The Decline of Fairs and Merchant Guilds in the Low Countries,

1250-1650.1

Oscar Gelderblom

IISG/Universiteit Utrecht

Introduction

Between the 11th and 13th century long-distance trade in Europe expanded rapidly. Merchants

from Venice, Genoa, Barcelona, and various other ports in southern Europe began to explore

new markets around the Mediterranean and started trading with merchants in Germany,

England, Flanders, and France.2 One explanation for this Commercial Revolution that has

found increasing support among economic historians in recent years, points to improvements

in the organization of commercial and financial transactions. 3 The basic premise is that the

rise of fairs and merchant guilds offered superior solutions for three problems haunting all

long-distance traders: criminal assaults and arbitrary arrests; dishonest behavior of agents; and

uncertainty about the profitability of trade.4

Medieval fairs were periodic gatherings of merchants from different countries or

regions. Europe’s international fairs typically consisted of a series of such events in

neighboring towns. Undoubtedly the most prominent fairs in the 12th and 13th centuries were

those held in five towns in the French Champagne.5 However, similar fair cycles attracting an

1
The author would like to thank Roger de Peuter, Maarten Prak, Richard Unger, Jan Luiten van Zanden, and one
anonymous referee for comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this text. The usual caveat applies.
2
Lopez, Commercial revolution, 56-122; Spufford, Power, 16-19
3
Cf. for the application of insights from new institutional economics to the organization of trade in pre-modern
Europe: North, “Institutions”; Greif, “Fundamental”; Greif, “Institutions”; To be sure, older generations of
economic historians already documented the principal changes in mercantile organization after AD 1000. Cf. for
example: Lopez and Raymond, Medieval; Lopez, Commercial revolution; Postan, “Trade”.
4
North, Institutions, 21; Greif, “Fundamental”; Acemoglu and Johnson, “Unbundling”, 1-2.
5
Munro, “New Institutional Economics”, summarizes the relevant literature on the history of the Champagne
fairs.

1
international crowd of traders existed in East England, Flanders, the Rhineland, and the Po

delta in Italy.6 The temporary concentration of so many merchants secured the supply and

demand of a wide variety of goods. To stimulate the gathering of as many buyers and sellers

as possible, local rulers guaranteed the save arrival, sojourn, and departure of merchants. In

addition, the fairs boasted law courts to secure the speedy resolution of commercial disputes,

and financial institutions – i.e. clearing facilities and lettres de foires – tailored to the needs of

the visiting traders.7

Merchant guilds, like for example the German and Flemish hanses, or the nations of

Italian and Spanish merchants, were yet another means to solve the fundamental problems of

exchange.8 These more or less formal associations of traders from a particular country, city,

or group of cities, demanded safe-conducts from foreign rulers, and organized collective

action in case these rulers – or other merchants for that matter – damaged or seized their

property.9 Merchant guilds also negotiated tax rebates, toll exemptions, or monopolies with

the rulers, thus maximizing their members’ income from commercial and financial

transactions. Furthermore, corporate control and the credible threat of exclusion reduced the

risks of default by guild members, while the personal relations evolving between associated

merchants helped to collect and disseminate information about market conditions and

creditworthiness of business partners.

Even if fairs and merchant guilds proved efficient means to organize long-distance

trade in the Commercial Revolution, they were replaced in the late Middle Ages by

6
Irsigler, “Jahrmärkte”, 11-15; Irsigler, “Fernhandel”; Rösch, “Italienischen Messen”, 50-51.
7
On the economic functions of the fairs, see Milgrom et al., “Role”.
8
In this article merchant guilds will be the common denominator for all privileged organizations of merchants
trading outside their own town or country of origin (Mauro, “Merchant communities”). Besides these
associations of merchants abroad there existed local merchant guilds that united all merchants of one particular
town, regardless the geographical scope of their activities. The extensive literature on local guilds in medieval
Europe is summarized in Dessi and Ogilvie, “Social Capital”.
9
The theoretical propensities of the merchant guild are described in Greif et al., “Coordination”; The classic
account of the history of the Hanseatic League is Dollinger, La Hanse; Bracker et al. Die Hanse, provide a more
up-to-date overview of the multifaceted history of the Hansa. The organization of the two Flemish hanse’s
trading in England and Champagne, respectively, is described in Häpke, Weltmarkt, 50-58, 129; and Van
Werveke, “Hansa”; On nations of foreign merchants, see for example Goris, Etude.

2
permanent markets and individual merchants enjoying legal personality. In the thirteenth

century the English, Flemish and Rhineland fair cycles lost out to the permanent markets of

London, Bruges, and Cologne.10 The Champagne fairs rapidly declined after 1300 when

Italian merchants started sailing directly to London and Bruges.11 After 1500 all of Europe’s

major commercial hubs – Venice, Antwerp, Genoa, Amsterdam, and London – boasted

permanent markets for commodities, shipping services, and capital.12 A similar change can be

observed with regard to merchant guilds. In Florence in the 14th century, and Augsburg and

Neurenberg in the 15th century, merchants set up multi-branch companies to organize trade

with distant markets.13 The Hanseatic League crumbled after 1550.14 In Venice, the Dutch

Republic and England associations of alien merchants disappeared in the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries.15

Still, the case for institutional change in late medieval and early modern Europe is

easily overstated. For one, already in the twelfth century Venice and Genoa boasted

anonymous exchange on permanent markets.16 For another, the second half of the fourteenth

century saw the revival of periodical fairs. Although these markets mostly attracted regional

trade only, the Brabant fairs welcomed a large crowd of foreign traders until the early

sixteenth century.17 The international fairs of Frankfurt, Leipzig, Lyon, and Medina del

10
Irsigler, “Jahrmärkte”, 24-25; Irsigler, “Fernhandel”, 29.
11
Munro, “New Institutional Economics”, 7-11.
12
Braudel, Civilisation, vol. 2.
13
Hunt, Medieval Super-companies., passim; Hunt and Murray, History, 99-122; Spufford, Power, 22-23.
14
Dollinger, Hanse, 406-454.
15
Obviously the situation in the Italian city states was somewhat special for until the sixteenth century the
merchants of Florence, Genoa, and Venice themselves dominated international trade. Yet, whereas in the
medieval period German and Flemish merchants in Venice had occupied the closed premises of the Fondaco dei
Tedeschi, Flemish merchants arriving at the turn of the seventeenth century never belonged to any corporate
body: Brulez, Marchands; On England and the Dutch Republic: Gelderblom, “Political Economy”
16
Trade continued throughout the year in both ports, even if transactions soared around the arrival and departure
of the galley fleets: Lane, “Rhythm”, 109; Lane, “Fleets”, 134-135.
17
For a survey of regional fairs emerging around Europe in the fourteenth century: Epstein, “Regional Fairs”;
On the Brabant fairs: Slootmans, Paas- en Koudemarkten; Van der Wee, Growth, vol. 2; Within the Low
Countries, the fairs of Deventer are a prime example of regional fairs prospering in the late fourteenth and
fifteenth century: Sneller, Deventer, 45-65, 94-108.

3
Campo still thrived in the seventeenth century.18 In peripheral markets like Russia, the

Ottoman Empire, and Spain, foreign traders continued to rely on corporate organizations to

organize their trade until the eighteenth century.

The variation observed raises the question why fairs and merchant guilds declined in

some places, and remained in others? An obvious explanation is a difference in the scale of

trade. There will be no need for periodical fairs when transactions are voluminous and

valuable enough to warrant the permanent presence of merchants. Thus, in Italian city-states

the supply and demand for agricultural surpluses, urban manufactures and exotic imports was

sufficiently large to obviate the need for fairs.19 A similar explanation might hold for the

decline of merchant guilds. Once trade is concentrated in permanent markets, it is in the

interest of the authorities to support the business of local and alien merchants alike. As a

result, the privileges extended to members of foreign merchant guilds will be complemented

with, and eventually replaced by, legal, commercial, and financial institutions servicing all

merchants regardless their social or geographical background.20

The latter explanation makes it clear that governments also influence the organization

of long-distance trade. One suggestion is that the creation of centralized, territorial states

allowed early modern rulers to effectively use policing, diplomacy, and military intervention

to protect all resident merchants from arbitrary confiscation or imprisonment.21 State

formation also helped to create a legal system that treated all merchants equal and hence

18
Munro, “New Institutional Economics”, 24-26; Braudel, Civilisation, vol. 2.
19
Lopez, Commercial Revolution, 88-89.
20
Ibidem, 90; The explanation certainly does not hold for all merchant guilds. There are many instances where
local and international associations of merchants turned into rent-seekers, using their economic and political
power to retain a dominant position: Greif et al. “Coordination”, 773; Dessi & Ogilvie, “Social Capital”;
Lindberg, “Revival”.
21
North, “Institutions”; Pearson, “Merchants”; Obviously, the involvement of rulers goes back to medieval
seigneurs bestowing market rights upon local communities and committing to the safety of international traders.
The claim is that early modern rulers were more powerful and hence more capable of supporting long-distance
trade: Hunt & Murray, History, 25, 87-92, 212-215.

4
obviated corporate jurisdictions.22 In addition, central authorities may have been instrumental

in the codification of local customs governing financial and commercial transactions.23

Finally, improvements in public finance (i.e. the use of indirect taxes to service government

debts) may have freed foreign merchants from the obligation to make financial contributions

in exchange for commercial privileges.24

Yet, the powers of the central state should not be exaggerated. Local authorities had a

much firmer grip on commercial practice in Europe’s leading commercial centers.25 Towns

typically built the weighhouses, bourses, cranes, and other facilities to support permanent

exchange. Even if princes sometimes issued detailed regulations concerning exchange, local

customs provided the basic rules for delivery and payment of goods, credit operations, equity

finance, and related issues of risk management. What is more, local courts must have been the

most obvious alternative to consular courts in case of legal disputes that involved alien

traders. Finally, local rulers could play an active role in protecting resident aliens from

arbitrary actions of the central authorities.

The present state of our knowledge on the organization of long-distance trade in pre-

industrial Europe suggests a rather straightforward research agenda. First we need to explore

in greater detail when and where fairs and merchant guilds declined, and what institutions

emerged to replace them. Then we can compare different historical episodes to analyze the

role volumes of trade, central rulers, and local authorities played in changing the organization

of long-distance trade. The present article will merely take the first step, and document

22
Again, the difference between medieval and early modern Europe is one of degree rather than substance. The
English king, for example, was involved in commercial litigation in fair courts as early as the twelfth century
(Epstein, “Regional fairs”)
23
For the introduction of new types of contracts in Italy between the 10th and 13th century: Lopez & Raymond,
Medieval trade; For changes in commercial techniques between 1200 and 1600: Hunt and Murray, History, 54-
67; Munro, “Medieval”.
24
In medieval Europe an important rationale behind the extension of privileges to foreign merchants was to
stimulate trade and then exact tolls and taxes from traders and consumers (Miller, “Government”, 159); See for
changes in the political economy of foreign trade in early modern Europe: Gelderblom, “Political Economy”.
25
Note that in the Italian context there is no difference between central and local authorities, for the governing
bodies of the leading Italian city states ruled in both the city and its surrounding territories: Hunt & Murray,
History, 87-92.

5
changes in the institutions that governed exchange in the Low Countries between 1250 and

1650. More specifically, it will analyze how alien merchant communities in Bruges, Antwerp,

and Amsterdam organized their trade in the late medieval and early modern period.26

The rise of the Bruges market

Situated at the crossroads of international commodity flows, the coastal provinces of the Low

Countries played a prominent role in the European economy from the thirteenth century

onwards.27 Bruges was the first city to attract large numbers of merchants from around

Europe. It was probably in 1134 that a flood created the Zwin, a sea arm that secured the

city’s access to the North Sea, allowing its merchants to travel to England to buy wool, and to

Gascony to buy wine.28 Back in Flanders the wool and wine were sold at the fairs of Ypres,

Messines, Lille, and Thourout – an annual cycle Bruges was added to in 1200.29 Meanwhile,

merchants from Bruges, Ypres, Lille, and various other towns marketed Flemish cloth in

England, Germany and, from about 1180 onwards, at the international fairs of Champagne,

south east of Paris, where woollens were exchanged for silk and spices carried by Italian and

Catalan merchants.30

The Flemish presence in foreign markets did not last, however. In the course of the

thirteenth century political and economic changes in England, Germany, and France forced

their almost complete retreat.31 First, various German towns raised their tariffs to bar Flemish

26
Obviously, these were not the only cities in the Low Countries involved in long-distance trade between 1250
and 1650. Dordrecht and Deventer are but two of the most prominent examples of cities that traded with
different parts of Europe in this period (Van Rijswijk, Geschiedenis.; Sneller, Deventer) However, the scale and
scope of foreign trade in Bruges, Antwerp and Amsterdam at the height of their commercial success was
undoubtedly bigger than that of any of the other towns in the Low Countries.
27
Note, however, that merchants from Dorestad already played a prominent role in international exchange before
AD 1000 (Henn, “Entfaltung”, 50-51)
28
Henn, “Entfaltung”, 52-54; Rößner, Hansische, 43.
29
Van Houtte, “Foires” 180-183.
30
Van Werveke, Brugge, 7-35; Van Werveke, “Hansa”; Van Houtte, “Rise”, 30.
31
Häpke, Weltmarkt, 58-64; Van Houtte, “Rise”, 31-32.

6
traders from their markets. By the end of the century active trade with Germany was reduced

to a fraction of what it had been before.32 In England, merchants from Flanders also met with

increasing competition from local wool exporters, all too aware of their commercial

opportunities in Flanders. In 1294 the English king even established a formal staple on the

continent, with the Staplers Company as the sole provider of wool.33 Meanwhile, in France,

higher tariffs, political turmoil, and outright assaults on foreign merchants ended Flemish

visits to the Champagne fairs around 1280.34

The crowding out of Flemish traders did not end Bruges’ participation in international

exchange, however. On the contrary, once the city had been granted the right to organize an

annual fair in 1200, merchants from Cologne started trading Rhine wine for woollens in

Bruges.35 About the same time, improvements in shipping stimulated merchants from Lübeck,

Hamburg, and several Baltic ports to carry their grain, timber, fish, and ore to the Flemish

port. Around the middle of the thirteenth century, English merchants began offering their

wool for sale in Bruges, while merchants and shipmasters from Galicia, Castile, and Biscaye

imported wool, iron, and wine.36 In the late thirteenth century merchant houses from Venice

and Genoa stopped travelling to the Champagne fairs. Instead they began sending galleys with

silk, alum, dyes, fruit and spices to Bruges, where they employed agents to supervise sales,

organize exports, and remit funds to Italy.37 By the end of the thirteenth century Portuguese

and Scottish merchants had also become regular visitors of Bruges.38At the turn of the

fourteenth century international exchange in Bruges comprised exports of Flemish cloth to

32
Postan, “The North”, 185; Paravicini, “Bruges”, 99-100.
33
Carson, “Bruges”,130-131. In two relatively brief periods the wool staple was established in Bruges: 1325-26
and 1340-1348 (Nicholas, “English trade”, 23)
34
Van Werveke, Brugge, 20-23; Munro, “New Institutional Economics”, 14-24
35
Rößner, Hansische, 49-50.
36
Verlinden, “Rise”, 56-58
37
In 1277 the first galley from Genoa moored in Bruges, while Genuese merchants are found living in Bruges
and Sluis from 1320 onwards (Vandewalle, ‘Vreemde naties’, 27-30; Henn, “Entfaltung”, 53). Venetian galleys
arrived for the first time around 1315 (Häpke, Weltmarkt, 157); To be sure, Italian merchants also continued to
carry goods overland, over the Alps, and through Southern Germany (Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 173).
38
Pohl, Portugiesen, 23; Roseboom, Scottish, 5.

7
Germany, France, the Iberian Peninsula, and Spain, imports of a wide variety of raw

materials, foodstuffs, and manufactures from around Europe and on top of that a transit trade

between foreign merchants.39

Although this concentration of exchange in Bruges broke the rhythm of the fairs of

Flanders and Champagne, trade continued to be periodical. Commercial transactions were

concentrated in April, May, and June, when the annual fair was held and the galleys from

Venice, Genoa, and Florence arrived in the outports of Damme and Sluis.40 Merchants from

Flanders, Germany, and Italy used the fair to settle their accounts, and transfer funds abroad.41

Not surprisingly the number of foreign merchants soared in springtime. Payments of local

excises on beer and wine by merchants from Lübeck, Cologne and various other Hanseatic

cities in the second half of the fourteenth century show that from April to June 100 to 150

German merchants were present, while in the remainder of the year there were never more

than 50.42

In the course of the fourteenth century cheaper broadcloth from Brabant, Holland,

Italy, and especially England, put an end to the export of traditional Flemish woollens.43

However, lower quality new draperies produced around Flanders, and very expensive dyed

cloth, manufactured in the cities, found new outlets in Germany and the Mediterranean.44

What is more, foreign traders bought a variety of luxury manufactures, including tapestries,

jewellery, paternosters, and paintings.45 As a result, Bruges continued to attract a large

number of foreign merchants but for a different set of products. From the middle of the 14th to

the end of the 15th century more than a dozen foreign nations – as they were commonly

referred to – were formally represented in Bruges. Among them were merchants from Venice,
39
Stabel, Dwarfs, 138-145; Brulez, “Bruges”, 21-26.
40
Blockmans, “Bruges”, 42.
41
Paravicini, “Bruges”, 118.
42
Paravicini, “Duitsland”, 101.
43
Munro, Wool, 1-3; Blockmans, “Bruges”, 45-46.
44
On the distribution of Flemish cloth around Europe: Stabel, ‘Dwarfs’, 144-150, with references to the older
literature on the subject.
45
Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 141-147; Van Houtte, “Rise”; Blockmans, “Bruges”, 43-44.

8
Genoa, Milan, Florence, Lucca, Piacenza, the German Hansa and several firms from southern

Germany, Scottish staplers, and traders from Portugal, Castile, Aragon, and Navarre.46

Table 1. Estimated composition of Bruges’ merchant community (permanent residents) in the

mid-fifteenth century

Origin Number

Germany (Hansa) 100

Venice, Genoa, Florence, Lucca, Milan 150
Castile, Aragon 50
Portugal 25
Scotland 10?
Southern Germany 10?
Low Countries 50?

Total 400
Sources47

Especially before 1400 it is difficult to establish the exact number of foreign merchants in the

city. The account books of a local moneychanger, kept between April 1366 and April 1368,

reveal the names of 220 merchants from Germany, the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, and the British

Isles – but this was probably just a fraction of the total number of foreign visitors.48 More

precise indications of the size of the various merchant communities date from the mid-

fifteenth century, when the foreign nations participated in processions to celebrate Bruges’

reconciliation with Philip the Good in 1440, and the accession of Charles the Bold in 1468.

Table 1 shows that by far the biggest nation at the time was the German Hansa with at least

100, and in the high season perhaps as many as 200 merchants. Most other nations counted a

few dozen members only. Thus, the Venetian, Genoese, Florentine, Lucchese, Milanese, and

Portuguese consuls each represented between 20 and 30 merchants, while merchants from

46
Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 171-189; Van de Walle, “vreemde naties”, 32-39; Marechal, “Départ”, 26, 30;
Brulez, “Bruges”; Paviot, “Brugge”, 45-48; Rooseboom, Scottish staple, 3;
47
De Roover, Money, 20-21; Despars, Cronycke,, vol. III, p. 431-432; Gilliodts-van Severen, Cartulaire, 65;
Greve, “Vreemdelingen”, 159; Murray, “Nodes”, 7; De La Marche, 524-525; Paravicini, “Bruges”, 101; Van
Uytven, “Stages”, 261; Pohl, Portugiesen, 24; Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 126.
48
Murray, “Nodes”, 7; De Roover, Money, 20, sets the number of Lucchese merchants at 35 in 1378-79, and 38
in 1393. It is doubtful whether all the account holders of Flemish (413), French (233), and Brabantine (125) were
wholesale merchants. Other sources suggest several of these may have been craftsmen or local merchants active
in domestic trade. Cf. for example on the absence of French merchants from Bruges: Blockmans, “Bruges”.

9
Castille, Aragon, Navarra, and Biscaye, may together have numbered up to 50. Besides, there

were small contingents of Scottish and Southern German merchants, but their exact number is

unfortunately unknown.49

The Organization of Trade in Bruges

The presence of alien traders had a profound impact on the organization of the Bruges market.

Foreign merchants wanted guarantees for their personal safety, and protection of their

property against damage, theft, and confiscation by either local rulers or fellow traders. They

also attached great importance to the prompt settlement of conflicts, preferably by

maintaining their own jurisdiction. Furthermore, the alien traders expected the authorities to

waive tolls and taxes, and provide a commercial infrastructure to support transactions with

locals and among each other.

Initially the demands of German, English, and Spanish merchants visiting Bruges

seem to have been met by the legal and commercial institutions that governed the city’s

annual fair. The market rights granted by the Count of Flanders in 1200 secured the save

arrival and departure of traders, the local court ruled in commercial conflicts, and the city

magistrate provided a rudimentary commercial infrastructure.50 However, in 1253 German

merchants, represented by officials from Lübeck and Hamburg, reached an agreement with

the Countess of Flanders about the reduction of tolls, the regulation of the ownership of goods

in sunken vessels, arrests in case of default, and reprisals on the property of foreign

49
Bruges also hosted merchants from Piacenza, Siena, Pisa and Bologna. However, there are no traces of any
formal organization of these merchants, nor of the Milanese for that matter. (Vandewalle, ‘Vreemde naties’, 37)
50
On the protection of merchants travelling to the fairs: Van Houtte, “Foires”, 202-203; Van Houtte,
Geschiedenis, 102. Note that merchants from the British Isles also benefited from bilateral agreements between
the English king and the Count of Flanders securing the protection of their respective subjects: Carson,
“Bruges”, 130-131; On the involvement of the local court in litigation: Gilliodts-van Severen, Coutumes, I, 447-
448; Gilliodts-van Severen, Coutumes II, 114-116; On the improvement of Bruges’ commercial infrastructure
after 1250: Häpke, Weltmarkt, 237-243.

10
merchants.51 In 1280 repeated infringements led the Germans, together with the Spanish

merchants, to move to the neighbouring port of Aerdenburg, where they benefited from more

extensive privileges of the count of Flanders.52 Their return in 1282 seems to have followed

Bruges’ acceptance of these privileges.53 The single most important new concession was the

permission to trade with other foreigners every day of the year.54 The only proviso to protect

the interests of the local business community was that the city required the Germans,

Spaniards and other foreigners to use brokers when trading with each other.55

The pressure to formalize the organization of alien merchants in Bruges increased in

the first half of the fourteenth century when more and more foreigners chose to set up their

residence here. German merchants were the first to obtain new privileges after moving once

again to Aardenburg in 1307, this time to protest against the high tariffs of the city brokers.56

To secure their return, Bruges could not but subscribe to the additional perks given to them by

the Count of Flanders in 1307.57 Thus, back in Bruges in 1309, the Germans enjoyed the right

of association and assembly, the right to set rules for their members, and the right to

51
The privilege of 1253 followed an earlier, narrower agreement of 1252 concerning the waiving of tolls in
Damme, Bruges, and Torhout. The German merchants had also asked for the establishment of a fenced
community, Nieuw-Damme, which should be a German trading post with separate jurisdiction just outside the
port of Damme. The Countess did not grant this, however. (Rößner, Hansische, 44-46); Older generations of
historians believed the entire deal of 1253 went sour because only Münster and Bremen had granted similar
privileges to Flemish merchants in return. However, the available evidence leaves little doubt that the Germans
took the agreement of 1253 to determine their formal status in Flanders (Henn, “Entfaltung”, 55; Stützel,
“Privilegien”, 24n).
52
Henn, “Brügger Kontor”, 216-7.
53
The contention is based on the course of events between 1280 and 1282. While the privilege granted by the
Count of Flanders in 1280 has survived, there is no charter to confirm Bruges’ reconciliation with the Count’s
commercial policy. (Stützel, “Privilegien”, 25-26).
54
To protect the interests of local business communities, medieval towns typically set three restrictions for
aliens. First, they were not allowed to resell their purchases. Second, they were not allowed to get involved in
retail trade. Third, trade between aliens was prohibited. The temporary lifting of this gastrecht was one of the
fundamental characteristics of medieval fairs. The abolition of the third rule, first for the Germans and Spaniards,
but later also for other aliens in Bruges, was a crucial step towards the creation of a permanent market (Van
Werveke, Brugge, 54-56).
55
Beuken, Hanze, 41. Greve, “Brokerage”, 38.
56
Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 168; According to Beuken (Hanze, 64), German merchants also had problems with
Bruges’ circulation of inferior coinage. It should be clear that the confirmation and extension of privileges was
not always the result of collective action. For one thing, it was standard procedure to do so upon the accession of
a new ruler. Moreover, new privileges could be extended as a result of political ties with foreign rulers. For
example, at the occasion of the marriage of Philips the Good with Isabella of Portugal in 1438 new privileges
were given to Portuguese merchants in the Burgundian lands – and to Flemish merchants in Portugal for that
matter (Goris, Etude, 34, 38).
57
Beuken, Hanze, 64-66; Stützel, “Privilegien”.

11
administer justice between them.58 In following decades the Count of Flanders guaranteed

protection to merchants from Nuremberg (1311), Portugal (1325), Aragon, Venice, and La

Rochelle (1331), Castile (1343), Scotland (1350-1359), England (1359), and Genoa (1358-

1366).59 Corporate jurisdiction was granted to most of these nations in the second half of the

fourteenth century, and the early fifteenth century.60

The Counts of Flanders and the city of Bruges were forthcoming because they stood to

gain from the concentration of commercial activities in the Flemish port. Some alien

merchants may have cut out local entrepreneurs– like the Germans and Italians who tried to

organize the production of cloth in the Flemish hinterland61 – but in general their presence

attracted other traders, and created employment for innkeepers, brokers, carriers, and

labourers in Bruges. Hence, tax exemptions granted to foreigners could easily be recovered by

taxation of the expanding the local economy. Occasionally Italian financiers supported the

town treasurer, buying annuities or otherwise funding public expenditure.62 In the fifteenth

century the Burgundian dukes used merchant bankers from Florence and Lucca to help

finance their expensive military campaigns.63

58
Stützel, “Privilegien”, 41-44.
59
Greve, “Bedeutung”, 272; Blockmans, “Bruges and France”, 220; De Roover, Money, 14-15; Vandewalle,
“Vreemde naties”, 34; Murray, Nodes, 8-9; Nicholas, “English trade”, 24; Roseboom, Scottish, 10. The content
of the Portuguese privilege of 1325 is unknown, but we do know that their 1384 privilege stipulated the
protection of their persons and goods (Pohl, Portugiesen, 23); Genoese merchants probably received their first
privileges from Louis of Male between 1358 and 1366, but these have not survived. In any case, in 1395 Philip
the Bold committed to the protection of Genuese merchants, pledging among other things not to confiscate in
case of warfare (Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 171). There is no evidence for privileges extended to merchants from
Southern Germany other than Neurenberg, and several smaller Italian cities like Pisa and Piacenza (Marechal,
“Départ”, 27n, 40).
60
Louis of Male granted the governor of the English merchants the right to settle conflicts in 1359 (Nicholas,
“English trade”, 24). Lucchese merchants may have had their own jurisdiction as early as 1367 (De Roover,
Money ,18); The merchants of Aragon received their first privileges from Philip the Bold in 1389. Their formal
submission to the Consulado del Mar in Barcelona suggests they did possess their own jurisdiction, perhaps even
from their establishment in Bruges in the first half of the fourteenth century onwards (Van Houtte, Geschiedenis,
175). Scottish merchants were granted separate jurisdiction, to be executied by a ‘commissioner, ‘procurator’, or
‘conservator’ in 1407 (Roseboom, Scottish, 11). In 1411 the Portuguese consul was granted the jurisdiction over
the Portuguese nation (Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 175).
61
Van Werveke, “Die Stellung”; Van Houtte, “Rise”, 38.
62
Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 173; Derycke, “Public Annuity Market”, 169-171.
63
Van Houtte, “Rise”, 39; Van der Wee, Growth, II, 109-111. Boone, “Apologie”.

12
 This is not to say that the government always acted in the interest of foreign

merchants. On several occasions the military operations of the Burgundian rulers of Flanders

endangered the personal safety and property of Bruges’ mercantile community. Notably

warfare with France and England led to repeated confiscations and assaults in the fourteenth

and fifteenth centuries. Besides, local economic interests sometimes clashed with those of

foreigners. For example, to protect the local textile industry, English broadcloth were barred

from Bruges in 1340 or perhaps even earlier. Finally, rulers may have been tempted to act

against individual merchants – a very real danger notably for Italian bankers with large

financial claims on the Burgundian dukes.

Their corporate organization allowed Bruges’ foreign nations to threaten rulers with a

collective boycott in order to prevent confiscations. Merchants from Germany, Italy, England

and Scotland carried out this threat on several occasions.64 Collective action could also be

directed against merchants of other nations. For example, in 1434 the German Kontor

forbade all its members to buy Spanish wool, to retaliate the capture of 40 mostly Hanseatic

ships by Spanish pirates off the coast of La Rochelle.65 The effectiveness of such boycotts and

retaliations should not be exaggerated, however.66 On the one hand, expected windfalls

tempted individual merchants to evade boycotts. Even after the killing of dozens of German

merchants in Sluis in 1436 several Prussians refused to by-pass Bruges and continued to trade

64
Marechal, “Départ”, 26-27; Dumolyn, Brugse, 69-70: Temporary settlements of the Hansa included
Ardenbourg (1280-1282, 1307-1309), Dordrecht (1358-1360, 1388-1392), and in the fifteenth century: Antwerp
(1437-1438), Deventer (1450-1452), and Utrecht 1453-1458) (Cf. Beuken, Hanze, 60-118; Van Rijswijk,
Geschiedenis, 40-43); English wool traders removed their staple to Middelburg in 1348, and then to England in
1353. It was then established in Calais in 1363, temporarily removed to Middelburg (1383-1388), and re-
established again in Calais, where it remained until 1558. (Nicholas, English trade, 23) Venetian merchants went
to Antwerp in 1437-1438, 1449, 1452, and 1459. The Scottish king James II instructed Scottish merchants to
leave Bruges, Damme, and Sluis in 1467 (Roseboom, Scottish, 22);
65
Dumolyn, Brugse, 67-68.
66
The issue will be treated at much greater length in my forthcoming book (2006) on the organization of long-
distance trade in the Low Countries between 1250 and 1650. Political rivalry and opposite commercial interests
made it even more difficult to coordinate collection between nations. One exception was the joint removal of the
Castilian and German merchants to Ardenbourg in 1280 (Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 176). It is telling that the
only other joint departure from Bruges was induced by Maximilian in 1488, and ushered in the end of the city’s
leading role in international trade (cf. infra).

13
there.67 On the other, the establishment of Burgundian rule in Brabant (1430), Holland and

Zeeland (1433) shut the door on removals to other towns in the Low Countries for the sake of

better protection.68

The corporate jurisdiction of foreign nations in Bruges allowed their consuls to

mediate or adjudicate in commercial disputes between members without the intervention of

the local government. Applying their own rules and regulations, the consuls effectively

extended the jurisdiction of their hometowns or -countries.69 The only exception were the

German merchants who drafted their own Kontorordnung in 1347. However, in 1356

representatives of various German towns travelled to Bruges to formally codify the new rules.

Again one should be careful not to overrate the functionality of the corporate jurisdictions.70

Foreign merchants in Bruges also used the local court to solve commercial disputes with

fellow members, local traders, or merchants from other countries.71 Several nations even

allowed their members to appeal to the local court in case they did not agree with their

ruling.72

The corporate organization of foreign merchants in Bruges also helped to prevent

conflicts, however. Close-knit communities made it easier to monitor agents, to search for

outlets, and to establish the creditworthiness of business partners. The internal cohesion of

Bruges’ foreign nations did not result from their corporate rules alone, however. Social and

religious ties between members were equally important to create a shared identity and trust.73

67
Dumolyn, Brugse, 69; Rößner, Hansische, 63; Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 170.
68
Beuken, Hanze, 89-90; According to Goris, foreign nations in Antwerp in the sixteenth century could still pose
a credible threat to leave, for competing ports like Hamburg and Rouen were all too happy to receive them
(Goris, Etude, 37).
69
Gilliodts-van Severen, Cartulaire, 44-45; De Roover, Money, 18-20; Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 175
70
Just like the protection of property, the organization of litigation between foreign merchants in the Low
Countries, will be treated in greater detail in my forthcoming book (2006).
71
See for example De Roover, Money, 18; Gilliodts-van Severen, Coutumes, II, 117n; Gilliodts-van Severen,
Cartulaire, 62-63.
72
Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 168; De Roover, Money,18; This was not the case for German and Venetian
merchants, that had to submit to the rulings of their consuls (Paravicini, “Bruges”, 108; Stabel, “Venice”, 35.)
73
Rößner, Hansische; Stabel, “Gewenste vreemdeling”, 210-213; Very important for the communal life of the
foreign nations were the churches and chapels of various mendicant orders where merchants could not just
worship but also hold their meetings and store the nation’s papers. Venetian, Genoese, and Luchesse merchants

14
Italian merchants found yet another means to govern their transactions. They created large

firms with several employees and apprentices whose managing directors relied on formal

contracting, double-entry bookkeeping, and extensive correspondence to enforce contracts

and supply and disseminate information within their firms.74

In addition to social networks and formal hierarchies, foreign merchants in Bruges

could also rely on market exchange (supported by local intermediaries) to organize their

transactions.75 The alien traders used brokers to find buyers and suppliers, and

moneychangers to exchange foreign coins, make deposits, transfer money between accounts,

and receive short-term loans (i.e. overdrafts on their accounts).76 Very beneficial to their trade

were the more than one hundred hostellers in the commercial quarter of the city.77 Every

hostel accommodated between ten and twenty merchants, generally from one and the same

region. The guests ate, drank, and slept in the hostel, but also met other merchants there,

stored merchandise, bought and sold goods, and changed money. The continual presence of

merchants and their goods turned these hostels into market places in their own right where

frequented the Augustinian friars. Florentine merchants went to church at the convent of the Minderbroeders.
Castilian and Biscaja merchants visited the Holy Cross Chapel of the Franciscan order (Van de Walle, ‘Vreemde
naties’, 30-39); Hanseatic, Scottish, Catalan, and Aragonese merchants worshipped and held meetings in the
Carmelite convent (Greve, “Vreemdelingen” 157; Rößner, Hansische, 47-48). English and Portuguese merchants
even had their own chapels built in the Carmelite and Dominican friaries (Vandewalle, ‘Vreemde naties’, 37-39)
The corporate identity of the nations was further enhanced by burial ceremonies, donations to religious
institutions, special clothing, and the participation in parades held at the occasion of the entry of a new sovereign
(Rößner, Hansische; Beuken, Hanze, 149; Blockmans & Prevenier, Promised Lands, 139;); Finally evidence for
the corporate identity of the foreign nations may be found in the fact that few alien merchants became citizens of
Bruges, or married local daughthers (Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 157; De Roover, Money, 22; Rößner Hansische,
114-118).
74
De Roover, Money, 11, 21.
75
On the distinctive characteristics of relational contracting, market exchange, hierarcical governance as means
to organize transactions, see North, Structure, 37, 45-58; North, Institutions, 27-35, 61-63; Greif, “Reputation”.
For a historical application of the theory: Gelderblom, “Governance”.
76
Moneychangers also invested temporary surpluses in commercial ventures – a practice that greatly damaged
their reputation. Several of moneychangers went bankrupt when investment projects failed. To counter this
practice the moneychangers were forbidden to offer banking functions in 1433. However, repeated bans in 1467
and 1489 suggest they continued to provide these obviously valuable services to their clients (De Clercq, “In
Brugge”, 26-30).
77
On the residence of foreign merchants: Rößner, Hansische, 226-239; The analysis of the work of hostellers is
based on: Beuken, Hanze, 41; Van Houtte, “Herbergwesen”; Murray, “Nodes”, 12-13; and Murray, “Family”;
Anke Greve’s dissertation on hostellers in Bruges, “Hansen, Hosteliers und Herbergen Studien zum Aufenthalt
hansischer kaufleute im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert in Brügge” was not available to the author upon completion of
this article. However, her interpretation of the role of hostellers in Bruges can be gleaned from: Greve,
“Bedeutung”, Greve, “Brokerage”, and Greve, “Vreemdelingen”.

15
goods were easily inspected, valued, and sold. The hostellers, many of whom were officially

registered as brokers, also arranged many transactions for their guests, they represented

foreign merchants whilst they were abroad, and even accepted liability for their outstanding

debts.78

Undoubtedly the best-known hostel in Bruges is the herberg ter Buerse in the

Vlamingstraat.79 This establishment, owned by hostellers and brokers of the Van der Buerse

family from the late 13th until the late 15th century, gave its name to Bourse square – a bend in

the Vlamingstraat, that became the city’s exchange in the fifteenth century. The adjoining

house, owned by the same family in the 13th century, was turned into the loggia of the

Venetian nation in 1397. Two years later Genoese merchants built their house on the other

side of the hostel. Finally, Florentine merchants established their loggia in 1420 next to that

of the Venetians. The street, now sheltered by houses with porches on three sides, provided

merchants from around Europe with a permanent exchange where they could meet and

conduct their business every day. 80 To prevent beggars and vagabonds interfering with their

buying and selling of goods, the clearing of bills of exchange, and other commercial and

financial operations, the city posted a bailiff at the entrance.

Bruges and the Brabant Fairs.

Before the fifteenth century Bruges’ leading position in international trade was unchallenged.

In the northern part of the Low Countries there were few towns with extensive foreign

connections. Since the 1350s the fairs of Deventer attracted merchants from Holland who

exchanged cloth and dairy products for wine, timber and manufactures brought by Germans
78
The liability of hostellers, their clerks, and apprentices for money deposited by guests was first established in
the privileges granted to German merchants in 1309 (Beuken, Hanze, 42). For a knowledgeable discussion of the
precise implications of this rule, see Greve, “Bedeutung”.
79
The following is based on: Marechal, Geschiedenis.
80
As a German traveller in 1495 recalled, “Spaniards, Italians, English, Germans, Easterlings, and all other
nations gathered.” E. Ph. Goldschmidt, “Le voyage de Hieronimus Monetarius à travers la France, 17 septembre
1494 – 14 avril 1495”, in: Humanisme et Renaissance, VI-1939, 55-75, 198-220, 324-348, 529-539, at 341; cited
in: Marechal Geschiedenis, 8.

16
from Westphalia and the Rhineland.81 Amsterdam’s involvement in international trade also

dated from the second half of the fourteenth century, when Hamburg merchants started

importing beer on a regular basis.82 Perhaps most importantly Dordrecht, situated at the

mouth of the rivers Rhine and Meuse, hosted German and English merchants trading wine

and cloth since the late thirteenth century.83 The river port even served as temporary seat of

the Bruges Kontor on two occasions. However, once their disputes with the Flemish

authorities were settled, the German merchants quickly returned there.84 Attempts of the

Count of Holland and Zeeland to lure Italian, Spanish and Portuguese merchants to its

territories failed altogether.85

The only true competition for Bruges came from the fairs of Antwerp and Bergen op

Zoom, established in the first half of the fourteenth century.86 As early as 1296 the duke of

Brabant had extended safe conducts, toll exemptions, and the right to establish a separate

jurisdiction to English merchants in his territories.87 In 1315 a similar set of privileges was

extended to all foreigners in the duchy.88 In the following decade the fairs of Brabant were

established. These fairs were held four times a year, in Antwerp at Whitsun and St. Bavis

(October 1st), and in Bergen op Zoom at Easter and All Saints.89 The rules governing periodic

exchange were similar to those of the Flemish fairs in the 12th and 13th centuries: Each of the

Brabant fairs opened with two weeks of entry, followed by one and a half week of display and

81
Sneller, Deventer, 43-45, 94-114; Together with the fairs held in the neighboring towns of Zutphen and
Zwolle, Deventer may have constituted a coordinated cycle of regional fairs: Sneller, Deventer, 41-42; Feenstra,
“Foires”, 222-227; Irsigler, “Fernhandel”, 31.
82
Smit, Opkomst, 34-54; Kaptein “Poort”, 117-124.
83
Van Rijswijk, Geschiedenis.
84
Beuken, Hanze, 60-118.
85
Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 189.
86
The best overview of Antwerp’s commercial history up to 1600 remains Van der Wee, Growth, vol. 2; For
Bergen op Zoom: Slootmans, Paas- en Koudemarkten.
87
De Smedt, Engelse natie, 63, 77-78, 86.
88
Rößner, Hansische, 50; Henn, “Entfaltung”, 56; Neurenberg merchants had already received toll exemptions
in 1311: Häpke, Weltmarkt, 117-119.
89
The Antwerp fairs were instituted between 1317 and 1324, the fairs of Bergen op Zoom between 1337 and
1359 (Van Houtte, “Foires”, 189; Slootmans, Paas- en koudemarkten, I, 6-7; Kortlever, “Easter and Cold Fairs”
626-627).

17
sales, and concluded with several days of payment.90 The Duke of Brabant guaranteed the

safe arrival and departure of visitors and granted exemptions from import taxes for the

duration of the fairs. He also safeguarded them from arrests related to claims originating

outside the fair. Perhaps most importantly, merchants were protected against reprisals in case

fellow country- or townsmen could not or would not meet their obligations.91

The town magistrates of Antwerp and Bergen op Zoom went to great lengths to

uphold these market rights and added further regulations for moneychangers and credit

operations.92 Unlike in Champagne, where a special body was invested with the power to hold

legal proceedings for the duration of the fairs, the cities of Bergen and Antwerp simply

extended their legal regime to cover transactions at the fairs.93 Compared to Bruges, there

were fewer constraints on the business operations of foreign merchants: they were under no

obligation to hire local brokers or unload and offer all their goods for sale.94

In the 1320s and 1330s the fairs already attracted considerable numbers of merchants

and artisans from the Low Countries, as well as English wool exporters, cloth dealers and

even a few Italian merchants.95 This promising start was compromised by political conflict,

however. In 1356 Louis of Male, count of Flanders (r. 1346-1384), seized upon the

problematic succession of duke John III to attack Antwerp and submit it to Flemish rule.96

While alien merchants continued to visit the fairs of Brabant, Bruges was the dominant

market by far.97 It was only under his successors, the Dukes of Burgundy, that Antwerp and

90
At the fairs of Flanders there were 15 days of entry, 3 days of display, 8 days of sales (‘issue’), and four days
of payments: Van Houtte, “Foires” 183, 189.
91
Van Houtte, “Foires”, 179-180; 185, 200-203; Feenstra, “Foires”, 232-233
92
On the protection of market rights: Slootmans, Paas- en Koudemarken, I, 15-40, 161-185; On money
changers: Ibidem, III, 1531-1543
93
Van Houtte, “Foires”, 202; The same was true for the fairs of Deventer where litigation was supervised by the
town’s aldermen, even if the rules applied differed from those used in conflicts between citizens. (Feenstra,
“Foires”,230).
94
On the restrictions in Bruges: De Roover, Money, 16; Goris, Etude, 35.
95
Van Uytven, “Gewicht”; Slootmans, Paas- en koudemarkten, I, 6-8; Van Houte, Geschiedenis, 188.
96
Blockmans & Prevenier, Promised Lands, 54-56; Slootmans, Paas- en koudemarkten, I, 8-10.
97
Van der Wee, Growth, II, 20-28, 37-41.

18
Bergen became international markets in their own right again.98 The growth of English

exports of broadcloth, and the refusal of Bruges to import them, brought English merchants to

Brabant. Endowed with ducal and urban privileges, they traded their cloth for wine, fustians,

alum, spices, cupper, iron, and metal wares brought by merchants from the Rhineland and

Southern Germany.99 Besides, the fairs attracted hundreds of artisans from various parts of

Brabant and Flanders, including Bruges.100

Besides market rights and privileges extended and upheld by local and central

authorities, periodic exchange in Brabant was supported by a purpose-built infrastructure.101

Artisans sold their luxury manufactures at stalls in the courtyards of the city’s convents. In

Antwerp, for example, the Dominican Pand specialized in the work of gold- and silversmiths

and tapestries, while painters offered their canvases for sale in Our Lady’s Pand.102 Similar

facilities were available in Bergen.103 In both towns, local authorities also designated specific

areas and buildings for the sales of hides, cloth, and grain.104 To lodge the several hundreds of

visitors both cities had dozens of hostels. In 1468 the German Hansa was given the use of a

house for its Älterleute to live and work.105 In 1474 the English were given a house in

Antwerpen’s Wolstraat. In 1477 and 1480, respectively, Bergen op Zoom offered similar

accommodation to German and English merchants.106

98
Van der Wee, Growth, II, 49-56, 73-80; Slootmans, Paas- en koudemarkten, I, 17.
99
Desmedt, Engelse natie, I, 43-108; For a detailed analysis of the English cloth trade in the Low Countries
before 1500, see Munro, Wool; On the importance of the Brabant fairs for merchants from Cologne and the
Rhineland: Rößner, Hansische, 49-50, 82-84.
100
Slootmans, Paas- en Koudemarkten, I, 286-297; Around 1400 Bruges citizens were already fined for
travelling to Brabant (Van Houtte, “Foires”, 193).
101
On several occasions in the fifteenth century the dukes of Brabant confirmed the privileges of the English and
Portuguese merchants in Antwerp (De Smedt, Engelse natie, 92-93; Pohl, Portugiesen, 23-24; Goris, Etude, 37),
just like they did for Spanish, German, and Italian merchants in Bruges (Gilliodts-van Severen, Cartulaire, 25;
Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 176-177, 182; Harreld, High Germans, 51-52).
102
Ewing, “Marketing”; Schlugleit, “Predikheerenpand”; Vermeylen, Painting.
103
Slootmans, Paas- en Koudemarkten, I, 324-336.
104
Slootmans, Paas- en Koudemarkten, I, 270-345; Kortlever, “Easter and Cold Fairs”, 634-641; On sales of
hides in Antwerp: Denuce, Hanze, xiii
105
Rößner, Hansische, 71, 84.
106
Rößner, Hansische, 94; Slootmans, Paas- en Koudemarkten, I, 305-317.

19
 The growth of the Brabant fairs changed Bruges’ commercial outlook. Its resident

foreign merchants were attracted by the growing variety of manufactures available in Bergen

and Antwerp.107 In the mid-fifteenth century Italian merchants wrote home that trade in the

Flemish port became slack during the fairs.108 Measures taken by the town magistrate of

Bruges to counter the rise of the Brabant fairs failed.109 Hundreds of artisans and merchants,

local and foreign, regularly travelled to Brabant and even bought houses there. The Hansa had

difficulties forcing its members to trade in Bruges.110 Neither the city’s donation of a square

in 1457, nor the erection of a spectacular Hansa house at the square between 1478 and 1481

could prevent German merchants dodging the staple, and import and export goods via

Antwerp.111

Yet despite the precocious growth of exchange in Brabant, Bruges remained the

principal foreign market of the Low Countries in the fifteenth century.112 Most alien

merchants were still firmly based in the Flemish port.113 Their demand and that of local elites

continued to provide many artisans with a livelihood.114 Local entrepreneurs even got

involved in the finishing of English cloth – in direct competition with Antwerp.115 The

financial market, centred upon the Bourse, proved a great asset. Italian merchant bankers

provided credit to numerous private merchants through bills of exchange, they arranged loans

for the Burgundian dukes, and helped the Church to remit the revenues of papal tithes to

107
While Antwerp felt no need to prevent the production of cheap cloth in its hinterland, the shift to new
draperies in Flanders had for a long time been blocked by guild regulations issued by the principle textile towns.
(Munro, “Bruges”, 1139-1140; Blockmans & Prevenier, Promised lands, 215); On the houses owned by foreign
merchants in Bruges in the fifteenth century: Paravicini, “Bruges”, 107-108.
108
Greve, “Vreemdelingen” 157; Dumolyn, Brugse, 72; In the 1430s Bruges tried to forbid foreign merchants
visiting Bergen op Zoom and Antwerp (Van Houtte, “Foires”, 193).
109
Munro, “Bruges”.
110
Beuken, Hanze, 150-153; Marechal, “Départ”, 31, 35; Blockmans & Prevenier, Promised lands, 165.
111
Rößner, Hansische, 72-76; Paravicini, “Bruges”, 99-100, 105-106
112
On the complementarity between the markets of Bruges and Antwerp in this period: Brulez, “Bruges”, 8.
113
Geirnaert, “Bruges”, 80.
114
Blockmans, “Bruges and France”, 215-219.
115
Dumolyn, Brugse, 60-61.

20
Rome. 116 Finally, Antwerp was not immune to the vicissitudes of international politics,

witness the conflicts between the Dukes of Burgundy and the English king.117 English tax

measures, and the obligation to buyers of English wool in Calais to pay in cash and bullion,

led the Burgundian dukes – supported in at least one instance by Bruges – to impose three

successive embargoes on English cloth imports to Brabant and Flanders (1434-1439, 1447-

1452, and 1464-1467).118

It was only when the cities of Flanders revolted against Maximilian of Austria in the

1480s that Antwerp could aspire to succeed to Bruges. Maximilian, who upon the death of

wife Mary of Burgundy in 1482 was named regent on behalf of his son Philip the Fair, wanted

to become Count of Flanders in his own right. To force Bruges to accept, he ordered all

foreign nations to move to Antwerp in 1484, where they would receive the same privileges

and compensation for possible damages. At first the aliens did not comply but when

Maximilian’s troops appeared before the city in the spring of 1485, they used the Brabant

fairs as an excuse to escape brigandage and warfare.119 Their departure was only temporary

because in June of the same year Maximilian captured Bruges and re-established his

authority. However, in June 1488 Maximilian instructed the foreigners to leave Bruges once

again, this time to punish the town magistrate for his humiliating imprisonment in the

preceding months.120 The merchants complied and for several years had no opportunity to

return because Bruges and Sluis continued to fight Maximilian.

116
Van der Wee, Growth, 109-111. On the remittance of papal tithes: Blockmans & Prevenier, Promised lands,
166: It should be noted that Italian merchants redirected part of the transfer of papal funds to Neurenberg shortly
before 1450: Paravicini, “Bruges”, 114-115.
117
Van Houtte, “Foires”, 201, 203; There were also minor incidents, like the molesting of several English
merchants at the Antwerp fairs in 1430. To retaliate the entire nation boycotted the fairs and requested a whole
list of new privileges the next year (De Smedt, Engelse natie I, 88-89).
118
Munro, “Bruges”, 1141.
119
Marechal, “Départ”, 31.
120
Goris, Etude, 38.

21
The growth of Antwerp’s permanent market

When peace was finally restored in 1492 the momentum was lost for Bruges. Already in 1488

Antwerp had pledged to the security of the property of foreign merchants, while it had also

granted them jurisdiction and franchises to equal the privileged position they had held in

Bruges.121 In addition, Antwerp secured the staple of Italian alum, indispensable for the

finishing of textiles, in 1491.122 Meanwhile Bruges tried very hard to bring about the return of

the foreign nations. Already in 1488 the city had forbidden foreigners from selling

merchandise bought at the Brabant fairs. 123 The town magistrate also proposed additional

privileges and exemption from excise duties for aliens. Even their long-time commercial

rivals, the English exporters of broadcloth, were invited to transfer their trade to the Flemish

port.124 Indeed, in 1493 Bruges reached an agreement with representatives of almost all

communities about their return.125 However, even if the consuls were inclined to move back

to the Flemish port, their fellow merchants were not.

In order to attract the aliens Antwerp was quick to copy the additional perks offered

by Bruges. The city also benefited from the Magnus Intercursus, a peace treaty signed

between Burgundy and the king of England in 1496 that marked the beginning of a lasting

peace and the formalization of the position of the Company of Merchant Adventurers in the

Low Countries. The Company was committed to offering all their cloth for sale in Antwerp

and Bergen.126 A further stimulus to the growth of the Antwerp market was the Portuguese

penetration of Asia. In order to obtain silver and copper from Central Europe for export to the

new colonies, the Portuguese king chose to make Antwerp the pepper staple for northern

121
On the internal organization of foreign nations in Antwerp: Van Houtte, “Foires”, 205
122
Materné, “Schoon”.
123
Van Houtte, “Foires”, 193
124
Munro, “Bruges”.
125
Marechal, Départ.
126
Van der Wee, II, 123.

22
Europe in 1498.127 Twelve years later twenty-odd Portuguese merchants were formally

recognized as a nation with a distinct legal status.128

It was not long before other merchant communities followed suit. Venice, Genoa,

Florence and Lucca established a consulate in Antwerp around 1515.129 Merchants from

Aragon and Catalonia appointed consuls in 1527.130 Even merchant communities without a

formal representation in Antwerp re-oriented their trade. The German Hansa retained its

Kontor in Bruges but its members – especially those from the Rhineland – were focused

entirely on the Brabant fairs.131 Wool exporters from Burgos and Bilbao had formally

established their wool staple in the Flemish port in 1493 but they fetched cheap textiles at the

markets of Bergen and Antwerp for export to the colonies.132 Basque and Castilian merchants

also apprenticed their sons with friends and relatives in Brabant.133 The Scottish staple was

removed to Zeeland.134

In the first decades of the sixteenth century trade in Antwerp was still periodical. The

high season fell between Easter and Whitsun, when new broadcloths from England arrived

together with the first shipments of grain from the Baltic, and the carts carrying silk, fustians,

cupper, silver, and other valuable commodities from Southern Germany and Italy.135

However, through the years transactions spilled over to the time in between fairs. To

127
Van Houtte, “Anvers”, 260; Van der Wee, Growth, II, 124-130; Marechal, “Départ”, 42; Note, however, that
the Portuguese factor in Bruges had also traded precious metals (Brulez, “Bruges”, 18).
128
Goris, Etude, 38.
129
Marechal, “Départ”, 42-44.
130
Marechal, “Départ”, 46; According to Goris (Etude 59), merchants from Biscaye also appointed consuls in
Antwerp at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Merchants from Navarra and Andalucia remained in Bruges
(Vandewalle, ‘Vreemde naties’, 40-42).
131
Rößner, Hansische, 92.
132
Marechal, “Départ”, 47-48; Van Houtte, “Expansion”, 260-261; Munro, “Bruges”, 1149; Munro, Wool, 183-
184; Van Houtte, “Foires”, 194.
133
Goris, Etude, 31.
134
Marechal, “Départ”, 42; The removal of the Scots to Zeeland was the logical outcome of their regular trade
with Middelburg and Veere since the middle of the fifteenth century. The Scots left Bruges already in the 1490s
but the official settlement of the Scottish staple in Middelburg was realized only in 1522. In later years the staple
was moved to nearby Veere. Meanwhile the Scottish merchants continued to buy and sell in Bruges in the
sixteenth century (Roseboom, Scottish, 19-21; 29-40, 56, 61).
135
Van Houtte, “Foires”, 191; The number of ships arriving from England between 1537 and 1568 shows a
strong seasonal pattern until the late 1540s: De Smedt, Engelse natie, II, 276. The number of ships sailing from
Antwerp to southern Europe in 1540 suggests a similar seasonality (Goris, Etude, 162-167).

23
accommodate this growing commercial activity, Antwerp and Bergen op Zoom prolonged

each of their fairs with two, three, or even more weeks.136 Even Bruges tried to take advantage

of the growing trade by organizing yet another fair in January, right between two of Brabant’s

fairs. However, this did not lead to the return of the foreign nations and the city could do little

more than complain about how the fairs of Brabant together lasted for about two-thirds of the

year.137

Meanwhile the Antwerp market gradually eclipsed the fairs of Bergen op Zoom. The

Scheldt port boasted a larger supply of local manufactures, including extensive facilities to

finish English cloth, and probably had better access to the Brabantine and Flemish

hinterland.138 Even manufactures from Bruges were often sold in Antwerp.139 By the 1530s

the annual number of visitors of the Bergen fairs had dropped by 25 per cent. In 1534 the

town magistrate complained that prolongation of trade in Antwerp prevented merchants from

coming to their fairs.140 The final blow was dealt in 1541, when Charles V shifted the dates

for settlement of bills of exchange in such a way that all financial transactions had to be

concentrated in the Scheldt port.141 A few years later merchants from within and outside the

Low Countries had withdrawn from Bergen altogether.142

The growth of trade in Antwerp effectively created a permanent market. More and

more foreigners stayed in Antwerp for longer periods of time.143 Consequently, by 1560, the

number of resident merchants from Italy, Portugal, Spain, England, France and Germany in

Antwerp was more than double that of Bruges a century before (Table 1, 2). Besides, a large

136
The first extensions occurred in the fifteenth century; after 1500 it became standard procedure: Van Houtte,
“Foires”, 193; Kortlever, “Easter and Cold Fairs”, 629.
137
Van Houtte, “Foires”, 185, 194
138
Van Houtte, “Foires”, 194; Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 190.
139
Cf. for example the sales of jewellery and gold plate: Gelderblom, “Juweliersbedrijf”.
140
Van Houtte, “Foires”, 195; 196.
141
Slootmans, “Bergen op Zoomsche Jaarmarkten”.
142
Slootmans, Paas- en koudemarkten, vol. II; Rößner, Hansische, 94
143
To be sure, many merchants continued to come for short periods only. This was true for the Merchant
Adventurers who focused on the fairs (De Smedt, Engelse natie, II, 124-125), and for Spanish and Portuguese
viaenezes who visited the fairs (Goris, Etude, 31). Italians merchants who came to check on their agents also
stayed for short periods only. (Goris, Etude, 31).

24
number of merchants born and raised in the Low Countries began to participate in

international exchange.144 The competitive edge of these merchants lay in the marketing of

local produce, including agricultural surpluses and a variety of (finished) textiles, tapestries,

jewelry, paintings, furniture, and metal wares. Detailed knowledge of these products, personal

relations with producers, and easy access to foreign buyers in France, Germany, England, and

the Baltic area, allowed the indigenous merchants to compete with foreigners.145

Table 2. Estimated composition of Antwerp’s merchant community (permanent residents)

around 1560
Origin 1560

Italy 100
Portugal 100
France 150
Spain 150
Germany 300
England 300
Low Countries 400

Total 1500

Sources146

To support year-round exchange Antwerp rapidly developed its commercial infrastructure.147

Merchants continued to use hostels but also rented or bought private houses. The city council

provided several nations with their own storage facilities, while individual investors built

warehouses that were let to foreign merchants. The Panden, initially used only during the

fairs, became permanent marketplaces where sales even continued after hours.148 The most

notable improvement was undoubtedly the Bourse, established in 1531. Although textiles,

leather and hides, jewellery, tapestries, and paintings were traded in purpose-built facilities,

144
Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse, 40-48, with references to the relevant literature.
145
Gelderblom, “From Antwerp”, 250-254.
146
Brulez, “Handel”, 128-131; De Smedt, Engelse natie, II, 123-128; Goris, Etude, 54; Pohl, Portugiesen, 29,
38, 63, 73; Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse, 43-45.
147
Limberger, “No town”.
148
Vermeylen, Painting; Harreld, High Germans, 138-144.

25
other commodities were sold at the Bourse, which also was the focal point of payments,

insurance, remittance of bills of exchange, and miscellaneous credit operations.149

New rules for contracting and intermediation stimulated financial and commercial

transactions between otherwise unfamiliar merchants.150 Besides the enactment of bourse

regulations, the number of notaries was extended and the work of brokers regulated. In 1537

and 1539 Charles V issued ordinances to increase the transferability of financial claims.151

New credit facilities were created for resident merchants who wanted to keep stocks of local

and foreign merchandise. In 1543 the Emperor sanctioned the use of bills obligatory to

supplement bills of exchange and annuities, and replace the more traditional lettres de

foire.152 Most importantly, the city council developed a property rights regime that was in

place the year round. At the instigation of Charles V Antwerp’s local customs were codified

for the first time in 1532. The rules for contracting, payments, and arrests laid down in these

Costuymen were applicable throughout the year. At the same time, the number of days

available for civil litigation in local courts cases was augmented. To be sure, these new

institutions were not just decided upon by local rulers. Foreign merchants were actively

recruited to help and formalize existing business practices, as was the case with the rules for

maritime insurance that followed the Spanish example.153

The benefits of these changes were considerable. The commitment of the city of

Antwerp to the protection and efficient transfer of property rights obviated the incorporation

in merchant guilds.154 Merchants from Southern Germany, Scandinavia, France, and Venice

149
De Roover, “Anvers”, 1012-1014; Ehrenberg, Zeitalter II, 14-17, 21.
150
Ehrenberg, Zeitalter II, 7-8, 10; Van der Wee, Growth, 340-354.
151
De Smedt, “Keizerlijke”.
152
Gelderblom & Jonker, “Completing”, 647; Munro, “New Institutional Economics”, 33, rather stresses the
similarity between the bills obligatory and the lettres de foire; On the use of private annuities (renten) for
business finance: Soly, Urbanisme, 79-96; Gelderblom, “Juweliersbedrijf”.
153
Goris, Etude, 20, 36; Groote, “Zeeverzekering”.
154
An attempted incorporation of local merchants in Antwerp in 1485 (sometimes erroneously considered as an
attempt to institute a Bourse) never materialized: Marechal, Geschiedenis, 40; Hunt & Murray, History, 214.

26
were not hindered by their lack of any formal status.155 In confrontations with the Habsburg

rulers Antwerp stood firm for its merchant community. This is very clear when protestant

foreigners who were threatened by the prohibitions against Protestantism issued by the

Emperor in 1550. The city vehemently and successfully opposed their application in the case

of alien merchants.156 What is more, the new legal regime allowed the expansion of temporary

partnerships and commission trade – commercial techniques that allowed small-scale, short-

term investments in international exchange with limited liability.157

Despite these changes, Antwerp’s departure from fairs and merchant guilds was never

complete. On several occasions the Habsburg rulers confirmed the privileges of the English

and Portuguese nations.158 In 1553 German merchants moved their Kontor from Bruges to the

Scheldt port.159 Even though corporate bodies were no longer needed to support the trade of

individual merchants, consuls continued to mediate between their members in case of

conflicts.160 In the financial market, where exchange rates were quoted throughout the year

and credit operations took place every day, the rhythm of the fairs continued to be followed

for the settlement of bills of exchange, while the availability of loanable funds was still bound

up with the payments for English cloth in May and October.161

It was only after the outbreak of the Dutch Revolt in 1566, and the subsequent military

developments, that most foreign nations decided to leave the Scheldt port. This created new

opportunities for local merchants who indeed made great advances in the exploration of new

155
Harreld, High Germans 69; Coornaert, Français, vol. II, 23-28.
156
Marnef, “Tolerantie”.
157
Brulez, Firma, 372-374, 500; Meanwhile Italian and South German merchants continued to organize
transactions within the boundaries of multi-branched firms: Denucé, Italiaansche, 11-137; Goris, Etude, 101-
103; Jeannin, Marchands, 81-91.
158
In 1540 the town magistrate reached an agreement with the merchants of the Scottish staple to remove their
seat from Veere to Antwerp. However, the complete lack of evidence besides a transcript of the agreement
suggests it was never carried to term (Roseboom, Scottish, 54-57).
159
Denucé, Hanze, xiii-xix.
160
Van Houtte, “Foires”, 191-192, also 195; De Smedt, Engelse natie, II, 61-65, 158-168, 594-598; Goris,
Etude, 44-48; Spanish merchants who did not enjoy a corporate jurisdiction in Antwerp turned to arbiters instead
(Goris, Etude, 66-67).
161
Van Houtte, “Foires”, 196, 199-200.

27
markets in Russia, the Baltic area, England, Portugal, Spain, Italy and even the west coast of

Africa. However, even then corporatism did not completely disappear. To counter the

departure of alien merchants, the city council renewed the privileges of the Portuguese nation

in the 1570s, and extended new privileges to merchants from Armenia and Greece in 1582.

Foreign merchants in Amsterdam before the Dutch Revolt

The dominant role of Antwerp notwithstanding, other towns in the Low Countries did

participate in foreign exchange in the sixteenth century. Bruges held on to its Spanish wool

staple, and continued to export Flemish manufactures directly to the Iberian Peninsula.162

Towns like Lille and Douai in the south of Flanders also exported textiles on their own

account. In the northern Netherlands, Middelburg gained a large share in the wine trade with

France, while Dordrecht continued to dominate river traffic to Germany.163 Seaports and

industrial towns in the province of Holland specialized in the export of herring, butter, cheese,

peat, beer, and textiles. Most importantly, Amsterdam emerged as the principal supplier of

shipping services to merchants in Antwerp, and the leading port for trade in grain, timber,

salt, herring, and perhaps even wine and textiles, with the Baltic area.

Amsterdam’s trade with the Baltic dated back to the late 14th century when Dutch

shipmasters began to travel regularly through the Danish Sound to sell salt, herring, cloth, and

fetch grain, timber, tar, and pitch.164 In the first decades of the fifteenth century the growing

Dutch presence into the Baltic triggered diplomatic and military interventions from the

German Hansa but these proved to no avail.165 The Peace of Copenhague (1441) ended the

struggle between Lübeck and Holland, and secured the continuation of Dutch trade with the

162
Van Houtte, Geschiedenis, 430-433.
163
On Middelburg: Enthoven, Zeeland, 5-6; For a reconstruction of Middelburg’s formal claims to the wine
staple in the Low Countries, see Wijffels, “Ius Commune”; On Dordrecht: Van Rijswijk, Geschiedenis; Tracy,
Holland, 53-60.
164
Smit, Opkomst, 88-161; Henn, Wachsende, 99-103; Kaptein, Poort, 121-123.
165
Seifert, Kompagnons, gives a detailed account of the prolonged struggle between Holland and the Hanseatic
League in the 14th and 15th century.

28
Baltic.166 While several Hanseatic ports continued to refuse access to shipmasters from

Holland, various Klipphafens and the city of Danzig allowed the Dutch to expand their

operations in the East.167 Meanwhile, the Burgundian dukes made a serious effort to conclude

treaties with Holland’s principal trading partners in order to protect the property of all

merchants involved in the Baltic trade:168

“In order for the alien merchant to choose to settle and establish his business in the cities of this land,
various treaties and minutes were drawn up with the realms of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the
principalities of Schleswig, Holstein, Wenschen, and other Hanseatic and Eastern cities, stipulating that
merchants from both cities can freely and with all kinds of merchandise frequent the lands of Holland
and the East, provided they pay the old toll…”169

Foreign merchants resided in Amsterdam since the middle of the fourteenth century. In 1358

the Hamburg beer traders in the city were referred to as a gheselscap led by two aldermen

who were expected to follow the same rules as the Germans residing in Dordrecht at the

time.170 Initially the merchants and shipmasters from Hamburg may have enjoyed a separate

jurisdiction in Amsterdam but it was at best short-lived. At the turn of the fifteenth century

the city adopted the maritime law of Visby to settle conflicts between merchants, shipmasters,

and their crew.171 Besides, the magistrate created the opportunity for guests to bring their

disputes before the local court twice a week.172 What remained of the corporate organization

of Hamburg merchants in Amsterdam in the fifteenth century was a religious brotherhood that

worshipped at St. Paulus’ altar in the Old Church.173

166
Blockmans & Prevenier, Promised lands, 90-93; Tracy, Holland, 16-17; Seifert, Kompagnons, 275-320.
167
Posthumus, Oosterse handel, 177, 182.
168
Blockmans & Prevenier, Promised lands, 91, 95.
169
Noordkerk, Handvesten, vol.. I, chapter 26; cf. also chapters. 19 and 20 (translation, OG).
170
Smit, Opkomst, 58-59; De Melker, Metamorfose, 38
171
Breen, Rechtsbronnen, 11-12; Smit (Opkomst, 58-59, 137-139) wrongly contended the Waterrecht adopted by
Amsterdam consisted of rules developed by the very same Hamburg merchants. In fact, Amsterdam’s maritime
law (handed down in its 1413 edition, but probably compiled and used before that date) was an adaptation of the
much older Rôles d’Oléron (12th century) just like the maritime law of Visby (codified in 1413) was an
adaptation of that of Amsterdam and Oléron combined (Van den Auweele, “Zeerecht”, 220-226).
172
Breen, Rechtsbronnen, 10.
173
Rößner, Hansische, 198-200; De Melker, Metamorfose, 38.

29
 The practical arrangements for the German residents in Amsterdam resembled those in

Bruges and Antwerp. The aliens sojourned in local hostels, where they could meet fellow

merchants, get informed about local customs and tariffs, store their merchandise, and

complete commercial and financial transactions.174 Between 1450 and 1500 there were at least

three such hostels frequented by Osterlingen in the city’s principal street, the

Warmoesstraat.175 The hostellers must have been well-to-do men, considering they worked as

brewers and merchants, and belonged to the political elite of Amsterdam. Possibly they acted

as agents for their foreign guests as well. When Hamburg beer merchants built their own

chapel in 1495 in what is now known as the Old Church, the hosteller of De Gulden Hand, the

host of their meetings and annual meals, supported them financially.176

In the first decades of the sixteenth century investment opportunities in Amsterdam

grew. Imports of Baltic grain rose from less than 20,000 tons in 1480 to more than 50,000

tons in 1540. In the same period growing quantities of beer, herring, timber, salt, and textiles

were traded. To what extent local and foreign merchants benefited from this expansion is hard

to tell.177 Amsterdam’s protests against the levying of congégeld on the re-export of grains in

the 1520s and 1530s explicitly referred to the consequences this might have for the presence

of foreigners.178 This would suggest that merchants from Danzig and other Baltic ports had

been able to step up their investments in the grain trade in the early decades of the sixteenth

century. However, the only well-documented example of a foreign merchant resident in

174
Wijnman, “Herberg”, passim; Breen, Rechtsbronnen, 132; N.W. Posthumus erroneously contended that
Amsterdam’s hostellers together exploited a Huis der Waarden (House of the Hostellers) from the early 16th
century onwards (Posthumus, Oosterse handel, 216-217). This view was corrected by Kernkamp, Jansma, and
Van Dillen, who showed convincingly that hostellers in Amsterdam each had their own hostel. A summary of
the debate is provided by Wijnman, “Herberg”, 69-73.
175
In 1474 Johannes Bethzoen declared that for 18 years he had posted local tariffs in his hostel named ‘de Witte
Hond’ in the Warmoesstraat. ‘De Gulden Hand’, also in the Warmoesstraat was surely used as a hostel in 1502,
but perhaps already in 1481 or even 1455. The hostel ‘In de Kauwe’, probably also in the Warmoesstraat was
mentioned in 1492. A fourth hostel in the same street was ‘Het Poertgen’, first mentioned in 1513. The evidence
on hostels is summarized in Wijnman, ‘Herberg’, and Rößner, Hansische, 104-105.
176
Wijnman, ‘Herberg’; Bijtelaar, “Hamburgerkapel”.
177
Amsterdam’s registration of new citizens, starting in 1533, reveals no merchants but one from Ghent buying
the city’s freedom before 1540 (GAA, Poorterboeken, Amsterdam Burgherbooks)
178
Meilink, “Rapporten”; Van Tielhof Hollandse, 132-138.

30
Amsterdam is that of Pompejus Occo, born in East-Friesland, who acted as the agent of the

South-German merchants Jacob and Anton Fugger, and the Danish king Christian II.179

Meanwhile we do know that several Dutch shipmasters worked their way up to become

genuine grain merchants. A wealth tax levied in 1545 suggests that the local merchant

community counted about one hundred merchants with property worth at least 1,000

guilders.180

The number of aliens in Amsterdam certainly rose in the 1540s when merchants in

Antwerp accepted the city’s role as the principal grain market of the Low Countries.

Merchants from Antwerp – Germans and locals alike – began to travel to Amsterdam to fetch

grain.181 Many of them stayed only for a few weeks with one of at least twenty hostellers.182

Others bought the local citizenship and moved to the Dutch port permanently. For example,

Francois du Gardijn, born in Valenciennes, settled in Amsterdam as agent of a grain company

with other representatives in Emden, Antwerp, and Lissabon.183 Amsterdam also attracted

immigrants from the Baltic area, like Danzig merchant Cornelis Loeffsz, who arrived around

1550 and for twenty-odd years imported wheat, rye, and timber from Poland.184 For lack of

sources we cannot calculate the exact share of German and Antwerp merchants in

Amsterdam’s grain trade, but rough estimates suggest they may have financed up to half of all

grain shipments.185

The organization of exchange in Amsterdam differed markedly from that of Bruges

and Antwerp, for there were no foreign staples, international fairs, or merchant guilds.186

179
Nübel, Pompejus Occo.
180
Meilink, “Gegevens”, 272-274.
181
The relevant literature on the interaction between the two markets from 1540 onwards is summarized in:
Gelderblom, “From Antwerp”, 250-254.
182
In the Warmoesstraat alone worked 15 to 20 hostellers around 1560: Kistemaker, Warmoesstraat; Wijnman,
‘Herberg’, 61-62.
183
Van Tielhof, Hollandse, 81; Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse, 86.
184
Van Tielhof, “Handel”.
185
Tracy, “Habsburg”, 311; Van Tielhof, Hollandse, 185-227.
186
To be sure, three annual fairs were held in Amsterdam from around 1400 onwards. However, these were not
international markets but rather festive events, frequented by all kinds of ‘kunstenmakers’ and petty traders

31
Historians have often termed Amsterdam a staplemarket but staple rights like the ones

obtained by Bruges and Dordrecht were never granted to the city. Except in times of dearth,

grain merchants were under no obligation whatsoever to unload their cargo and offer their

grain for sale in Amsterdam.187 Although exchange was far from permanent in the mid-

sixteenth century, with the grain trade concentrated between late April and early November,

there were never any fairs to govern transactions. Most conspicuous was the absence of

merchant guilds. While the Hansa negotiated with Antwerp about the removal of their Kontor

from Bruges in the early 1550s, Germans in Amsterdam did not organize formally.188 Surely,

merchants from outside the Habsburg territories benefited from longstanding treaties with the

lords of the Low Countries, safeguarding their person and goods.189 However, unlike the

situation in Antwerp, foreigners in Amsterdam did not receive collective privileges from the

local government.

The organization of trade in Amsterdam after 1578

Amsterdam temporarily lost its attraction to merchants with the outbreak of the Dutch Revolt

in 1568. Adherents to the Protestant faith, among them several local and foreign merchants,

were threatened with persecution. In 1572, moreover, the city council chose to support the

Spanish king in his military operations in Holland, leading to a naval blockade of the river IJ

by Sea Beggars loyal to William of Orange. Because of these events many merchants decided

(Kistemaker, Amsterdam, 81-82). By 1500 the fairs may have attracted attracted artisans, shipmasters, and
traders from Holland and perhaps a few other provinces in the Netherlands, but no foreign merchants (Breen,
Rechtsbronnen, 297-299, 362, 382, 399, 402, 533). The fairs continued to be held in the seventeenth and
eighteenth century but did not serve as international markets then either (Noordkerk, Handvesten, II, p 769;
Halberstadt, “Botermarkt”, 171).
187
Van Tielhof, Hollandse, 215-222. On the use of the concept staple as a more neutral term for major hubs in
early modern trade: Lesger, Handel, 193-197.
188
Denucé, Hanze, xiii-xix; Van Tielhof, Hollandse, 185-203.
189
Already in the mid-thirteenth century the Count of Holland, Floris V, had granted merchants from Lübeck
and Hamburg safe-conducts (Wernicke, Rechten, 294). The Habsburg rulers were equally committed to the
protection of the property of foreign merchants in the Low Countries, witness confirmation and extension of
existing treaties by Charles V (Noordkerk, Handvesten, vol. I, chapter 21).

32
to leave the city and settle in other ports in Holland, Germany, and even Poland.190 The crisis

lasted until the spring of 1578 when the catholic city council reached an agreement with

William of Orange about their defection to the rebel cause. Shortly after the signing of this

Satisfactie, the civic militia ousted the catholic magistrates and replaced them with protestant

regents.

This Alteratie of Amsterdam and the simultaneous deepening of the crisis in the

southern provinces stimulated immigration. Besides merchants returning from their voluntary

exile, dozens of merchants from the Southern Netherlands began moving to Amsterdam in the

early 1580s. With the siege of Antwerp in 1584, and the subsequent fall of the city in August

1585, immigration in Amsterdam intensified. By 1590 more than 200 merchants born and

raised in Brabant and Flanders had settled in Amsterdam. Twenty years later this community

numbered at least 450 merchants. The crisis of the Antwerp market also seemed an ideal

opportunity to lure its foreign nations to the north. However, the number of alien merchants

who settled in Amsterdam was small. By 1610 only about 100 German, English and

Portuguese merchants had taken up residence in the Dutch port (Table 3).191 The bulk of

Amsterdam’s merchant community consisted of traders from the northern and southern parts

of Low Countries.

Table 3. Size and composition of Amsterdam’s merchant community in 1585 and 1609
Origin 1585 1609

Amsterdam 350 500

Southern provinces 75 450
Northern provinces 50 250
Germany 25 75?
Portugal 0 25
England 0 20

190
Van Tielhof, “Handel”; Van Tielhof, Mother, 16-18; Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse, 84-88.
191
Note that only a minority of the Portuguese Jews were immigrants from Antwerp. Most Portuguese settling in
Amsterdam after about 1595 were sent as agents by Lisbon merchants (Israel, “Economic”, 508). The only
Italian merchants in Amsterdam before 1610 were members of the Burlamachi, Calandrini and Diodati families
that had moved from Lucca to Antwerp in the 1560s (Bicci, “Mercanti”; Bicci, “Italiani”; Gelderblom, Zuid-
Nederlandse, 75, 154-155; Cf. also unpublished notes by Johannes van Dillen on Italian merchants in
Amsterdam: Gemeentearchief Amsterdam, Collectie handschriften (5059, Inv. nr 139).

33
 Total 500 1300

Source192

The limited number of merchants from outside the Low Countries in Amsterdam was

remarkable, given the efforts of the States General to attract foreigners to the Dutch Republic.

Indeed, one of the first acts of the provinces in revolt in 1577 was to extend safe-conducts to

the Portuguese nation.193 These pledges of protection were repeated several times in following

years, while the States General also tried to lure the Merchant Adventurers to its territories in

the early 1580s.194 The central authorities insisted that local magistrates would do everything

they could to accommodate the wishes of the English and Portuguese. Several towns obliged.

The Court of Merchant Adventurers settled in Middelburg in 1582, and then moved to Delft

(1621) Rotterdam (1635), and Dordrecht (1655). Veere renewed the privileges of the Scottish

wool staple in 1578.195

Amsterdam was less forthcoming with privileges that would set one group of

merchants apart from others. When merchants from the Oostersche natie (i.e. the Hansa)

asked for special privileges in 1586 the city simply refused.196 Likewise, repeated requests by

the Company of Merchant Adventurers to establish their Court in Amsterdam were turned

down, for the city attached great value to the presence of so-called interlopers – English

merchants who did not submit themselves to the authority of the Company. Even the

Portuguese, who formed a close-knit community and continued to refer to themselves as the

Portugese natie, enjoyed no formal jurisdiction.197 The result was that the German, English

192
Gelderblom, “From Antwerp”, 262-264
193
Vlessing, “Portuguese-Jewish”, 223.
194
Japikse & Rijperman, vol. 4 276; vol. 5: 267, 420, 467-468, 591, 754; vol. 6: 722
195
Roseboom, Scottish, 86-103.
196
Häpke, Niederländische, 366-367.
197
Ordinances about the Joodsche or Portugeese Natie from 1616, 1622, 1659, 1670 and 1698 exclusively
referred to marriages, religious matters, and poor relief. They did not include legal or economic privileges.
Noordkerk, Handvesten, vol. II, 470-475.

34
and Portuguese merchants who did settle in Amsterdam played by the same rules as

merchants from the Low Countries.

The refusal to grant privileges did not result from a hostile attitude towards alien

merchants. On the contrary, the city’s customs explicitly stated that the person and goods of

all merchants should be treated equally in equal circumstances. This rule applied for example

to seizures of merchandise, bankruptcies, and conflicts over insurance.198 At the same time,

the town magistrate accepted that foreign merchants could litigate before the High Court of

Zeeland and Holland right away, passing by the local courts.199 Besides equality before the

law, the city also tried to support the communal life of alien merchants. English merchants

were given a former catholic church to worship in, while the religious practices of Portuguese

Jews and Lutheran Germans were tolerated from the early seventeenth century onwards.

Aliens did not need a special legal or economic status to benefit from Amsterdam’s

commercial opportunities. At a very practical level, the infrastructure of the city was

continuously be adapted to increased turnover. Port facilities were extended, new warehouses

and private houses were built, and the city made a determined effort to provide adequate

facilities for everyday exchange. Before the Revolt the New Bridge and, in case of bad

weather, the shelters of houses and hostels in the nearby Warmoesstraat, had been used as a

kind of informal bourse.200 Already in the 1580s merchants were allowed to use St. Olof’s

chapel, and in 1611 they moved to a purpose-built Bourse in the very heart of the city. Five

years later, a separate exchange was opened for the more than 300 grain merchants in the city.

198
Noordkerk, Handvesten, vol. II, 502, Extract from Compostboeck, fol .77 anno 6 feb 1607 (drawn 6 Februari
1697); Cf. also Handt-vesten ende Privilegien van Amstelredam, etc. (Amsterdam 1613): 227-235; Handtvesten,
ofte privilegien, handelingen, costumen ende willekeuren der stadt Aemstelredam, etc. (Amsterdam 1639), 102,
112
199
Foreign merchants could litigate before Amsterdam’s local court, unless the conflict arose between merchants
from same foreign jurisdiction. In that case they were referred back to their ‘ordinary judge’ (Handtvesten 1639:
90-92).
200
Wijnman, ‘Herberg’, 71.

35
In 1651 the new town hall was opened. It accommodated, besides the local court of law, the

urban bodies supervising insurances and abandoned estates.201

The expansion of trade also required more elaborate commercial services. Obviously,

many institutions that were used before the Revolt were simply continued or extended. The

States of Holland allowed more notaries to practice in the city to meet growing demands from

local merchants.202 The city’s brokers, who had been given formal status as early as 1533,

were officially incorporated in a guild in 1579, and counted no less than 300 members in

1612.203 The brokers improved information supply by providing the prices for the weekly

price currents printed from 1585.204 Meanwhile, a growing number of cities inside and outside

the Low Countries were included in regular postal and barge services.205Only hostellers seem

to have lost their economic function. At the time of the Alteratie various hostels were still in

use but afterwards their number seems to have declined.206

A similar combination of old and new practices was visible in the institutions that

supported contracting between merchants. Long before the Revolt clear rules had already

been established for weighing and measuring goods, payments and delivery, various credit

operations, and the use of business ledgers as legal proof.207 Particularly important was the

longstanding tradition of participation in partenrederijen, allowing merchants to invest small

201
Lesger, Handel, 236-241; Van Tielhof, Mother, 147-149.
202
In 1526 Amsterdam counted 4 notaries; in 1567 the number was set at a maximum of 9 (Van Dillen, Bronnen,
vol I., pp. 61, 311, 324); In 1600 Amsterdam still only counted 8 notaries; in 1650 fifty notaries worked in the
city (Amsterdam City Archives, Inventaris Archief van de Notarissen ter standplaats Amsterdam (5071).
203
Stuart, Amsterdamsche makelaardij, 41-54.
204
McCusker and Gravesteijn, Beginnings; Van Tielhof, Mother, 149-152. On regular price quotations in the
mid-sixteenth century: Gelderblom & Jonker, “Amsterdam”; Rather than buying every week’s issue separately,
merchants probably subscribed to the price current, witness the following entry in the ledgers of Amsterdam
merchant Hans Thijs in 1605 might refer to: “gl 30. voor drij jaer de courante” (Bibliotheca Thysiana, 119,
Grootboek C, fol. 80).
205
Van Tielhof, Mother, 156-161.
206
Claes Boelens, who died in 1597, was merchant and hosteller in ‘In den Hamburch’; The house “de Witte
Hond” was no longer used as a hostel in 1580. The hostel ‘de Gulden Hand’ burned down in 1597, after which
the premises were sold to a local merchant. (Wijnman, “Herberg”, 61, 65)
207
Cf. for example on bottomry loans, custingen, and sureties: Handtvesten (1613): 102, 105-107 On mortgages:
Handtvesten (1613; 94-95); On the use of business ledgers as legal proof: (Handtvesten) 1613: 100-101.

36
sums in shipping enterprises, without risking more than their initial investment.208 However,

new business practices also required the establishment of new rules. Between 1580 and 1650

many regulations for commercial and financial transactions were added to the city customs.209

Just as in Antwerp, the local court did not hesitate to seek the assistance of immigrant

merchants to find out about customary rules in earlier times. Arrangements for insurance, bills

of exchange, and trading on the Bourse, were copied from Antwerp practice.210

Even if the efficient protection of property rights and the use of public institutions for

information supply and contract enforcement obviated formal association, alien merchants

may have preferred the confines of kinship and common origin to organize their trade. This

preference is indeed apparent from the international networks Portuguese merchants in

Amsterdam belonged to, from cartels of Antwerp merchants dominating trade with Russia,

and from the many business letters immigrants from Brabant and Flanders wrote to their

relatives and friends.211 However, there is also strong evidence that merchants traded on a

large scale with agents from outside their circle of family and friends. 212 This was possible

because Amsterdam boasted spot markets for a wide range of commodities, for shipping

services, and for a variety of financial products. Individual merchants could buy goods from

strangers, charter ships and their masters, or sell obligations to a varied crowd of merchants,

widows and executors of estates. Deals were closed directly between buyers and sellers, or

with the help intermediaries like notaries, brokers, and shipping agents (reders). The trust

governing this market exchange was generated by the legal rules for contract enforcement,

and was further enhanced by the prospect of loss of reputation in case of default.

208
Gelderblom & Jonker, “Completing”, 645, 649 with references to the relevant literature.
209
Noordkerk, Handvesten, passim.
210
In 1599 seven Antwerp immigrants and five Amsterdam merchants testified to the customary rules for
insurances: Handtvesten (1613), 108; In 1601 ten merchants from Antwerp explained to the local aldermen the
principal-agent relationship when drawing bills of exchange (Handtvesten 1613, 130)
211
Israel, Diasporas; Veluwenkamp, Archangel; Wijnroks, Handel; Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse.
212
The following is based on Gelderblom, “Governance”; Gelderblom & Jonker, “Completing”; and Gelderblom
& Jonker, “Amsterdam”.

37
 One might of course argue that this trade between strangers was only a temporary

phenomenon. The crisis of the Antwerp market, and the political and economic crisis that

curtailed commercial expansion in Spain, Portugal, France, and England had created windfalls

in Dutch foreign trade. The result was the entry of up to 1,000 merchants trading on the

Amsterdam market between 1580 and 1620.213 Once profits were back to normal, these

merchants may have been tempted to close their ranks and bar new entrants. Evidence for

such a corporate reflex can be found in the organization of colonial trade.214 Fierce

competition from other countries, and the possibly detrimental effects of strife between

merchants from the various towns in the Republic, led to the creation of the VOC (1602) and

WIC (1621) – joint-stock companies that monopolized the Asian and Atlantic trade of the

Dutch Republic. However, paradoxically, the corporate solution for the Asian expansion

stimulated anonymous exchange on the capital market. Shortly after 1600 a thriving market in

VOC shares developed in Amsterdam, which provided private borrowers with a new, more

liquid collateral for loans, allowed them to seek lenders outside their circle of family and

friends, and lowered interest rates on the local money market. 215

What is more, the corporate reflex never extended beyond Dutch colonial trade. With

the exception of the Noordsche Compagnie, granted a monopoly for whaling in 1612, the

rulers of the Dutch Republic refused to support any further exclusion of merchants.216 All

attempts to obtain monopolies for the Russian grain trade and the Levant trade foundered.217

The government did agree to the foundation of boards of directors for trade with the Levant,

the Baltic Sea, and Russia, but these semi-public bodies merely coordinated the armament and

convoys of the merchant fleet.218 Although small groups of merchants were sometimes able to

213
Gelderblom, “From Antwerp”; Lesger, Handel.
214
Den Heyer, Geoctroieerde
215
Gelderblom & Jonker, Completing.
216
Van Brakel, Hollandsche.
217
Blok, “Koopmansadviezen”; Blok, “Plan”; Gelderblom, Zuid-Nederlandse.
218
Van Tielhof, 232-234.

38
corner a market, as for example the Russian trade before 1610, or the Swedish iron and

copper trade after 1630, no long lasting monopolies existed.219 Amsterdam businessmen did

not set up multi-branched firms either in the seventeenth century. With the notable exception

of a few processing industries, they never worked with more than a few employees.220 Trade

between individual merchants enjoying legal personality had become the norm.

Conclusion

Even if Bruges, Antwerp, and Amsterdam played similar roles in European long-distance

trade between 1250 and 1650, there were marked differences in the organization of

commercial and financial transactions in the three cities. In 1200 Bruges started off as one of

five towns in the cycle of Flemish fairs but then turned into a fully fledged permanent market

in the fourteenth century. Foreign trade in Bruges was dominated by merchants from

Germany, Spain, Italy, and the British Isles – all of whom were granted safe-conducts,

separate jurisdictions, and tax exemptions. Antwerp’s commercial success also began with

periodic exchange. In the fifteenth century the regional fairs of Brabant, established in the

1320s, and held four times a year in Antwerp and nearby Bergen op Zoom, began to attract

large crowds of English and German merchants. Given the opportunity to take over Bruges’

leading role in the 1480s, Antwerp was quick to secure an equally privileged position for the

foreign nations previously established in the Flemish port.

In the sixteenth century commercial and financial transactions in Antwerp spilled over

to the months in between fairs, in effect creating a permanent market. The corporate

organization of trade proved more resilient. Although business operations of unincorporated

219
Klein, Trippen; Veluwenkamp, Ondernemersgedrag; Wijnroks, Handel.
220
Gelderblom & Jonker, “Completing”, 644-648. Wijnroks, Handel.

39
South German, French, and Flemish merchants show that privileges were no longer needed to

engage in long-distance trade, Portuguese, English, Hanseatic, and Italian merchants remained

attached to their respective nations. It was only in Amsterdam that fairs and merchant guilds

played no role whatsoever. Already before the Dutch port took over Antwerp’s commercial

leadership in the 1580s it boasted a permanent market where individual merchants traded

without the support of corporate bodies. In 17th century Amsterdam Portuguese, German,

English, Flemish, and Walloon merchants still constituted separate social groups, but they all

used the same legal, commercial, and financial institutions to organize their trade.

The documented changes in the organization of foreign trade in Bruges, Antwerp, and

Amsterdam between 1250 and 1650 suggest a few tentative answers as to why fairs and

merchant guilds disappeared in the Low Countries. First, it is important to note that the crises

of the Bruges and Antwerp markets did not determine the organization of trade of their

respective successors. Admittedly, in 1488 Antwerp copied the privileges of Bruges’ foreign

nations but by then it had long accepted the corporate organization of other alien merchants.

Likewise, Amsterdam’s permanent market without merchant guilds was shaped decades

before the city could aspire to dominate European trade. As far as similarities can be observed

between Bruges, Antwerp, and Amsterdam, the explanation seems to lie in similar volumes of

trade and similar interventions by local and central authorities.

The fairs of Flanders and Brabant lost their purpose once supply and demand outgrew

the confines of periodic trade. Yet, Bruges and Antwerp could only become permanent

markets because the rulers of the two provinces credibly committed to the protection of

foreign visitors, and because local authorities provided the legal and commercial

infrastructure to support year-round exchange. This combination of factors also explains the

absence of international fairs in Amsterdam, in spite of the city’s possession of market rights

to that purpose. When supply and demand grew big enough to warrant regular trade between

40
foreign merchants in the Dutch port in the sixteenth century, local and central rulers were

capable to provide the protection, contract enforcement, and commercial infrastructure needed

for a permanent market to thrive.

The growth of trade also contributed to the demise of merchant guilds. In Bruges,

Antwerp, and Amsterdam alike permanent trade created large resident merchant communities

with denser social and economic ties, which reduced the need for merchant guilds to function

as market makers or arbitrators. Information about supply and demand was transmitted

through regular price quotations, and repeat transactions helped to build reputations and

prevent merchants from cheating. Yet again, the advance of this new organization hinged on

the sensitivity of local magistrates and central rulers to the needs of alien merchants, and their

ability to create the necessary institutions to satisfy them. Already in Bruges, but increasingly

so in Antwerp and Amsterdam, the local court secured the speedy resolution of commercial

disputes regardless the origin of the litigants. The codification of local customs, instigated by

Charles V in the early sixteenth century, and thence further elaborated, helped to create a

uniform set of rules for contracting and litigation. By the time Amsterdam emerged as the

principal market of northwestern Europe, alien traders organized their business just like local

merchants did.

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