182 Ewert and Selzer
exclusive trade privileges held by Hansards were important determinants of
the formation of trade networks.46
Overlapping Circles of Family and Business
Hanseatic commercial networks consisted of several dyadic relationships
between traders residing all over the Baltic and the Kontore of London, Bergen,
Novgorod, and Bruges. The structure and composition of business networks
can be determined by researching account books, letters, or, as was shown
above, wills. With the exception of wills, there are not many written records
about Hanseatic merchants’ business practices yet available. For Johann Pisz
from Danzig, Vicko von Geldersen from Hamburg, and Hermann and Johann
Wittenborg from Lübeck, account books have been preserved.47 The account
book belonging to Johann Pisz covers a period of approximately 32 years.
Moreover, account books and letters from the Veckinchusen family give an idea
of what a Hanseatic merchant’s business life must have been like in early fif-
teenth century.48 Following these sources, the number of a merchant’s trad-
ing partners could reach a maximum of about 40 during a period of about
30 years, and cooperation with certain partners could last up to 22 years.49 If
a single merchant cooperated with about 40 others, one could imagine that
the total size of commercial networks must have been much larger, assuming
46 Ulf Christian Ewert, Marco Sunder, “Trading Networks, Monopoly and Economic
Development in Medieval Northern Europe. An Agent-Based Simulation of Early
Hanseatic Trade,” in Kleingärtner and Zeilinger, eds., Raumbildung durch Netzwerke? (see
footnote 33), 131–153, 145–149.
47 Hans Nirrnheim, ed., Das Handlungsbuch des Vicko von Geldersen (Hamburg: Kessinger
Publishing, 1895); Carl Mollwo, ed., Das Handlungsbuch von Hermann und Johann
Wittenborg (Leipzig: Dyksche Buchhandlung, 1901); Witold von Slaski, Danziger Handel
im 15. Jahrhundert auf Grund eines im Danziger Stadtarchiv befindlichen Handlungsbuches
geschildert (Doctoral Dissertation, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 1905); Walter
Schmidt-Rimpler, Geschichte des Kommissionsgeschäfts in Deutschland, vol. 1: Die Zeit bis
zum Ende des 15. Jahrhunderts (Halle: Waisenhaus, 1915); Sprandel, “Konkurrenzfähigkeit”
(see footnote 45), 21–38; Stark, “Platz- und Kommissionshändlergewinne” (see footnote
42), 130–146; Id., Untersuchungen zum Profit beim hansischen Handelskapital in der ersten
Hälfte des 15. Jahrhunderts, Abhandlungen zur Handels- und Sozialgeschichte, vol. 24
(Weimar: Böhlau, 1985); Stark, “Techniken” (see footnote 42), 191–201.
48 Wilhelm Stieda, ed., Hildebrand Veckinchusen. Briefwechsel eines deutschen Kaufmanns
im 15. Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1921); Franz Irsigler, “Der Alltag einer hansischen
Kaufmannsfamilie im Spiegel der Veckinchusen-Briefe,” Hansische Geschichtsblätter 103
(1985), 75–99.
49 Sprandel, “Konkurrenzfähigkeit” (see footnote 45), 21–38, 28.