LL-L "History" 2008.02.28 (01) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  - 28 February 2008 - Volume 01
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From: Roger Thijs, Euro-Support, Inc. <roger.thijs at euro-support.be>
Subject: LL-L "History" 2008.02.27 (03) [E]

 In Antwerp the Hansehuis is no more.
A similar 16th century storehouse that survived is the Hessenhuis.
cf. http://www.hessenhuis.org/faq.html
Itis now turned into an exhibition center, cf.
http://www.hessenhuis.org/
Some history about it on:
http://antwerpen.citysupport.nl/id/126
with apparently a historical link to the Hanze.

Regards,
Roger

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From: Diederik Masure <didimasure at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "History" 2008.02.27 (01) [E]

>>Ron wrote:
>>I wonder if some of you have knowledge of historic sites in any of the
other cities.

I guess that most of you know about Bryggen in Bergen, Norway...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryggen
Famous touristic site nowadays!

Greetings,
Diederik, Bergen

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From: Tom Mc Rae <t.mcrae at uq.net.au>
Subject: re Hanse in Scotland

Hi Ron, you mentioned Edinburgh.Offlist I find this interesting as I had no
idea the Hanseatic tentacles had spread into Scotland.
There is a myth that Henry St Clair of Orkney ( and Roslin) sailed his
galleys on a long voyage and discovered America.
Over the years the local crew has evolved into fugitive Knights Templar who
would not have known an oar from a mason's
square. In recent years members of the American branch of Clan Sinclair made
a pilgrimage to Nova Scotia and built a cairn
at Henry's alleged landing site. Utter twaddle.
It is known that he made a long voyage somewhere and very soon after his
return was killed with many others when
his Orkney base was raided. Some claim by the English although a voyage up
the Scottish Coast in rickety ships, and the fact there was
peace between the two nations at the time, makes this unlikely.
My far out theory is that Henry was after something much more concrete than
finding new lands so sailed in search of Mediaeval gold
in the form of salt cod the source of which was strictly controlled by the
Hanse. He found that source and also the huge amounts of pure sulphur
from Icelandic volcanoes, dodging Hanse patrol ships and returning with his
cargo to home base.  The raiding party would have been
Hanseatic in origin main aim being to kill all who knew their secret which
they jealously guarded. There was at least one incident
of a Bristol merchant ship entering the prohibited zone and being
destroyed.
Could a Hanse agent in Orkney have passed on the news or could the news of
Henry's discovery reached Edinburgh via Roslin
and then to the Lubeck or other Hanse base ? We will never know the truth
but it's intriguing nonetheless and my hypothethis is more plausible than
the
America idea.
As a masonic historian I have written a fair  bit discrediting silly
theories involving Knights Templar, the St Clairs, and their Collegiate
Chapel at Roslin. Unlike Dan Brown, Baigent, etc I lived just a bike ride
from Roslin and grew up versed in the local lore.

   - Subsidiary *Kontore*:
         - Berwick upon Tweed
         - Boston
         - *Edinburgh*

Regards

Tom Mc Rae

Brisbane Australia

Oh Wad Some Power the Giftie Gie Us

Tae See Oorsel's as Ithers See Us

Robert Burns


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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: History

Thanks,  guys!

Roger *et al.*, it would be useful to just know where the old Hanseatic
sites used to be, even if the buildings have disappeared. (We could do this
in the manner of "... where today's ... stands ... at the corner of ... and
..."). It would be great to gather that sort of information.

For lists of Hanseatic towns and their groupings please go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_league

(Scroll down to "List of former Hansa cities.")

The original and central "circle" is the "Wendish and Pomeranian" one to
which the pivotal cities Lübeck, Hamburg, Rostock, Stettin (Szczecin) and
Stralsund belong. It's name gives away that the region was still perceived
as Slavonic at the time ("Wendish" being an old word for "Western Slavonic"
or "Slavonic under Germanic domination").

Again, I think it would be really terrific if we collected and published
some information about Hanseatic sights and sites for the various cities,
even if it were "only" presented in list form. I think this would be
tremendously useful for history buffs, be they traveling or not. Hanseatic
cruises and tours are now tourism venture on the post-Cold-War Baltic Sea
coasts. However, they take folks only to the more "spectacular" and
"developed" places. I am not aware of any such thing or even any real site
mapping with regard to areas west of there, including Britain.

Of course it isn't the only such thing, and some might not like the
mercantile "imperialist" aspect of it. But whichever way you turn it, the
Hanseatic Trading League did more than spread out its greedy tentacles. It
set or reset a common, connecting theme in the region with which we deal.
This did not only involve spreading Saxon language and culture far and wide
but it also absorbed language and culture from various regions and took them
back to what is now Northern Germany. Furthermore, it is a case of a once
proud and confident language and culture that after its golden age found
itself dominated by once foreign powers and consequently fell into relative
obscurity and largely lost its ethnic identity.

The case of Frisian is similar, though minus the "imperialist" aspect. It
would be interesting to come up with a mapping of and listing of sites of
communities that used to be Frisian-speaking in the Netherlands, Belgium and
Germany, and perhaps Britain (and also of Frisian communities elsewhere).
This would be another terrific project, especially if we linked this with
the "new" language varieties of those places and looked at the possibility
of Frisian substrata features (such as possibly the falling diphthongs we
discussed recently). Something like this could be done at the cultural end
of things as well, such as Frisian customs and styles surviving in
communities in which Frisian is no longer spoken.

Such projects would be very, very much in keeping with the uniting scope and
mission of Lowlands-L. In other words, this is where we could "shine" and
perhaps make unprecedented contributions, even if we began in a very modest
way.

Please think about it.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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