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DOI Artikel:Skibiński, Franciszek: The Loitz network and the flowering of renaissance art in Gdańsk (1550-1580)
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66965#0164
Franciszek Skibiński
Uniwerystet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu
ORCID: 0000-0002-5084-9745
The Loitz Network and the Flowering of Renaissance
Art in Gdańsk (1550-1580)
https://doi.org/10.26881 /porta.2022.21.07
Słowa kluczowe: elita miejska, patronat, sztuka, architektura, XVI wiek, renesans, Gdańsk,
region bałtycki
Keywords: urban elite, patronage, art, architecture, sixteenth century, Renaissance, Gdańsk,
Baltic region
Like other sixteenth-century banking families, the Loitz merchant banker
dynasty built a vast network of personal and professional ties which facilitated
their operations. This web of connections was in fact a cluster of interrelated net-
works, each involving actors operating in different places and engaged in a range
of types of exchange.1 The Loitzes conducted the majority of their operations
in the contact zone connecting western, east-central, and northern Europe that
reached from the North and Baltic Sea coasts down the Elbe, Oder, and Vistula
rivers to the cities of Leipzig and Cracow.2 Their main centers of operation
were Szczecin (Stettin) and Gdańsk (Danzig), Baltic cities that were gateways
to the vast lands east of the Elbe river which were becoming a rural hinterland
for the western economy. Thus, the Loitz network served a vital connective
function in a period of growing economic, social, and political differentiation
between the western and eastern regions of the continent.3 While the Loitzes
1 See the visualization of the Loitz network generated by the project GeldKunstNetz: Alek-
sandra Lipińska, Bettina Schröder-Bornkampf, Marcin Grulkowski, Filip Hristov, Giulia Simonini,
GeldKunstNetz. Rechnungsbücher der Stettin-Danziger Kaufmannbankiersfamilie Loitz. Kommen-
tierte Online-Edition und Netzwerkanalyse, München 2017-2019, https://doi.org/10.24344/geld-
kunstnetz [ 11.06.2020]; see also: Johannes Papritz, Das Handelshaus der Loitz zu Stettin, Danzig
und Lüneburg, “Baltische Studien NF” 1957, Nr. 44, pp. 73-94; Heidelore Böcker, Das Handelshaus
Loitz. Urteil der Zeitgenossen - Stand der Forschung - Ergänzungen, “Hansische Studien” 1998,
Nr. 9, pp. 203-218.
2 See the mapping of the Loitzes’ activities based on their account books provided
by the abovementioned project GeldKunstNetz, fn. 1. Regarding their activities in the Oder basin,
see: Johannes Papritz, Das Stettiner Handelshaus der Loitz im Boisalzhandel des Odergebietes unter
besonderer Berücksichtigung seiner Beziehungen zum brandenburgischen Kurhause, Berlin 1932.
3 See e.g. Fernand Braudel, Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century, vols. 1-3, Berkley-
Los Angeles 1992; for an Eastern-European perspective see also: Marian Małowist, Wschód
162
Uniwerystet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu
ORCID: 0000-0002-5084-9745
The Loitz Network and the Flowering of Renaissance
Art in Gdańsk (1550-1580)
https://doi.org/10.26881 /porta.2022.21.07
Słowa kluczowe: elita miejska, patronat, sztuka, architektura, XVI wiek, renesans, Gdańsk,
region bałtycki
Keywords: urban elite, patronage, art, architecture, sixteenth century, Renaissance, Gdańsk,
Baltic region
Like other sixteenth-century banking families, the Loitz merchant banker
dynasty built a vast network of personal and professional ties which facilitated
their operations. This web of connections was in fact a cluster of interrelated net-
works, each involving actors operating in different places and engaged in a range
of types of exchange.1 The Loitzes conducted the majority of their operations
in the contact zone connecting western, east-central, and northern Europe that
reached from the North and Baltic Sea coasts down the Elbe, Oder, and Vistula
rivers to the cities of Leipzig and Cracow.2 Their main centers of operation
were Szczecin (Stettin) and Gdańsk (Danzig), Baltic cities that were gateways
to the vast lands east of the Elbe river which were becoming a rural hinterland
for the western economy. Thus, the Loitz network served a vital connective
function in a period of growing economic, social, and political differentiation
between the western and eastern regions of the continent.3 While the Loitzes
1 See the visualization of the Loitz network generated by the project GeldKunstNetz: Alek-
sandra Lipińska, Bettina Schröder-Bornkampf, Marcin Grulkowski, Filip Hristov, Giulia Simonini,
GeldKunstNetz. Rechnungsbücher der Stettin-Danziger Kaufmannbankiersfamilie Loitz. Kommen-
tierte Online-Edition und Netzwerkanalyse, München 2017-2019, https://doi.org/10.24344/geld-
kunstnetz [ 11.06.2020]; see also: Johannes Papritz, Das Handelshaus der Loitz zu Stettin, Danzig
und Lüneburg, “Baltische Studien NF” 1957, Nr. 44, pp. 73-94; Heidelore Böcker, Das Handelshaus
Loitz. Urteil der Zeitgenossen - Stand der Forschung - Ergänzungen, “Hansische Studien” 1998,
Nr. 9, pp. 203-218.
2 See the mapping of the Loitzes’ activities based on their account books provided
by the abovementioned project GeldKunstNetz, fn. 1. Regarding their activities in the Oder basin,
see: Johannes Papritz, Das Stettiner Handelshaus der Loitz im Boisalzhandel des Odergebietes unter
besonderer Berücksichtigung seiner Beziehungen zum brandenburgischen Kurhause, Berlin 1932.
3 See e.g. Fernand Braudel, Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century, vols. 1-3, Berkley-
Los Angeles 1992; for an Eastern-European perspective see also: Marian Małowist, Wschód
162