Cultural traffic in Lübeck and Danzig in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

In this examination of patterns of cultural traffic in Lübeck and Danzig in the 16th and 17th centuries it is argued that while Danzig was strongly influenced by Dutch commercial contacts and exercised a very strong cultural influence on its Polish hinterland, Lübeck was open to a more diffuse range of external cultural influences, and competed as a centre of culture with its neighbours. Two assumptions are tested here: that a relationship existed between cultural innovation based on external stimuli and levels of commercial prosperity in cities, and that the more passive a city became in terms of international trade, the more it was influenced by external cultural trends. It is concluded that the cultural experiences of the two cities were shaped as much by their relationship with their hinterlands as they were by changing patterns of international trade during the 16th and 17th centuries. Notes M. Bogucka, "Les bourgeois et les investissements culturels: l'exemple de Gdansk aux xvie et xviie siècles", Revue Historique, vol. 259 (1978), p. 440. For the concept of cultural transfer, see M. Espagne, Les transferts culturels franco-allemands (Paris, 1999). A general context to the process is given by D. Keene, A. Cowan & J. Amelang in the introduction to Cities and Cultural Exchange 1400–1700, edited by S. Christensen & D. Calabi (Cambridge, forthcoming). Espagne and his colleague Michael Werner also offer some words of warning over the use of comparative history in M. Espagne & M. Werner, "Deutsch-französischer Kulturtransfer als Forschungsgegenstand. Eine Problemskizzei", in Transferts. Les relations interculturelles dans l'espace franco-allemand (XVIIIe et XIXe siècle), edited by M. Espagne & M. Werner (Paris, 1988), pp. 11–34. T. Brück, "Der Eigenhandel hansische Seeleute vom. 15. Bis 17. Jahrhundert", Hansische Geschichtsblätter, vol. 111 (1993), pp. 25–41. P. Wälter, Wirtschaftliche Beziehungen zwischen Lübeck und Danzig im späten 16. Jahrhunderts (Lüneburg, 1995); C. Meyer-Stoll, Die lübeckische Kaufmannschaft des 17. Jahrhunderts unter wirtschafts- und sozialgeschichtlichen Aspekten (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1989); A. F. Cowan, The Urban Patriciate: Lübeck and Venice 1580–1700 (Cologne-Vienna, 1986), pp. 20–28. For earlier links between West Prussian ports and The Netherlands, see T. Riis, "Die preussischen Städte und Dänemark im 14. Jahrhundert", in Die preussischen Hansestädte und ihre Stellung im Nord und Ostseeraum des Mittelalters, edited by Z. H. Nowak & J Tandecki, (Torun, 1998), pp. 133–152. Beer production fell from 107,000 tons in 1624 to 77,000 in 1650. In 1666, the pale-ale and brown ale brewers' guilds merged in the face of a fall in membership. A. Grassmann, "Lübeck im 17. Jahrhundert", in Lübeckische Geschichte, edited by A. Grassmann (Lübeck, 1989), pp. 471–472. Charles Ogier, the Secretary to a French embassy to Poland in 1636, has left a vivid description of grain-carrying rafts, crewed by serfs under the command of Polish noblemen and steered with long poles. K. Schottmüller, "Reiseeindrücke aus Danzig, Lübeck, Hamburg und Holland, 1636", Zeitschrift der Westpreussischen Geschichtsverein, vol. 52 (1910), p. 211. In 1580, the proportion of Dutch ships passing through the Sound was 56.9%. By 1619, this had risen to 73.7%, while the proportion of Danzig ships over same period had fallen to between 7 and 8%. M. Bogucka, "Danzig an der Wende zur Neuzeit: von der aktiven Handelsstadt zum Stapel und Produktionszentrum", Hansische Geschichtsblätter, vol. 102 (1984), pp. 91–103; E. Harder-Gersdorff, "Lübeck, Danzig und Riga. Ein Beitrag zur Frage der Handelskonjunkturen im Ostseeraum am Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts", Hansische Geschichtsblätter, vol. 96 (1978), pp. 106–138; J. Schildhauer, "Handelsbeziehungen bedeutender Ostseestädte zu den Niederlanden", in The Interaction of Amsterdam and Antwerp with the Baltic Region (Leiden, 1983), pp. 23–29; M. van Tielhof, "Das Getreidehandel der Danziger Kaufleute in Amsterdam um die Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts", Hansische Geschichtsblätter, vol. 113 (1995), pp. 93–110. See also M. van Tielhof, The "Mother of all Trades". The Baltic Grain Trade in Amsterdam, from the Late 16th to the Early 19th Century (Leiden, 2002). Bogucka, "Danzig", op. cit., pp. 92–94; Wälter, op. cit., pp. 15–16; M. Bogucka, "Les relations entre la Pologne et les Pays-Bas (xvie siècle, première moitié du xviie siècle)", Cahiers de Clio, vol. 78–79 (1984), pp. 10–11. F. Kopitzeck, "Der 18. Jahrhundert: Vielseitigkeit und Leben", in Lübeckische Geschichte, op. cit., p. 492. W.-D. Hauschild, "Der Stadtgemeinschaft", in Lübeckische Geschichte, op. cit., pp. 356–357; Grassmann, "Lübeck", op. cit., pp. 461–462; J. Jørgensen, "Denmark's Relations with Lübeck and Hamburg in the Seventeenth Century", Scandinavian Economic History Review, vol. 11 (1963), p. 103. Hauschild, op. cit., pp. 428–430. H. Heckmann, Baumeister der Barock und Rokoko in Mecklemburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck, Hamburg, (Berlin, 2000), pp. 290–293, 297–299. J. Kremer, "Change and Continuity in the Reformation Period: Church Music in North German Towns 1500–1600", in Music and Musicians in Renaissance Cities and Towns, edited by F. Kisby (Cambridge, 2002), pp. 121, 126–129; Cowan, Urban, op. cit., pp. 159–160. Hauschild, op. cit., pp. 359–362; W.-D. Hauschild, "Frühe Neuzeit und der Reformation: das Ende der Vormachtstellung und die Neuorientierung der Stadtgemeinschaft", in Lübeckische Geschichte, op. cit., pp. 425–426. Meyer-Stoll, op. cit., pp. 126–131; M.-L. Pelus, "Niederdeutsch-Westfälische Einwänderer in Lübeck 1500–1570", in Herrschaft und Verfassungsstrukturen im Nordwesten des Reiches. Beiträge zur Zeitalter Karls V, edited by B. Sicken (Cologne-Weimar-Vienna, 1994), pp. 31–46. Bogucka, "Les bourgeois", op. cit; I am grateful to Dr Pelus-Kaplan for allowing me to consult her unpublished research. Bogucka, "Les relations", op. cit., pp. 14–15; M. Pollok, "Representations of the City in Siege Views Across the Seventeenth Century", in City Walls. The Urban Enceinte in Global Perspective, edited by J. D. Tracy (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 605–646. Bogucka, "Les relations", op. cit., pp. 13–15; M. J. Bok, "The Rise of Amsterdam as Cultural Centre: The Market for Paintings 1580–1680", in Urban Achievement in Early Modern Europe. Golden Ages, in Antwerp, Amsterdam and London, edited by P. O'Brien (Cambridge, 2001), pp. 186–209. Bogucka, "Les bourgeois", op. cit., pp. 438–440. Bogucka, "Les relations", op. cit., pp. 113–114; A. Cowan, "Foreigners and the City: The Case of the Immigrant Merchant", in Mediterranean Urban Culture 1400–1700, edited by A. Cowan, (Exeter, 2000), pp. 45–55. Bogucka, "Danzig", op. cit., p. 100. Bogucka, "Les relations", op. cit., pp. 14–15. Bogucka, "Les relations", op. cit., pp. 8–10, 14–15. H. Kellenbenz, "Die wirtschaftliche Rolle des schleswig-holsteinischen Adels im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert", in Arte et Marte. Studien zur Adelskultur des Barockzeitaltern in Schweden, Dänemark und Schleswig-Holstein, edited by D. Lohmeier, (Neumünster, 1978), pp. 15–32. Heckmann, op. cit., pp. 297–299. Cowan, Urban, op. cit., pp. 174–195; Bogucka, "Danzig", op. cit., pp. 96–98. See also, A. Cowan, "The urban Patriciate: An Endangered Species?", Historical Research, vol. 64 (1991), pp. 121–137; J. Amelang, Honored Citizens of Barcelona; Patrician Culture and Class Relations, 1490–1714, (Princeton, 1986); J. Gabriels, "Patrizier in Regenten. Städtische Eliten in der Nördlichen Niederlände, 1500–1850", in Bürgerliche Eliten, edited by H. Schilling & H. Diederiks, (Cologne-Vienna, 1985), pp. 37–64; A. Lottin, "Messieurs du magistrat de Lille. Pouvoir et société dans une grande ville manufacturière", in Pouvoir et Société en Europe, edited by G. Livet & B. Vogler, (Paris, 1983), pp. 191–201; P. Burke, Venice and Amsterdam: A Study of Two Seventeenth-Century Elites, (London, 1974); M. E. James, Family, Lineage and Civil Society: A Study of Society, Politics and Mentality in the Durham Region, 1500–1640, (Oxford, 1974). Bogucka, "Les bourgeois", op. cit., pp. 431–435. Van Tielhof, "Getreidehandel", op. cit.; Bogucka, "Les relations", op. cit., pp. 13–14. Biographies of Lübeck patricians are in the Lübeck Stadtbibliothek, Personalia. J. von Wickede, Lebenslauf und Personalien des... Herrn Johann von Wickede, (Lübeck, 1733). See Christensen & Calabi, eds. op. cit

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