84 Sarnowsky
1389, the threat of exclusion alone led to a change. Sarnow was overthrown and
finally executed early in 1393, and the Wulflams returned.72
In Lübeck other riots followed.73 In 1380 and again in 1384, the butchers
(Knochenhauer) rose against the town council’s control of the market which
linked the number of masters to that of the stalls. Though the town council
offered some compromises, in September 1384, a leading group of butchers
planned an overthrow by force. This was betrayed in time, and the butchers
involved were executed. In consequence, from 1386 on, the guilds of craftsmen
had to swear obedience to the town council, but this did nothing to reduce
social tensions.
When Lübeck ran into financial difficulties with the campaigns against
the pirates and other military operations around 1400, social unrest increased
again. In 1403, the town council needed the consent of the municipality for
new taxes; it was therefore forced to declare its critical financial situation pub-
licly. Nevertheless, the brewers and other craftsmen denied new duties until
the town council renounced the oath of obedience introduced in 1386. But
the greater dues did not help to improve the town’s finances, especially since
Lübeck started a campaign into Mecklenburg led by Jordan Pleskow in 1404.
When the town council introduced a new duty of one penny per barrel beer in
October 1405, the municipality enforced the formation of a supervising com-
mittee of 60 members elected by the citizens, as had happened in other towns,
to discuss measures for levying of dues. Soon, the committee of 60 occupied
itself with different tasks. It collected complaints of the municipality against
taxes, the restrictions on craftsmen, the heavy costs of diplomatic missions
and the towns’ assemblies, and against urban policies in general, and it pre-
sented them to the town council. Since early 1407, the committee of 60 had
intervened in the town’s administration by adding one of its members to each
town council. Open conflict arose when the committee demanded a change in
the rules for the election of the town council. For a long time, the town council
had decided about its new members (by Kooptation) itself, but now the com-
mittee of 60 demanded their elections by the municipality. This led to the exile
of 15 out of 23 town councillors including all four mayors and their families to
Lüneburg and Hamburg in spring 1408. When an effort for mediation failed,
in May 1408, a new town council of 24 was elected according to the new rules,
72 Ralf-Gunnar Werlich, “Wulf Wulflam—ein hansischer Diplomat aus Stralsund,” in
Akteure und Gegner der Hanse, 67–92, at 76.
73 Cf. the survey of events in Erich Hoffmann, “Lübeck im Hoch- und Spätmittelalter. Die
große Zeit Lübecks,” in Lübeckische Geschichte, ed. Antjekathrin Graßmann (Lübeck:
Schmid-Römhildt, 1988), 79–340.