Hidden Cities

Located in the Eastern part of the Netherlands, Deventer was a flourishing commercial town during the late Middle Ages. As well as hosting several annual fairs (at least 11 weeks per year were dedicated to fairs), it was a prominent member of the Hanseatic League, the confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northwest and Central Europe.

As a city belonging to the Hanseatic League, Deventer was included in a Europe-wide commercial network. Deventer merchants specialized in the import of stockfish, or dried cod, from Bergen (Norway) and of herring from Skåne (Sweden). These merchants were organized in two guilds, the Bergenvaarders and the Schonenvaarders, with very distinctive coats of arms: a crowned stockfish for the Bergenvaarders and three herrings for the Schonenvaarders. The crowned stockfish and the imperial eagle (a reference to the coat of arms of the city of Deventer) are also present in the north wing of the main city church, St Lebuinus. The ceiling painting shows, next to crowned stockfish, St Olof, patron saint of the Bergenvaarders. The Schonenvaarders’ coat of arms is still visible on the house built in 1575 by Herbert Dapper, a rich herring merchant, nearby the Waag. Herbert called his house, ‘In de Drie Gekroonde Herinck’ (In the Three Crowned Herrings) which recalled the main source of his riches.