Medieval guilds were associations of craftsmen and merchants, divided into apprentices, journeymen, and masters. At the Morgensprache (morning meeting), chaired by the elected aldermen, the masters met to make decisions about the work to be done. During the meeting, the guild chest containing the documents and the official register was opened and the ceremonial vessels, exhibited here, were used. The guilds regulated the size of businesses and the procurement of raw materials, monitored prices and quality, and provided assistance when there was an emergency. Their monopoly was threatened by outsiders and non-guild craftsmen. The guilds fought back against such ‘botchers’, as they called them, and endeavoured to put a stop to their activities. The first guild in Bergen was that of the shoemakers, granted privileges by the monastery in 1355. They were followed in 1384 by the furriers and pelterers, the tailors, butchers, blacksmiths, and grocers. After the city was granted its town privileges in 1613, the bakers and brewers also organized themselves into guilds. The beer was apparently awful though.

In 1613, Duke Philipp Julius granted town privileges (based on the Lübeck Law) to Bergen for a sum of 8,000 marks. Shortly afterwards, an unknown master drew this view of Bergen under the town coat of arms. The town consisted of around 150 buildings, two thirds of which no longer existed after the fire of 1621. Towering above everything else is St. Marienkirche (St Mary’s Church) with its monastery complex, which is obscured by a large building with a Gothic stepped gable and two Renaissance gables. This was probably the provost’s residence, which housed the courtroom and rooms where guests were accommodated. An eye-catcher is the blue castle where Duke Philipp Julius stayed on his hunting trips to Rügen. Big game hunting took place in Granitz, while Wittow was where the duke went rabbiting. A regulation at the time required local farmers and noblemen to mutilate their dogs’ front paws to stop them chasing rabbits. To the left of the church are three larger buildings with crosses on their roofs, the first of which is the town hall. The other two are the ‘store’ and presumably the building used by the Kaland confraternity, as indicated by the two crosses on the gables. In the foreground on the left is St. Jürgen’s Hospital, which in the Middle Ages took in lepers, and later the elderly, the sick, and the poor, and was also used as a place to lock up the mentally ill in Dorenkisten (large crates). The Gertrude Chapel in the middle foreground served as a hostel for travellers and wandering craftsmen, whose patron saint is St. Gertrude of Nivelles. In the lower right-hand corner of the picture, there is a gallows. Above it, the bird pole can be seen. On a Sunday between Easter and Pentecost, the Bergen ‘Schütting’ (Schützenverein, marksmen’s guild) held a shooting match at which an artificial bird was shot down. The colourful bird was referred to as a parrot, hence the name Papageienberg (Parrot Hill), which was shortened to Goigenberg.

This oldest known townscape of Bergen, a washed pen-and-ink drawing, was commissioned by Duke Philipp Julius around 1615. He had such drawings done of all Pomeranian cities. These served as the basis for the copperplate townscapes on the large map of Pomerania by Rostock mathematics professor Eilhardus Lubinus, which was published in 1618.

“We, Philippus Julius, by the grace of God, Duke of Stettin, Pomerania, the Cassubians (Kashubians) and Wends, Prince of Rügen, Count of Gützkow, Lord of the lands of Lauenburg and Butow, etc., do hereby declare and confirm on behalf of ourselves, our heirs, future rulers, and everyone that at the earnest request of our obedient subjects in Bergen, we grant all those inhabitants who already reside there or who will settle there in the future municipal freedom and justice, in such a way that they shall be free to enjoy and exercise all the rights that other citizens generally have in our lands.” […] “We also grant to ourselves, our heirs, and future rulers of our city of Bergen partial jurisdiction, both in civil and criminal matters, as far as the boundaries of Bergen extend – and for the administration of justice, for the maintenance of good civil order, the community of Bergen shall now be granted the right to elect as governing leaders and heads: three mayors, the senior of whom shall at all times keep the city seal in safekeeping and use it for general city affairs, two chamberlains, and six councillors...”

The multi-page town charter was signed by Duke Philipp Julius on 19 June 1613. In exchange for a sum of 8,000 marks paid to the duke, Bergen was granted town privileges (self-governance based on the Lübeck Law). The citizens also had to pay an additional 600 marks annually.

At that time, the mark was a unit of weight. One mark was equivalent to nine talers (silver).

That means the people of Bergen handed over 72,000 talers in 1613 ‒ a truly stately sum.

Every fire however small could spell disaster for Bergen because of the shortage of water. Between 1445 and 1726, city buildings were engulfed by flames and reduced to ashes seven times, and fire also destroyed the town archives. (The last major fire in 1988 ruined the restaurant on Rugard, Bergen’s highest elevation.)

Until a water pipeline was built at the beginning of the twentieth century, the people living in Bergen had to make do with just four wells. The pond at the edge of the market served as a watering place for livestock. To secure continuous supply, wells outside the city had to be used, with transport being provided by the city’s water carriers.

In the nineteenth century, there was a bathing area in Nonnensee lake near Bergen. The photo from 1879 shows the palisaded changing rooms. The neighbouring mill was used to drain the lake – a plan that had already been in place when the city purchased the lake in 1831, but which could not be implemented until 1967. The lake disappeared until well into the 1990s, but today Nonnensee offers a picturesque backdrop for hikes.

Bergen had access to the open sea via the port known as ‘Brahm’ near Buschvitz. Originally, it was only used for fishing on the small Jasmunder Bodden, but it was also suitable for larger ships. The Kaufmanns- und Kramer-Compagnie zu Bergen bought the bulwark and expanded it in 1806. In 1930, the ‘Käthe’ was the last cargo ship to dock in the harbour, unloading a shipment of bricks. Today, the ship lies on land near Ralswiek.

“The inhabitants of the island of Rügen are a quarrelsome and murderous people, so much so that the Latin proverb ‘omnes insulares mali’ [all islanders are evil] certainly applies to them. For in the whole of Pomerania throughout a year, there are not as many murders of noblemen and other souls as there are here on this small island.” (Thomas Kanztow, Chronicle of Pomerania)

In Bergen, the Landvogt (bailiff/sheriff) presided over the court of law for the sovereign power – and until the end of the fifteenth century the proceedings took place in the open air, and later at regular intervals in the provost’s building. Justice was administered according to the so-called Wendish-Rugian land custom, as handed down from the sixteenth century. Since the granting of town privileges in 1613, a town judge also exercised this office. In 1806, the Landvogt’s court of law was converted into a district court, and a new building was constructed in 1838.

Punishments of shame were carried out at the Kaak (pillory) on the market square, corporal punishment at the whipping post in front of the former town hall and capital punishment at the gallows at the foot of the hill. It was shortly before the revolution in 1848 that the last delinquent was punished at the whipping post. The execution of the sentences was the task of the municipal executioner. Between 1744 and 1828, the office of executioner was held by the Witt family.

War is often the reason treasure remains hidden for many years. The owners died and frequently took the secret of the treasure’s hiding place with them to the grave.

The silver coin hoard from Vieschstrasse in Bergen contains coins from the years between 1564 and 1672. The last coin would seem to point to the Brandenburg-Swedish War, when in September 1677 the Danish troops of King Christian IV and those of Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg drove the Swedish troops of Count Königsmarck out of Bergen.