The Hanseatic merchants in Bergen and the dispute with the IJssel towns
DN 16/340 · 23 June 1502 · [Bergen.]
What the letter says
The aldermen of the German merchants in Bergen reply on 23 June 1502 to the towns of Deventer, Kampen and Zwolle, which have complained that their merchants had to pay six Danish marks for each last of goods in Bergen. The merchants from these towns would not follow the same rules as men from Bremen and Wismar, and when skipper Jacob van Horne was arrested, he sailed out regardless. Later the merchants asked to pay the levy if the matter were dropped, and this was granted. The aldermen also complain that ships are being chartered with beer, flour and malt from the Baltic to Bergen and with fish back. They want a friendly settlement, because there is now unrest in the country between the king and herr Knut Alvsson.
The letter in modern English
To the burgomasters, aldermen and councillors of the towns of Deventer, Kampen and Zwolle etc. From the aldermen of the common German merchant of the Hansa, now residing in Bergen in Norway. Our friendly service with wishes for all good beforehand. Honourable, prudent lords, especially good friends. We have received your letter and understood it well. It contains at length the complaint of your burghers and merchants who are accustomed to trade here with us with their goods. They say that we have burdened them beyond good old custom, freedom and the privileges of the Hansa and forced them to give six Danish marks for each last of goods, and finally you ask that your people be repaid the money taken from them, with many other articles, as your letter further contains. Likewise we have received from our friends in Lübeck some copies of letters you have written to the honourable council there about this matter. They read like letters of threat and letters of feud, and we must let that rest. Therefore we let your honours know in friendship that it seems very strange and odd to us that your burghers and the merchants from your towns think they have more privileges and freedoms here in Bergen than the merchants and burghers of Bremen and Wismar.
Original text
Borgermesteren schepen vnde radtmanenn der stede Deuenter Compen vnde Swolle etc. Olderlude des gemeynen Dutschen kopmans van der Hansze nutortyt tho Bergen in Norwegen residerende. Vnnszen fruntliken denst myt begeringe alles guden touoren. Erszame vorsenige heren besunderen guden frunde. Juwe schriffte jn langen worden jnneholdende, de clachte juwer borgere vnde koplude, de myt orer kopenschup hijr myt vns tho vorkerende plegen, de wij bouen gude olde gewonte vryheyt vnde priuilegie der
Background
Deventer, Kampen and Zwolle lay on the river IJssel in today's Netherlands and were Hanseatic towns, but the German Kontor in Bergen was run with Lübeck and the Wendish towns on the Baltic in the lead. The dispute was about who should be allowed to carry grain and beer to Bergen and stockfish out, the most important trade on the Norwegian coast. The eighteen men were the Kontor's own council alongside the aldermen. Knut Alvsson is mentioned in only one sentence, but it shows that his rising caused unrest even for the great trade of Bergen in the summer of 1502. The merchants wanted calm within the Hansa while the country around them was at war.
People: Knut Alvsson