Kontor of Bruges
A kontor was a corporation (universitas) with a level of legal autonomy in a foreign non-Hanseatic city, the one of Bruges was formally organised in the 14th century.
Flanders was a fiefdom of France until the Treaty of Senlis was signed in 1493, after that it belonged to the Holy Roman Empire.
The Kontor of Bruges stood out because the Hanseatic League's activity wasn't concentrated on a few buildings and Hansards instead were spread over the town.
Bruges did not lie directly next to the North Sea but was reached by the Zwin, a tidal inlet that was formed by a storm in 1134.
The traders didn't acquire any real estate to establish themselves, but rented lodging and storage from locals.
The latter requested an emporium-enclave near Damme, but this was fatefully denied: Bruges wanted to secure a key position over nearby towns and villages and couldn't use new potential rivals.
Bruges made large investments in an ultimately vain effort to keep the trade route open.
It pioneered a division of Hansards in three parts, a reform that would be adopted by Hanseatic League itself and by the Steelyard in London.
[2]: 101 Again concerns about weighing, arbitrary tax increases, compensations and privileges moved the League in 1350 to relocate the kontor to Aardenburg, against the backdrop of the Hundred Years' War, but this wasn't carried out.
[6]: 28-29 Duke Albert I of Bavaria, Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland offered attractive terms, and the kontor was moved to Dordt in May 1358.
[7]: 67–68 But the context of the Hundred Years' War made it difficult for Bruges to keep the generous terms of the agreement and customs were raised.
A total Hanseatic embargo was placed on Flanders, it was only lightened in 1389 to allow the Teutonic Order to sell amber.
Intervention by the Prussian towns and the grand master of the Teutonic Knights enabled a resolution in late 1391.
The council of Bruges became convinced that the shortage was caused by hoarding by foreign merchants and issued an ordinance in September 1399 that required that credit was paid in cash with increasing shares of gold from 1 May 1400 and reaching full force on 1 January 1401.
The Kontor of Bruges and Lübeck cooperated to instate a total ban on credit for Hanseatic traders on Flanders for 3 years from 2 July 1401.
[8]: 82 When Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy and overlord of Bruges, switched sides to France in the Hundred Years' War with the Treaty of Arras, political attitudes changed.
[3]: 181, 184 Renewed complaints about breaches against privileges motivated the Hanseatic League to increase the economic power of the staple by expanding it.
[1]: 132 Trade has deteriorated so much in the 16th century from the Zwin's closure that the Hanseatic League decided to move the kontor to Antwerp in 1520.
[2]: 91 Security was the primary reason for establishing kontors,[1]: 128–130 but they were also important for inspecting trade goods and diplomacy with local and regional authorities.
[2]: 100–101 [1]: 138–139 There was also a board of 18 achteinen ("eighteen men"), deputies, who served for one year and had narrower tasks than the aldermen, but could also represent the kontor to outsiders.
A clerk was trained at university in the study of law and was highly literate in Latin and in difficult legal literature.
[1]: 135 [2]: 101 Bruges' high degree of integration made it difficult for the kontor to control the Hansards' business and social interaction.
[1]: 133 One tool that the Hanseatic League could use to pressure Bruges was temporarily moving the kontor to other places like Dordrecht, Utrecht and Antwerp.
Instead the Hansards were distributed generally speaking over the entire city, even if there was a concentration in some streets or neighbourhoods, making it the most spatially integrated kontor.
Colognian merchants ran businesses that sold Rhenish wine in Weinstuben (bodegas), sometimes partnering with their hostellers.
