132 Burkhardt
In Novgorod, the kontor consisted of two parts: a “beachyard” located at the
shores of the river Volchow, and the Peterhof, situated uphill.2 The whole town
of Novgorod consisted of yards spread over an area of 120 hectares, of which
only 20 percent were actually built on.3 The Peterhof might have looked like
one of these, somewhat bigger, but not necessarily different, and thus could be
seen as an integral part of the architectonic ensemble that made up the town
of Novgorod. Novgorod’s most important difference from the other kontors was
its lack of a maritime connection to the open sea. Sea-going vessels could not
travel all the way to the town. Therefore, the merchants had to reload their
goods and transport them to the kontor in smaller boats or sleighs.4 From a
strategic point of view, Novgorod was the most vulnerable kontor for any kind
of offense or blockade against the Hanseatic merchants.
Even Bruges could not directly be reached by ship. However, its harbor
Damme was very close. Bruges owed its success as a trading center to a storm
that opened up the inlet Zwin between the town and the North Sea in 1134. This
made Bruges the only cloth town in Flandres with access to the sea.5 Merchants
could travel to Damme, which connected with Bruges by the river Reie and
several other artificial channels, making it possible to reach the town’s market
place by water transport.6 Unfortunately for Bruges and the merchants, the sea
eventually took back what it had granted. During the thirteenth, fourteenth,
and fifteenth centuries, the Zwin increasingly silted up. By the fourteenth cen-
tury, it was reported that larger sea-going ships could not call at Damme any-
more. The town of Bruges invested large sums of money to keep the lane open,
but ultimately it was in vain.7 Still, the town remained one of the most impor-
tant trading centers in north-western Europe during the late Middle Ages.
In London, Bergen, and Novgorod, the Hanseatic kontors were architectur-
ally closed entities with wooden palisades. Inside were wooden living houses,
warehouses and assembly houses, gates and fences, and in the case of Novgorod,
a church. However, in all three towns the merchants used public infrastruc-
ture, markets, churches, and night-life districts outside the marked kontor area.
When the kontor’s houses were rented out, merchants had to find other places
to live. In London, merchants rented rooms in the English neighborhood;8 in
2 Angermann (1989), 172.
3 Mühle (1997), 163.
4 Angermann (1997), 284.
5 Henn (1989), 43.
6 Ryckaert (1990), 6f.
7 Schubert (2000), 19.
8 Jörn (2000), 417ff.