The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=
Modern German
New High German (NHG; german: Neuhochdeutsch (Nhd.)) is the term used for the most recent period in the history of the German language, starting in the 17th century. It is a loan translation of the German (). The most important characteristic o ...
, Deutsche Hanse) was a
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
commercial and defensive confederation of merchant
guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
s and
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
s in
Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and
Northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. Growing from a few
North German
Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...
towns in the late 12th century, the League ultimately encompassed nearly 200 settlements across seven modern-day countries; at its height between the 13th and 15th centuries, it stretched from the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
in the west to
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
in the east, and from
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
in the north to
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
in the south.
The League originated from various loose associations of German traders and towns formed to advance mutual commercial interests, such as protection against
piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
and
banditry
Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, and murder, either as an ...
. These arrangements gradually coalesced into the Hanseatic League, whose traders enjoyed
duty-free
A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...
treatment, protection, and diplomatic privileges in affiliated communities and their trade routes.
Hanseatic Cities
The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=German language, Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Norther ...
gradually developed a common legal system governing their merchants and goods, even operating their own armies for mutual defense and aid. Reduced barriers to trade resulted in mutual prosperity, which fostered economic interdependence, kinship ties between merchant families, and deeper political integration; these factors solidified the League into a cohesive political organization by the end of the 13th century.
During the peak of its power, the Hanseatic League
had a virtual monopoly over maritime trade in the
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
and
Baltic seas. Its commercial reach extended as far as the
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal ( la, Regnum Portugalliae, pt, Reino de Portugal) was a monarchy in the western Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of the modern Portuguese Republic. Existing to various extents between 1139 and 1910, it was also kno ...
to the west, the
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
On 1 ...
to the north, the
Republic of Novgorod
The Novgorod Republic was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east, including the city of Novgorod and the Lake Ladoga regions of mod ...
to the east, and the
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
to the south, with trading posts, factories, and mercantile "branches" established in numerous towns and cities across Europe. Hanseatic merchants were widely renowned for their access to a variety of commodities and manufactured goods, subsequently gaining privileges and protections abroad, including
extraterritorial
In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations.
Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cla ...
districts in foreign realms that operated almost exclusively under Hanseatic law. This collective economic influence made the League a powerful force, capable of imposing blockades and even waging war against kingdoms and principalities.
Even at its zenith, the Hanseatic League was never more than a loosely aligned confederation of
city-state
A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...
s. It lacked a permanent administrative body, treasury, and standing military force; only a very small number of members enjoyed autonomy and liberties comparable to those of neighbouring
free imperial cities
In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
. By the mid-16th century, these tenuous connections left the Hanseatic League vulnerable to rising competitors such as England, the Netherlands, and Russia. External pressures steadily eroded the confederation's unity, while rising
local parochialism and political disputes from within frustrated the League's foundational principles of common purpose and mutuality. The League gradually unraveled as members departed or became consolidated into other realms, ultimately disintegrating in 1669.
Despite its inherent structural weaknesses, the Hanseatic League managed to endure and thrive for centuries under a quasi-legislative ''
diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
'' that operated on deliberation and
consensus. Members united on the basis of mutual interest and comity, working together to pool resources, raise levies, and amicably resolve disputes to further common goals. The League's long-lived success and unity during a period of political upheaval and fragmentation has led to it being described as the most successful trade alliance in history, while its unique governance structure has been identified as a precursor to the
supranational model of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
.
Etymology
Although some historians identify as originally meaning ''An-See'', or "on the sea", it is the
Old High German
Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050.
There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
word for a band or troop. This word was applied to bands of merchants traveling between the Hanseatic cities — whether by land or by sea. in
Middle Low German
Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...
came to mean a society of merchants or a trader guild.
History
![Fotothek df ps 0005300 Rathäuser ^ Kirchen ^ Basiliken](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Fotothek_df_ps_0005300_Rath%C3%A4user_%5E_Kirchen_%5E_Basiliken.jpg)
Exploratory trading adventures, raids, and piracy occurred early throughout the Baltic Sea; the sailors of
Gotland
Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...
sailed up rivers as far away as
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
. Scandinavians led international trade in the Baltic area before the Hanseatic League, establishing major trading hubs at
Birka
Birka (''Birca'' in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö (lit. "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as many parts of the European continent and ...
,
Haithabu
Hedeby (, Old Norse ''Heiðabýr'', German ''Haithabu'') was an important Danish Viking Age (8th to the 11th centuries) trading settlement near the southern end of the Jutland Peninsula, now in the Schleswig-Flensburg district of Schleswig-Holste ...
, and
Schleswig
The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...
by the 9th century CE. The later Hanseatic ports between
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...
and
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
(present-day
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...
) originally formed part of the Scandinavian-led Baltic trade-system.
Historians generally trace the origins of the Hanseatic League to the rebuilding of the north German town of
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
in 1159 by the powerful
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion (german: Heinrich der Löwe; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195) was a member of the Welf dynasty who ruled as the duke of Saxony and Bavaria from 1142 and 1156, respectively, until 1180.
Henry was one of the most powerful German p ...
,
Duke of Saxony
This article lists dukes, electors, and kings ruling over different territories named Saxony from the beginning of the Saxon Duchy in the 6th century to the end of the German monarchies in 1918.
The electors of Saxony from John the Steadfast on ...
and
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, after he had captured the area from
Adolf II,
Count of Schauenburg
The Counts of Schauenburg and Holstein were titles of the Frankish Empire. The dynastic family came from the County of Schauenburg near Rinteln (district Schaumburg) on the Weser in Germany. Together with its ancestral possessions in Bückeburg a ...
and
Holstein
Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...
. More recent scholarship has deemphasized the focus on Lübeck due to its having been designed as one of several regional trading centers.
German cities achieved domination of
trade in the Baltic with striking speed during the 13th century, and Lübeck became a central node in the seaborne trade that linked the areas around the
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
and
Baltic seas. The hegemony of Lübeck peaked during the 15th century.
Foundation and early development
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
became a base for merchants from
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
and
Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
trading eastward and northward. Well before the term ''Hanse'' appeared in a document in 1267,
merchants in different cities began to form
guilds
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
, or ''Hansa'', with the intention of trading with towns overseas, especially in the economically less-developed eastern Baltic. This area could supply
timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
,
wax
Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to give low ...
,
amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...
,
resin
In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...
s, and furs, along with
rye
Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...
and
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
brought down on barges from the hinterland to port markets. The towns raised their own armies, with each guild required to provide
levies when needed. The Hanseatic cities came to the aid of one another, and commercial ships often had to be used to carry soldiers and their arms.
Visby
Visby () is an urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic city of Visby is arguably th ...
(on the island of Gotland) functioned as the leading centre in the Baltic before the Hansa. Sailing east, Visby merchants established a trading post at
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
called ''Gutagard'' (also known as ''Gotenhof'') in 1080. Merchants from northern Germany also stayed there in the early period of the Gotlander settlement. Later, in the first half of the 13th century, they established their own trading station in Novgorod, known as , further up the
river Volkhov. In 1229 the ruler of Novgorod, the Rus' prince
Michael of Chernigov
Saint Michael of Chernigov (russian: Михаи́л Черни́говский, uk, Миха́йло Все́володович Чернігівський) or Mikhail Vsevolodovich (russian: Михаил Всеволодович, uk, Михай ...
, granted German merchants at Novgorod certain privileges that made their position more secure.
Hansa societies worked to remove restrictions on trade for their members. The earliest extant documentary mention (although without a name) of a specific German commercial federation dates from 1157 in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. That year, the merchants of the Hansa in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
convinced
King Henry II of England to exempt them from all tolls in London
and to allow them to trade at fairs throughout England. The "Queen of the Hansa", Lübeck, where traders were required to trans-ship goods between the North Sea and the Baltic, gained
imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* Imperial, Texa ...
privileges to become a
free imperial city
In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
in 1226, as had
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
in 1189.
In 1241 Lübeck, which had access to the Baltic and North seas' fishing grounds, formed an alliance—a precursor to the League—with Hamburg, another trading city, which controlled access to
salt-trade routes from
Lüneburg
Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also calle ...
. The allied cities gained control over most of the
salt-fish trade, especially the
Scania Market
Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne C ...
;
Cologne joined them in the
Diet
Diet may refer to:
Food
* Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group
* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake
** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
of 1260.
In 1266 King Henry III of England granted the Lübeck and Hamburg Hansa a charter for operations in England, and the Cologne Hansa joined them in 1282 to form the most powerful Hanseatic colony in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Much of the drive for this co-operation came from the fragmented nature of existing territorial governments, which failed to provide security for trade. Over the next 50 years, the Hansa solidified with formal agreements for confederation and co-operation covering the west and east trade route
A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over bodies of water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a sing ...
s. The principal city and linchpin remained Lübeck; with the first general diet of the Hansa held there in 1356, the Hanseatic League acquired an official structure.
Commercial expansion
![Haupthandelsroute Hanse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Haupthandelsroute_Hanse.png)
Lübeck's location on the Baltic provided access for trade with
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
and
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...
(with its sea-trade center,
Veliky Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
), putting it in direct competition with the Scandinavians who had previously controlled most of the Baltic trade-routes. A treaty with the Visby Hansa put an end to this competition: through this treaty the
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
merchants gained access to the inland Russian port of
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
, where they built a trading post or ''
Kontor
A ''kontor'' () was a foreign trading post of the Hanseatic League.
In addition to the major ''kontore'' in London (the Steelyard), Bruges, Bergen (Bryggen), and Novgorod (Peterhof), some ports had a representative merchant and a warehouse.
...
'' (literally: "office"). Although such alliances formed throughout the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
, the league never became a closely managed formal organisation. Assemblies of the Hanseatic towns met irregularly in Lübeck for a ''Hansetag'' (Hanseatic Diet) from 1356 onwards, but many towns chose not to attend nor to send representatives, and decisions were not binding on individual cities. Over the period, a network of alliances grew to include a flexible roster of 70 to 170 cities.
The league succeeded in establishing additional ''Kontors'' in
Bruges
Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...
(
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...
),
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
(Norway), and London (England). These
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
s became significant
enclave
An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
s. The London ''Kontor'' is first alluded to in the ''
De itinere navali
''De itinere navali'' ('Of the Seaborne Journey') is an anonymous Latin account of the siege and capture of Silves in 1189, one of the expeditions of the Third Crusade. It was written by an eyewitness shortly after the events it records. It is kn ...
'', an account of crusaders from Lübeck for whom the Kontor arranged the purchase of a replacement cog in the summer of 1189. It was formally established in 1320, stood west of
London Bridge
Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...
near
Upper Thames Street
Thames Street, divided into Lower and Upper Thames Street, is a road in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London. It forms part of the busy A3211 route (prior to being rebuilt as a major thoroughfare in the late 1960s, it ...
, on the site now occupied by
Cannon Street station
Cannon Street station, also known as London Cannon Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Travelcard zone 1 located on Cannon Street in the City of London and managed by Network Rail. It is on ...
. It grew into a significant walled community with its own warehouses, weighhouse, church, offices and houses, reflecting the importance and scale of trading activity on the premises. The first reference to it as the
Steelyard
The Steelyard, from the Middle Low German (sample yard), was the main trading base () of the Hanseatic League in London during the 15th and 16th centuries.
Location
The Steelyard was located on the north bank of the Thames by the outflow o ...
(''der Stahlhof'') occurs in 1422.
Starting with trade in coarse woollen fabrics, the Hanseatic League had the effect of bringing both commerce and industry to northern Germany.
[Frederick Engels "The Peasant War in Germany" contained in the ''Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 10'' (International Publishers: New York, 1978) p. 400.] As trade increased, newer and finer woollen and linen fabrics, and even silks, were manufactured in northern Germany. The same refinement of products out of cottage industry occurred in other fields, e.g. etching, wood carving, armour production, engraving of metals, and
wood-turning. The century-long monopolization of sea navigation and trade by the Hanseatic League ensured that the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
arrived in northern Germany long before it did in the rest of Europe.
A legacy of the period is a regional style of architecture known the
Weser Renaissance
Weser Renaissance is a form of Northern Renaissance architectural style that is found in the area around the River Weser in central Germany and which has been well preserved in the towns and cities of the region.
Background
Between the star ...
, typified by the embellished facade added to the
Bremen Rathaus in 1612.
In addition to the major ''Kontors'', individual Hanseatic ports had a representative merchant and warehouse. In England this happened in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, Bishop's Lynn (now
King's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
, which features the sole remaining Hanseatic warehouse in England),
Hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship
* Submarine hull
Mathematics
* Affine hull, in affi ...
,
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
,
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
, Yarmouth (now
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...
), and
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
.
The league primarily traded timber, furs, resin (or tar), flax, honey, wheat, and rye from the east to
Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...
and England with cloth (and, increasingly,
manufactured goods
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a range ...
) going in the other direction. Metal ore (principally copper and iron) and herring came southwards from Sweden.
German colonists in the 12th and 13th centuries settled in numerous cities on and near the east Baltic coast, such as Elbing (
Elbląg
Elbląg (; german: Elbing, Old Prussian: ''Elbings'') is a city in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, located in the eastern edge of the Żuławy region with 117,390 inhabitants, as of December 2021. It is the capital of Elbląg County.
...
), Thorn (
Toruń
)''
, image_skyline =
, image_caption =
, image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg
, image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg
, nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town
, pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...
), Reval (
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
),
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
, and Dorpat (
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...
), which became members of the Hanseatic League, and some of which still retain many Hansa buildings and bear the style of their Hanseatic days. Most were granted
Lübeck law
The Lübeck law (german: Lübisches (Stadt)Recht) was the family of codified municipal law developed at Lübeck, which became a free imperial city in 1226 and is located in present day Schleswig-Holstein. It was the second most prevalent form of ...
(''Lübisches Recht''), after the league's most prominent town. The law provided that they had to appeal in all legal matters to Lübeck's city council. The
Livonian Confederation
Terra Mariana (Medieval Latin for "Land of Mary") was the official name for Medieval Livonia or Old Livonia ( nds, Oolt-Livland, liv, Jemā-Līvõmō, et, Vana-Liivimaa, lv, Livonija). It was formed in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade, a ...
of 1435 to incorporated modern-day
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
and parts of
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
and had its own Hanseatic parliament (diet); all of its major towns became members of the Hanseatic League. The dominant language of trade was
Middle Low German
Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...
, a dialect with significant impact for countries involved in the trade, particularly the larger
Scandinavian languages
The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also r ...
,
Estonian
Estonian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe
* Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent
* Estonian language
* Estonian cuisine
* Estonian culture
See also ...
, and
Latvian.
Zenith
The league had a fluid structure, but its members shared some characteristics; most of the Hansa cities either started as
independent cities
An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province).
Historical precursors
In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...
or gained independence through the collective bargaining power of the league, though such independence remained limited. The Hanseatic
free cities owed allegiance directly to the
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
, without any intermediate family tie of obligation to the local nobility.
![Stargard Szczec Brama Mlynska (1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Stargard_Szczec_Brama_Mlynska_%281%29.jpg)
Another similarity involved the cities' strategic locations along trade routes. At the height of their power in the late-14th century, the merchants of the Hanseatic League succeeded in using their economic power and, sometimes, their military might—trade routes required protection and the league's ships sailed well-armed—to influence imperial policy.
The league also wielded power abroad. Between 1361 and 1370 it waged war against
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
. Initially unsuccessful, Hanseatic towns in 1368 allied in the
Confederation of Cologne
The Confederation of Cologne was a medieval military alliance against Denmark signed 1367 by cities of the Hanseatic League on their meeting called '' Hansetag'' in Cologne.
The Hanseatic cities at the southern coast of the Baltic sea had nearly l ...
, sacked
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
and
Helsingborg
Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...
, and forced
Valdemar IV, King of Denmark, and his son-in-law
Haakon VI, King of Norway, to grant the league 15% of the profits from Danish trade in the subsequent
peace treaty of Stralsund in 1370, thus gaining an effective trade and economic monopoly in Scandinavia. This favourable treaty marked the height of Hanseatic power. After the
Danish-Hanseatic War and the
Bombardment of Copenhagen, the Treaty of Vordingborg renewed the commercial privileges in 1435.
The Hansa also waged a vigorous campaign against pirates. Between 1392 and 1440 maritime trade of the league faced danger from raids of the
Victual Brothers
, native_name_lang =
, named_after = french: vitailleurs (provisioners, Hundred Years' War)
, image = Vitalienbrueder, Wandmalerei in d, Kirche zu Bunge auf Gotland, gemalt ca. 1405.JPG
, image_size = 250px ...
and their descendants,
privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
s hired in 1392 by
Albert of Mecklenburg, King of Sweden, against
Margaret I, Queen of Denmark. In the
Dutch–Hanseatic War
The Dutch–Hanseatic War was a conflict between the Burgundian Netherlands and the Hanseatic League over the latter's control of Baltic shipping. It began in 1438 and ended with the 1441 Treaty of Copenhagen, which authorized unlimited Dutch ...
(1438–1441), the merchants of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
sought and eventually won free access to the Baltic and broke the Hanseatic monopoly. As an essential part of protecting their investment in ships and their cargoes, the League trained
pilots
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
and erected lighthouses.
Most foreign cities confined the Hanseatic traders to certain trading areas and to their own trading posts. They seldom interacted with the local inhabitants, except when doing business. Many locals, merchant and noble alike, envied the power of the League and tried to diminish it. For example, in London, the local merchants exerted continuing pressure for the revocation of privileges. The refusal of the Hansa to offer reciprocal arrangements to their English counterparts exacerbated the tension.
King
Edward IV of England
Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...
reconfirmed the league's privileges in the
Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne o ...
despite the latent hostility, in part thanks to the significant financial contribution the League made to the
Yorkist
The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, t ...
side during
the Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the throne of England, English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These w ...
of 1455–1487. In 1597 Queen Elizabeth I of England, Elizabeth of England expelled the League from London, and the Steelyard closed the following year. Tsar Ivan III of Russia closed the Hanseatic ''Kontor'' at Novgorod in 1494. The very existence of the League and its privileges and monopolies created economic and social tensions that often crept over into rivalries between League members.
Rise of rival powers
The Great Bullion Famine, economic crises of the late 15th century did not spare the Hansa. Nevertheless, its eventual rivals emerged in the form of the nation state, territorial states, whether new or revived, and not just in the west: Ivan III of Russia, Ivan III, Grand Prince of Moscow, ended the entrepreneurial independence of Hansa's Novgorod ''Kontor'' in 1478—it closed completely and finally in 1494. New medium of exchange, vehicles of credit were imported from Italy, where Double-entry bookkeeping system, double-entry book-keeping was popularly formalized in 1494, and outpaced the Hansa economy, in which silver coins changed hands rather than bills of exchange.
In the 15th century, tensions between the Prussia (region), Prussian region and the "Wendish" cities (Lübeck and its eastern neighbours) increased. Lübeck was dependent on its role as centre of the Hansa, being on the shore of the sea without a major river. It was on the entrance of the land route to Hamburg, but this land route could be bypassed by sea travel around Denmark and through the Kattegat. Prussia's main interest, on the other hand, was the export of bulk products like grain and timber, which were very important for England, the Low Countries, and, later on, also for Spain and Italy.
In 1454, the year of the marriage of Elisabeth of Austria (1436–1505), Elisabeth of Austria to King-Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Poland-Lithuania, the towns of the Prussian Confederation rose up against the dominance of the Teutonic Order and asked Casimir IV for help. Gdańsk (Danzig), Thorn and Elbing became part of the Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569), Kingdom of Poland, (from 1466 to 1569 referred to as Royal Prussia, region of Poland) by the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), Second Peace of Thorn.
Poland in turn was heavily supported by the Holy Roman Empire through family connections and by military assistance under the Habsburgs.
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
, then the capital of Poland, had a loose association with the Hansa.
The lack of customs borders on the River Vistula after 1466 helped to gradually increase Polish grain exports, transported to the sea down the Vistula, from per year, in the late 15th century, to over in the 17th century. The Hansa-dominated maritime grain trade made Poland one of the main areas of its activity, helping Danzig to become the Hansa's largest city.
The member cities took responsibility for their own protection. In 1567, a Hanseatic League agreement reconfirmed previous obligations and rights of league members, such as common protection and defense against enemies. The Prussian Quartier cities of Thorn, Elbing,
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
and Riga and Dorpat also signed. When pressed by the King of Polish–Lithuanian union, Poland–Lithuania, Danzig remained neutral and would not allow ships running for Poland into its territory. They had to anchor somewhere else, such as at Puck, Poland, Pautzke (Puck).
![Hanseatic museum Bergen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Hanseatic_museum_Bergen.jpg)
A major economic advantage for the Hansa was its control of the shipbuilding market, mainly in Lübeck and in Danzig. The Hansa sold ships everywhere in Europe, including History of Italy (1559–1814), Italy. They drove out the Dutch, because Holland wanted to favour
Bruges
Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...
as a huge staple market at the end of a trade route. When the Dutch started to become competitors of the Hansa in shipbuilding, the Hansa tried to stop the flow of shipbuilding technology from Hanseatic towns to Holland. Danzig, a trading partner of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, attempted to forestall the decision. Dutch ships sailed to Danzig to take grain from the city directly, to the dismay of Lübeck. Hollanders also circumvented the Hanseatic towns by trading directly with north German princes in non-Hanseatic towns. Dutch freight costs were much lower than those of the Hansa, and the Hansa were excluded as middlemen.
When Bruges, Antwerp and Holland all became part of the Burgundian Netherlands, Duchy of Burgundy they actively tried to take over the monopoly of trade from the Hansa, and the staples market from Bruges was transferred to Amsterdam. The Dutch merchants aggressively challenged the Hansa and met with much success. Hanseatic cities in Prussia, Livonia, supported the Dutch against the core cities of the Hansa in northern Germany. After several naval wars between Burgundy and the Hanseatic fleets, Amsterdam gained the position of leading port for Polish and Baltic grain from the late 15th century onwards. The Dutch regarded Amsterdam's grain trade as the ('':nl:Moedernegotie, Moedernegotie'').
Nuremberg in Franconia developed an overland route to sell formerly Hansa-monopolised products from Frankfurt via Nuremberg and Leipzig to Poland and Russia, trading Flemish cloth and French wine in exchange for grain and furs from the east. The Hansa profited from the Nuremberg trade by allowing Nurembergers to settle in Hanseatic towns, which the Franconians exploited by taking over trade with Sweden as well. The Nuremberger merchant Albrecht Moldenhauer was influential in developing the trade with Sweden and Norway, and his sons Wolf Moldenhauer and Burghard Moldenhauer established themselves in Bergen and Stockholm, becoming leaders of the local Hanseatic activities.
End of the Hansa
![Heinrich Sudermann](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Heinrich_Sudermann.jpg)
At the start of the 16th century, the Hanseatic League found itself in a weaker position than it had known for many years.
In the Swedish War of Liberation 1521-1523 the Hanseatic League was successful in opposition in an economic conflict it had over the trade, mining and metal industry in Bergslagen (the main mining area of Sweden in the 16th century) with Jakob Fugger (early extremely rich industrialist in the mining and metal industry on the continent) and his unfriendly business take-over attempt. Fugger allied with his financially dependent pope Leo X, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Christian II of Denmark/Norway. Both sides made huge costly investments in support of larger amounts of expensive hired mercenaries to win the war. The Hanseatic League fully restored its power in Gustav Vasa's Sweden and Frederick I of Denmark, Frederick I's
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
, 1523 after the war.
However, the Hanseatic League ended up on the wrong side in 1536 after Christian III's victory in the Count's Feud in Scania and
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
. With Sweden as his ally, money was gone, and the Hanseatic League's influence in the Nordic countries was over. After that the Hanseatic League was only seen as an unwanted competitor by Denmark-Norway and Sweden.
Later in the 16th century, Denmark-Norway took control of much of the Baltic Sea. Sweden had regained control over its own trade, the ''Kontor'' in Novgorod had closed, and the ''Kontor'' in
Bruges
Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...
had become effectively moribund. The individual cities making up the league had also started to put self-interest before their common Hanseatic interests. Finally, the political authority of the German princes had started to grow, constraining the independence of the merchants and Hanseatic towns.
The league attempted to deal with some of these issues: it created the post of Syndic in 1556 and elected Heinrich Sudermann as a permanent official with legal training, who worked to protect and extend the diplomatic agreements of the member towns. In 1557 and 1579 revised agreements spelled out the duties of towns and some progress was made. The Bruges ''Kontor'' moved to Antwerp and the Hansa attempted to pioneer new routes. However the league proved unable to prevent the growing mercantile competition, and so a long decline commenced. The Antwerp ''Kontor'' closed in 1593, followed by the London ''Kontor'' in 1598. The Bergen ''Kontor'' continued until 1754; of all the ''Kontore'', only its buildings, the ''Bryggen'', survive.
![Adler von Lübeck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Adler_von_L%C3%BCbeck.jpg)
The gigantic warship ''Adler von Lübeck'' was constructed for military use against Swedish Empire, Sweden during the Northern Seven Years' War (1563–70) but was never put to military use, epitomizing the vain attempts of Lübeck to uphold its long-privileged commercial position in a changing economic and political climate.
By the late 17th century, the league had imploded and could no longer deal with its own internal struggles. The social and political changes that accompanied the Protestant Reformation included the rise of Dutch Empire, Dutch and British Empire, English Mercantilism, merchants and the pressure of the Ottoman Empire upon the Holy Roman Empire and its trade routes.
In 1666, the Hanseatic
Steelyard
The Steelyard, from the Middle Low German (sample yard), was the main trading base () of the Hanseatic League in London during the 15th and 16th centuries.
Location
The Steelyard was located on the north bank of the Thames by the outflow o ...
in London was burned down by the Great Fire of London. The Kontor-manager sent a letter to Lübeck appealing for immediate financial assistance for a reconstruction. Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck called for a Hanseatic Day in 1669. Only a few cities participated and those who came were very reluctant to contribute financially to the reconstruction. It was the last formal meeting.
Nonetheless, the Hanseatic Republics were able to jointly perform some diplomacy, such as a List of ambassadors of Germany to the United States, joint delegation to the United States in 1827, led by Vincent Rumpff; later the U.S. established a consulate to the ''Hanseatic and Free Cities'' from 1857 to 1862. Britain maintained List of diplomats of the United Kingdom to the Hanseatic Cities, diplomats to the ''Hanseatic Cities'' until the unification of Germany in 1871.
Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck remained as the only members until the League's demise in 1862, on the eve of the 1867 founding of the North German Confederation and the 1871 founding of the German Empire under William I, German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm I. Until German reunification, these three cities were the only ones that retained the words "Hanseatic City" in their official German names. Since 1990, 24 other German cities have adopted this title.
After the disbandment of the Hanseatic League, the still significant trading cities of Hamburg and Bremen would be Accession of Hamburg to the German Customs Union (Zollverein), admitted to the German Customs Union (Zollverein) in 1888.
Organization
![Siegel Stralsund 1329](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Siegel_Stralsund_1329.preview.png)
The members of the Hanseatic League were Low German merchants, whose towns were, with the exception of Dinant, where these merchants held citizenship. Not all towns with Low German merchant communities were members of the league (e.g., Emden, Memel (today Klaipėda), Viborg (today Vyborg) and Narva never joined). However, Hanseatic merchants could also come from settlements without German town law—the premise for league membership was birth to German parents, subjection to German law, and a commercial education. The league served to advance and defend the common interests of its heterogeneous members: commercial ambitions such as enhancement of trade, and political ambitions such as ensuring maximum independence from the noble territorial rulers.
The Hanseatic League was by no means a monolithic organization or a 'state within a state' but rather a complex and loose-jointed confederation of protagonists pursuing their own interests, which coincided in a shared program of economic domination in the Baltic region.
Decisions and actions of the Hanseatic League were the consequence of a consensus-based procedure. If an issue arose, the league's members were invited to participate in a central meeting, the ''Tagfahrt'' ("meeting ride", sometimes also referred to as ''Hansetag'', since 1358). The member communities then chose envoys (''Ratssendeboten'') to represent their local consensus on the issue at the ''Tagfahrt''. Not every community sent an envoy; delegates were often entitled to represent a set of communities. Consensus-building on local and ''Tagfahrt'' levels followed the Low Saxon tradition of ''Einung'', where consensus was defined as absence of protest: after a discussion, the proposals which gained sufficient support were dictated aloud to the scribe and passed as binding ''Rezess'' if the attendees did not object; those favouring alternative proposals unlikely to get sufficient support were obliged to remain silent during this procedure. If consensus could not be established on a certain issue, it was found instead in the appointment of a number of league members who were then empowered to work out a compromise.
The Hanseatic ''Kontore'', which operated like an early stock exchange,
each had their own treasury, court and seal. Like the guilds, the ''Kontore'' were led by ''Ältermänner'' ("eldermen", or English aldermen). The Stalhof ''Kontor'', as a special case, had a Hanseatic and an English ''Ältermann''. In 1347 the ''Kontor'' of Brussels modified its statute to ensure an equal representation of the league's members. To that end, member communities from different regions were pooled into three circles (''Drittel'' ("third [part]"): the Germania Slavica, Wendish and Duchy of Saxony, Saxon Drittel, the Westphalian and Prussia (region), Prussian Drittel as well as the Gothlandian, Livonian and History of Sweden, Swedish Drittel). The merchants from their respective ''Drittel'' would then each choose two ''Ältermänner'' and six members of the Eighteen Men's Council (''Achtzehnmännerrat'') to administer the ''Kontor'' for a set period of time. In 1356, during a Hanseatic meeting in preparation of the first ''Tagfahrt'', the league confirmed this statute. The league in general gradually adopted and institutionalized the division into ''Drittel'' (see table).
The ''Tagfahrt'' or ''Hansetag'' was the only central institution of the Hanseatic League. However, with the division into ''Drittel'' (= ''Thirds''), the members of the respective subdivisions frequently held a ''Dritteltage'' ("''Drittel'' meeting") to work out common positions which could then be presented at a ''Tagfahrt''. On a more local level, league members also met, and while such regional meetings were never formalized into a Hanseatic institution, they gradually gained importance in the process of preparing and implementing ''Tagfahrt'' decisions.
Quarters
From 1554, the division into ''Drittel'' was modified to reduce the circles' heterogeneity, to enhance the collaboration of the members on a local level and thus to make the league's decision-making process more efficient.
The number of circles rose to four, so they were called ''Quartiere'' (quarters):
This division was however not adopted by the ''Kontore'', who, for their purposes (like ''Ältermänner'' elections), grouped the league members in different ways (e.g., the division adopted by the Stahlhof in London in 1554 grouped the league members into ''Dritteln'', whereby Lübeck merchants represented the Wendish, Pomeranian Saxon and several Westphalian towns, Cologne merchants represented the Duchy of Cleves, Cleves, County of Mark, Mark, Berg (state), Berg and Dutch towns, while Danzig merchants represented the Prussian and Livonian towns).
[
]
Lists of former Hansa cities
![Kaart Hanzesteden en handelsroutes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Kaart_Hanzesteden_en_handelsroutes.jpg)
The names of the Quarters have been abbreviated in the following table:
* Wendish: Wendish and Pomeranian
(or just Wendish)
Quarter
* Saxon: Saxon, Thuringian and Brandenburg
(or just Saxon)
Quarter
* Baltic: Prussian, Livonian and Swedish
(or East Baltic)
Quarter
* Westphalian: Rhine-Westphalian and Netherlands (including Flanders)
(or Rhineland)
Quarter
![Hansehausantwerpen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Hansehausantwerpen.jpg)
''Kontor'': The ''
Kontor
A ''kontor'' () was a foreign trading post of the Hanseatic League.
In addition to the major ''kontore'' in London (the Steelyard), Bruges, Bergen (Bryggen), and Novgorod (Peterhof), some ports had a representative merchant and a warehouse.
...
e'' were foreign trading posts of the League, not cities that were Hanseatic members, and are set apart in a separate table below.
The remaining column headings are as follows:
* "City" is the name, with any variants.
* "Territory" indicates the jurisdiction to which the city was subject at the time of the League.
* "Now" indicates the modern nation-state in which the city is located.
* "From" and "Until" record the dates at which the city joined and/or left the league.
Hansa Proper
}) for some years for having supported Kingdom of England, England; Dortmund was made capital of the Circle. Cologne also was called "Electorate of Cologne" (German: Kurfürstentum Köln or Kurköln). In June 1669 the last Hanseday was held in the town of Lübeck by the last remaining Hanse members, amongst others Cologne.
,
, - valign="top"
, Westphalian
,
,
,
,
,
, style="font-size: 90%;" , After Cologne was excluded after the Anglo-Hanseatic War (1470–74), Dortmund was made capital of the Rhine-Westphalian and Netherlands Circle.
,
, - valign="top"
, Westphalian
,
,
,
,
,
, style="font-size: 90%;" ,
,
, - valign="top"
, Westphalian
,
,
,
,
,
, style="font-size: 90%;" ,
,
, - valign="top"
, Westphalian
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
, - valign="top"
, Westphalian
,
,
,
,
,
, style="font-size: 90%;" ,
,
, - valign="top"
, Westphalian
,
,
,
, 12th century
,
, style="font-size: 90%;" ,
,
, - valign="top"
, Westphalian
,
,
,
,
,
, style="font-size: 90%;" , The city was a part of the Electorate of Cologne until acquiring its freedom in 1444–49, after which it aligned with the Duchy of Cleves.
,
''Kontore''
(Foreign trading posts of the League)
Ports with Hansa trading posts
![Hanseatic Warehouse King's Lynn](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Hanseatic_Warehouse_King%27s_Lynn.JPG)
* Berwick-upon-Tweed
*
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
*
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
* Damme
* Leith
*
Hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship
* Submarine hull
Mathematics
* Affine hull, in affi ...
* Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle
*
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...
*
King's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
*
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
Other cities with a Hansa community
* Aberdeen
* Åbo (Turku)
* Arnhem
* Avaldsnes
* Bolsward
* Bordeaux
* Brae
* Doesburg
* Elburg
* Fellin (Viljandi)
* Goldingen (Kuldīga)
* Göttingen
* Grindavík
* Grundarfjörður
* Gunnister
* Haapsalu
* Hafnarfjörður
* Hamelin
* Hanover
* Harderwijk
* Harlingen, Friesland, Harlingen
* Haroldswick
* Hasselt, Overijssel, Hasselt
* Hattem
* Herford
* Hildesheim
* Hindeloopen (Hylpen)
* Kalmar
* Kokenhusen (Koknese)
* Krambatangi
* Snæfellsnes, Kumbaravogur
* Kulm (Chełmno)
* Livorno, Leghorn
* Lemgo
* Lemsal (Limbaži)
* Lippe
* Lisbon
* Lunna Ness, Lunna Wick
* Messina
* Minden
* Naples
* Nantes
* Narva
* Nijmegen
* Nordhausen, Thuringia, Nordhausen
* Nyborg
* Nyköping
* Oldenzaal
* Ommen
* Paderborn
* Pernau (Pärnu)
* Roermond
* Roop (Straupe)
* Scalloway
* Smolensk
* Stargard
* Stavoren (Starum)
* Tórshavn
* Trondheim
* Tver
* Uelzen
* Venlo
* Vilnius
* Walk (Valka)
* Weißenstein (Paide)
* Wenden (Cēsis)
* Wesel
* Wesenberg (Rakvere)
* Windau (Ventspils)
* Wolmar (Valmiera)
* Zutphen
* Zwolle
Legacy Hanseatic connections
Despite its collapse, several cities still maintained the link to the Hanseatic League. Dutch cities including Groningen, Deventer, Kampen (Overijssel), Kampen, Zutphen and Zwolle, and a number of German cities including Bremen, Buxtehude, Demmin, Greifswald,
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
,
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
,
Lüneburg
Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also calle ...
, Rostock, Stade, Stralsund, Uelzen and Wismar still call themselves ''Hanse'' cities (their car license plates are prefixed ''H'', e.g. –''HB''– for "Hansestadt Bremen"). Hamburg and Bremen continue to style themselves officially as "free Hanseatic cities", with Lübeck named "Hanseatic City" (Rostock's football team is named F.C. Hansa Rostock in memory of the city's trading past). For Lübeck in particular, this anachronistic tie to a glorious past remained especially important in the 20th century. In 1937, the Nazi Party removed this privilege through the Greater Hamburg Act possibly because the ''Senat'' of Lübeck did not permit Adolf Hitler to speak in Lübeck during his 1932 election campaign. He held the speech in Bad Schwartau, a small village on the outskirts of Lübeck. Subsequently, he referred to Lübeck as "the small city close to Bad Schwartau."
After the EU enlargement to the East in May 2004 there were some experts who wrote about the resurrection of the Baltic Hansa.
The legacy of the Hansa is remembered today in several names: the German airline Lufthansa (lit. "Air Hansa"); F.C. Hansa Rostock; Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen,
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
; Hanze oil production platform, Netherlands; the Hansa Brewery in Bergen and the Hanse Sail in Rostock; DDG Hansa, which was a major German shipping company from 1881 until its bankruptcy and takeover by Hapag-Lloyd in 1980; Hansabank in Estonia, which has been rebranded into Swedbank; and Hansa-Park, one of the biggest theme parks in Germany.
There are two museums in Europe dedicated specifically to the history of the Hanseatic League: the European Hansemuseum in Lübeck and the Hanseatic Museum and Schøtstuene in Bergen.
Modern versions of the Hanseatic League
"City League The Hanse"
![Hanse Bund](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Hanse_Bund.jpg)
In 1980, former Hanseatic League members established a "new Hanse" in Zwolle. This league is open to all former Hanseatic League members and cities that share a Hanseatic Heritage. In 2012 the New Hanseatic league had 187 members. This includes twelve Russian cities, most notably
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
, which was a major Russian trade partner of the Hansa in the Middle Ages. The "new Hanse" fosters and develops business links, tourism and cultural exchange.
The headquarters of the New Hansa is in
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
, Germany. The current President of the Hanseatic League of New Time is Jan Lindenau, Mayor of Lübeck.
Each year one of the member cities of the New Hansa hosts the Hanseatic Days of New Time international festival.
In 2006,
King's Lynn
King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...
became the first English member of the newly formed new Hanseatic League.
It was joined by Hull in 2012 and
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
in 2016.
New Hanseatic League
The ''New Hanseatic League'' was established in February 2018 by finance ministers from
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
,
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
, Finland, Republic of Ireland, Ireland,
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
, Lithuania, the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and Sweden through the signing of a foundational document which set out the countries' "shared views and values in the discussion on the architecture of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union, EMU".
Historical maps
File:First.Crusade.Map.jpg, Europe in 1097
File:Europe in 1430.PNG, Europe in 1430
File:Europe in 1470.png, Europe in 1470
File:Carta Marina.jpeg, ''Carta marina'' of the Baltic Sea region (1539)
In popular culture
* In the ''The Patrician (video game), Patrician'' series of trading simulation video games, the player assumes the role of a merchant in any of several cities of the Hanseatic League.
* In the ''The Saga of Seven Suns, Saga of Seven Suns'' series of space opera novels by American writer Kevin J. Anderson, the human race has colonized multiple planets in the Spiral Arm, most of which are governed by the powerful Terran Hanseatic League (Hansa).
* ''Hansa Teutonica'' is a German style board game, German board game designed by Andreas Steding and published by Argentum Verlag in 2009.
* In the ''Metro (franchise), Metro franchise'' of Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic novels and video games, a trading alliance of stations called The Commonwealth of the Stations of the Ring Line is also known as the Hanseatic League, usually shortened to Hansa or Hanza.
See also
* Baltic maritime trade (c. 1400–1800)
* Bay Fleet
* Brick Gothic
* Company of Merchant Adventurers of London
* Hanseatic Cross
* Hanseatic Days of New Time
* Hanseatic flags
* Hanseatic Museum and Schøtstuene
* Hanseatic Trade Center
* History of Bremen (city), History of Bremen (City)
* Lufthansa
* Maritime republics
* New Hanseatic League
* Dithmarschen, Peasants' Republic
* Schiffskinder
* Thalassocracy
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
* Halliday, Stephen. "The First Common Market?" ''History Today'' 59 (2009): 31–37.
* Harreld, Donald J. ''A companion to the Hanseatic League'' (Brill, 2015).
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Wubs-Mrozewicz, Justyna, and Jenks, Stuart eds. '' The Hanse in Medieval and Early Modern Europe'' (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV, 2013)
*
Historiography
* Cowan, Alexander. "Hanseatic League: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide" (Oxford University Press, 2010
online* Harrison, Gordon. "The Hanseatic League in Historical Interpretation." ''The Historian'' 33 (1971): 385–97. .
* Szepesi, Istvan. "Reflecting the Nation: The Historiography of Hanseatic Institutions." ''Waterloo Historical Review'' 7 (2015)
online
External links
29th International Hansa Days in Novgorod30th International Hansa Days 2010 in Parnu-EstoniaChronology of the Hanseatic LeagueHanseatic Cities in the NetherlandsHanseatic League Historical Re-enactorsHanseatic Towns Network* s:de:Hanse, Hanseatic League related sources in the German Wikisource
Colchester: a Hanseatic portnbsp;– Gresham
The Lost Port of Sutton: Maritime trade
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