Ulf Christian Ewert is a Research Associate at the Cluster of Excellence ‘Religion and Politics’ and lecturer in economic history at the University of Münster. He has taught medieval and economic history at Chemnitz University of Technology, Helmut-Schmidt-University Hamburg, Free University of Berlin and the universities of Munich, Halle and Regensburg. He published numerous articles on the Hanse, the Portuguese overseas expansion, the political economy of pre-modern princely courts and on early-modern living standards.Stephan Selzer is Professor for medieval history at Helmut-Schmidt-University / University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg. He is the author of numerous publications on the social and economic history of the later Middle Ages as well as specialist literature on the medieval Hanseatic League and the communication and mobility of the Hanse area.

«Ulf Ch. Ewert und Stephan Selzer haben es geschafft, der internationalen Forschungdie Bedeutung der Hanse aus ökonomischer Sicht mit modernen Theorien zu verdeutlichen und der heimischen Hanseforschung Instrumente an die Hand zu geben, deren Nichtbeachtung in Zukunft nicht mehr möglich sein wird. Endlich!»(Carsten Jahnke, Zeitschrift für Historische Forschung, 44/4 2017)

• Hanse History and Economics – Reputation, Trust and Culture – A ‘Small World’ – Bridging Distances, Filling Gaps – State of Cities, Commercial Super Trust or Virtual Organisation? – Competitive Advantage or Limit to Business? – Perspectives of Research into Hanseatic Trade