The structural adjustment of the mechanisms of Hanseatic trade at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries is involved with the expansion of commercial connections of Hanseatic merchants and the appearance of clerks (gesellen) , through the mediation of them deals were transacted. By the aid of sales representatives, merchants were able to handle trade in many directions in equal measure. At the same time, clerks could execute their own trades as well as fulfill their main obligations to engagers. Considering that fact that the independent trading activity of clerks did not stay within the norms of the Hanseatic traditional trade, it often acquired the form of “unusual trade” (ungewonlicke kopenschop) and was conducted in contravention with Hanseatic traditions. As a free unincorporated trade prevailed in Novgorod since long time, many young clerks started their professional life here. Clerks` desire to get-rich-quick led to their illegal deals, and often to fraudulent behavior between trading partners that harmed interests of German merchants and affect- ed their reputation negatively. Livonian sources provide us to retrace this process on the example of the young clerk Berndt von Wrede, who, after making a loan deal, got out of Novgorod and left the supplier without payment; for that he was sentenced to a prison term in L?beck. When hearing of a case of Berndt von Wrede, an important role took the Novgorod German branch, whose interests were directly affected by semilegal or even illegal activities of young mer- chants and clerks, who did not follow traditions and promoted the development of “unusual trade”. In the protracted litigation of the case of Berndt von Wrede, a special place is taken by the clerk`s brothers, who interceded for his re- lease on Town Council of Reval (Tallinn). The most active of the brothers was Lambert von Wrede, who served under the bailiff of Raseborg and tried to influence the decision of Reval with the help of his master. Within the given context it seems interesting to determine the role of family, business and partnership ties among the Hanseatic merchants.
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