The Hanseatic League (1143-1669) - An Interview with Carsten Jahnke
History of the Germans from the Middle Ages to Reunification
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 551 Ratings
🗓️ 23 November 2023
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Professor Carsten Jahnke, one of the leading historians on the Hanse has kindly granted us an interview where we discuss how the Hanse network functioned and how the perception of the Hanse has changed dramatically over the last 200 years, a story that almost as interesting as the history of the Hanse itself.
As listeners of the last season of the History of the Germans might have noticed, I have been relying heavily extensively on Carsten Jahnke's work. many of the episodes discussing the economic structure and the way money transfers worked in the network are based on his research. So if you liked those episodes, you will certanly enjoy this interview. Listen in!
And here are some links to research Carsten recommends for those of you who want to follow up further:
Christian Manger,
Behind the scenes: Urban secretaries as managers of legal and diplomatic conflicts in the Baltic region, c.1470–1540:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03044181.2022.2098528
Carsten Jahnke,
Von Mandeln, Narde, Curcuma und Kümmel. Herkunft, Handel und Verbrauch von „exotischen“ Gewürzen und Lebensmitteln im nördlichen Europa, in: Die Ausgrabungen im Lübecker Gründungsviertel II. Archäoparasitologie, Handelsgeschichte, Paläopathologie und Anthropologie, ed. by Dirk Rieger, Lübeck 2022, s. 131-164
Carsten Jahnke,
Hansische Kaufleute und deren Religiosität ausserhalb ihrer Heimat, i: Zapiski Historyczne, Tom LXXXIV, Rok 2019, Zeszyt 1, s. 7-41.
There is also a lecture Cartsen gave at the German Historical institute in London on teh perception history:
https://www.ghil.ac.uk/publications/podcasts/the-hanseatic-league-as-a-national-project
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
As always:
Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.com
Facebook: @HOTGPod
Twitter: @germanshistory
Instagram: history_of_the_germans
Reddit: u/historyofthegermans
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to a special bonus episode of the history of the Germans. |
| 0:08.7 | And today we have a real treat ahead of us. |
| 0:11.8 | I'm here with Professor Karsten Yank, Associate Professor at the Saxo Institute at the University of Copenhagen. |
| 0:18.3 | And Professor Yanker is the author of two books. |
| 0:20.4 | I have ruthlessly |
| 0:21.6 | exploited in the making of our recent series on the Hans-Eartic League. These are his mercifully |
| 0:27.2 | short but fact-packed, a reclam sachbook, The Hanse, and his Habill dissertation, |
| 0:33.1 | Netzwerk in Handel and Communication on the Vendt from 15th to 16th year hundred. |
| 0:38.3 | It's Professor Janker's work, where I found the stories about Bern-Parl and Hans Selhorst, |
| 0:43.3 | the two merchants from Rival, modern-day Tallinn. |
| 0:46.3 | And these two have been our constant companions for a few episodes as we tried to figure out how the Hansen network operated. |
| 0:53.3 | But this is not the only area of Professor Yanker's research. |
| 0:57.7 | One other focus of his work is the history of the perception of the Hansa throughout the centuries until today. |
| 1:03.3 | The story almost as fascinating as the history of the Hans itself. |
| 1:07.1 | Professor Yanker, thank you so much for coming on to the podcast. |
| 1:15.6 | Thank you very much for this nice introduction and I'm really happy to be here. And it's one of these wonderful things I can talk about in hour, so you have to stop me. |
| 1:21.6 | Oh, you shouldn't worry about that. You're amongst people who've just spent 20 episodes listening to me talking about the Hanseatic League, so they're well hard. Let me start with a question that's more of an |
| 1:33.3 | apology. I name the season the Hanseatic League because that's how this history is usually |
| 1:38.2 | referenced to in the popular literature in the UK. Now I do understand now, to misquote Voltaire, the Hanse was neither |
| 1:46.2 | Hanseatic nor a league. Can you explain why these terms are wrong? |
| 1:53.0 | The term of the league means a strong political leadership. It means war and enemies and so on. |
| 2:00.8 | And the Hanseatic League has neither been a strong political leadership. It means war and enemies and so on. And the Hanseatic League has neither been a strong |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Dirk Hoffmann-Becking, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Dirk Hoffmann-Becking and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.