The Dynamics of Economic Culture in the North Sea- and Baltic Region

Contents: LEOS MÜLLER/HANNO BRAND, Introduction   Long term perspectives: JAN GLETE, Cities, state formation and the protection of trade in northern Europe, 1200-1700   SVEN LILJA, Peoples, towns and states. Structural power resources and state power in the Scando-Baltic region (1500-1820)   ERIK LINDBERG, Merchant guilds and urban growth in the Baltic Sea area 1650-1850   The Hanseatic period: MIKE BURKHARDT, One hundred years of thriving commerce at a major English sea port. The Hanseatic Trade at Boston between 1370 and 1470   JUSTYNA WUBS-MROZEWICZ, 'Alle goede coepluyden …’ Strategies in the Scandinavian trade politics of Amsterdam and Lübeck c. 1440-1560   HANNO BRAND, Habsburg and Hanseatic diplomacy during the Sound controversy of 1532   LOUIS SICKING, A wider spread of risk: a key to understanding Holland’s domination of eastward and westward seafaring from the Low Countries in the sixteenth century   EDDA FRANKOT, The practice of maritime law in the town courts of fifteenth-century Northern Europe. A Comparison   Trade and Markets in the early-modern period: CHRISTIAAN VAN BOCHOVE, Market integration and the North Sea system (1600-1800)   JELLE VAN LOTTUM, Some aspects of migration in the North Sea region, c. 1550-1800   BO POULSEN, Markets, prices and consumption. The herring trade in the North Sea and Baltic region, c. 1600-1850   PHILIP KELSALL, The changing relationship between Denmark and the Netherlands in the latter half of the seventeenth century   MICHIEL DE JONG, Dutch merchants and their interests in Dutch and foreign state finances, 1615-1630: the case of bilateral subsidies and loans at the start of the Thirty Years War   ANDREJ KOTLJARCHUK, Riga and commercial aspects of the Lithuanian-Swedish relations during the seventeenth century   About the authors

'This book discusses the region's transition from the late medieval period of Hanseatic dominance to the rise of the Dutch, British, Danish, and Swedish early modern states. This volume attempts to bring new perspective to the region's history by considering the unifying concept of economic culture. This perspective allows the historian to consider diplomatic, legal, social, and economic matters, and each chapter relates to different approaches to look at the region. These chapters share the view that institutional arrangements and the rise of the early modern state are the most significant factors in the development of the North Sea and Baltic regions.' Richard D. Culbertson in: Renaissance Quarterly 62 (2009) 4, p. 1329-1330

''Behalve als bron voor een nieuwe kijk op de moedernegotie is de bundel voor een Nederlandse lezer ook interessant als toegang to resultaten van onderzoek dat is gepubliceerd in Scandinavische talen of in het Pools, Belarus, of Litouws. [...] ik verwacht dat iemand die in het onderwerp is geïnteresseerd alle bijdragen met plezier zal lezen.' Drs. W Pelt op: www.historischhuis.nl/recensies

'[...] in verschillende artikelen een ontwikkeling van verrassende gezichtspunten'. G.M.W. Acda in: Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis 27 (2008) 2

'So vielfältig wie die Beiträge, so vielfältig ist aber auch das niveau dieses Bandes. Gerade der zweite Abschnitt zeigt, welch anregenden und tiefgreifenden Erkenntnisse von der "jungen" Garde der Hanseforschung ausgehen. So werden die Beiträge von M. Burkhardt, J. Wubs-Mrozewicz, H. Brand u.a. mit grosser Sicherheit zu Standartreferenzen avancieren. [...] Dieser Sammelband gehört zu denen, die für jeden etwas bereit halten und die mit Sicherheit über lange Zeit immer wieder zitiert werden.' C.J. in: Hansische Geschichtsblätter 126 (2008)

'This is a very interesting body of work for anyone seeking a good overview of the latest work on the Baltic and North Sea area. Most of the articles adopt a clear approach to on-going historical debates, applying to the institutional debate, for example, a transaction-costs model, or in the case studies theories of state formation time frames often ignored by historians. Moreover, most of the work in these chapters is the outcome of research into primary sourced presented in a comparative perspective. [...] the idea of bringing structural and theoretical analysis together with case studies based on primary sources has given us a well-researched, balanced and serious historical study of the Baltic and North Sea regions that is accessible to both a broad and a specialized audience.' C.A.P. Antunes in: International Journal of Maritime History 20 (2009) 2

‘The collection includes new information, mostly by young scholars. The essays typically fit into their own established trajectories of study and so the short pieces become small parts of larger projects with background or context not always explicit. Analysis is often apt as with Poulson’s discussion of the impact of environmental factors on the fisheries but there can be confusion for example in Helsall’s heroic effort to sort out carrying capacity and the tonnage rating of a ship, a critical matter when it came to paying tolls.’ Richard W. Unger in: BMGN 124 (2009) 2, p. 259-263

‘Er bestaat een lange traditie in de economische Geschiedenis in het bestuderen van de Noordzee en Baltische Zee als één geïntegreerde handelszone, en deze bundel gaat een stap verder door beide regio’s vanuit het perspectief van een gedeelde kenniseconomie te benaderen; een insteek die bijzonder verrijkend is. Deze verzorgde bundel verdient dan ook zijn plaats in de rijke historiografie omtrent de relaties tussen het Baltische gebied en de Noordzee.’ F. Vermeylen in: De Zeventiende eeuw 26 (2010) 1, p. 123-124.