St. Reinholdsbank
The St. Reinholds-Bank is a banking brotherhood that was founded in Artushof in Gdansk around 1481. It is mentioned for the first time in 1481 when the new Artus Court in Gdańsk was opened. It is probably a rural community of merchants from Westphalia with connections to the Hanseatic cities of Dortmund and Soest . The patron saint of this bank is Saint Reinoldus . Today the St. Reinholds-Bank is based in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck .
Emergence of the banks
Over 600 years ago, long-distance merchants and ship owners in the Baltic Sea region formed a community that was known as the “Common Guild” or the “Common Merchant”.
In Gdansk, long-distance trade merchants and shipowners met in Artus Court, exchanged information, especially about their trade trips and business transactions, arranged travel groups, pursued business interests and socialized. If the community of long-distance merchants and ship owners should be reached from other Baltic Sea cities, the cities turned to the "Common Merchant of Danzig" and asked for an announcement at Artushof.
Most banking fraternities named themselves after their patron saint, as corresponded to the Christian worldview of the time. The St. Reinholds-Bank is mentioned for the first time in 1481. Merchants from Westphalia were probably her first brothers. The former Lübische Bank named itself in its statute from 1482 after the holy Christophorus . The Holy Three Kings Bank, also known as the Dreikönigsbank, has been traceable since 1483. The name points to the origin of his brothers, to Cologne with the shrine of the Magi. In 1487 there is a report of a bank "Unter (der) Marienburg ". This brotherhood sat in Artushof under the painting of the Marienburg and later added that of the patron saint, the Virgin Mary, to its name . These four aforementioned banks still exist today. The brotherhoods of the Dutch Bank (1492), the Schifferbank (1508) and the Bank Our Dear Lady have since expired.
The banks usually had their patron saint in their name. For the St. Reinholds Bank - which is already mentioned at the opening of the new Artus Court in 1481 - the patron saint is Saint Reinoldus. Since the bank's first brothers probably came from Westphalia, the veneration of Saint Reinoldus in Dortmund was not unknown to them. In a statute of 1482, the Lübische Bank named St. Christophorus as the bank's patron saint. The first mention of this bench in the Arthurian court is on record in 1482. The Holy Three Kings Bank can be traced back to 1483. The patrons are the Three Kings, who are particularly venerated in Cologne. The name of the bank refers to merchants from the city of Cologne or with special ties to this region. In 1487 there was a report of the “Marienburger Bank to our dear Mrs. Rosenkranz”. It was initially referred to as the "Bank under Marienburg", but received its full name with the patronage of the Virgin Mary. The patronage is in connection with the St. Marien Church in Gdansk and with the patronage of the Virgin Mary for the Marienburg as well as the Marienfigur in the choir of the church of the Marienburg.
According to the medieval way of life, these were prayer brotherhoods. They bought chapels or altars in churches and monasteries and furnished them with precious interiors. They employed priests especially to look after the altars and for masses for the salvation of the brothers' souls. The regular equipment with valuable candles was taken care of.
They later gave up the character of prayer fraternities with the beginning of the Reformation in Danzig. However, chapels and altars remained in the possession of the communities for a long time. The social care for brothers in need and their relatives and for the poor in the city remained a main task of the community for centuries, until the state entered more and more into social care.
The banks also felt responsible for the design of the Artus Court and the maintenance of the existing works of art, even when the stock exchange met in Artus Court and the brotherhoods had mostly withdrawn to the houses of their bailiffs.
Structure of the bank
The St. Reinholds-Bank has managed without statutes in its history. It acted “according to custom”, not without carefully adapting its customs and traditions in line with social developments. The bank was divided into the "oldest senior" and the seniors, the Vogt and the clerks. The “oldest senior” headed the bank and spoke. A bailiff appointed by the brothers of a bank for a year took care of the day-to-day business of the bank.
The high points of his office were the accounting with bailiff and the bailiff's meal that he gave for the brothers of the bank. At the end of his term of office, the bailiff held the bailiff's report.
The Vogt was a clerk before his term in office and became a senior after her.
Revival as St. Reinholds-Bank, today's tasks as well as relationships and connections of the bank
In the period after the Second World War, the focus was on reviving the bank and its traditions. With increasing prosperity, cultural tasks have gained in importance: A book collection (book treasure) on Gdansk and the German East was expanded, the Cultural Foundation of Hanseatic Cities received funds to procure city vedutas of the Hansa region, to build a collection of ship models of the Baltic Sea region, in which the individual Models are directly comparable due to the same scale, for the procurement of pictures, engravings and lithographs of the city of Gdansk and for the collection of examples of the typical baroque furniture of Gdansk. The objects were located in rooms in the Schabbelhaus , which the Lübeck merchants generously made available to the foundation. The banks help with the restoration of the Artus Court and through cultural and scientific events promote friendly contacts with the city of Gdansk and its Polish citizens. Meanwhile, Polish citizens from Gdansk have become brothers (members) of the banks.
In the Schabbelhaus the traditional accounting, Vogtküre, Vogtbericht and Vogtmahl take place every year at the beginning of November. The Vogt's reports at the traditional, annual event of the bank deal primarily with issues of German-Polish relations, with Danzig and the Hanseatic League. Polish and German representatives are often guests. Regular trips with participants from all four banks lead to the former Hanseatic cities in the Baltic Sea region. The focus here is on cultural and economic issues from the present and the past.
The banks maintain friendly relations with the merchants of Lübeck, the Compagnie der Blackhäupter zu Riga and the Brotherhood of Blackheads from Reval eV
After concluding the agreement with the Historical Museum of the City of Gdansk, the St. Reinholds-Bank holds its accounting, Vogtküre, Vogtbericht and Vogtmahl every four years in the historical premises of the Artushof.
Polish banking brothers are represented in all banks. They give their German brothers access to what is now Danzig. They support the local banks' activities.
The joint cultural events in Gdansk and Hamburg or Lübeck will be intensified.
The banks are financially involved in completing the interior of the Artus Court. In Artushof, exhibitions illustrate the importance of banks for the city of Gdansk and this traditional building.
Committee of Banks
A joint banking committee coordinates the development of the banks and represents them externally if necessary. Each individual bank is represented by the elder senior, the incumbent bailiff and two delegates. Further members are the chairman of the committee, the treasurer, the Gdansk representative, the archivist and the chairman of the friends' association and the chairman of the foundation.
The committee chairman coordinates the committee work and reports to the banks. The treasurer manages the finances of the individual banks and the committee. The archivist runs the library (book treasure) and the banks' archive. The Gdansk representative ensures that the friendship agreement with Gdansk lives on through constant contact and changing events.
The committee chair consists of:
- Chairman of the committee: Ralf Giercke
- Deputy Chairman: Ralf Schumacher
The collection of the "Cultural Heritage of Hanseatic Cities" foundation
Foundation hall: the core of the collections is a compilation of the well-known vedute by Matthäus Merian , father (1593–1650) and son (1621–1687). From Lübeck to Reval, all known Baltic cities are represented. In addition to the views of Merian, vedutas by other engravers complement the collection, so that almost all cities are shown in silhouette, bird's eye view or in plan.
Another focus of the collections are the typical ships of the Baltic Sea region between 1300 and 1900. They are presented in a series of models on a uniform scale of 1:50. In addition to a cog based on an Elbinger seal (around 1300) and a replica of the Bremen cog (around 1380), a flute, a trading brig and a sailable screw steamer from 1889 are shown. The cities of Lübeck and Danzig are represented by the models of the carracks “ Jesus von Lübeck ” and “ Peter von Danzig ” - all on the same scale.
The exhibition is supplemented by casts of well-known seals from the Hanseatic era and historical photographs from Hanseatic cities in the southern Baltic region. The trade routes of the Hanseatic League are also shown. The earlier importance of the salt trade is reflected in clear models of the Stecknitz Canal and its booths.
Archives of the banks
The four banks of the Gdańsk Artushof in Lübeck lost almost all documents about their history when they moved from Gdańsk to Hamburg - later Lübeck - in 1945. The current documents from the end of the 19th century to 1945 were partly in safekeeping in safe deposit boxes in a Danzig bank, partly in the hands of the active governors of the banks. Despite extensive research by the archivists of the banks Justus Klawitter, Erich Dubke, Gerhard Holzrichter and Hans-Jobst Siedler, only a few documents were found after 1945. There was agreement between the four banks to collect sources, documents and representations about the southern Baltic Sea region, the city of Gdansk and in particular the history of the banks and to make them available to interested banking brothers and interested historians via an archive.
The core of the Archives of the Banks of the Artus Court in Gdańsk is:
- Paul Simson - The Artushof in Gdansk and its brotherhoods, the banks .
The archive of the banks of the Artus Court in Gdańsk consists of the following parts
Banks of the Gdańsk Artus Court: internal documents and records Library of the banks of the Gdańsk Artus Court (book treasure)
The archive documents on the holdings of the State Archives in Gdansk on the history of the banks in Gdansk Artus Court from the period between 1481 and 1900 are supplemented.
The archive is constantly being expanded.
literature
Monographs
- Stephan Selzer: Artus Courts in the Baltic Sea Region , Frankfurt 1996
- Paul Simson: The Artushof in Danzig and its brotherhoods, the banks , Danzig 1900, reprint: Aalen 1969 ( digitized version )
- Foundation “Cultural Property of Hanseatic Cities” (ed.): The Foundation for Cultural Property of Hanseatic Cities in the Schabbelhaus zu Lübeck , Lübeck 2010
Articles and lectures
- Gerd-Dietrich Ewert: Architect Bruno Fendrich, lecture during the matinée on January 17, 2015 PDF
- Adam Koperkiewicz: The Historical Museum of the City of Danzig, in: Documentation “Hamburg Symposium from April 9, 2004” PDF