THE HANSEATIC ZONE AS SEEN IN GDANSK FROM THE 14^TH TO EARLY 16^TH CENTURIES.

The article examines the problem of the perception of the Hanseatic zone in Gdańsk from the 14th to the beginning of the 16th centuries. It is assumed that in the case of the "Hanseatic zone" and the cities belonging to the Hanseatic League, the basic indicator of its reach were the conditions of trade exchange, i.e., the general framework of east-west economic contacts and the participation in it of representatives of individual cities. The "zone" here is understood as an economic and social unity of human activity and organisation, with large cities being the distinguishing and defining factor of its activity (R.E. Dickinson, J.C. Russell). A fundamental dimension of the perception of the Hanseatic zone was the personal relationships of the inhabitants, resulting from the process of settlement of the population (including merchants) arriving from the North German (the Empire) area in the port cities along the Baltic Sea. Part of this process was also the migration of the German population settling in the Teutonic Order's state of Prussia, including craftsmen and merchants arriving in the area's main urban and port centres including Gdańsk. Therefore, the correspondence of the Gdańsk authorities with other cities in the 14th and 15th centuries, conducted in commercial and other matters, usually regarding the richest inhabitants of the cities (merchants and members of the power elite - councillors, jurors), was analysed. Further considerations also include the personal perspective of the merchants and burghers, as reflected in the trade books they kept (Johan Pyre), which were sometimes expanded with numerous notes of a historical and personal nature (Jacob Lubbe, Caspar Weinreich, Christoph Beyer, Bernt Stegmann). The analyses carried out show that the map of Gdańsk's economic contacts is confirmed by the intensity and extent of the correspondence carried out by the city council in the 14th and 15th centuries. The same is also true of the activities of individual merchants, both the merchant Johan Pyre, active in the first half of the 15th century, and the skipper Caspar Weinreich, active in the second half of that century. The latter in particular confirms with his notes that the Hanseatic Zone was, as it were, the natural horizon of economic interests of the inhabitants of Gdańsk. Of course, this mainly applied to merchants and skippers. The vast majority of the inhabitants of Gdańsk lived for local affairs, the city and the surrounding area, as was the case with the stallholder Jacob Lubbe. However, they had heard a lot about the faraway world and saw foreigners arriving in the harbour virtually every day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]