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  Nederlandse houthandel op de Elbe in de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw

  Not long after the Brandenburg timber port relocated from Hamburg to Harburg in 1661, there developed a brisk trade with the Dutch market, which really took off after 1664, when the first Dutch timber merchant set up business there. Whereas Harburg had initially supplied timber for shipbuilding and coopering, there now was a significant increase in the trade in construction timber. By around 1680 there were several Dutch merchants active in the timber trade here, who mostly did their own timber buying upriver and transported the logs to Harburg with their own rafts. This practice continued into the eighteenth century, although rafts owned by timber traders from the March of Brandenburg, Saxony, Anhalt and Mecklenburg also came to Harburg. Around 1720 there were even timber consignments from the many-branched network of the River Warta deep in Poland and from Silesia, although Harburg was starting to experience competition as a timber port from Stettin.

  Around 1694, the limited space in the Harburg harbour led to the relocation of the timber port to a nearby anabranch of the River Elbe, the ‘Reiherstieg’, where it continued to develop. By 1720 it was loading over 300, mainly Dutch timber carriers a year. Shipbuilding timber had once again become the core business, although it  no longer included much knee timber, which had become so scarce in the region that its export was even banned for a while from 1665 onwards.

  Interestingly, some timber merchants actually invested in the expansion of the Harburg harbour and in the new harbour at Reiherstieg. On the other hand, they also threatened to take their trade elsewhere, in some cases even supported by trading partners in the trading areas, in an attempt to influence investment in the harbours. Owing to this pressure and to competition from a new raft harbour constructed in 1725 in the nearby Danish city of Altona, the winter harbour the timber merchants had been calling for since the late seventeenth century was built on the Reiherstieg. Henceforth the rafts that arrived too late for transhipment could be moored here in autumn to await the coming spring.

  In the early decades of the eighteenth century the flourishing timber port in Harburg was dominated by several Dutch merchants from Zaandam. With their need for employees, they played a key role in the local labour market and the tolls paid were an important source of income for the regional administration (‘Amtsverwaltung’).

  Not long after the Brandenburg timber port relocated from Hamburg to Harburg in 1661, there developed a brisk trade with the Dutch market, which really took off after 1664, when the first Dutch timber merchant set up business there. Whereas Harburg had initially supplied timber for shipbuilding and coopering, there now was a significant increase in the trade in construction timber. By around 1680 there were several Dutch merchants active in the timber trade here, who mostly did their own timber buying upriver and transported the logs to Harburg with their own rafts. This practice continued into the eighteenth century, although rafts owned by timber traders from the March of Brandenburg, Saxony, Anhalt and Mecklenburg also came to Harburg. Around 1720 there were even timber consignments from the many-branched network of the River Warta deep in Poland and from Silesia, although Harburg was starting to experience competition as a timber port from Stettin.

  Around 1694, the...

  Not long after the Brandenburg timber port relocated from Hamburg to Harburg in 1661, there developed a brisk trade with the Dutch market, which really took off after 1664, when the first Dutch timber merchant set up business there. Whereas Harburg had initially supplied timber for...

  Bernd Adam

  144-157

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  Historisch bouwhout uit Vlaanderen: import uit noodzaak? Dendrochronologisch onderzoek als bron voor houthandel en -gebruik

  In Flanders, large-scale exploitation of the landscape was initiated in the tenth century by abbeys and by powerful landowners like the Count of Flanders. As a consequence, a lot of forested areas were converted into arable land and the remaining forest and woodlands became highly fragmented. It is estimated that in Flanders the lowest forest cover ever was reached by the end of the thirteenth century. It is known that from the thirteenth century onwards, Flemish towns imported massive amounts of construction timber. However, the wholesale depletion of local forests and the associated timber supply is contradicted by many archaeological discoveries of wooden structures built from local material. The provenance of such historical timbers can be determined by tree-ring analysis.

  Most probably, scarcity was not the sole factor behind the large-scale importation of construction timber. Quality, or rather the lack of high quality-timber on the local market, must also have played a role. During the Middle Ages the practices of coppicing and coppicing with standards were widely applied. These types ofwoodland management are highly productive and make it possible to harvest firewood and small-sized lumber in a relatively short time. However, these management practices are not best suited to the production of large quantities of straight-grained and high-quality construction timber.

  Due to the lack of large quantities of high-quality local timber, the importation of construction timber became increasingly important. An examination of the fourteenth and fifteenth century municipal accounts of several Flemish cities reveals that at least three major source regions can be identified for the timber imported into Flanders: the Baltic harbours and Scandinavia in the north, the forests along the Rhine, and the Ardennes and Meuse regions in what is now southern Belgium. Dendrochronological research into roof constructions in Bruges, Ghent and Oudenaarde demonstrates that the timbers were often imported from forested regions along the River Meuse. The trees were felled, tied together to form a raft and floated downriver to the coast. Eventually, most of these rafts arrived at the timber market in Dordrecht, from where they were shipped to Damme, the port for Bruges. In the Bruges municipal accounts, the town of Dordrecht is frequently cited as the place where timber was purchased for civil construction projects. This timber was also in demand further inland where it was used for large roof constructions. Although it is known that Baltic oak was imported, such timbers were never used for construction, but for more delicate applications such as panelling, staves or sculptures.

  A constant feature of medieval wood construction in Flanders is the use of oak, with only a few known examples of elm being used instead. Coniferous wood, although mentioned in the municipal accounts, was rarely used in historical wooden construction in Flanders.

  During the Middle Ages, widespread human intervention in local forests (timber harvesting, conversion to farmland), left them highly fragmented. While still able to produce everyday construction timber, local forests were no longer able to meet the ever-growing demand for high-quality construction timber.

  In Flanders, large-scale exploitation of the landscape was initiated in the tenth century by abbeys and by powerful landowners like the Count of Flanders. As a consequence, a lot of forested areas were converted into arable land and the remaining forest and woodlands became highly fragmented. It is estimated that in Flanders the lowest forest cover ever was reached by the end of the thirteenth century. It is known that from the thirteenth century onwards, Flemish towns imported massive amounts of construction timber. However, the wholesale depletion of local forests and the associated timber supply is contradicted by many archaeological discoveries of wooden structures built from local material. The provenance of such historical timbers can be determined by tree-ring analysis.

  Most probably, scarcity was not the sole factor behind the large-scale importation of construction timber. Quality, or rather the lack of high quality-timber on the local market, must also have played...

  In Flanders, large-scale exploitation of the landscape was initiated in the tenth century by abbeys and by powerful landowners like the Count of Flanders. As a consequence, a lot of forested areas were converted into arable land and the remaining forest and woodlands became highly fragmented....

  Kristof Haneca

  158-169

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  ‘De droechste waegescotten, die ghij weet te becomen’: De gedifferentieerde houtmarkt voor 1800 en de wisselwerking tussen aanbod, vraag en toepassing

  Wainscoting was just one of the many products for sale on the Dutch timber market. A variety of sources would suggest that this was not primarily a case of thin, quartersawn oak planks around one centimetre thick, but much thicker, quarter-split, semi-finished products that were only later sawn into much thinner planks. A major reason for quarter sawing or splitting of logs was to mitigate warping. Finishings in particular required timber with a minimal tendency to split or bow and so wainscoting was often used for such work.

  There are several views on the etymology of the word ‘wainscot’. Based on the traded rather than the finished product, the suggestion that what we have here is a combination of ‘scot’ in the sense of panel with the prefix ‘wain’ (from ‘wane’), the side of the wood that still contains sapwood, merits further investigation. The wainscot timber exported from the regions of origin was, as far as can be ascertained from the sources, hardly ever ready for use. It generally took the form of split timber some 14 feet in length. The thickness could vary considerably, as is also clear from Dutch sources that talk of wainscoting up to several inches thick.

  The European trade in wainscoting was already huge by the fourteenth century. The greater part of this was transported to the province of Holland via the North Sea. Considerably smaller was the proportion of wainscoting rafted down the big rivers to the west. This trade doesn’t seem to have appeared until around the middle of the seventeenth century, when the Baltic trade had passed its peak. It is not yet possible to quantify the available data. But when harbours in the Baltic could no longer meet the demand from Holland, the trade in this particular product shifted to Bremen, to the Elbe and Rhine regions. Probably owing to the greater profitability, the export of wainscoting to England remained at a high level into the eighteenth century, while the prices paid at the Zaan timber auctions in the second half of the seventeenth century more than doubled. A possible partial explanation for the decline in the use of wainscoting in Dutch interiors is that the timber traders preferred to export their products to other markets where they could command a higher price.

  It would be interesting to conduct similar research for knee timber, floorboards, beams and other products. By considering the various timber elements of the past primarily as trading products rather than as finished products attuned to local conditions, it is possible to explain why timbers from different source areas are sometimes encountered within a single historical structural context, and how the use of such timbers was affected not only by changing tastes and fashions, but also by the supply stream from distant forests.

  Wainscoting was just one of the many products for sale on the Dutch timber market. A variety of sources would suggest that this was not primarily a case of thin, quartersawn oak planks around one centimetre thick, but much thicker, quarter-split, semi-finished products that were only later sawn into much thinner planks. A major reason for quarter sawing or splitting of logs was to mitigate warping. Finishings in particular required timber with a minimal tendency to split or bow and so wainscoting was often used for such work.

  There are several views on the etymology of the word ‘wainscot’. Based on the traded rather than the finished product, the suggestion that what we have here is a combination of ‘scot’ in the sense of panel with the prefix ‘wain’ (from ‘wane’), the side of the wood that still contains sapwood, merits further investigation. The wainscot timber exported from the regions of origin was, as far as can be ascertained from the sources, hardly...

  Wainscoting was just one of the many products for sale on the Dutch timber market. A variety of sources would suggest that this was not primarily a case of thin, quartersawn oak planks around one centimetre thick, but much thicker, quarter-split, semi-finished products that were only later...

  Gabri van Tussenbroek

  170-185

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  Uit ander hout gesneden: Veranderend houtgebruik in de zestiende en zeventiende eeuw

  Long before the large-scale import of Scandinavian softwoods in the seventeenth century, deal floorboards and softwood rafters had already made their appearance before1500 and continued to appear sporadically throughout the sixteenth century, especially in cities situated on or close to the sea. The boards in that period were quite substantial: 30-50 centimetres wide and 2.7 centimetres thick. With the supply of oak via the occupied eastern and southern parts of the country wholly or partially halted during the Eighty Years’ War, alternatives were sought and were found primarily in softwood from Scandinavia. The Twelve Years’ Truce saw an explosive growth in imported softwood, but also a brief and final resurgence in the import of highquality oak from Germany. But even before that time, at the beginning of the Eighty Years’ War, there had been instances of single floor frames constructed in softwood.

  In the South, the River Maas had always been an important supply route for oak. After the Eighty Years’ War trade between the Netherlands and Germany via the Rhine resumed, while timber supplies from Norway were hampered by competition from England. This no doubt boosted the supply of softwood from the basins of the large northern rivers and the Baltic. Throughout the seventeenth century oak continued to be used for special features such as interior woodwork and frames, but over the course of the eighteenth century softwood became the most widely used construction timber.

  Long before the large-scale import of Scandinavian softwoods in the seventeenth century, deal floorboards and softwood rafters had already made their appearance before1500 and continued to appear sporadically throughout the sixteenth century, especially in cities situated on or close to the sea. The boards in that period were quite substantial: 30-50 centimetres wide and 2.7 centimetres thick. With the supply of oak via the occupied eastern and southern parts of the country wholly or partially halted during the Eighty Years’ War, alternatives were sought and were found primarily in softwood from Scandinavia. The Twelve Years’ Truce saw an explosive growth in imported softwood, but also a brief and final resurgence in the import of highquality oak from Germany. But even before that time, at the beginning of the Eighty Years’ War, there had been instances of single floor frames constructed in softwood.

  In the South, the River Maas had always been an important supply...

  Long before the large-scale import of Scandinavian softwoods in the seventeenth century, deal floorboards and softwood rafters had already made their appearance before1500 and continued to appear sporadically throughout the sixteenth century, especially in cities situated on or close to the...

  Dirk Jan de Vries

  186-202

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  De houtvoorziening van Amsterdam uit Scandinavië en het Baltisch gebied: gezien vanuit dendrochronologisch perspectief (circa 1500-1700)

  Amsterdam experienced the greatest upturn in its economic fortunes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This went hand in hand with brisk building activity throughout the city. As part of studies into construction history, 679 samples of wood were subjected to dendrochronological examination. Since Amsterdam very swiftly exhausted local wood supplies, the city had to rely on importing wood to cover its immense needs. On the basis of the dendrochronologically defined samples, this article not only presents the individual datings, but also attempts to analyze the timber trade in the city in the context of the overall political situation. Since the countries bordering on the Baltic Sea formed an unstable economic region at this time owing to the Nordic Wars, two other main zones were tapped. First, a lot of timber was procured from south Norway and western Sweden, enabling Danish customs duties to be avoided that would otherwise have been levied on goods moving from the Baltic. The preference was for high-grade fine-ringed oak and pine. Second, wood was purchased from the region along the Elbe and Havel rivers, whereby the timber was traded through Hamburg. Prussia made use of canals that ran deep into the central reaches of the Oder River and beyond as sources of wood. The specialty from this area were long trunks of pinewood. These trade relations survived, along with the associated rafting on inland waterways, into the most recent past. Despite its massive scale, timber trade down the Rhine only played a minor role for Amsterdam. Evidently the timber in question tended to be sold more in the western Dutch provinces and in long-distance trade from the west.

  Amsterdam experienced the greatest upturn in its economic fortunes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This went hand in hand with brisk building activity throughout the city. As part of studies into construction history, 679 samples of wood were subjected to dendrochronological examination. Since Amsterdam very swiftly exhausted local wood supplies, the city had to rely on importing wood to cover its immense needs. On the basis of the dendrochronologically defined samples, this article not only presents the individual datings, but also attempts to analyze the timber trade in the city in the context of the overall political situation. Since the countries bordering on the Baltic Sea formed an unstable economic region at this time owing to the Nordic Wars, two other main zones were tapped. First, a lot of timber was procured from south Norway and western Sweden, enabling Danish customs duties to be avoided that would otherwise have been levied on goods moving from the...

  Amsterdam experienced the greatest upturn in its economic fortunes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This went hand in hand with brisk building activity throughout the city. As part of studies into construction history, 679 samples of wood were subjected to dendrochronological...

  Karl-Uwe Heussnner

  132-143

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