The Early Hanses 49
the increasing rank of councilmen, who were also long distance traders in the
Hanse region.
Therefore, during the thirteenth century, apart from long distance trad-
ers, members of the urban elite came from families who, in part, had had,
as members of the social group of ministeriales (Dienstleute des Stadtherrn
im “gehobenen” Dienst), experience with territorial administration for two
or more generations, but had also had experience in representing their own
personal interests in the presence of their respective town lords. The financial
possibilities that likely lay open to individual members of these elite groups
were by far greater than what historians had assumed only a few decades ago.100
Arnold Fitz Thetmar, operating in London, was known as the first chronicler of
London. His strong hereditary roots to the German trading centers (his father
had been from Bremen and his mother from Cologne) make it seem natural
that from 1251 on, he served as alderman of the German merchants traveling to
England. Presumably, it was he who provided substantial support to Richard of
Cornwall in his campaign to capture the crown and title of King of the Romans.
In gratitude of this support, Bremen and Cologne, the hometowns of his par-
ents, received special and improved privileges for their dealings in England.101
Until the end of the fourteenth century, social origin and wealth were the
decisive criteria for the social acceptance of urban elites into the nobility. After
all, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a number of those employed in
the business of long distance trading had themselves originated from the very
social groups responsible, during the same period, for the emergence of the
lower nobility of the country. In fact, contemporary sources began to describe
knighthood and urban citizenship as being dissimilar in rank only near the
end of the fourteenth century.102 The significant constitutional status, which
Lübeck had held as a free town since 1226, may have been possible, in large
part, due to the quality of rank maintained by its elites.
Returning to the subject of council membership for merchants, it is clear
that their numbers on the council depended on the economic structure for
100 Wolfgang von Stromer summarizes: “Hochfinanz, Wirtschaft und Politik im Mittelalter,”
in Friedhelm Burgard, Alfred Haverkamp, Franz Irsigler and Winfried Reichert, eds.,
Hochfinanz im Westen des Reiches 1150–1500, Trierer Historische Forschungen, vol. 31 (Trier:
Trierer Historische Forschungen, 1996), 1–16, 8–13.
101 Natalie Fryde, “Arnold Fitz Thedmar und die Entstehung der Großen Deutschen Hanse,”
Hansische Geschichtsblätter 107 (1989), 27–42.
102 Hammel-Kiesow, “Neue Aspekte,” 67–73; Kurt Andermann and Peter Johanek, eds.,
Zwischen Nicht-Adel und Adel, Vorträge und Forschungen, vol. 53 (Stuttgart: Thorbecke
2001).