Seite - 231 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

14 Harbourscapes 231 globaland thus location-independent ‘scapes’ canbe found inspecificplaces. In the following, threedifferentportswith their specific structureswillbeoutlinedandfinallydiscussed in terms of the ‘scapes’ concept. Threeharbourscapes Haithabu,SchleswigundLübeck(Fig. 1)arenotonlydistinguishthemselvesbytheirgeographi- cal proximity in northernGermany, but are also seen in scholarship as prototypes for specific urbanconfigurations and theglobalised societies of theEarly andHighMiddleAges.Haithabu and Schleswig lie at the end of the Schlei, an approximately 42km long fjord in the south- eastern part of the Jutland peninsula. Lübeck is located about 17km from the Baltic Sea, be- tween theTrave andWakenitz rivers. Eventhoughthelegal (sovereign)aspectwas,andstill remains,decisive inthedevelopment of a port, the setting created by a favourable topography should not be underestimated. Thus Helmold states:NamexunaparteTrabena, exalteraWochnizapreterfluit, habensuterquepalu- dosamet inviamripam.Exeaveroparte,quaterrestre iter continuatur, est collis contractior, vallo castri prestructus.15 The question of historicalwater depth is crucial for harbours on the coast, as also for other sitesnear the coastline. Reliabledata exists for theSchlei inparticular. In the EarlyMiddleAges, thewater level stoodat 0.80mbelow themean sea level (MSL), in the late 10th centuryadepthofabout 1mbelowtheMSLwasrecorded,andcirca in1100 thewater level stood at approximately 0.2 to 0.3mbelow theMSL.16 It has also been possible to reconstruct the shorelineof the river Trave, and its historical topography.17 Haithabu (Fig. 2) is recognised as a synonym for centres with urban structures, and has been variously characterised (according to individual perspectives and levels of research) as a proto-city, a trade and crafts centre, a hub formaritime commerce, and as an emporium.18 The universally optimal location on the east-west andnorth-south transport routes not only trans- formed this place into a key point in the traffic between theNorth Sea and theBaltic Sea, but alsobetweencontinental EuropeandScandinavia. Thewritten sourcesprovide evidence in ev- ery respect for thesignificanceof the location.Haithabuisacomprehensivesettlementcomplex andpart of a settlement landscape characterisedbyboth limnic andmaritimeactivities on the Jutland peninsula. The undeveloped acreage (circa 27ha) within the HaithabuHalbkreiswall (a semi-circular wall erected in the later 10th century) and the surrounding areawere already Fig. 1: Locationof Haithabu,Schles- wigandLübeck. 15 Helmold 1, 57. 16 Rösch 2018,with further details. 17 Kräling 2019, 43–52. 18 Kleingärtner 2014, 68–72;Kalmring 2016.