150 Burkhardt
had to be done. Sometimes these led to disturbances and had to be regulated
in the statutes. In Novgorod fistfights were on the agenda,55 and the statutes
at the Bergen kontor implied some major problems with internal violence at
Bryggen.56 Another regulation in Novgorod asked the inhabitants not to dis-
turb other people when they were chopping wood or singing,57 a rule that must
have been difficult to fulfill given the very tense architectural structure of the
kontor. Disturbing the peace was also a problem in London. Here the statutes
dictated that no one should shout or knock on doors when he came back from
a trip after the night guard had closed the gate.58 Night watch was another
important part of the statutes in the London, Bergen, and Novgorod kontors.
Of course, there are many examples of cooperation between merchants
and denizen inhabitants of the host towns.59 In Novgorod, merchants had to
transport goods on Russian boats from the Baltic Sea along the Russian rivers,60
and when the kontor was overcrowded, Russians made living and storing room
available in their houses.61 In London, many Hanseatic merchants had to rent
houses in the town because the kontor didn’t have enough capacity to house
all of them.62 In Bergen, the town’s public wine cellar was run by the kontor.63
Still, all three kontors were barricaded with strong palisades because public
opinion could change quickly and if things became hostile, the Hanseatic
merchants stood alone. Therefore, participation in night watch was one of the
most important duties of all inhabitants of the kontor.64 Permanent patrols
with men and dogs were important to ensure security of lives and goods of
those living at the kontor. But there was an internal reason for night watch,
too. One of its purposes was to prevent illegal business in the dark hours. This
becomes explicitely clear in the statutes of the kontor in Novgorod. Here it was
demanded that night guards in the kontor’s church, the most important store
for the Hanseatic merchants, had to be carried out by the assistants of two dif-
ferent merchants, in order to prevent clandestine arrangements and larceny.65
55 Friedland (1991), 46.
56 Burkhardt (2006), 31–41.
57 Statutes of the kontor in Novgorod (4th version, 1355–1361), § 48.
58 Statutes of the kontor in London (1460), § 52.
59 Burkhardt (2005a).
60 Angermann (1989), 174.
61 Friedland (1991), 47.
62 Lappenberg, 166f.
63 Burkhardt (2006), 46.
64 Burkhardt (2006), 33f., 64; Burkhardt (2005), 67, 69f.; Lappenberg (1851), 32.
65 Statutes of the kontor in Novgorod (4th version, 1355–1361), § 2.