Round Table: What is Hanse?

• When? Am 29. September 2017
• Where? European Hansemuseum Lübeck.
• A flyer for the event can be found here (in German).

There was a German Hanse - that is beyond doubt. Yet, what 'Hanse' exactly was is a matter of debate among historians since 150 years. Even though there is a certain consensus to differentiate between an early period, called 'Hanse of merchants', and a following 'Hanse of cities' - the last one a coalition of a changing number of cities which gathered together to facilitate trade in the four Kontore in London Bruges, Bergen and Novgorod - the dimensions the phenomenon 'Hanse' had are still a matter of debate. What was 'binnen' (part of) the Hanse, what was 'buten' (outside of it)? How can the relationship between Hanse and region be described? How 'Hanseatic' were the space the 'Hanse of cities' covered its trade? Does 'Hanse' refer to a certain space, was (or is) it an identity-establishing combat term, or a singular quality of premodern urban cooperation? When does 'Hanse' start, and when does it end? 

There are many interpretations of what Hanse was. At the Round Table, the underlying questions and research interests were brought together. Four researchers on different aspects of Hanse presented their view on the matter in a brief statement and discussed the multifarious phenomenon 'Hanse'.