The Hanse and the Atlantic 1300–1500 actors, trade, and conflicts
La Hanse et l'Atlantique 1300-1500 : acteurs, commerce, conflits
Published on Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Abstract
The merchants of the German Hanse – a commercial association active from the middle of the 14th century – are mentioned at the end of the Middle Ages all around the North and Baltic Seas, where they dominated trade for a long time. However, although the presence and activity of the Hanse in the Atlantic area is well documented, it remains little studied in historiography. In the case of France, the lack of scientific cooperation with Germany at the end of the 19th century, when major German publishing programmes resulted in the publication of the main editions of Hanse sources, led to a serious lack of representation of French archives in these collections, which are still used assiduously by German researchers.
Announcement
La Rochelle University, 9–10 June 2023
Argument
The merchants of the German Hanse – a commercial association active from the middle of the 14th century – are mentioned at the end of the Middle Ages all around the North and Baltic Seas, where they dominated trade for a long time. However, although the presence and activity of the Hanse in the Atlantic area is well documented, it remains little studied in historiography. In the case of France, the lack of scientific cooperation with Germany at the end of the 19th century, when major German publishing programmes resulted in the publication of the main editions of Hanse sources, led to a serious lack of representation of French archives in these collections, which are still used assiduously by German researchers. Since then, the research carried out within the framework of monographs on the ports of La Rochelle and Bordeaux, or on Brittany and Normandy, has certainly brought to light the presence of German merchants in several regions of the kingdom of France; but the absence of a systematic census, on the one hand, and the difficulties of approach, handling and method posed by the consultation of the Hanserezesse and the Hansisches Urkundenbuch, on the other hand, do not facilitate dialogue between the two historiographic traditions. Thus, even though Bruges and London never constituted the Western limits of the Hansards’ zone of activity, the presence of Low German merchants beyond these two trading places, as well as their interactions with the legal and economic actors of the Atlantic coast, remain largely understudied: how did the Hansards interact with their competitors and with the local populations and authorities?
By bringing together international researchers to study the links between the Hanseatic League and the Atlantic regions, this conference aims to highlight their vitality by adopting a resolutely broad perspective. Trade is an important dimension of these links, but not the only one: in the context of the Hundred Years’ War and of the maritime projection of the English, French and Iberian royal powers, conflicts – sometimes violent –, the way they were managed or resolved, as well as the public or corporate bodies that intervened in these processes, played an important role, not only in the way merchants and seafarers travelled through the maritime space and appropriated it, but also in the location of points of contact and exchange. The Atlantic forms the geographical framework of this study: it is conceived as a coherent maritime area, crisscrossed – from the Iberian Peninsula to Cornwall – by the same English, Norman, Breton, Gascon, Castilian or Portuguese seafarers. In order to better understand the complexity of the interactions of each of these groups with the Hanse, the contributors will be invited to pay particular attention to their spatiality and to the actors involved.
It is well known that the North German merchants’ relations to the Atlantic area, where their presence is attested from the end of the 13th century, were primarily commercial. The ports of this region exported some of the main goods traded within the Hanse networks, including the “salt of the Bay” (of Bourgneuf) and wines of Aquitaine. These goods can be traced until the main North European harbours and were regularly discussed during the diets of the Hanse. Therefore, knowledge of trade between the Atlantic and Northern Europe first of all calls for an economic approach, capable of characterising these flows qualitatively and quantitatively, by examining both the nature of the products exchanged and the volumes involved. This section could also be an opportunity to examine the monetary circulation: which currencies were preferred by interacting merchants in the Atlantic? How did Western European currencies penetrate North Germany and vice versa? How was credit spread in trade relations?
Studying these contacts and exchanges requires an effort to define their geography. This question deserves to be asked on several scales, in order not only to identify the geographical origins of the ships, merchants and seafarers affiliated with the Hanse and active in the Atlantic, but also to map their itineraries in greater detail, their points of call and of destination; or even, at the scale of a city or locality, the places where they stayed and traded, as well as the authorities before which they brought their complaints or disputes. It must be emphasised that this geography was evolving, and that it varied not only according to the political and military context, but also according to competition and commercial opportunities. We know, for example, that Hanse merchants were established in La Rochelle at least until 1419, when they were expelled for decades by their Spanish competitors.
The German merchants’ interactions with their counterparts and competitors generated as many exchanges as disputes, during which complaints before municipal or royal courts alternated with violence at sea. It is not insignificant that when the Germans went to the Atlantic coast, it was often in whole convoys, bringing together ships from several towns and constituting what has been called the 'Bay Fleet' (Baienflotte). This conflict was accentuated in the 14th and 15th centuries by the Franco-English conflict. The concomitance of the latter with the birth and perpetuation of the Hanse from the middle of the 14th century invites us to question the attitude adopted by the latter towards the belligerents, and the way in which the Hanse was able to navigate between the two and preserve – or not? – a mercantile neutrality. It also raised the question of the role of the institutions of the Hanse (its diets and trading posts, primarily those of Bruges and London) in the conflict management strategies of the German merchants active in the Atlantic area. Did they claim to be part of the Hanse? If so, how and to what end? Or did they favour other identities, other legal affiliations, in their interactions with the Atlantic populations?
Suggested topics for contributors include:
Spatialities
- Where on were the Hansards present? did their presence change over time?
- How was their reception organised at a local level?
- Which regions/cities did the Hanse merchants come from?
- Which infrastructures did the German merchants enjoy? How did they associate and organise themselves?
Exchanges
- The circulation of “Hanse” goods in the Atlantic
- The circulation of Atlantic goods in Northern Europe - Which were the currencies used?
- How were the German merchants perceived among the local populations?
Conflicts
- Which impact did political rivalries between kingdoms have on violence at sea?
- Which authorities involved in the regulation of conflicts at sea?
- Which legal affiliations did the actors mobilise?
- Which strategies did they develop to prevent conflicts at sea?
Instructions
Paper proposals (max. 300 words) may be written in French or English. They should be sent to the following addresses : tobias.boestad@gmail.com ; philipp.hoehn@geschichte.uni-halle.de ; amicie.pelissie-du-rausas@univ-lr.fr ; pierre.pretou@univ-lr.fr
before 1 October 2022.
Presentations should last 20 to 25 minutes and be presented in French or English. They will be considered for publication. Particular interest will be given to proposals from young researchers.
Travel and accommodation costs are subject to funding applications currently underway.
Organisation board
- Tobias BOESTAD (La Rochelle University)
- Philipp HÖHN (University of Halle-Wittenberg)
- Amicie PELISSIE DU RAUSAS (La Rochelle University)
- Pierre PRETOU (La Rochelle University) Scientific board
- Rolf GROßE (DHI Paris)
- Angela HUANG (FGHO)
- Ulla KYPTA (University of Hamburg)
- Jean-Marie MOEGLIN (Sorbonne University/EPHE)
- Pierre MONNET (IFRA-SHS/EHESS)
- Louis SICKING (University of Leiden)
- Justyna WUBS-MROZEWICZ (University of Amsterdam)
Subjects
- History (Main category)
- Society > History > Economic history
- Society > Law > Legal history
- Society > Political studies > Political history
- Periods > Middle Ages > High and Late Middle Ages
- Society > Political studies > Wars, conflicts, violence
Places
- 1 parvis Fernand Braudel
La Rochelle, France (17)
Event attendance modalities
Full on-site event
Date(s)
- Saturday, October 01, 2022
Attached files
Keywords
- commerce, résolution, conflit, identité politique, histoire maritime
Contact(s)
- Tobias Boestad
courriel : tobias [dot] boestad [at] gmail [dot] com
Information source
- Tobias Boestad
courriel : tobias [dot] boestad [at] gmail [dot] com
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« The Hanse and the Atlantic 1300–1500 actors, trade, and conflicts », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, https://doi.org/10.58079/198u
