Isolated Islands in Medieval Nature, Culture and Mind

Seasonal Isolation in the Communication in Livonia

SEASONAL ISOLATION IN THE COMMUNICATION IN LIVONIA1 Juhan Kreem Being isolated seems to be in the nature of every island. Isolation creates islands . On the other hand, the title of our workshop, “Isolated Islands,” when not pleonastic , implies that there are islands which are isolated and there are others which are not. In the medieval communication network on the Baltic some islands, rather than being isolated backwaters, were crossroads of international trade. The most prominent example among them is Gotland. Speaking in more general terms, Livonia, which is geographically part of the continent, was an island overseas from the Hanseatic perspective or from the perspective of the Holy Roman Empire. This image of an island can be seen most notably in a historiographic legend of the sixteenth century, according to which the merchants of Bremen sailed out and discovered Livonia (the so-called Aufsegelung ).2 True, a land-route existed between Livonia and the West, but it always remained insecure because of the Lithuanians, and the bulk of trade went over the seas.3 The history of Hanseatic communications in general, and maritime history in particular, are about connections and communication, tending to ignore the isolation side of the story. One may ask then: Is there isolation in the history of communication? There is, of course. But when one speaks of isolation then it is reasonable to ask what kind of features it has. Isolation, in a most general way, is the lack of connections . There are places which have good connections and others which do not, but it is possible somehow to get everywhere humans live. It is possible, but it takes time, and 1 The research was done under the auspices of Estonian Science Foundation grant no. 7129. 2 Paul Johansen, “Die Legende von der Aufsegelung Livlands durch Bremer Kaufleute,” in Europa und Übersee: Festschrift für Egmont Zechlin, ed. Otto Brunner (Hamburg: Hans Bredow Inst., 1961), 42-68. 3 On the Hanseatic communication networks see: Friedrich Bruns and Hugo Weczerka, Hansische Handelstrassen, Textband (Cologne: Böhlau, 1967), Atlasband (Cologne: Böhlau, 1962); Jörgen Bracker (ed.), Die Hanse, Lebenswirklichkeit und Mythos: eine Ausstellung des Museums für Hamburgische Geschichte in Verbindung mit der Vereins- und Westbank., vol. 1 (Hamburg: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, 1989), chapter “Schiffahrt und Verkehr,” 561-607; Raoul Zühlke, “Der Verkehr im Umfeld der Oberzentren Bremen und Riga um 1300 im Vergleich – die Auswirkungen naturräumlicher Bedingungen,” Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung 53 (2004): 475-503. SEASONAL ISOLATION 121 this is a crucial factor in discussing isolation. Furthermore, the time factor brings communication in pieces, when a caravan or fleet arrives or when a letter arrives from Rome. These pieces of communication are followed by days, weeks, or months of silence . The dynamics are not only caused by human agency (the will to get somewhere, talk to someone), but also by external conditions. There are periods, which we call seasons , when more communication takes place. My aim in the following is to sketch the seasons of communication and isolation on the Baltic landscape. Fig. 1 Water is crucial in the communication system of the eastern Baltic. Primarily the sea, but also the great rivers provide ways of communication. The coastal towns owe their wealth to overseas trade. Water transport has been used as the most important explanation in discussions of the topic of why the towns appeared where they did. While a location near the estuary of a river is a good explanation for Riga, Narva, and Pernau, the situation of Reval has been connected to the fact that it is close to the place where the ancient waterway crossed the Gulf of Finland at the narrowest place between (Porkala JUHAN KREEM 122 and Nargen).4 Most recently, Anton Pärn has connected the location of Hapsal with the waterway through the straits of Nuckö and Worms.5 Water is not always navigable, however, as everywhere else in the world there are ill winds and storms. Stormy winters also define the navigational season, for example , on the Mediterranean.6 In the Baltic the freezing of the sea limits the possibilities for shipping even more clearly. Not only the ice cover itself, but the ice edge which cuts through the planking of wooden ships or the freezing of ships above the waterline (which makes them capsize) were dangerous. Even nowadays, despite climatic change, ice seriously influences navigation on the Baltic Sea...