Introduction 7
that forces Sarnowsky to call into question the characterization of this period
as a “golden age” for the Hanseatic League in spite of the towns’ commercial
success. The towns continued to push for autonomy and instances of Hanse
“unity” tended to be for limited periods of time.
The winds of trade were shifting following the Treaty of Utrecht in 1474, as
Michael North highlights in his chapter on the Hanse in the early modern period
(chapter 3). Dutch competition and the rise of the Southern German merchants
from Nuremburg and Augsburg altered much of the trade in northern Europe
as did the success of the Livonian towns in the East. By the early decades of the
sixteenth century, political power in the Hanse towns was also shifting as the
effects of the Reformation were increasingly felt, and Denmark began to exert
greater power in the Baltic. The composition of the ruling groups in Hanse cit-
ies changed as Protestants gained power. And in spite of Lübeck’s support in his
succession conflict, Danish King Frederick i refused to expel the Dutch from the
Baltic thwarting the Hanse’s attempts at domination in the region.
The Hanseatic League became steadily less relevant during the Thirty Years
War, and by the last Hanse Diet (1669) had contracted to the point that only
Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck were much interested in continuing to claim
its privileges. It is surprising that the three cities were able to maintain their
Hanseatic identity until the early years of the nineteenth century.
The second section of the book looks more closely at three important
themes in Hanse history: Kontors and Outposts, Social Networks, and the
Baltic Trade. There were any number of themes that could have been high-
lighted in this section; the choice of these three topics simply reflects the very
good work being done recently by these scholars. Each of these topics is worthy
of a book-length study in its own right, and they seemed particularly appropri-
ate for a “state-of-the-field” treatment that this volume attempts to present.
In the chapter on “Kontors and Outposts,” Burkhardt, very much influenced
by network theory, looks in much greater detail at the institution that formed
an important point of discussion in the earlier chapters. This chapter focuses
on the important reasons that Hanse merchants grouped together while
abroad and the benefits that accrued from fixed associations at the “junctions”
of their trade networks. Indeed, in Burkhardt’s view security was the single
most important reason for the development of the Hanse’s principle kontors.
On the face of things, and from an organizational perspective, it was negoti-
ating and maintaining privileges in foreign ports that were the core function
of the kontors. But security for the merchant and his goods was likely what
brought Hanse merchants together and kept the kontors functioning over the
long haul.