Knudsgilde

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The first Knudsgilde (also Knutsgilde ) was founded in Schleswig in the 12th century as a guild of wealthy long-distance merchants. The guild's namesake, protector and saint was the first Duke of Schleswig Knud Lavard (1096–1131). The establishment of further local Knuds guilds enabled an expanding trading network in the Danish - Scandinavian territory.

history

Emergence

After the founding of the Knudsgilde in Schleswig, the idea of ​​the Knudsgilde was able to spread beyond Sønderjylland (Southern Jutland) to other Danish and Scandinavian cities. An origin for the idea of ​​the guild was possibly also in the Flemish - Lower Rhine area, with which Schleswig was in trade at times. The Knudsgilden, founded in the years after the canonization of Knud Lavard in 1169, gained influence in the Baltic Sea region and they soon competed with the German Hanseatic League . The merchants of the Knudsgilde, like the merchants from Lübeck, had permanent houses in Visby as early as the second half of the 12th century due to the extent of their trading activities. In its heyday there were 50 Knuds guilds.

influence

In the High Middle Ages , the guild organized market rules and laws for trade at sea and on land. The guild brothers took an oath to support each other in case of illness and need.

The Knudsgilde was not tied to a city. The merchants formed a solid unit with the guild. The support resulting from the oath granted the individual trader legal protection and property protection even in foreign seaside towns. The guild brothers subordinated local and state laws to those of the guild. The extremely strict jurisdiction of the guild thus stood above the jurisdiction of the urban bourgeoisie that was just being formed . Often their rights were even above the rights of the royal bailiffs .

At that time, many goods from the Danish-influenced Baltic Sea region were transshipped via the ports of Schleswig or Flensburg (cf. Flensburg port ) to the North Sea ports of Husum , Tondern or Ribe . This trade route was in direct competition with the trade route of the Hanseatic League from Lübeck to Hamburg . The Knudsgilde was thus very similar in structure and power to the German Hanseatic League , which developed into an adversary.

Influence loss and dissolutions

Gradually, other professional groups founded other guilds based on the model of the Knudsgilde. In the various places in which the Knudsgilde was able to exert its influence over a long period of time, the influence of the rest of the citizenry, who enforce their own city ​​law and the respective council constitution , grew . In addition, the influence of the Hanseatic League reduced the influence of the Knuds guilds. But the Hanseatic League also went through its own decline in the 15th and 16th centuries. Most of the Knuds' guilds disbanded after the Reformation . Nevertheless, there are still clubs and communities that refer to the earlier Knuds guilds. For example, today's Schleswig Knudsgilde bears the name "Altstädter Sankt Knudsgilde von 1449". It is only indirectly to be understood as identical in rite, habit and cult. With the much older, original St. Knuds guilds, there are only correspondences with regard to the St. Knut seal. The historical evidence of a much earlier existence of today's Knuds guilds could not be confirmed from the public and church archives that were examined. This also applies to today's Flensburg St. Knudsgilde.

List of the individual Knuds guilds

The following list is not exhaustive; there were fifty local Knuds' guilds.

Web links

Commons : Knudsgilde  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Andreas Oeding, Broder Schwensen, Michael Sturm: Flexikon . 2009, article: Knudsgilde
  2. ^ Horst Windmann: Schleswig as territory . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1954, p. 30.
  3. ^ Society for Schleswig-Holstein History , accessed on: February 10, 2017
  4. ↑ a b Flensburg-Online. City history - Flensburg across the centuries. Knudsgilde , accessed on: February 12, 2017
  5. ↑ Marsch & Förde, Flensburg , from: June 20, 2004; Retrieved on: February 9, 2017
  6. ↑ See Marsch & Förde, Knudsgilden , from: December 7, 2002; Retrieved on: February 9, 2017
  7. ^ Andreas Oeding, Broder Schwensen, Michael Sturm: Flexikon . 2009, article: Hafen
  8. ↑ See also the article in the Swedish Wikipedia regarding Scandinavian Knudsgilden