Merchants, pedlars and pirates: a history of Scotland's relations with Northern Germany and the Baltic in the later Middle Ages

Abstract

The history of Scotland's relations with northern Germany and the Baltic in the middle ages can be approached from various angles. A few Scottish crusaders fought in Prussia. Some Scottish students studied at continental universities. In the fifteenth century Scottish kings sought to establish marital and military alliances with the kings and princes of northern Europe. Although mention is made of these intellectual, crusading and political contacts, the thesis is mainly concerned with an examination of the trading links between Scotland and the various geographical groups of Hanseatic towns. Merchants from western Germany and the Wendish towns were visiting Scotland'by at least the later thirteenth century. During the fourteenth century, however, the prosperous basis of the Scottish economy was overturned by war devastation and climatic regression. The quality of Scottish wool, the principal Scottish export, declined. Diversification into other exports failed to compensate for the drop in wool exports. German commercial activity in Scotland declined. Scottish merchants came to dominate the conduct of Scotland's German trade. There was a shift in the focus of this trade from western to eastern Germany. The Scots could more readily obtain supplies of grain and flax in Prussia. It was also to Prussia, in particular, that many Scots emigrated in order to seek a livelihood from peddling a mixture of Scottish wares to the poorer sections of Prussian society.

The conduct of trade was facilitated by the introduction of more sophisticated commercial techniques. Compared to Italian merchants, however, the commercial practices of Scottish and Hanseatic merchants were not particularly innovative. Scottish-Hanseatic trade was also impeded by a number of factors over which merchants and skippers had little control. Ships might be shipwrecked or attacked by political enemies. Pirates were also a danger and, in response to a sustained campaign of Scottish piracy in the early fifteenth century, the Hansa imposed an embargo on Scottish trade. Such impediments to trade, coupled with the generally depressed economic climate, probably ensured that Scotland's Baltic trade was in deficit. Thus, Scotland's Baltic trade probably contributed to the overall trade deficit of the later medieval Scottish economy.