The present book has a long history of origins: it must have been near the turn of the previous millennium â I do not recall the exact year â when my academic teacher Jürgen Schneider, who was then holding the Chair of Economic and Social History at the University of Bamberg, suggested to me the topic of marine insurance and the Hamburg tradition of sources. Yet, due to obligations to complete more urgent work first, the study did not take shape any earlier than 2004 to 2006, when the extensive volume of the Hamburg marine insurance premiums was collected in a database as a âby-productâ in addition to the normal activities of the chair. The actual research on the subject began with the securing of funding from the Gerda Henkel Foundation under the title âDie Hamburger Seeversicherung von 1736 bis 1858â and was finished in late 2013. The final rough manuscript in German was realised by the end of 2015. In the meantime, however, the unexpected chance to publish the monograph in Brillâs Studies in Maritime History had occurred. Tackling the new challenge of providing a translation into English took some years more, but at the same time it was a good opportunity to include minor revisions, additions, and updates to the state of research. Eventually, after years of effort, the result can be presented.
On the occasion of the bookâs publication, I want to express my gratitude for the varied forms of support I have received in the course of my research. My initial thanks go to the Gerda Henkel Foundation for its generous funding of the research project for more than three years. Many colleagues and friends provided further reflections and helpful remarks, especially during the XXXVIIth and XLVIIIth Settimane di Studi of the Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica âF. Datiniâ in Prato (2005 and 2016) as well as the workshop âRisky Business: Pricing, Governance, and Integration in European Insurance Markets, c.1400âc.1870â organised by Sabine Go at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam in 2019. By name, I want to thank Hilario Casado Alonso (Valladolid), Giovanni Ceccarelli (Parma), Christina Dalhede (Gothenburg), Mechthild Isenmann (Leipzig), Olga Katsiardi-Hering (Athens), Adrian Leonard (Cambridge), Michael North (Greifswald), and â above all â Werner Scheltjens (Bamberg) as well as two unknown reviewers. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Brill, and in particular to Associate Editor Alessandra Giliberto for adding the volume to the range of publications, and to Gelina Harlaftis (Rethymno) for including it in Brillâs Studies in Maritime History.
Katharina Beberweil (now International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation, Amsterdam), research assistant at my chair at the time, was responsible for the data input and the first steps of the analysis, for which I thank her as well. I am particularly grateful to my assistant Franziska Streng who with precision has made the effort of translating a sometimes demanding text, over a period of several years. For further support I received from so many members of my chairâs staff I would like to thank representatively Katja Wöhner (administration), Robert Jähnichen (literature research and procurement), and Christoph Streng (preparation of the maps). Furthermore, I would like to thank the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald, where I was Senior Fellow as this volume was finalised.
My warmest thanks, however, go to my dear wife Alexandra, who has accompanied the Hamburg insurance rate project for more than one and a half decades.
Without the suggestion of my academic teacher and fatherly friend Jürgen Schneider, this book would never have been written â at least not in the present form. I therefore dedicate this volume to him in deep and heartfelt gratitude on the occasion of his honorary day on 14 February 2022.
Leipzig and Greifswald, 8 January 2022
Markus A. Denzel