I vinst och förlust : Köpmäns nätverk i 1500-talets Östersjöstäder

Sammanfattning: This thesis aims to clarify how the merchant networks involved in the trade across the Baltic Sea interplayed with and contributed to create the economic culture of the Baltic Sea region. This is achieved by examining the economic, social, spatial and political aspects of the trade networks in relation to the social organisation of the early modern towns of Stockholm, Lübeck, Malmö and Reval (Tallinn) in the 16th century. The main conclusion is that the trade networks were deeply embedded in the social structures of the early modern towns, as security in trade- and credit networks was tied to property holding and membership in the sworn communities of the Baltic towns. Long-distance trade operated under conditions that set it apart from other ventures, involving a high level of geographic mobility; forming strong ties over political, legal and religious boundaries; and making great investments in risky enterprises. Yet, the merchants in the region shared common interests in safe, well-functioning and profitable trade, and this study shows that they came to develop similar conceptions of how trade relations should be arranged and conducted, which involved ideals about honesty, transparency and sharing profits and losses in a risk-bearing community.  This study argues that the risk-bearing community of the trade networks formed a regional burghership, assimilating visiting members from other Baltic towns in the social structure of the towns by receiving them as guests in local burghers' households, while leaving those that were not established members of this community outside, literally as well as figuratively. Building a fragile web of credit relations on the security of the social standing of the members, the trade networks were subjected to the threat that those who had received their trust would default and run from their debts, causing a rift in the web that might drag others down with them. As a counterweight to this threat, wealthy merchants would extend loans to indebted merchants, likely in exchange for loyalty and support from the debtor as well as the community protected by these interventions, as these merchants and creditors can be found practising successful careers in the town councils. To conclude, the results of this study point towards the trade- and credit networks building upon and enforcing the hierarchical power structures already present in the Baltic towns.