142 Burkhardt
Trade at the Kontors
All four Hanseatic kontors were situated at the edges of what was the core area
of Hanseatic merchants’ business activities. Therefore, they were very impor-
tant for inputting foreign goods into the Hanseatic trade system. Hansards
could buy luxury goods, special foodstuff, and raw materials with consider-
able security. The large trading places were protected by the local lords and
provided safety from robbery. Prices and quality were more or less controlled
by the local authorities. And, important for the merchants’ business plans,
there was a reliable quantity of certain goods on hand at these larger markets
due to the trading centers’ attractiveness to potential sellers or simply to royal
privileges.
The Hansards themselves put further regulations and rules on the trade
at their four kontors. Most of these regulations were written down in the
kontors’ statutes. They were read aloud to the community of merchants once a
year to ensure that everybody at the kontor knew which actions were legal and
which actions would cause trouble. Most regulations were enforced to prevent
non-Hansards from participating in the merchants’ privileges or to guarantee
a certain amount of security for the Hanseatic merchants. Thus, some general
rules at all kontors were as follows: No Hansard was allowed to run a company
with a non-Hansard, all business transactions had to be carried out in public
space, and no merchant should entice away other merchants’ staff. Also, regu-
lations regarding quality and quantity of traded goods were in the statutes. The
regulations also show that the Hanseatic merchants not only feared their com-
petitors of other origin, they also feared each other. In most cases, the most
dangerous competitors for a Hanseatic merchant were other Hansards. One
purpose of the many rules regarding trade and business was to take the edge
off intra-Hanseatic competition. In a certain way it was the attempt to ensure
as many Hanseatic merchants as possible a reliable profit. Another reason was
to guarantee that all of the merchants observed the privileges, but we must not
forget that these privileges themselves only were a means to make trade and
thus profit more predictable to the Hanseatic merchants.
Goods and customs varied from kontor to kontor. I am not going to go into
detail regarding trade routes and quantities of goods, as these topics are cov-
ered elsewhere. However, a description of the kontors would be incomplete
without a short overall view of the main business activities in the respective
trade ports. In London and Bruges, Hanseatic merchants met businessmen
from all over western and southern Europe. They not only purchased exotic
goods, they also became acquainted with new business ideas and techniques
and learned about different cultural customs and latest fashions.