The Hanseatic League and the Nordic Region
A touring exhibition, produced by Bryggens Museum, Bergen, Norway, within the framework of the Medieval Museum Network in the Nordic Region (EU project, ”three touring exhibitions”)
20/9 –97 – 6/1 1998
Throughout the Middle Ages Hanseatic vessels crossed the North Sea and the Baltic with cargo. The influence of the Hanseatic League became enormous in the whole Nordic region. This was particularly noticeable in the realm of trade. In Bergen the League became a state within a state. In Sweden Birger Jarl signed a treaty with Lubeck in the early 1250s. Those who wished to live in the kingdom were to obey the laws of the land and in future be known as Swedes. Germans, nevertheless, obtained a great political power in Stockholm. They were to form half the members of the town’s governing body. This did not change until after the Battle of Brunkeberg in 1471. The common trading language throughout Northern Europe was Low German, and so it was also in Stockholm. German could be heard in all the streets and lanes, Gradually an increasing number of German words and expressions became intermingled with Swedish: the words for town (stad), burgess (borgare), council house (rådhus), shoemaker (skomakare), carpenter (snickare), kitchen (kök), window (fönster), step (trappa) etc.