The Baltic Trade 239
General Conclusion: The Baltic Trade and Its Purpose in the
Hanseatic Trade System
Certainly, the Baltic trade was only one part of the Hanseatic system. However,
it was the initial point of the sea-going Hanseatic trade in the twelfth and thir-
teenth centuries, and the changing conditions of the Baltic trade led inter alia
to the end of the Hanseatic League in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Therefore, the Baltic trade can justly be described as the alpha and the omega
of the se-going Hanseatic system.
The Hanseatic trade in the Baltic bridged the gap between the suppliers of
cloth and luxury goods in the west and the producers of wax and fur in the
east. In between these areas, the Baltic Sea was the most practical medium of
transport. The Hanseatic merchants developed their own very successful trad-
ing system between these two points because: they had knowledge of eastern
languages and customs, they had survey over supply and demand and—most
importantly—they had developed a structure of trade and companies which
could bridge the long distances between Novgorod, Lviv, and Bruges.
In the very beginning, the exchange of cloth/luxury goods vs. wax/fur took
center stage. But when the city of Lübeck opened the gate for the inflow of
Luneburgian salt, the picture changed. In addition to the cloth-wax trade other
branches like the salt-herring trade appeared. These changes economically
rearranged the Baltic Sea area. From the middle of the thirteenth to the end of
the fourteenth century the Baltic was divided into four economic zones: First,
the old long-term routes with direct trade between the eastern kontors and the
west via Lübeck, second, the medium-distance trade between the west and
the distribution-centers along the Baltic Sea, third, the trade at the connection
points where the trade of the west and the east met, at Hamborg/Lübeck and
at the Scanian Fairs, and fourth, the regional trade of the Baltic. In this system,
the connection points between the west and the east developed into key posi-
tions economically and politically.
The trade between the European west and the Baltic east, especially with
Russia, was very lucrative but also contained special risks. Because of the long
and troublesome journey, which included the perils of the sea and the dif-
ferences between Hansard and Russian culture and manners, the Hanseatic
merchants were not able to offer enough goods to adjust the balance of trade.
Because of this imbalance, a perpetual stream of western silver flowed to Russia
and Poland-Lithuania and from there on to Persia.201 The Russian Empire
201 Michael North, “Bilanzen und Edelmetall im hansischen Rußlandhandel.” In Zwischen
Christianisierung und Europäisierung. Beiträge zur Geschichte Osteuropas im Mittelalter