ABSTRACT

The aim of this chapter is to describe the development and institutions of a port city, Lübeck. In doing this, the development of another institution – the Hanse – must come into focus as well, because both Lübeck and the Hanse were often, albeit wrongly, seen as one. In older German research especially, the urban development of Lübeck and the development of the Hanse were parallelized and the history shaped after the idea of the late absolutistic monarchy – a more than inadequate approach, as we know today. It is therefore the aim of this chapter to look at Lübeck more in its geographical and economic situation than in the context of an idealized German domination of the Baltic Sea area. By doing this the early development of the Hanse can be described in a new way – from a Lübeck perspective, but not as a Lübeck unity.