7. The organisation of the North Atlantic trade

Abstract

Discussion of the organisation of the North Atlantic trade in the northern German cities in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries should start with an assessment of the merchant societies (Fahrergesellschaften) and confraternities active in the (informal) organisation of the trade. The Confraternity of St Anne of the Iceland Merchants in Hamburg (Islandfahrerbroderschop) in particular has received a great deal of attention in the historiography of the North Atlantic trade, and its records are central sources for the study of this trade. However, the study of the confraternity, which is deemed unique to Hamburg, is met with much confusion, which is related to the general nature of these kinds of institutions. Confraternities (broderschoppen) were in the first place religious corporations, a common phenomenon in late medieval Europe. In Hamburg there were about 100 of them; most religious houses (monasteries and churches) hosted ten or more. These confraternities all had similar goals, first and foremost the celebration of masses and the remembrance of dead members of the confraternity (memoria), as well as the organisation of their funerals. Next to this, almost all confraternities were occupied with charity by supporting the poor, giving alms on regular days, and supporting hospitals. Members of specific occupations, notably seafarers, often founded confraternities, especially in northern