputed route to Iceland from Lübeck by the close of the
fifteenth century. Primary import articles from Iceland were fish and salt dried
cod. These were traded by way of Hamburg to Middle and Eastern Germany,
and a considerable portion was shipped directly to England and Amsterdam
from Iceland. In exchange, Hamburg’s merchants exported grain, flour, and
particularly beer to Iceland.7
In the first decades of the sixteenth century, Hamburg’s trade with England
was based on the export of Icelandic dried cod (stock fish) as well as north-
ern and middle German fabric to England, and in return English Indian ink
was obtained and brought to the Dutch markets. A portion of the wares ear-
marked for England, like fabric from Salzwedel and Osnabrück, as well as wax
and tar, were obtained and shipped by merchants in Antwerp. In this man-
ner, profits obtained in the Netherlands were immediately converted into
export wares, making payment easier.8 With this system in place, Hamburg
took Lübeck’s place in the Hanseatic trade with England, which, as in the fif-
teenth century, was still dominated by Cologne and Danzig. As a rule, Lübeck
carried out its English trade, and the simultaneously occurring distribution
of its eastern wares, through Hamburg. Through privilege and settlement,
lioniennes, Quellen und Darstellungen zur hansischen Geschichte N.F. 25 (Cologne/Vienna,
1981), 207, 220. For general information see also Norbert Angermann, Die Hanse und Rußland
in den Jahren 1584–1603,” Hansische Geschichsblätter 102 (1984), 79–90.
6 Mike Burkhardt, “Die Geschichte des Bergenhandels im Spätmittelalter. Handel, Kaufleute,
Netzwerke” (Doctoral Dissertation, University of Copenhagen, 2006).
7 Ernst Baasch, Die Islandfahrt der Deutschen, namentlich der Hamburger von 15. bis 17.
Jahrhundert (Hamburg, 1889), 15, 76–77, 172.
8 Klaus Friedland, “Hamburger Englandfahrer 1512–1557,” Zeitschrift des Vereins für
Hamburgische Geschichte 46 (1960), 1–44, hier 8–14; Michael North, Geldumlauf und
Wirtschaftskonjunktur im südlichen Ostseeraum an der Wende zur Neuzeit (1440–1570)
(Sigmaringen, 1990), 159ff.