Historical-Crisis Hammun17 Guide
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Content Content 2 Letter of Welcome 3 Historical Information 4 Background 4 Society and Culture 5 The Hansa 6 The Hanseatic Diet 7 The Hanseatic Tribe 8 The Simulation 11 Trading goods 11 The Wendish-Saxon Drittel 13 Lübeck 13 Hamburg 15 Bremen 16 Rostock 17 The Westphalian-Prussian Drittel 18 Cologne 18 Danzig 19 The Gothlandish-Livonian-Swedish Drittel 21 Visby 21 Stockholm 22 Riga 23 The role of the individual in the committee 24 Rules of Procedure 25 The Role of the Counsels 25 Final notes on the Study Guide and historical accuracy 26 2 Letter of Welcome Dear Esteemed delegates, My name is Lukas and for the second consecutive year I have the honour to be the crisis director of HamMUN’s wonderful historical crisis committee. After the last year’s epic clash between the Christian and Pagan armies in the Great Scandinavian Crusade, I am happy to present you the Hanseatic League and smart merchants, brave Tetonic Knights, sneaky pirates and their struggle for power and profit. I am glad that you have chosen this committee and I am sure that it will be an unforgettable experience. As you will probably recognise soon, researching and preparing for a historical crisis is different from the preparation for an ordinary UN-Committee. Sometimes it is very hard to find useful information and if you find any, they often contradict each other (see Final notes on the Study Guide and historical accuracy). Because you are not the only ones facing this difficulties, don’t worry. If you read the Study Guide and the additional information we will provide carefully you will be well prepared for the crisis. If you want to further research about your individual character (we are going to assign them after the last allocation wave) or the political and social situation in the year 1388, you are of course welcome to do so. If you have any further questions you can contact me at [email protected] . Finally I want to thank the wonderful people, who are supporting me and without whom this crisis would not be possible: Inga and Edvin for being wonderful chairs last year and returning this year to deliver another great crisis experience and Leonie and Matej for helping me research and accompanying me in the backroom so that I don’t feel as alone as last year. This said, I can’t await to see you at this years HamMUN! Kind regards, 3 Lukas Hofmann Historical Information Background In the ancient world, city states, republics and empires enveloping the Mediterranean made it the undisputed navel of the western world. The Greek city states, followed by the ascendancy of Rome, its devolution into the Byzantine Empire and later muslim conquests reaching their zenith under the Umayyad Caliphate came off the back of long-running trading networks and sophisticated risk-sharing mechanisms. Trade goods came from the silk roads to the east and fertile mediterranean hinterlands, while the societies north of the alps lagged behind. However, Charlemagne’s eastern conquests started a succession of events that would bring about the Holy Roman Empire, an entity which would finally establish a hegemony of sorts in northern European affairs. Religious motives drove the expansion, and may have incited the first viking raiders in the 8th century to wreak havoc from Scotland till Jerusalem. Though slow to start, from the high middle ages onwards the trade being done in northern Europe would begin to outpace that of the Mediterranean. The religious zeal which drove Charlemagne’s conquests would later be employed to justify the northern crusades and the establishment of the Teutonic Order, a brotherhood of knights which would eventually grow beyond the control of the pope. When they weren’t besieging Baltic castles and rooting out pagans, the Order traded with the people in the Polish, Lithuanian and Russian hinterlands, and collected most of their revenues from indirect taxation of trade goods. By 1388, the knights had reached their apex, controlling most of the eastern Baltic coast. The libido of Norwegian kings and lack of well-defined succession laws played their part in the hundred years of civil war following the death of Sigurd the Crusader in 1130. It would be long until they regained their status in Scandinavia. Sweden, by comparison, was doing quite well, but in 1388 they had their own succession crisis between Albert of Mecklenburg and Queen Margaret I of Denmark and Norway. The latter had in previous years established Denmark as the eminent power in the Baltic sea, but a successful inheritance of Sweden 4 would make Margaret perhaps the only ruler capable of challenging the Hanseatic League at sea. In the Hanseatic periphery, England and especially the low countries were key trading partners. By the end of the 14th century, barring the devastation of the black plague, the British Isles saw a period of relative calm. The low countries enjoyed their strategically privileged position, shipping mediterranean goods as well as textiles to the Baltic region. Rule by guild or council was a boon to trade, and the protection provided by the Holy Roman Emperor aided its political stability. In 1388 the Hanseatic League is at its most powerful, but its neighbours are also beginning to consolidate their power. Novgorod is far from dangerous, but Scandinavia is on the precipice of unification and the Holy Roman Empire still dominates central Europe. Not to mention the Teutonic knights. Dangers lurk on the horizon, even for those whose only business is trade. Society and Culture The Hanseatic League conducted their operations in the North Sea, particularly in the Baltic Sea. Although the societies on the Baltic Sea didn’t have a uniform culture, there were several feature which they shared, if only partially. In 1388, the northern crusades were still in full swing, and slowly christianity was creeping further into the interior of modern-day Russia and Balticum. The new faith brought new consumption patterns, and the frequent fasting increased the importance of cheap protein, namely herring from the Öresund strait and stockfish from northern Norway, shipped out of the Hanseatic Kontor in Bergen. The latter was particularly important given that stockfish had a shelf life of ten years, was almost indestructible and cheaper than both salted and smoked fish. In the late 14th century, as today, there were many spoken languages around the Baltic Sea, but in the major trading posts in which the Hanseatic League operated, Low German served as the lingua franca. The main reason for this was the expansion of the Hanseatic League, but during the 14th and 15th century the Teutonic Order also began colonising Courland and 5 Livonia aggressively. This drive led to pockets of “Little Germania” which would not be rooted out until the 20th century. The rulers of Sweden would also send colonising missions into the Gulf of Bothnia and Karelia to shore up the advances of Novgorod and Moscow until the 15th century. The 14th century also saw the rise of piracy. The increase in trade and low will and capacity to efficiently crack down on piracy gave the pirates the impetus they needed to attack ships of all stripes in the Baltic Sea. Queen Margaret I of Denmark and several Mecklenburg dukes in fact worked in concert with the pirates, tolerating their incursions as long as they cut them in on the profits. The Hansa The word “hanse” can be traced back to a 4th century translation of the Bible in Gothic, referring to “a band of men, a club”. Charlemagne would later worry about these clubs, better known as guilds, as they swore fealty to each other when their loyalties should only be to the crown. Then came Frederick II, known for being excommunicated four times and proclaiming his birthplace to be Bethlehem and himself to be Messiah. His frequent military excursions led him to give his nobles a free hand in how to raise and pay their armies, leaving the cities to run things as they saw fit. This state of affairs gave cities great latitude to do as they pleased. The Hansa signed their first agreement with a foreign prince in 1189 and from then until the late 15th century they would come to dominate trade in the Baltic Sea. Describing the Hansa precisely is difficult. They didn’t have an official seal or well-defined hierarchy, in fact they had no clear structure at all. All members of the Hansa were merchants by profession and would congregate only for the Hanseatic Diet, known as the Hansetag, usually held in Lübeck. Traders could raise issues and settle differences at these Hansetag meetings, though most issues that were brought up had been settled in advance. Decisions made in these meetings were not legally binding, and sometimes ignored by whoever wished to do so. This looseness worked in favour of the Hansa. Unlike their noble and regal contemporaries, the merchants in the Hansa were only interested in profits and only acquired land as a way to 6 secure trade routes. The kings and princes of the time had enough on their hands with maintaining their armies, making the Hansa the only de-facto power with a fleet large enough to dominate the Baltic Sea. This fleet made the Hanseatic League a force to be reckoned with, as when they blockaded Bergen in 1284, stopping any boat that attempted to supply Norway with the essentials it had grown completely reliant upon to make it through the long Nordic winter. The Norwegian king had given them an ultimatum, and a year later Sweden had to brought in to mediate.