Turning transport workers into Latvians? Ethnicity and transport workers’ guilds in Riga before and after the Reformation

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the question of ethnicity in late medieval Riga and suggests that the current perception of ethnicity has to be revisited. This article argues that the late medieval transport workers’ guilds that have been considered to be ‘Latvian brotherhoods,’ were not ethnic groups until the Reformation and gained an ethnic character only during the religious reform. This article is a detailed study of social, religious, and ethnic aspects of the groups’ activities.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnicity
• middle ages
• craft guilds
• Riga
• Livonia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Arbusow wrote his article while aspiring for an academic position at the newly founded University of Latvia in Riga (Misāns 2014, 84–5, 88–9).

2. The accounts books of the Beer Carters’ guild are held by the Latvian National Archives–Latvian State Historical Archives (Latvijas Nacionālais arhīvs–Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs, hereafter: LNA-LVVA): 3 Bücher der Bierträger zu Riga. III – 1461–1686, LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l.; 3 Bücher der Bierträger zu Riga. II – 1521–1524, LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1089. l. The accounts book of the Porters’ guild’s chantry (ca. 1450?–1523, LNA-LVVA 7363. f., 1. apr., 367. l.) is only partially preserved and has been published by Arbusow (1923, 202–24). For the fines and accounts book of the Porters’ guild in Riga, see: Straf- und Bruderbuch der Gilde der Losträger zu Riga, LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l.

3. Livs (LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 10b, 69a; 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l. 46b, 48b, 49b); Russians (LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 62a, 88a; 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l., 1a, 47b; 4038. f., 2. apr., 1089. l., 13b, 22a, 33b, 34a, 47a), and Lithuanians (LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 3a, 50a, 46a, 60a; 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l., 47a; 4038. f., 2. apr.,1089. l., 2b, 23b).

4. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1089. l., 13b, 22a, 25a.

5. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr1087. l., 87a, 85a.

6. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 87a.

7. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l., 46a-b; Rīgas Sv. Jēkaba baznīcas rēķinu grāmata, LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 864. L., 25a.

8. Arbusow (1900), document no. 252.

9. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 25b, 84b, 85a; 4038. f., 2. apr., 1089. l., 46a.

10. According to Arbusow, in both guilds, the second largest group of members were Latvian and Liv artisans.

11. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 36a, 48a; 4038. f., 2. apr., 1089. l., 16b, 19b, 20a, 29b, 37a.

12. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l., 56a; 4038. f., 2. apr., 864. l., 25a; 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l., 46a.

13. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 864. l., 24b.

14. Nygemolen was most likely descended from the vicinity of the Teutonic Order’s castle of the New Mill – Nyge Molen (in Latvian, Bukulti) – some 15 kilometers from Riga. Arbusow had a hypothesis that Michael van der Nygemolen, like Claus Lachermunt, avoided the prohibition on owning property by endowing it.

15. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l.; 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l.

16. Schwartz and Bulmerincq (1910), document no. 6.

17. Schwartz and von Bulmerincq (1910), documents no. 60 and no. 288.

18. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l., 75a-75b.

19. Das Buch der Oberkämmerer 1441–1523, Herder Institute (Marburg), DSHI 120 (Schwarzhäupter no. 5), 41, 66, 70, 85, 91, 99, 102, 104, 107, 111, 113, 114, 131.

20. Schwartz and von Bulmerincq (1910), document no. 288.

21. When excavating the former St. Paul’s cemetery in Riga (thirteenth–fourteenth century), human skeletal remains with similar defects, characteristic for transport workers, were found (Denisova, Gerhards, and Zariņa 1998; Gerhards 2009).

22. The excavations were conducted under the guidance of Dr. Arturs Tomsons (2020).

23. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l., 2b–36a, 55a–58b.

24. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 1b–23b.

25. The Beer Carters’ guild prohibited people of ill repute and ‘openly loose’ women (apenbare lose wyve) to become members and the Porters’ guild restricted weavers, blood-letters, and public bath custodians from being guests at the group’s events (Stieda and Mettig 1896, 254, 416).

26. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 1b–23b.

27. The only description of the iconoclasm in the city can be found in the accounts book of the Beer Carters’ guild (LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l., 36a).

28. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l.

29. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 63b.

30. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1089. l., 5b.

31. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l., 37b.

32. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 62b–63a.

33. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 63b–82a.

34. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 60a–68b.

35. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1089. l., 38a–39b.

36. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 63b; 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 64b.

37. LNA-LVVA 4038. f., 2. apr., 1087. l., 64a–82a; 4038. f., 2. apr., 1088. l., 38a–44b.

Additional information

Funding

This article was researched and written with funding from the Estonian Research Council for Project MOBJD231, ‘The Economy of Symbolic Exchange. Gift-Giving as a Social, Cultural, and Political Practice in Late Medieval Livonia.’

Notes on contributors

Gustavs Strenga

Gustavs Strenga is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Tallinn and a senior researcher at the National Library of Latvia, where he also previously worked as an exhibition curator. He received his PhD from Queen Mary University of London in 2014. His main research interests are the history of medieval Livonia, memory studies, gift giving as a historical phenomenon, and history of the book.