ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the city of Reval was integrated into the Hanse network, what kind of role it played in the trade relations between the East and the West, who its main trade partners were, and how the social and business connections benefited from the membership in guilds. The three largest cities in medieval Livonia were Riga, Reval and Dorpat, which also became members of the Hanse. Reval, situated at the southern shore of the Finnish bay, emerged in the first half of the thirteenth century after the conquest of Danish King Valdemar II in 1219. The city council was first mentioned in 1248, when Reval was granted the Lubeck law. In 1561 Reval fell under Swedish rule. Written sources on medieval Reval, including its trade and merchants, are abundant: the archives of the city are some of the best-preserved medieval archives in Europe.
