Kontor of Bruges

In 1134 a storm broke through the Flemish coast and created the tidal inlet the Zwin. It made Bruges the only Flemish cloth town with access to the North Sea. Bruges' first port was Damme and water transport could reach Bruges over the river Reie and other channels. Beginning of Hanseatic trade Traders from cities that later made up the Hanseatic League seem to have come to Bruges from the first half of the 13th century. The traders didn't acquire any real estate to establish themselves, but rented lodging and storage from locals. The canteen of the Carmelite monastery, where the Hansards went to church, could be rented for meetings if it was necessary. In 1252 countess Margaret of Flanders and her son Guy of Flanders granted two sets of privileges to Holy Roman traders, one to a group based around Hamburg and one to a Rhenish-Westphalian grouping including Cologne. The latter requested an emporium-enclave near Damme, but this was fatefully denied: Bruges wanted to secure a key position over nearby towns and villages and couldn't use new potential rivals. A progressive process of silting up the Zwin began in the 13th century. Duke Albert I of Bavaria, Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland offered attractive terms, and the kontor was moved to Dordt in May 1358. The blockade nearly caused a famine despite imperfect compliance by the Hansards. Count Louis II extended Hanseatic privileges to the whole of Flanders. But the context of the Hundred Years' War made it difficult for Bruges to keep the generous terms of the agreement and customs were raised. An attempt to move the kontor out in the winter 1377/1378 failed. Count Louis II supported Bruges. Worserning war conditions and a revolt in Ghent drove the merchants away, so few were around at the time of the Battle of Roosebeke. Louis died in 1384 and the League opened negotiations with the new count, Philip the Bold. Excessive demands by the Hanse's representatives made negotiations fail. The kontor temporarily moved to Dordrecht in 1388, again invited by Albert I. A total Hanseatic embargo was placed on Flanders, it was only lightened in 1389 to allow the Teutonic Order to sell amber. Intervention by the Prussian towns and the grand master of the Teutonic Knights enabled a resolution in late 1391. The Hanseatic privileges were restored and the merchants received a large compensation. . The orange building with the tower in the right background is the Oosterlingenhuis. The tip of the tower was destroyed in 1582 in a fire. When Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy and overlord of Bruges, switched sides to France in the Hundred Years' War with the Treaty of Arras, political attitudes changed. Accused of English loyalties, 80 German merchants were killed in June 1436 at Sluis. The kontor was moved to Antwerp and a blockade again created a famine in Bruges, and the kontor returned after a renewal of the privileges. Renewed complaints about breaches against privileges motivated the Hanseatic League to increase the economic power of the staple by expanding it. However it didn't resolve the issues and the kontor was relocated again. The destination would first be Deventer, but the Hanse decided for Utrecht in the end. Philip the Good occupied Utrecht in 1455. Negotiations resulted in the kontor's return in August 1457 with little gain. Merchants widely ignored the embargo and it would be the last Hanseatic embargo against Flanders. Further decline and end By the middle 15th century the closing up of the Zwin was starting to seriously harm Bruges' trade. Trade has deteriorated so much in the 16th century from the Zwin's closure that the Hanseatic League decided to move the kontor to Antwerp in 1520. The Oostershuis, completed about 1560, was built for it. == Organisation ==

The Kontor of Bruges was, like the other kontors, a legal person established as a merchant corporation (universitas mercatorum) in a foreign trading city to facilitate Hanseatic trade. It had its own treasury, seal, code of rules, legal power to enforce rules on residents and administration. The kontor's archives are kept in the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne. == Life ==

Hanseatic activity in Bruges was not centred in a geographical enclave, unlike in the other kontors. Instead the Hansards were distributed generally speaking over the entire city, even if there was a concentration in some streets or neighbourhoods, making it the most spatially integrated kontor. Lodging and other space was rented from the city's local population, and they used a local system of deposit-banking offered by hostellers and moneylenders. In the 14th century Hansards were relatively concentrated in the Carmelite and St John's quarters. Bruges was a developed and cosmopolitan city that drew travellers from many cultures, speaking many languages. The Hansards mostly spoke the Middle Low German of their hometown, some spoke eastern Middle Dutch, while the people of Bruges spoke the Flemish Middle Dutch. The language barrier in Bruges between locals and Hansards was the smallest of any kontor. There were French, Spanish, Italian and Biscayan traders too, who usually communicated in French, the language also used by the social elite of Bruges. Bruges had up to 40000 inhabitants in the 14th century. In the 15th century a few hundred Hanseatic merchants stayed in Bruges, for a short or a long time, and they were the largest group by far, their activity likely peaking in the late 14th century. The Hansards were unusually involved in citylife. They sponsored the building of churches and, alone among foreign merchants, contributed to poor relief. Colognian merchants ran businesses that sold Rhenish wine in Weinstuben (bodegas), sometimes partnering with their hostellers. == Trade ==

Bruges was the location of the Hanse's staple of cloth, and imported beeswax, fur and metals for the Low Countries, though the enforcement of the staple varied a lot. The main export good from Bruges was broadcloth. Flemish cities led in the production and sale of broadcloth from the 13th to the 15th centuries and Bruges was the foremost city in the broadcloth trade. The Hanseatic League transported it all over its trading area. From 1420 Bruges faced increasing competition from London and other English towns. The trade in broadcloth was the backbone of Hanseatic trade from the 13th to the 16th century. Also other types of cloth were bought. Hansards generally bought from local merchants as intermediates, and didn't seek out local producers unlike in their other markets. Other wares were books and other luxury goods. Hansards shipped copper from Slovakia, Hungary and Sweden to Bruges, where Flemish artisans made engraved copper plates for graves. These were in high demand all over Europe. The share of Hanseatic shipping in copper transport is not completely clear. Hanseatic merchants also purchased spices in large amounts, Bruges was one of a few sources for them. == References ==