154 Burkhardt
cereals, flour, malt, beer, salt, metal, fabric, and other products which were not
sellable in their home regions. Thus, the kontors fulfilled an important func-
tion within the interregional system of trade, which covered all of Europe and
reached out to northern Africa and western Asia in the late Middle Ages. This
function was also one reason for the decline of the kontors’ importance in the
sixteenth century. Bruges especially lost its dominant position in the interre-
gional trading system when the Americas were discovered and used as an eco-
nomic playground and the transatlantic trade became concentrated on other
ports. Although London was still a major trading place in this new economic
system, the conditions of trade and goods offered and requested changed.
But most importantly, the way business was done changed and the Hanseatic
model of privileged trade for their own merchants on behalf of other regions’
business men was a business theory of a past age. Rulers, local authorities, and
Hanseatic merchants alike no longer had interest in this kind of semi-monop-
olistic guaranteed trade.
We can see this change in business mentality in the change of intercon-
nection between Hanseatic merchants that occurred during the second half
of the fifteenth century. In the early decades of the fifteenth century, long
lasting trade partnerships were the dominant way of organizing business for
Hanseatic merchants. With their interpersonal connections, they were able to
do business at many places and kontors thanks to a well-functioning network
of partnership relations. By the end of the century, however, business networks
were completely different. Merchants preferred short-term business contacts.
There were far fewer long-term partnerships, which bound resources for sev-
eral years, and networks among these corporations dimished as well.
This change in mentality made it increasingly difficult to convince Hanseatic
merchants of the advantage of trade under the protection but also in following
the restrictions of the kontors. Thus, it became much harder to force merchants
to follow regulations and privileges. This, in return, lead to a lack of trust by the
local authorities and rulers, who cut down on the exclusive rights for Hanseatic
merchants. This led to even more offenses by the merchants. Of course there
are also political and protectionistic reasons for the decline of the kontors. But
it no coincidence that the closure of the kontors in Novgorod in 1479, Bruges
in 1520, and the suspension of the privileges in London in 1552 happened in
the same time as the change of business mentality in the Hanse region and
an adjustment of the interregional trade system in Europe. The kontors were
important centers of trade during the late Middle Ages, but they could not
compete with other forms of trade organization in the system of the sixteenth
century. Only the kontor in Bergen existed much longer, not being closed until
1776, but by then it was a mere shadow of its former importance and activity.