Trade and Tradesmen

Self-confident Hamelin

Many citizens are specialised artisans, tradesmen and traders. Through the establishment of co-operative associations and guilds, certain trades develop immense economic power. The most powerful guilds are those of the traders or merchants, bakers, butchers and shoemakers. They determine daily economic life. The rich citizens and community leaders come from these ranks. As the Middle Ages progress, these people become more and more powerful. They now determine policies in the city council. The city continues to gain more autonomy and self-assurance. The rights of the collegiate and the dukedom continue to diminish as their rights are repressed. From the middle of the 14th Century trading routes are greatly expanded. Roads, bridges and dykes are improved. In 1426, Hameln enters the Hanseatic League. Towards the end of the middle ages, Hameln is one of the most powerful cities in the Braunschweiger Dukedom.

Meat hooks

Hamelin/Neue Marktstraße 23 1979

Slaughtered animals were cut up for valuation. After dismantling, the pieces of meat were hung up for presentation to the customers. They could thus examine the quality. The slaughter animals of the Middle Ages were far less heavy than today.

Meat was one of the more expensive and seldom-acquired foods. Each animal was therefore carefully utilised. Its non-edible components were also used: Fur, bristles and bones.

Items on loan: Landesmuseum Hannover

Remnants of comb craftsmanship

13th/14th century, Hamelin/Pferdemarkt, Osterstraße 2010

Long-toothed combs, among other things, were produced from the joint end-pieces of the metatarsals of cattle. These remnants were waste products from the production of such combs.

The end of the joint that lay away from the body was separated from the metatarsal bone. The end facing the body was retained for the comb handle and was only straightened. Then the prongs were sawn in. For more expensive combs (three-layer combs), both joint end-pieces were separated.

Butchers’ Guild

This is the Butchers’ Guild. If a man wishes to join whose father was not a member of the Guild, he shall give the council three pounds and the trade unions six pounds of wax for their lamps. In addition, he shall host a festival on the first day of Pentecost. Those whose fathers were a member of the Guild shall pay 18 shillings and one goat. He shall furthermore give the trade unions three pounds of wax. If he is the youngest child, he shall pay three solidos.

Statute of the Butcher’s Guild, Hamelin City Book (Donat), around 1410

Hawkers’ Guild

This is the Hawkers’ Guild. Each citizen who is not a Guild member and wishes to join shall give the council a pound of wax and the trade unions a further pound of wax for their lamps. He shall furthermore host a festival at the next Pentecost. Those whose fathers were Guild members and were born here and wish to join shall give the council five shillings and the trade unions a pound of wax for their lamps.

Statute of the Hawkers’ Guild, Hamelin City Book (Donat), around 1410

The following are goods which hawkers in Hamelin may buy, sell and store. Firstly all kinds of lipids such as butter, large and small cheese, raw and smoked bacon, rind fat, fish oil, tar, suet, honeycomb, raisins, figs and wax. Secondly all kinds of salted, dried and cured fish, in particular dried cod, dried halibut fins, dried and salted halibut strips, plaice, ray, herring, smoked herring, smelt, Atlantic cod, shad, dried and salted eels, pickled eels, neck eels, lamprey, dace, dried and salted salmon.

Product range of hawkers, Hamelin City Book (Donat), around 1350

Bakers’ Guild

This is the Bakers’ Guild. If a man wishes to join whose father was not a member, he shall give the city ten pounds of pennies and the bakers ten pounds of wax for their lamps before he may practise his craft. In addition, he must prove, using the guild master’s oven, that he understands his craft and he shall be granted a permit. If he is unworthy, he must remain as an apprentice until he has learned it properly.

Statute of the Bakers’ Guild, Hamelin City Book (Donat), around 1360

‚Huslude‘ Guild

[The council] has determined that each ‘husman’ may possess six cows and each household four cows. Those who live in rear buildings may possess two cows and no more. And all infertile livestock, except for one-year-old calves, should be driven out between now and Walpurgis Day [1st May].

By order of the Council, Hamelin City Book (Donat), around 1340

Charred cereal seeds
Hamelin?
Hamelin’s most important trading goods, along with transit goods (beer, salt, cloth, wool, pots), were cereals. A large proportion of them were grown in the Aerzen area, but many citizens lived as so-called land-cultivating townspeople from crop production.
The blossoming cereal trade was the basis of the economic upturn in Hamelin from the Late Middle Ages.

Woollen cloth
around 1300, Hamelin/Kreissparkasse 1987
The fabric belonged to a sleeve and was possibly part of a woollen tunic. Wool warms more than linen and nestles better against the body. However, untreated wool itches and cannot be worn well against the skin. If they could afford it, people wore a linen shirt underneath woollen clothing.
The textile trade is among the oldest in Hamelin. Cloth was already sold here in the Early Middle Ages. Woollen goods were also included alongside linen.

Sherds
1000-1200, Hamelin/ECE Centre 2006
In Pingsdorf near the modern location of Brühl, grey rounded jars and light-coloured, red-decorated bar and drinking containers were produced in the Middle Ages. Pingsdorf goods were an extremely popular ceramic with many regional imitators. Until into the 13th century, the pottery was sold in England, Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea area.
The fragment proves that Hamelin tradespeople maintained business contacts into the Rhineland.

Meat hooks

Hamelin/Neue Marktstraße 23 1979

Slaughtered animals were cut up for valuation. After dismantling, the pieces of meat were hung up for presentation to the customers. They could thus examine the quality. The slaughter animals of the Middle Ages were far less heavy than today.

Meat was one of the more expensive and seldom-acquired foods. Each animal was therefore carefully utilised. Its non-edible components were also used: Fur, bristles and bones.

Items on loan: Landesmuseum Hannover

Remnants of comb craftsmanship

13th/14th century, Hamelin/Pferdemarkt, Osterstraße 2010

Long-toothed combs, among other things, were produced from the joint end-pieces of the metatarsals of cattle. These remnants were waste products from the production of such combs.

The end of the joint that lay away from the body was separated from the metatarsal bone. The end facing the body was retained for the comb handle and was only straightened. Then the prongs were sawn in. For more expensive combs (three-layer combs), both joint end-pieces were separated.

Butchers’ Guild

This is the Butchers’ Guild. If a man wishes to join whose father was not a member of the Guild, he shall give the council three pounds and the trade unions six pounds of wax for their lamps. In addition, he shall host a festival on the first day of Pentecost. Those whose fathers were a member of the Guild shall pay 18 shillings and one goat. He shall furthermore give the trade unions three pounds of wax. If he is the youngest child, he shall pay three solidos.

Statute of the Butcher’s Guild, Hamelin City Book (Donat), around 1410