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.Maria did not influence her brothers in quite the same way.After 1530 the Burgundian court was largely absorbed in the businessof the Netherlands.Maria s advisors concentrated on internal affairs,and did not always support the Kaiser s projects or his requests for The North 29men and money.Maria s attempts to carry out imperial policy andat the same time serve her subjects practical interests insured a diffi-cult and frustrating tenure.Certainly the history of the North duringthe Reformation would have taken a very different turn without thetension between imperial policy and the commercial interests of theNetherlands.Scandinavians who dealt with agents of the Hanse and the Nether-lands had ample experience of the outsiders overweening ways.InDenmark foreign traders spread from the ports and market towns intothe hinterlands, to barter directly with farmers and bailiffs.Lübeckinvolved herself in herring fisheries in the Sound.In Norway Lübeckmade Bergen a great staple for fish, exporting cod to all of northernEurope.In Sweden Hanse agents acted as middlemen in Stockholm,exporting iron, silver, and copper from the mining region in theBergslag, where Lübeck had invested heavily.From Sweden s centralMälar valley Hanse agents followed routes south and west, tradingwith farmers, fiefholders, and bailiffs.Scandinavian response to the outsiders activity was mixed.Theprofit motive dominated every exchange.Hanse agents were clannishand unassimilable.When challenged they were ready to defend theirprivileges tooth and nail.It was clear to everyone who dealt with theHanse that her domination of export and import was an insuperableobstacle to the development of indigenous trade.30The situation that had established itself in northern commercecould not be changed overnight.Administration, transport, and com-munication were not just decentralized, but primitive.The kingdomsof the North had little infrastructure and would be a long time devel-oping any.Rulers depended on outsiders for services Scandinavianscould not provide for themselves.To mitigate Hanse rapacity, unionmonarchs, beginning with Erik of Pomerania, encouraged towns andmerchants in the Netherlands to vie with the Hanse, not only inthe North Sea, but in the Baltic.By 1500 Hollanders dominatedtrade between the Baltic and the western lands, where demand forfarm goods and naval stores was insatiable.The competition under-cut Lübeck s position but it did not lessen the North s commercialdependence.Scandinavians found themselves caught between war-ring rivals.During a century of union administration, the medieval ideal, inwhich the social orders had their special obligations and attendant30Enemark 1994b, 241 58.See Dybdahl 1972 for a thorough discussion of Hanse relationswith Scandinavia (and the German and Scandinavian research devoted to the subject). 30 Reforming the Northprivileges, had been lost from sight.Each of the social orders had cometo define itself in opposition to the others.Where claims collided, thecontenders reacted with violence.Scandinavian societies were dividedby conflicting interests, rising tensions, and widespread discontent.The privileged orders neglected their duties to exploit their oppor-tunities.In Denmark and Sweden the lords temporal and spiritualturned merchant, bought ships, and exported wares to neighboringlands.Their bailiffs rode over the countryside and forced farmers tosell at depressed prices.In Norway the archdiocese dominated fish-ing in the far north, and churchmen forced farmers and laborers toman their ships.Trade in fish, grain, and livestock prospered, and theprivileged orders were determined to appropriate an extra large sliceof the pie.In all three kingdoms the clergy was accused of trying civilinfractions in church courts, acting as prosecutor, judge, and jury, andreaping a rich harvest in fines.Burghers complained that illicit trade was ruining them.Prosper-ous merchants in important towns like Copenhagen, Malmø, andStockholm regarded the town as an independent entity in an inter-national context; they defended the town s interests and strove toincrease its independence
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