80 Sarnowsky
and on Gotland. These privileges would now remain valid even in times of war
between Novgorod on the one side and Sweden, the Teutonic Knights, or the
Livonian bishops on the other side.
Even some years earlier, new problems in Flanders had arisen. While the
agreement of 1360 included the liability of Bruges for the hosts of the German
merchants, the town did not keep to its promises, and some time later, also cus-
toms were extended and raised. When the merchants in the Kontor reacted by
an effort to secretly move the trading post out of Bruges again in the winter of
1377/78, they failed. This time, the town was supported by Count Louis iii who
limited the rights of the German merchants and especially the jurisdiction of
the aldermen. The Hundred Years’ War and civil war in Flanders contributed
in worsening the situation. When the French army of Charles vi and Louis iii
defeated the civic contingents at Rosebeeke near Courtrai in November 1382,
most of the merchants had left Bruges.
After the death of Louis and the succession of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip
the Bold, as count of Flanders early in 1384, the towns decided for negotia-
tions which finally took place in Dordrecht and Antwerp in May and June 1387.
Duke Philip offered compensations, but the towns’ representatives presented
too far reaching demands also including a ‘moral compensation’ so that the
consultation ended without a result.62 Therefore, the towns followed the invi-
tation of Duke Albert of Bavaria then regent of Holland and Hainault to move
the trading post to Dordrecht, again, under the same conditions as 30 years
earlier. Thus, when the representatives of the councils of the Wendish, Saxon,
Prussian, Livonian towns and of Visby met in Lübeck in May 1388, they opted
for a blockade of Flanders under the same conditions as in 1358. Any trade
west of the Meuse River was prohibited; no goods were to be sold to or from
Flanders. There was one exception in 1389: the trade of the Teutonic Knights
with amber who used their incomes to buy white cloth for their habits in
Mechelen.
In May 1389, Duke Albert extended the rights of the North German mer-
chants in Holland at least temporarily, obviously at request of the merchants in
the Kontor, since the Wendish and the Prussian towns could not agree on a mis-
sion to the Netherlands and also hoped for more concessions from Flanders.
This was critically received by the Prussian towns whose merchants increas-
ingly neglected the blockade, as did the merchants of Kampen. Meanwhile
the duke of Burgundy tried to influence the towns by winning over the
grand master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia. In May 1390, Konrad Zöllner
von Rotenstein reacted by a letter to Lübeck, Stralsund, Rostock, and Wismar
62 hub 4, 904.