Ad Fontes
Reading and understanding historical sources
Ad fontes is a learning offer by the University of Zurich for all those who work with historical materials. The Research Centre for Hanse and Baltic History presents six transcription exercises from the Hanseatic period:
1252: Flanders Privilege by Countess Margaret
Here, you can transcribe a 15th century copy of the privilege. Learn more about the trade connections of the early Hanse!
Click here for the exercise:
1268: Order of the Hansekontor in Novgorod
What was the role of the easternmost trading post of the Hanse, what goods were traded there and how was order maintained? Here you can transcribe the earliest set of rules of the Novgorod trading post:
1358: Flanders Blockade and the first Hanse town assembly
What were the beginnings of »The Hanse«? Learn more about the first use of the term by the merchants themselves in this exercise:
1422: Letter by Hildebrand Veckinchusen to his wife Margarete
Only a few letters from the Hanse period are as informative about a merchant's everyday life as the letters by Hildebrand Veckinchusen. Find out here about the importance of familial relations and his wife Margarete to keeping the business running:
1518: Invitation and agenda for the Hanse town assembly
Hanse town assemblies were a political challenge - and an organisational one as well. Get an insight into the process of such an assembly here:
1669: Recess for the last Hanse town meeting
»The end of the Hanse« - or was it? What was the last Hanse town assemly really about? Find out here what problems the Hanse encountered in the late 17th century: