Klaipėdos universitetas

The paper analyses the relationship between the growth of the transit infrastructure and the developments in Tilsit in the period 1514 to 1552. The place of Tilsit in the competition between the merchants of Gdansk, Königsberg and Kaunas for the transit of goods by the River Neman is discussed. The paper reveals how, due to the geo-political circumstances, Königsberg managed to establish itself and to subordinate Tilsit to its trading system. It examines how and why Tilsit turned from being an outer castle settlement (Flecken) to the first town established in the Duchy of Prussia. The dynamics of the growth of the number of inns in Tilsit, their ownership, and the official and family relationships of the owners are examined, as is the weight and the role of innkeepers in the process of Tilsit turning into a town.

The article deals with the research potential of inna along the coastline in Sweden and the Åland Islands. Very little research has been done on this kind of establishment in Sweden and Scandinavia. The inn on the island of Koffsan off Sweden and the inn on Rödhamn, Åland Islands, Finland, stand out as examples of what the sites and the archaeological material combined with written sources can tell us about the function of inns in society and about the food and beverages at these establishments. The author also discusses the possibilities to reinterpret some of the earlier results from the site on the Åland Islands.