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2016
“Dynamiques économiques portuaires et réseaux dans l’Atlantique en perspective historique” (XVe – XXIe siècles)
Sección 2 – Las dinámicas económicas de los puertos en la larga duración

Regional and interregional trading networks and commercial practices at the port of Antwerp in the 14th and 15th centuries. The testimony of merchants and skippers in court records

Michael Limberger

Résumés

In the 14th and 15th centuries Antwerp was a port of considerable dimensions and commercial importance. The Brabant fairs of Bergen op Zoom and Antwerp were a major meeting point for merchants from the Low Countries, the Rhineland and England from the fourteenth century onwards. This article gives a short synthesis of the existing literature on the earliest period of the commercial history of Antwerp, little of which has been published in English so far, and map the commercial activity in Antwerp in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. It focuses on the trade with the staple goods grain, fish and salt. The testimonies related to the litigation concerning the staple between Antwerp and the towns of Brussels and Mechlin in the early fifteenth century provide detailed information concerning the destinations, traded products as well as trading practices and strategies, so that a picture of the commercial networks and practices of Antwerp during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century can be established which is complementary to the older historiography concerning the international trade at the Antwerp fairs.

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Notes de l’auteur

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Session “Port-towns of Atlantic Europe in the Middle Ages / Villes portuaires de l'Europe Atlantique au Moyen Age” at the International Conference on Urban History in Ghent, 2010.

Texte intégral

  • 1 Ehrenberg, Richard, Das Zeitalter der Fugger, 2 vols., Jena, G. Fischer, 1896. Braudel, Fernand, Ci (...)
  • 2 Brulez, Wilfried, De firma Della Faille en de internationale handel van Vlaamse firma's in de 16de (...)
  • 3 Gelderblom, Oscar, Cities of commerce: the institutional foundations of international trade in the (...)
  • 4 Asaert, Gustaaf, De Antwerpse scheepvaart in de XVe eeuw (1394-1480). Bijdrage tot de ekonomische g (...)

1The role of Antwerp in the European economy of the sixteenth century has been paid the due attention by several generations of economic historians. Thus, Antwerp occupies a central role in Richard Ehrenberg’s ‘Zeitalter der Fugger’, published in 1896, as well as in Fernand Braudel’s ‘temps du monde’, the third part of his three-volume synthesis of the European économie monde of the Early Modern period, published in 19781. Major monographs have been dedicated to the golden age of Antwerp, such as J.A. Goris’ ‘Etude sur les colonies marchandes, from 1925, W. Brulez’ ‘De firma Della Faille en de internationale handel van Vlaamse firma's in de 16e eeuw’ from 1959 and the three-volume study by H. Van der Wee. ‘The Growth of the Antwerp Market and the European economy, XIVth-XVIth centuries’ from 19632. Only just recently, O. Gelderblom looked at the role of commercial institutions in Bruges, Antwerp and Amsterdam from a comparative perspective3. In contrast, the commercial history of Antwerp in the middle ages is far less thoroughly investigated. The breakthrough of Antwerp as an international trading centre took place quite quickly in the last decades of the fifteenth century, therefore the focus of the international historiography is mainly on the period between 1490 and 1585. Antwerp was nevertheless an Atlantic port of considerable dimensions and commercial importance already in the late middle ages, although the reach of its commercial network was, of course, less international than in the sixteenth century. Especially the fifteenth century was a period of increasing activity and commercial reach, among other as a result of the Portuguese expansion in the Atlantic. As far as the period previous to this rise is concerned, authors such as Van Uytven, Asaert and Van Gerven have shown that Antwerp was an important gateway for the duchy of Brabant and that it played also a strategic role in the exchange between Cologne and England4. The Brabant fairs of Bergen op Zoom and Antwerp were a major meeting point for merchants from the Low Countries, the Rhineland and England from the fourteenth century onwards. Furthermore the town had staple rights for herring, grain and salt as well as for Dutch dairy products, which indicates its strategic position in the regional trade networks of the Scheldt estuary and its hinterland, which was formed by a vast network of navigable rivers.

  • 5 The historical background of the process is described by Prims, Floris, De ketting te Heffen I (141 (...)

2In this article, I will try to give a short synthesis of the existing literature on the earliest period of the commercial history of Antwerp, little of which has been published in English so far, and map the commercial activity in Antwerp in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. I will furthermore focus on one particular aspect of Antwerp’s trade, that is, the trade with the staple goods grain, fish and salt. For this purpose, I will use the documents related to the litigation concerning the staple between Antwerp and the towns of Brussels and Mechlin (Mechelen) in the early fifteenth century, which provides us with detailed information concerning the commercial networks and practice of merchants at the Antwerp port during the period around 14005. By means of these declarations, which are rich in details on the destinations, traded products as well as trading practices and strategies, a picture of the commercial networks and practices of Antwerp during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century is going to be reconstructed which is complementary to the older historiography concerning the international trade at the Antwerp fairs.

Antwerp in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries

  • 6 Van der Wee, Herman, The Growth of the Antwerp Market, II, p. 18.
  • 7 Mertens, F.H. en Torfs, K.L. Geschiedenis van Antwerpen, deel I. Antwerp, 1853, I, p.53, Vrelust, J (...)
  • 8 Van Uytven, Raymond, Rhijnhaven met international jaarmarkten, in: Antwerpen. Twaalf eeuwen geschie (...)

3Antwerp was a commercial centre of some importance already since the eleventh century. Antwerp merchants were active in England and Western Germany already at this early stage6. Early trade was especially centered on food, particularly fish. Already in the 13th century, Antwerp’s status as a commercial centre was acknowledged. In 1225 pope Honorius III exempted Antwerp merchants from the obligation to announce their marriage in advance, “because many inhabitants of the town were active in trade on the sea, and therefore travel to various other countries, they are seldom at home in their town, except for the winter, when they cannot go to sea because of the bad weather conditions7. First interregional contacts concerned Rhine wine, which was traded to England. From the thirteenth century on, the commercial contacts of Antwerp increased. The town began to specialize in the trade of Rhine wine, fish, and precious metals towards England, whereas in exchange they traded in grain, tin and wool. This trade attracted merchants from Cologne who came to Antwerp to trade their wine for English wool. As an alternative for Bruges, which was affected by the political struggles between England and Flanders, the English established their wool staple several times in Antwerp. Also during the fourteenth century English wool continued to be an important commodity at the Antwerp market. Until the beginning of the fourteenth century, the trade at the Antwerp market remained however for the greatest part regional: agrarian products of the area such as grain, dairy products, fish and peat were traded on large scale. As a port city Antwerp had good access to the major maritime trades of Northwestern Europe, while having access to a large hinterland via a large river network8. Antwerp was the logical end point of the Rhine trade. Hence it held the staple for Rhine wine for Flanders, Brabant and Hainaut. Antwerp merchants furthermore transported wine to England. Antwerp was also situated on the route between Northern Germany and England. Hamburg and Lübeck merchants obtained privileges for their trade.

  • 9 Van der Wee, The Growth of the Antwerp Market, II, p. 18.
  • 10 Balducci Pegolotti, Francesco, La prattica della mercatura, ed. A. Evans, Cambridge Mass., 1936, p. (...)
  • 11 For a survey of the major trade networks in the fourteenth century see: Findlay, Robert and O’Rourk (...)
  • 12 Bruges is discussed on 12 pages and is referred to in 16 cases throughout the text, while London is (...)
  • 13 Published in Doehaerd, R., Comptes du tonlieu d’Anvers, 1365-1404, Brussels, Palais des Académies, (...)

4At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the scope of Antwerp’s trade increased. In 1295 Antwerp became the centre of distribution for English wool on the continent. The staple was confirmed in 1315 and 13389. It was at that time when the town increasingly tried to attract foreign merchants by granting them special privileges, more in particular those coming from England, Germany, Genoa and Florence. From 1318 on, for example, about ten Venetian galleys came to Antwerp on a regular basis every year. The Florentine Francesco Pegolotti, in his well-known Prattica della Mercatura, gives a valuable testimony of the increasing importance of Antwerp at that period. He refers to Antwerp as the major commercial centre of Brabant - “essendo la stapola de’mercqanti risedenti in Anguersa”. He obtained privileges for the Bardi company in 1317 similar to those of the other privileged groups of merchants among which he counted Germans, Englishmen and Genoese. In a list of measures of commodities at Antwerp he refers to wool, spices (pepper, ginger, frankincense, sugar, cumin) indigo, lac, brazilwood, kermes, cotton, wax, alum, almonds, rice, dyes, copper, tin, oil, wine, lamb furs for lining, grain, barley and hides. In addition to this list, Pegolotti reproduces also a ducal toll tariff which is still more comprehensive10. It also contains metals such as lead, tin, iron and quicksilver, different kinds of leather, amber, and fine mercery like silk, sandal, caps, bordures, and gold-drapes. These commodities included imports from the Mediterranean, like alum, almonds and oil and others that were imported from Asia, like spices, sugar and frankincense. This situates fourteenth-century Antwerp as one of the nodes in the trading system dominated by the Italian merchant republics of Venice, Genoa and Florence, and moreover the old-world trading system of the period, which connected Asia, Africa and Europe, with the Italian cities as a major intermediary between Asia and the Near East on the one hand and continental Europe on the other.11 In Pegolotti’s text, Venice, Genoa and Florence obviously receive by far the most attention, followed by a number of other Mediterranean cities, among which, Naples, Rome, Pisa, Montpellier, Nimes, Valencia, Tunis, Alexandria, but as well Conastantinopel, Tana (Azov), Seville, Paris and London. Pegolotti describes the commercial world of the fourteenth century, however from a Florentine point of view. The role of Antwerp in this network was still secondary to that of Bruges, which receives quite some more attention in Pegolotti’s treatise, but on a similar level with London12. Moreover, the list of commodities in his text does not give any quantitative indications of the commodities traded at the Antwerp market, in fact, it seems rather generic, that is, describing the whole range of goods traded by the Florentines at that time. We therefore have to complete the picture by means of information from alternative sources. The accounts of the toll levied at Antwerp on the goods that were shipped southwards to a number of places of the Brabantine hinterland between 1365 and 1382 offer an insight in the quantities of transported goods.13 We have to bear in mind, however, that these accounts do only reflect the traffic between Antwerp and certain places situated in Brabant, among which Mechlin, Lier and Herentals. The accounts therefore do not give any direct indications on maritime trade. Among the towns in question, especially the Mechlin was a town of considerable size and a commercial and industrial centre of some significance. The traffic between Antwerp and Mechlin comprised a broad variety of commodities, including sugar, honey, spices, nuts and Mediterranean fruit, however, the bulk of the traffic consisted of grain, beer, herring, dairy products, wool and dyes. Doehaerd, in her edition of the accounts, calculated the following average quantities per year:

Table 1: Average quantities of commodities taxed at the toll between Antwerp and Mechlin, 1365-1379

Herring

136 ships

Beer

76 ships

Grain

49 ships

Wool

226 000 lb.

Madder

178 400 lb.

Alum

51 000 lb.

Woad

335 barrels

Iron

190 000 lb.

Beams

10000

Cheese

117 000 lb.

Fat

131 barrels

Butter

163 barrels

Fruit

2293 baskets

Pigs

517

  • 14 Van Gerven, Antwerpen in de veertiende eeuw, p. 925-926.
  • 15 De Sturler, J., Les relations politiques et les échanges commerciaux entre le duché de Brabant et l (...)
  • 16 De Smedt, Oscar, De Engelse Natie te Antwerpen in de 16e eeuw (1496-1582), 2 vols., Antwerp, 1954.

5Besides a limited amount of exotic commodities from Asia and the Mediterranean, most of the commodities were of North- or Northwestern European origin, such as wine, which was imported from the German Rhine region as well as from France. Wool came from England as well as from the Low Countries itself. Flemish and Brabantine cloth and other textiles were exported to Germany and elsewhere. Together with wool, the English exported lead and tin. Antwerp had close contacts with the Rhine but also with the Hanse of Northern and Eastern Germany. Merchants of Cologne, Hamburg, Dortmund and Soest, as well of the Hanse and of Westfalia in general had privileges in Antwerp.14 England was both an important and attractive partner for Antwerp. During the periods when the English cloth-staple was established in the city, in 1296-1297, 1315-1318, 1338-1340, the trade in Antwerp boomed and foreign merchants came in great quantities15. German wine, but also Brabantine cloth, grain, spices and other metals were traded through Antwerp. In the fourteenth century, English cloth started to replace wool as the major export commodity16.

The Brabant fairs of Antwerp and Bergen op Zoom

  • 17 Blockmans, Frans, “Van wanneer dateren de Antwerpse jaarmarkten?” Handelingen van het zeventiende V (...)

6The fact that Pegolotti did not mention the Brabant fairs in his description of Antwerp, while he did speak explicitly of the fairs of Flanders, suggests that they were actually introduced only between 1315 and 132517. These markets were particularly attractive for merchants for their special protection and because of the great number of commodities for sale. In the fifteenth century they would attain major importance. They were also integrated in a wider system of fairs, which contributed to its attractiveness. Hence merchants from England came to sell their cloth, which in Flanders was banned by the large cloth-producing cities of Ghent and Bruges. In the thirteenth and fourteenth century Antwerp was itself a centre of cloth production. Its cloth was exported to England, Denmark, at the Frankfurt fairs, In Italy and even in Constantinople. However, from 1400 onward, the cloth industry declined.

  • 18 C.J.F. Slootmans, Paas- en koudenmarkten te Bergen op Zoom, 3 vols., Tilburg, 1985 (Bijdragen tot d (...)
  • 19 For example in 1365-66: “Item Hughe de Moolnere, van allerande maerectgoede dat hi voerde te Berghe (...)
  • 20 Mertens & Torfs, o.c., 277-286.

7The Antwerp fairs had a competitor in the fairs of nearby Bergen op Zoom, which was situated closer to the Sea and was therefore easier to be reached by bigger ships18. In fact the Antwerp toll tariff referred regularly to merchants visiting the fairs of Bergen19. However, during the fourteenth century the accessibility of Antwerp via the western branch of the Scheldt, called the Honte was increased. The floods of the Scheldt in 1375-1376 washed out the bed of the river Scheldt and thus improved the access to Antwerp. Hence, by the fourteenth century Antwerp has developed into a major commercial centre. The town had numerous hostels, which served as residence but also as office for many travelling merchants. Innkeepers were also active as courtiers20.

  • 21 Prims, Floris, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen, V/2, 1935, p. 1-2, cited n Van der Wee, The growth of th (...)
  • 1
  • 23 Van der Wee, Growth1963, II, p. 11.
  • 24 Höhlbaum, Konstantin, Hansisches Urkundenbuch. Band 4 1361-1392 (1896), p. 352, cited in

8However, the good prospects of Antwerp were disturbed by political circumstances. In 1356 Antwerp and Mechlin the two leading commercial centres of Brabant were annexed by the count of Flanders as a consequence of a disputed inheritance question after the extinction of the Brabantine dynasty21. Bruges was certainly interested in undermining the competition of the Brabant fairs, and therefore the annexation was a threat of the position of the Antwerp. On the other hand, this meant a tightening of the link between the town and the commercial networks centered on Bruges. As a result, the Antwerp fairs improved their position in long distance trade, especially during the last decades of the fourteenth century. Merchants from Venice, Genoa, Florence as well as from the Hanse came to the fairs22. The count also bestowed privileges on the town. In 1358, the count granted the town the staple for dairy products from Holland and Utrecht. In 1379-1385, during a Revolt in Flanders, he forbade foreign merchants to come to Bruges, but offered Antwerp as an alternative.23 During the late fourteenth century, Antwerp had thus become a major fair centre. The Antwerp fairs had become a major meeting place for foreign merchants as well as Netherlanders, especially from Bruges, England, Germany and Italy. English cloth was the major commodity at the Antwerp markets. Merchants from Cologne exported wine and bought fish and salt. Their activities were further enhanced by the increasing trade with southern Germany, particularly via the Frankfurt fairs. Also the Hanse merchants of northern Germany, who had a Kontor at Bruges came frequently to the Antwerp fairs. In 1385 and 1392, the Antwerp city government proposed to provide protection to foreign merchants during their voyage to Antwerp by sending two armed ships to convoy them24. At periods of political struggle between Bruges and the Hanse, such as in 1437 and in 1451 Antwerp was a well-situated alternative for them. The same was true for Italians and Spaniards.

  • 25 Asaert, G., De Antwerpse scheepvaart, p.

9The Spanish nobleman Pedro Tafur described the Antwerp fairs in 1435 as “the most important of the world, there is no doubt that whoever wants to see the whole world, or a large part of it, concentrated on one place, he can do so here. Here, the most beautiful things in the world are to be seen, the greatest wealth. The Antwerp fairs became the centre of export of manufacture from the whole of the Southern Low Countries: tapestry, artwork, cloth, leather and furs, and linen form Hainaut and Namur. Antwerp merchants and skippers travelled to Spain, Italy and the Baltic. The number of sailors in the Antwerp skippers guild increased from ca. 30 to more than 400 in the second half of the fifteenth century25. However, until late in the fifteenth century, Antwerp was mainly a centre of annual fairs, such as Genève, Frankfurt, or Medina del Campo. It should take until the 1470’s before Antwerp overtook the fairs of Bergen op Zoom in importance.

The staple-conflict between Antwerp and Brussels against Mechlin

  • 26 Prims, De ketting te Heffen I.

10A second, less favorable consequence of the annexation of Antwerp and Mechlin was the transfer of the staple for oats, salt and herring from Antwerp to Mechlin. This staple right was important as it concerned the major commodities of the interregional trade. The import of maritime goods from Zeeland such as fish and salt to the interior of Brabant was a major trade in Antwerp. Antwerp had the staple right for these goods, while Mechlin, situated further south, was exempted. There was to be a long lasting conflict between the two cities concerning the staple for fish, salt and oats. This right, which was originally granted in 1301 to Antwerp, was disputed since 1358 when count Louis of Maele granted Mechlin the staple rights. Both cities had fallen under the rule of the count of Flanders at that time. Antwerp citizens were exempted for their own consumption. After the return of Antwerp under Brabant rule the city claimed its staple rights back and obliged ships transporting fish to have them estimated by their inn-keepers, who played the role of broker for fish, and offered for sale before being allowed to proceed upstream26.

  • 27 (Prims, De ketting te Heffen II.

11The conflict arose when Mechlin decided to place a chain over the river Zenne, which connected Antwerp with Brussels in order to enforce its staple rights on salt, grain and fish. Mechlin closed the river Zenne with a chain at Heffen and blocked so the passage of grain, salt and herring, three major types of food towards Brussels. Ships were obliged to anchor in Mechlin and offer their goods there for three days. In 1431 two ships from Brussels loaded with oats were arrested at Heffen. In order to enforce the withdrawal of Mechlin the bailiffs of the districts of Brussels and Antwerp undertook economic measures against Mechlin in 1432, i.e. no provisions or other commodities were to be transported to Mechlin, which, being an enclave amidst Brabant territory, meant a threat for the economy of Mechlin. Letters informing about this decision were sent to the cities of Holland and Zeeland, to Cologne, Aachen, Roermond, Jülich, Limburg, Maastricht, Liege, Huy, Dinant, Namur, Sint Truiden, Hasselt, Mons, Valenciennes, Enghien, Tournai, Cambrai, Arras, Saint Quentin. The choice of these cities is revealing, because they can be considered as the larger commercial hinterland of Antwerp27. The conflict concerning the staple even resulted in military clashes between Brussels, and Antwerp against Mechlin at Vilvoorde and Ruisbroek. The representatives of Mechlin claimed that Brussels had sent soldiers to the surroundings of Mechlin who confiscated – or robbed – the goods of Mechlin citizens.

Figure 1 – Cities contacted by Antwerp for the commercial embargo on Mechlin, 1432

Figure 1 – Cities contacted by Antwerp for the commercial embargo on Mechlin, 1432
  • 28 Antwerp city archives: Tresorijkamer 584. Especially fol. 241-281.

12In the lawsuit that followed numerous merchants and skippers were asked to declare about the commercial practice concerning the trade in grain, salt and herring during the decades before the beginning of the conflict28. The idea was to proof that since unmemorable times there had been trade with these products between Antwerp and the Brabant hinterland, without the inhabitants of Mechlin hindering the passage to Brussels. Only recently did they begin to detour ships to Mechlin in order to enforce the town’s staple rights. The witnesses therefore were preferably older merchants and boatmen who could speak of a long experience.

The testimonies of merchants and skippers

  • 29 These testimonies have also been used extensively by Asaert, op. cit. but they deserve special atte (...)
  • 30 fo. 241 r.
  • 31 fo. 242.
  • 32 Fo. 241v.

13The evidence consists of ca. thirty testimonies by merchants, hostellers and boatmen from Antwerp as well as from Brabant, Holland, Zeeland and Flanders in a lawsuit in 1433, concerning their trading practices during the preceding decades29. These testimonies were supposed to proof that there had not been any obstacles to the trade along the Brabant inland waterways through Mechlin in the past. Therefore, especially older merchants and skippers testified, referring to the longest time-span possible. Thus, some of the witnesses declared to be 85 years and older. The oldest among them, Jan Van Wezenbeek, of one the leading Antwerp families was 87 years old. Another, Jan Bernaert, 84 years of age, declared that he remembered the times of count Louis when the staple rights were transferred to Mechlin in 1358, that is, 75 years before! Other testimonies were more precise concerning their commercial experience. On average, however, they refer to a period of 25 to 30 years before their declarations, that is, the period around 1400. Jan van Landuit from Aalst, who was 70 years old and used to transport grain to the Antwerp Saturday market during 45 years. More in particular he brought rye and wheat from Aalst, in the county of Flanders, to Antwerp, where he bought oats, barley and other goods, such as vetches, linseed, rapeseed or beans in order to sell them in Aalst, Geraardsbergen or Ninove. He referred also to merchants from Mechlin who used to buy oats and barley and ship it to Mechlin, except the last 20 years when they stopped to do so because of the conflict between the two cities30. Jan Boenninck from Gorinchem, in Holland, traded in a similar way. He shipped wheat, oats and barley between Gorinchem and Antwerp, and further south, Mechlin, Dendermonde, Ghent and other places31. Bouwen Fyck, mayor of Rotterdam, then a small town, shipped dry herring, and salted kaakherring to the Antwerp market, especially between the Saint Bavo-fair and Easter. In return he shipped yarns, sailcloth and sack-linen to Rotterdam. He declared that he also visited the markets of Mechlin in order to find out if his goods would obtain a better price there32.

  • 33 Fo. 246 v.

14Andries Van Winge, a grain merchant from Leuven told, that he used to ship himself or through others, around 1415 wheat, rye, bristle oats (evene, avena strigosa) and wine from Leuven to Antwerp. There he bought oats, vetches, beans and seed. He sold his goods to the merchants Wouter van Hougaarden for further sale. Van Hougaarden in his turn acted as a factor for Wouter van Voesdonk from Mechlin. On his passage through Mechlin territory he paid a toll for the unfree goods, that is, those which were not exempt33. Jan Van Nedervenne, from Leuven, but who used to live in Mechlin around 1400 used to ship grain in a very similar way between Antwerp and Mechlin. Once he had moved to Leuven he continued his trade with grain between Antwerp and Leuven, but also to Brussels. This shipment went on board of skippers from Mechlin and took 4 to 5 days as planned, without stopping at the staple at Mechlin or without having to unload. Van Nedervenne also used to buy salt from Steenbergen and Zevenbergen and ship it to Leuven.

  • 34 Fo. 248.

15From yet another witness we hear that 26 years before declaring, that is in 1406 there used to be a weekly market ship service between Antwerp and Mechlin. Many merchants from Mechlin used to buy beans, vetches, peas, linseed and other grains on the weekly market of Antwerp and ship it to Mechlin either with the market ship or with others. On that occasion he went to Brussels five or six times under the bridge at Heffen without being hampered. On the route to Leuven and Diest he only had to wait at the sluices at the mill of Mechlin34.

16Adriaan Moens, an Antwerp resident born in Flanders used to hold an inn for merchants around 1408. His clients, he said, sent their commodities, rye and oats as well as millstones, by ship. Among them were citizens from Mechlin who shipped grain and millstones to Brussels and Leuven.

  • 35 M. van Tielhof, De Hollandse graanhandel 1470-1570: koren op de Amsterdamse molen, Den Haag, 1995, (...)
  • 36 Tits-Dieuaide, Formation p. 144.

17From these declarations, and other similar ones, we can clearly see the spatial patterns of the trade with the staple goods through Antwerp: as far as grain is concerned, rye and wheat were shipped from a large area stretching out between the Artois, the area of Lille and Hainaut to southern Brabant. The large towns of Flanders and Brabant had to import grain from the less urbanized areas in the south of the Low Countries : Walloon Flanders, Hainaut and Cambrai, and, to a lesser extent, Artois, Picardy, Normandy and Brittany. There were also already regular grain imports in the fifteenth century from Northern Germany, Prussia and Poland, but these only became really important after 1480.35 Holland and Zeeland, on the other hand, were major suppliers of oats and barley, which were important as fodder and for brewing.36 Rye and wheat, the major bread grains, were shipped via the rivers Scheldt, Dender and the Brabant rivers Zenne, Dijle, Demer and Gete northwards to Antwerp. On the other hand, oats, barley, vetches and different types of seed, but also wheat and rye came from the northern provinces, essentially from southern Holland and Zeeland, but also from more distant areas such as Frisonia, Sticht, Utrecht, Gelre, Western Flanders and even England and Livonia to Antwerp.

Figure 2 – Interregional trade routes from and to the port of Antwerp, ca. 1400

Figure 2 – Interregional trade routes from and to the port of Antwerp, ca. 1400
  • 37 Antwerp, SAA, T 584 declarations of Jan van Nedervenne, merchant from Leuven (fo. 247 v.) and Danka (...)
  • 38 J.A. Van Houtte, R. van Uytven, "Nijverheid en Handel 1300-1482" in AGN, IV. Haarlem, 1980, p. 100.

18The second major staple product was herring. Here the place of origin was the North Sea, and it was Holland and Zeeland merchants and skippers who introduced them to Antwerp and from there further inland to Flanders, Brabant and other parts of the Southern Low Countries and Northern France. Salt, finally was processed in Zeeland and shipped upstream directly to the places of destination. The places Steenbergen, Zevenbergen and Reimerswal were major providers of salt in the early fifteenth century.37 Other important centres in Zeeland were Tholen and Zierikzee. In northern Flanders, the town of Biervliet and the places Oostburg, Axel and Sluis were major salt-refining centres.38 This salt trade was later replaced by French salt from the bay of Bourgneuf.

  • 39 R. Van Uytven, In de schaduwen van de Antwerpse groei:_het Hageland in de zestiende eeuw, in: Bijdr (...)
  • 40 Van Uytven "Approvisionnement", p. 82, J.F. Mertens and K.L. Torfs, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen sede (...)
  • 41 Antwerp, SAA, T 584 fo. 281 r., declaration of the innkeeper and dairy merchant Willem Beys.
  • 42 M. Limberger, De prijs van het water- en wegtransport in de vijftiende en zestiende eeuw. Het vervo (...)
  • 43 Van Uytven, ‘Hierlandsche wol en lakens in Brabantse documenten (XIIIe –XVIe eeuw) in: Bijdragen to (...)

19Together with these staple goods, which form the issue of the lawsuit, merchants mention a series of other goods they transported in exchange or in combination with grain, herring and salt. The information provided in the testimonies confirms the data from the toll registers of the fourteenth century. Thus, wine was shipped from Leuven to Antwerp. This may be local wine from southern Brabant, which was grown in the fourteenth century, but during the fifteenth century viticulture was abandoned due to the bad climate conditions39. Dairy products such as cheese and butter were transported through Antwerp in considerable quantities. Antwerp had had the staple right for Dutch dairy products since 1358.40 In the early fifteenth century, merchants from Nieuwpoort, Dunkerk, and St. Omer in Western Flanders regularly came to Antwerp to sell butter and cheese there.41 Millstones had to be made of a particularly hard stone and therefore were imported from the Rhine via Dordrecht and Antwerp and from there distributed throughout Brabant42. Merchants from Holland also tell us that they bought sailcloth and sacklinen in Antwerp. On the other hand coal was shipped down the river Meuse and was shipped to Antwerp through places as Gorinchem. Other products of regional trade are absent in the declarations of the skippers, such as local wool from the Campine which was traded through Antwerp and which was used in different cloth producing cities within Brabant43.

20The testimonies of the grain and fish merchants and skippers also allow us a glimpse on their commercial practice. Most were individual merchants who shipped their commodities on a regular basis to one or different markets. They also looked from alternative markets if market conditions were averse or simply in order to obtain better prices. Some of the merchants collaborated with others and had factors to represent them on a certain place, a technique which was to become highly popular in the sixteenth century. In Antwerp, merchants lodged in specialized inns, where they could handle their trade, and where they could count on their hosts which acted as courtiers.

  • 44 The Antwerp port is described in detail in Asaert, Antwerpse scheepvaart, p. 125-137.
  • 45 Antwerp city archives: T 584. fol. 245r.

21Finally, the declarations also contain references to the topography of the Antwerp port44. According to the declaration of Lodewijk Staes from Nieuwpoort the werf (wharf) was the obligatory anchorage for Flemish merchants in dairy products and herring (see figure 3)45. The werf¸ situated near the ‘burcht’, the fortified centre of the town, was the central point of the port. Since 1263 a crane was situated here to load and unload heavy cargoes. It is here where the largest sea-going vessels, Venetian galleys etc., anchored. The deep and large river allowed ships up to 220 tons to reach Antwerp. Large ships of 400 tons or more such as bulk ships from the Hansa had to unload their goods in Middelburg in Zeeland and use smaller ships for the transport to Antwerp.

  • 46 Cited in Asaert, Antwerpse scheepvaart, p.128.
  • 47 G. Asaert, G. Devos and F. Suyckens, De Antwerpse naties. Zes eeuwen actief in stad en haven, Antwe (...)

22Antwerp ships had to moor North of the werf, the southern part was reserved for foreign ships. Boats with fish had to moor further south, near the fish market. The ‘Houten hoofd or bierhoofd’ was a wooden construction, where ferries crossing the river as well as beer-ships had to be unloaded. On the houten hoofd also herring was sold, as Colin Jacobssoen from Zierikzee declared46. Already in the late fourteenth century, the Antwerp dockworkers were organized in guilds, which first mentioned in 1386, 1393 and 140247.

Figure 3 – Antwerp and its port in the fifttenth century

Figure 3 – Antwerp and its port in the fifttenth century

Source : G. Asaert, De late middeleeuwen (ca. 1200-ca. 1500), , in : De stad Antwerpen van de romeinse tijd tot de 17e eeuw. Topografische studie rond het plan van Virgilius Bononiensis, 1565, Brussels, 1978, p. 41-50.

  • 48 Fol. 245 and 267.

23According to another merchant there were 10-12 salt-ships lying along the so-called Zoutrui (Salt-Rui) in the beginning of the fifteenth century. During the fairs, they had to move to another spot in order to make way for boats unloading other commodities. Also Dutch herring-merchants attached their boats along the Zoutrui48. The Rui was the oldest and longest canal running through the city. It crossed the whole of the city centre and provided anchorage for numerous albeit small ships. Urban ordinances specified that specific places along the rui were reserved for ships with wood, peat and salt. There were several inlets, so-called ‘vlieten’, which served as docks. As the Scheldt was subject to tidal changes, the boats in these fleets stood on the dry ground during low tide. In the beginning of the fifteenth century, there were three such fleets: Holenvliet, Rui and St. Jansvliet. The Sint-Jansvliet was broader and provided the possibility for ships to anchor in several rows. From here they had access to the Steenhouwersvest, which was part of the urban canals.

Conclusion

24There is rich evidence for the commercial activity of Antwerp in the fourteenth century, such as the qualitative references in contemporary texts by Pegolotti as well as the quantitative indications in the Antwerp toll registers. They indicate the international character of Antwerp’s trade as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century as well as the volume of the regional trade in the Antwerp hinterland. The testimonies of the merchants and skippers that declared at the 1433 lawsuit between Antwerp, Brussels and Mechlin, moreover, are an exceptionally lively and detailed source for the study of the interregional trade in grain, herring and salt in Antwerp at the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth century. They form personal witnesses from merchants concerning their trade, that is, the main commodities, the trade routes, the frequency and other details concerning their trading practice. They treat with one particular segment of the trading activity at the Antwerp port, the bulk trade with major food-staples between different parts of the North Sea area. The trade with herring, grain and salt was more than a complementary activity to the long distance trade which took place at the Antwerp fairs, such as English cloth, Portuguese spices and Southern German metals, which were to form the basis for the rise of Antwerp as the major commercial centre of Western Europe at the end of the fifteenth century. Herring, grain and salt were among the major commodities that were traded at Antwerp. They constituted an important contribution to the food provision of the Brabantine hinterland and affected numerous merchants from Antwerp and its larger surroundings, along with skippers, and their consumers.

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Bibliographie

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Balducci Pegolotti, Francesco, La prattica della mercatura, ed. A. Evans, Cambridge Mass., 1936, p. 250-54.

Blockmans, Frans, “Van wanneer dateren de Antwerpse jaarmarkten ?” Handelingen van het zeventiende Vlaamse filologencongres Leuven 1-3 september 1947, p. 58-59.

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Brulez, Wilfried, De firma Della Faille en de internationale handel van Vlaamse firma's in de 16 de eeuw, Brussels, Academie voor wetenschappen, letteren en schone kunsten van België, 1959.

De Smedt, Oscar, De Engelse Natie te Antwerpen in de 16e eeuw (1496-1582), 2 vols., Antwerp, 1954.

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Neveux, Hugues, Les grains du Cambrésis. Vie et déclin d'une structure économique : (fin du 14e-début du 17e siècle), Paris, 1980 (Civilisations et sociétés, 64).

Prims, Floris, “De ketting te Heffen I (1413-1432)”, Antwerpiensia vol. X, 1936, p. 84-93 ; “De ketting te Heffen II (1432-1433)”, ibidem, p. 85-101.

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Notes

1 Ehrenberg, Richard, Das Zeitalter der Fugger, 2 vols., Jena, G. Fischer, 1896. Braudel, Fernand, Civilisation matérielle, économie et capitalisme xve-xviiie siècle. Tome 3: Le temps du monde, Paris, Armand Colin, 1979.

2 Brulez, Wilfried, De firma Della Faille en de internationale handel van Vlaamse firma's in de 16de eeuw, Brussels, Academie voor wetenschappen, letteren en schone kunsten van België, 1959.


Van der Wee, Herman, The growth of the Antwerp market and the European economy (fourteenth-sixteenth centuries), 3 vols., The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1963.

3 Gelderblom, Oscar, Cities of commerce: the institutional foundations of international trade in the Low Countries, 1250- 1650, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2013.

4 Asaert, Gustaaf, De Antwerpse scheepvaart in de XVe eeuw (1394-1480). Bijdrage tot de ekonomische geschiedenis van de stad Antwerpen, Brussels, Academie voor wetenschappen, letteren en schone kunsten van België, 1973. Van Uytven, Raymond, “Rhijnhaven met international jaarmarkten”, in Antwerpen. Twaalf eeuwen geschiedenis en cultuur, Brussels, Mercatorfonds, 1986, p. 50-55. Van Gerven, Jan, Antwerpen in de veertiende eeuw. Kleine stad zonder toekomst of opkomend handelscentrum? In: Révue belge de philologie et d’histoire, 76/4, 1998, p. 907-938.

5 The historical background of the process is described by Prims, Floris, De ketting te Heffen I (1413-1432), in: Antwerpiensia vol. X, 1936, p. 84-93; De ketting te Heffen II (1432-1433), ibidem, p. 85-101; and Het groot stedenproces 1432-1438, ibidem, p. 102-108.

6 Van der Wee, Herman, The Growth of the Antwerp Market, II, p. 18.

7 Mertens, F.H. en Torfs, K.L. Geschiedenis van Antwerpen, deel I. Antwerp, 1853, I, p.53, Vrelust, Jef, Van kleine nederzetting tot ‘vermaarde koopstad’ in: Antwerpen wereldhaven. Over handel en scheepvaart, Antwerp, Museum aan de Stroom, 2012, p.12-23, 17.

8 Van Uytven, Raymond, Rhijnhaven met international jaarmarkten, in: Antwerpen. Twaalf eeuwen geschiedenis en cultuur, 1986, p. 50-55.

9 Van der Wee, The Growth of the Antwerp Market, II, p. 18.

10 Balducci Pegolotti, Francesco, La prattica della mercatura, ed. A. Evans, Cambridge Mass., 1936, p. 250-54.

11 For a survey of the major trade networks in the fourteenth century see: Findlay, Robert and O’Rourke, Kevin H., Power and Plenty. Trade, War, and the World Economy in the Second Millennium. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2007.

12 Bruges is discussed on 12 pages and is referred to in 16 cases throughout the text, while London is described on 4 pages and is referred to 14 times, and Antwerp receives 4 pages and 12 references.

13 Published in Doehaerd, R., Comptes du tonlieu d’Anvers, 1365-1404, Brussels, Palais des Académies, 1947.

14 Van Gerven, Antwerpen in de veertiende eeuw, p. 925-926.

15 De Sturler, J., Les relations politiques et les échanges commerciaux entre le duché de Brabant et l'Angleterre au Moyen Age. L'étape des laines anglaises en Brabant et les origines du développement du port d'Anvers. Paris, E. Droz, 1936. 

16 De Smedt, Oscar, De Engelse Natie te Antwerpen in de 16e eeuw (1496-1582), 2 vols., Antwerp, 1954.

17 Blockmans, Frans, “Van wanneer dateren de Antwerpse jaarmarkten?” Handelingen van het zeventiende Vlaamse filologencongres Leuven 1-3 september 1947, p. 58-59.

18 C.J.F. Slootmans, Paas- en koudenmarkten te Bergen op Zoom, 3 vols., Tilburg, 1985 (Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van het zuiden van Nederland LXIV-VI). A recent synthesis is to be found in Y. Kortlever, De jaarmarkten van Bergen op Zoom, in: In: M. van Gelder and E. Mijers, eds., Internationale handelsnetwerken en culturele contacten in de vroegmoderne Nederlanden. Maastricht, Shaker Publishing, 2009, p. 9-25.

19 For example in 1365-66: “Item Hughe de Moolnere, van allerande maerectgoede dat hi voerde te Berghen ter merct (from all kind of market goods which he brought to the fairs of Bergen) Doehaerd, R., Comptes du tonlieu d’Anvers, p. 88

20 Mertens & Torfs, o.c., 277-286.

21 Prims, Floris, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen, V/2, 1935, p. 1-2, cited n Van der Wee, The growth of the Antwerp market vol. II, p. 20.

22

23 Van der Wee, Growth1963, II, p. 11.

24 Höhlbaum, Konstantin, Hansisches Urkundenbuch. Band 4 1361-1392 (1896), p. 352, cited in

Van der Wee; The growth of the Antwerp market II, p. 21; Van Gerven, Antwerpen, p. 919.

25 Asaert, G., De Antwerpse scheepvaart, p.

26 Prims, De ketting te Heffen I.

27 (Prims, De ketting te Heffen II.

28 Antwerp city archives: Tresorijkamer 584. Especially fol. 241-281.

29 These testimonies have also been used extensively by Asaert, op. cit. but they deserve special attention due to their detailed character.

30 fo. 241 r.

31 fo. 242.

32 Fo. 241v.

33 Fo. 246 v.

34 Fo. 248.

35 M. van Tielhof, De Hollandse graanhandel 1470-1570: koren op de Amsterdamse molen, Den Haag, 1995, (Hollandsche historische reeks, 23), p. 11, R. Van Uytven, "Politiek en Economie. De crisis der late XVe eeuw in de Nederlanden" in Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis/Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire, 53, (1975), p. 1113, see also H. Neveux, Les grains du Cambrésis. Vie et déclin d'une structure économique: (fin du 14e-début du 17e siècle), Paris, 1980 (Civilisations et sociétés, 64).

36 Tits-Dieuaide, Formation p. 144.

37 Antwerp, SAA, T 584 declarations of Jan van Nedervenne, merchant from Leuven (fo. 247 v.) and Dankart Peterssone, from Antwerp (fo. 268v.).

38 J.A. Van Houtte, R. van Uytven, "Nijverheid en Handel 1300-1482" in AGN, IV. Haarlem, 1980, p. 100.

39 R. Van Uytven, In de schaduwen van de Antwerpse groei:_het Hageland in de zestiende eeuw, in: Bijdragen to de Geschiedenis 57, 1974 p. 171 -188; id., L'approvisionnement des villes des anciens Pays Bas au Moyen Age. in: L'approvisionnement des villes de l' Europe occidentale au Moyen Age et aux Temps Modernes. Centre Culturel de l'abbaye de Flaran. Cinquièmes Jornèes internationales d'histoire 16-18 septembre 1983 (Auch, 1985) p. 75 -116.

40 Van Uytven "Approvisionnement", p. 82, J.F. Mertens and K.L. Torfs, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen sedert de stichting der stad tot onze tyden, Antwerpen, 1845, p. 280 and 553.

41 Antwerp, SAA, T 584 fo. 281 r., declaration of the innkeeper and dairy merchant Willem Beys.

42 M. Limberger, De prijs van het water- en wegtransport in de vijftiende en zestiende eeuw. Het vervoer van molenstenen in de rekeningen van het hertogelijke domein Tervuren-Vilvoorde (1450-1572), in: Het transport en het stedelijke netwerk in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden, Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis 82 (1999), p. 215-234.

43 Van Uytven, ‘Hierlandsche wol en lakens in Brabantse documenten (XIIIe –XVIe eeuw) in: Bijdragen tot de Geschiedenis 53, 1970, p. 5-16.

44 The Antwerp port is described in detail in Asaert, Antwerpse scheepvaart, p. 125-137.

45 Antwerp city archives: T 584. fol. 245r.

46 Cited in Asaert, Antwerpse scheepvaart, p.128.

47 G. Asaert, G. Devos and F. Suyckens, De Antwerpse naties. Zes eeuwen actief in stad en haven, Antwerp, 1993, p. 20 and 89, Van Gerven, o.c., p. 916.

48 Fol. 245 and 267.

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Table des illustrations

Titre Figure 1 – Cities contacted by Antwerp for the commercial embargo on Mechlin, 1432
URL http://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/docannexe/image/69938/img-1.png
Fichier image/png, 161k
Titre Figure 2 – Interregional trade routes from and to the port of Antwerp, ca. 1400
URL http://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/docannexe/image/69938/img-2.png
Fichier image/png, 214k
Titre Figure 3 – Antwerp and its port in the fifttenth century
Légende Source : G. Asaert, De late middeleeuwen (ca. 1200-ca. 1500), , in : De stad Antwerpen van de romeinse tijd tot de 17e eeuw. Topografische studie rond het plan van Virgilius Bononiensis, 1565, Brussels, 1978, p. 41-50.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/docannexe/image/69938/img-3.png
Fichier image/png, 96k
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Référence électronique

Michael Limberger, « Regional and interregional trading networks and commercial practices at the port of Antwerp in the 14th and 15th centuries. The testimony of merchants and skippers in court records »Nuevo Mundo Mundos Nuevos [En ligne], Colloques, mis en ligne le 16 décembre 2016, consulté le 29 mars 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/69938 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/nuevomundo.69938

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Michael Limberger

Department of History , Ghent University

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