De hanseatiske stuene på Bryggen 1300 - 1750. Brudd eller kontinuitet?

Abstract

Abstract: This thesis is an attempt to illuminate how the hanseatic firms in Bergen were organized between the twelfth and mid-eighteenth century. The secondary questions posed by the thesis are as follows: did the hanseatic method of organizing their firms, called stuer, change over time? Were the firms purely hanseatic, or did the phenomenon have its origins in Norwegian traditions? The first chapter will have its focus on the historiography and earlier studies on the hanseatic league and their way of organizing the foreign trade at Bryggen. A presentation of relevant primary sources and to what they may be used, will also be given here. The second chapter will contain my results according to the later years of hanseatic trade at Bryggen, and what the sources can tell us about the firms then. With that in mind, in third chapter, I will examine both Norwegian and German medieval sources in attempt to decide whether the firms had its origin in pre-hanseatic Norway or if it was something the hanseatic tradesmen brought with them to Bergen. I will also be looking to compare the firms of medieval Bergen with those of the early modern period, in an effort to identify any major differences and similarities in how trade was organized during the two eras.