German linen fabrics enjoyed an enduring popularity from the sixteenth century onwards, not only in England but also in the New World. The linen goods, which were in such demand on domestic English and colonial markets, mainly came from three regions: the north-west of Germany, Saxony, and Silesia. These regions produced a variety of products of middling and lower quality, though the range of qualities was considerable. This chapter will analyze the causes of the lasting success of linen fabrics and show how German traders contributed to the expansion of the early modern global trade by their migration and settlement pattern, despite the fact that Germany did not have colonies of any significance, and despite the mercantilist trade restrictions of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

This chapter focuses on linen produced in the north-western parts of Germany. Today, this region comprises the eastern part of Westphalia, the southern parts of Lower Saxony, and the Wupper Valley. In the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries this region was a patchwork of small independent states, of principalities, duchies, et cetera, including some parts of the electorate of Hanover. The entire region was known for its linen industries. In the Duchy of Berg, the towns of Elberfeld and Barmen (today Wuppertal) were known for their white linen and linen yarn, while some towns of the duchy such as Solingen and Remscheid were centers of metal production.

According to Beverly Lemire, ‘European linens … burst into the English market’ in the seventeenth century. Certainly, the quantities imported exploded, but German linen was already widely consumed in England at the time of the Hanseatic League. The question is rather, what changes caused the spectacular growth in demand for German linens in the seventeenth century? The end of the Hanseatic League in 1598, the civil wars, as well as the colonial wars and mercantilistic policies caused major reorganizations of trade routes and the expansion of self-organized merchant networks after 1660. These changes, as will be discussed, not only led to a new linen boom but also affected trade routes and restructured trade.

As London emerged as the world’s leading commercial and financial center from the late seventeenth century onwards, the capital attracted merchants and entrepreneurs from all over Germany and Europe.