| 03.06.2018 : Kalmar Union
The Hanse-City-Club was also challenged by other Baltic-Sea-organizations like for example the Kalmar Union (1397 - 1523).
The city of Kalmar was the headquarter of a Kingdom uniting Denmark, Norway and Sweden, which at that time encluded the territory of Finland (castle-photo).
Even when the Kalmar Union lasted only a little bit longer than a century, it did have a great impact onto the ethnological behavior which we call today the Scandinavian profil. !
|
| 03.05.2018 : Reval / Tallinn
Estonia can be dated back to about 1230 - with its capital called Reval for many centuries and now Tallinn in memory of its Danish Emporer Waldemar. In 1230 about 200 traders from the German counties of Westfalia and Lower Saxony were asked to settle around the Castle: getting priviledges. Untill 1899 the language in Reval/Tallinn was German.
Still today, the old city has its impact of the Hanse Trade Organization - and 26 towers of its former defense wall do give a special flair to the town-center. In 1997 Tallinn was listed as an UNESCO World Heritage for an example for mediaeval Northern European city construction by the Hanse.
|
| 01.04.2018 : Riga Hansa
Merchants from Northern Germany founded the trading spot Riga with its Dom(Cathedral), Petri Church, Holy Ghost Spital, Nicolai Church and St.Jacobi Church in the beginning of the 13th century. The city was empowered at that time by merchants from Luebeck, Wiesby, Soest and Muenster. Trade routes were going to the South-West to Koenigsberg/Kaliningrad and Elbing, to the East to Smolensk and Nowgorod and to the North to Reval/Tallin and Narwa.
Already in 1251, the first community was formed by Luebeck-merchants there; in 1413 for the first time, the name of the Schwarzhaeupter Guilde was mentioned. It's former headquarters and it's history were honoured by the UNESCO World Heritage in 1998.
|
| 10.03.2018 : The Hanseatic League
The German city of Luebeck - linked via the river Trave to the Baltic Sea - started to organize between 1161-1299 contracts between harbour cities to smooth trade-relations for shipments of merchandise around the Baltic Sea.
One has to keep in mind that in those days there did not exist national states like in the 20th/21st centuries. The power was distributed between small kingdoms and strong cities in those days.
In 1353, the first Hanse-City-Conference was institutionalized - comparable with the foundation of the EU: but on city-level!
The Hanse-City-Guilds established around the Baltic Sea "Hanse-Law" and similar city-structures. But also sculpturers and painters were used in those days by the local guilds and individual merchants to demonstrate their political and cultural status in the society.
|
| 10.02.2018 : Vikings
The history of the Scandinavian Vikings - also called "Rus" and branding the name "Russia" - could be segmented into three phases : (150 BC - 650 AC) , (650 -790 ) and (793-850). In the first phasis the Roman writer Tacitus reports about the amber-trade of the Vikings. The trade-function is also documented by the painter Nikolaj Rerich in 1902 by the picture with the title "Merchants from Oversea".
The second phasis was an expansion to the North Sea where city-names like "Wijk" remember of Viking-settlements ; in literature the Hervarar-Saga is a source of information about this perod. The image of the cruel warriors only started in the third phasis when Vikings attacked the UK/Irland and conquered in 845 Paris/France and Sevilla/Spain.
|
| Next > |
