7 Migration, Identity and Material Culture: Hanseatic Translocality in the Medieval Baltic Sea Magdalena Naum Introduction In the Middle Ages the Baltic Sea rim was an arena of intense and diverse interaction. Emergent ruling dynasties formed alliances sealed by marriages, challenged each other in bloody battles, and expanded their land possessions and their authority. Meanwhile, missionaries traversed the shores to spread Christianity and push the boundaries of Latin culture northwards and eastwards. But above all, the Baltic Sea was a space dominated by merchants. Since the opening of the eastern trade routes and establishment of trading places along the coastline, the waters of the Baltic Sea and its ports had brimmed with life and the promise of profit. These continuous transcultural meetings altered the culture of the people inhabiting the Baltic Sea basin. They brought economic, political and social changes, and a range of innovations, ideas and new consumer goods. The movement of commodities was accompanied by human relocation. People, driven by unrest in their native countries, or motivated by the expectation of profit, an ideological calling or the adventure of it, crossed the sea to find new settlements. Many of these migrants gradually became assimilated and lost their connections with their native culture. However, some of the medieval diasporas consciously cultivated ties with home, maintaining continuous physical and cultural closeness. The Hanse diaspora in the Swedish town of Kalmar and in Estonian Tallinn forged and nurtured such translocal connections. By means of travel and correspondence, by upholding cultural values and traditions, and through engagement with material culture imported from home, German-speaking citizens of these two towns constructed a sense of tightly-knit community, maintaining real and imaginary connections with families and places they had left behind. The Hanse Diaspora The formation of Hanseatic diaspora is closely connected with the development of the late medieval Baltic trade. The Hanse took shape in the middle of the fourteenth century. Its formation was preceded by German colonization of the southwestern 2258 (Equinox - Comparative Perspectives).indd 129 09/06/2016 3:32 pm