Kontors and Outposts 155
Another function of the kontors was more cultural. The exchange of ideas
and thoughts was one part of trade that should be mentioned as well. At all
four kontors, the Hanseatic merchants became acquainted with different busi-
ness techniques and philosophies. It is very likely that they learned about new
methods like double bookkeeping, used in Italy for centuries, bills of exchange,
or the Dutch idea of free trade in London and Bruges for the first time. Even
new fashions, lifestyles, political theories, and religious ideas were presented
and exchanged at these junctions of interregional trade.76 New ideas trav-
eled faster from Venice, Paris, or London to towns like Kyritz, Osterrode,
Kokenhusen, or Hörde. Although Hanseatic merchants weren’t transforming
their hometowns into modern centers of thought and culture since many were
not willing to adopt many of the new ideas that hovered through the streets
of London, Bruges, or Frankfurt, their experiences and reports must have left
their traces in the common memory of the Hanseatic towns and thus influ-
enced decisions and the development of society and political organization in
the Hanseatic region.
The Kontors as Political Outposts
First and foremost Hanseatic merchants were businessmen, interested in profit
and smooth trading. However, they were also well aware of political dangers to
their business. Each war threatened trade; each lack of power made roads and
waterways more vulnerable to robbery and piracy; each conflict could lead to
seizure of goods or arresting of merchants. Thus, although the kontors were
mainly of economic interest, the Hanseatic towns, and especially the towns
at the Baltic Sea coast, had a vital interest in the political affairs of England,
Flanders, Russia, and the Danish-Norwegian kingdom. The concentration of
trade in the kontors provided the towns with the possibility to exert political
power by force of economic means. Threats of trade boycotts were one impor-
tant political weapon of the towns. Boycotts were especially successful in the
fourteenth century when the towns could get their demands through with the
blockade of Bruges in 1358 and of Bergen in 1368. The first known privileges for
Lübeck’s trade in Norway were issued after the town stopped all grain trans-
ports into the kingdom in 124877 and the staple of Bruges was transferred to
Aardenburg, Dordrecht, Antwerp, Deventer, and Utrecht seven times between
76 On the case of religious movements see the interesting case of Hinrik van Hasselt: Wubs-
Mrozevicz (2006).
77 Codex Diplomatarium Lubicensis, 1. Theil, nr. cliii, cliv.