The Socio-legal Environment in the Hanseatic City in the Seventeenth Century
The Socio-legal Environment in the Hanseatic City in the Seventeenth Century

Summary/Abstract: The history of the early minutes of the Commerzdeputation Hamburg provides the basis for a case study that demonstrates the advantages of text type analysis. In 1665 the merchants of Hamburg tried to recapture the influential role of their hanseatic past by reinstituting a self-administrating body: the Commerzdeputation. The fact that its minutes were used to establish the institution within municipal administration makes them an interesting object of linguistic study. The main feature of the Commerzprotokolle to be explored in this paper is the legitimising function of the texts. Also touched are the use of High German and the relation to chancery languages.

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