Bergen, die Hanse und Kunst / Bergen, the Hanse and Art

In this book, medieval Bergen is chosen as the vantage point to look out across the North Sea and its Hanseatic history, ranging from Dover Strait to Iceland and Northern Norway. Traditionally, the Hanse has been most associated with the Baltic. But three of the four Hanseatic Kontore - Novgorod, London, Bruges, and Bergen - were situated on the North Sea. Bergen and its Tyskebryggen (German wharf) lasted the longest of all, from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century. This book focuses on church art as a fundamental source for understanding the late medieval and early modern history of this region, including religious life and the cultural and economic networks that tied these shores together. The North Sea comes to the fore as a cultural contact zone that served as a throughfare, not only for fish and art, but also for people, their faith and ideas.