Baltic Connections ― Archival Guide to the Maritime Relations of the Countries Around the Baltic Sea (Including the Netherlands) 1450-1800

Assembled by Bes (National Archives of the Netherlands), Frankot (Hanse Research Center, U. of Groningen, the Netherlands), and Brand (Hanse Research Center), this three-volume reference guide provides an overview of significant archival sources concerning maritime relations between Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, and Sweden for roughly the years 1450-1800 and includes coverage of such topics as trade, shipping, merchant and merchant houses, transaction costs, commodities, trade regulation and diplomacy, finances, and spin-off effects such as migration patterns and piracy. The guide consists of 982 descriptions of archival sources kept in 127 repositories. Each description includes information on the record group as a whole (reference code, period, size, and general abstract); lists documents pertinent to the Baltic Sea region, together with their contents, period, countries involved, and languages used; and, where applicable or relevant, provides information on accessibility, custodial history, record creator, visually attractive documents, copies, related archival materials, and publications. Descriptions are arranged alphabetically by country, location of repository, name of repository, and record group. The guide is also available online at www.balticconnections.net, allowing for greater search options. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Lennart Bes, M.A. in Indology, Leiden University, is employed at the National Archives of the Netherlands. He has published on South Indian history and the archives of the Dutch East India Company, including two archival guides to Dutch sources on South Asia.Edda Frankot, Ph.D. (2004) in History and Law, University of Aberdeen, is a researcher at the Hanse Research Centre of the University of Groningen. She specialises in maritime, legal and urban history of Northern Europe in the Later Middle Ages.Hanno Brand, Ph.D. (1996) in Medieval History, is a fellow at the Hanse Research Centre at Groningen University. He has published extensively on Leiden's urban elites, aspects of Urban History, the Burgundian Court (1419-1477) and on the relations between the Low Countries and the German Hanse.