Shedding light: The “Bergen games” in Hamburg and Bergen’s sources

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34680/Caurus-2025-4(1)-46-56

Keywords:

Hanseatic counting-houses, Bergen, the “Bergen games”, Hanseatic initiation

Abstract

In this article we study one of the aspects of the Hanseatic counting-house’s life in Bergen during the 16th – 17th centuries. Videlicet, we examine the rituals associated with the admission of merchants into the circle of its residents, the so-called “Bergen games.” This topic was presented in the Western European historiography of late 19th – the first half of the 20th centuries, however, it is an issue of low-demand among modern historians. The prevailing understanding of the "Bergen games" was formed based on manuscript materials from the Hamburg City Library, although it is now possible to supplement this with reports from a handwritten monument preserved in Bergen, published in 2001 by A. Nesse. A comparison of the Hamburg and Bergen versions of the descriptions of the “Bergen games” allows for a more comprehensive understanding of these rituals and sheds some light on their intended purpose, an issue that remains not fully resolved.

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Author Biographies

M. B. Bessudnova , Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University, Veliky Novgorod, Russia

Doctor of Historical Sciences, docent, professor of the Department of World History and International Relations
e-mail: magistrmb@gmail.com

A. A. Lebedeva , Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University, Veliky Novgorod, Russia

student
e-mail: lebedeva.nastasia27@gmail.com 

 

References

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Published

2025-03-28

How to Cite

Bessudnova , M. B., & Lebedeva , A. A. (2025). Shedding light: The “Bergen games” in Hamburg and Bergen’s sources. Caurus, 4(1), 46–56. https://doi.org/10.34680/Caurus-2025-4(1)-46-56

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2025): Caurus

Section

Articles