De “Ordinancie van Staveren” en het Hanzeatisch zeerecht

In the past, much discussion has arisen concerning the origins of the Ordinancie
(of Staveren or of Amsterdam), a fourteenth-century compilation of maritime
regulations from the Dutch Zuiderzee region. In this article it is argued that it
is irrelevant where the Ordinancie was fi rst recorded, as it consisted of customs
which were, for a large part, already valid in the area before the fourteenth century.These customs had probably developed from the moment that traders from the Zuiderzee area became active in the overseas transport of goods. In this early transport the Frisian traders played an important role. Although the Ordinancie was disseminated widely throughout the Hanseatic region in the later Middle Ages and early modern period, its infl uence on legal practice and the development of a Hanseatic sea law remained restricted.