Hanseatic Cities Letters of 1490 from Archive of Hanseatic City of Lubeck in Context of Antwerp Anglo-Hanseatic Negotiations Preparation

Abstract

The article contains original letters from the city councils of Cologne, Bremen, Münster and Danzig to the Magistrate of Lübeck regarding sending their envoys to the upcoming Anglo-Hanseatic relations. Due to the fact that the sources are part of business merchant correspondence, they are objective and informative. The documents are placed in a broad historical context, characterized by the escalation of the conflict between the Hanseatic people and the British, which led to active preparations for negotiations between England and the Hanseatic League. Analysis of the sources made it possible to supplement the historical context of the events that took place in the 1490s between England and the Hansa, and it was also concluded that the participants in the negotiations should have been not only envoys of the cities whose merchants actively traded in the territory of the Steelyard, but also envoys of the cities whose merchants had less representation in England. In addition, the analysis of sources helped to identify Lübeck’s strengthened position as the head of the Hanse in the crisis circumstances.