Hanseatic League

gigatos | February 21, 2022

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Summary

Hanseatic League (also German Hanseatic League or Düdesche Hanseatic League, Latin Hansa Teutonica) is the name for the associations of mainly North German merchants existing between the middle of the 12th century and the middle of the 17th century, whose aim was the safety of passage and the representation of common economic interests, especially abroad. The Hanseatic League was an important factor not only in the economic field, but also in the political and cultural fields.

A development from the “Kaufmannshanse” to a “Städtehanse” can be established at the latest in the middle of the 14th century with the first almost pan-Hanseatic day trips (Hansetagen), in which the Hanseatic cities joined together and represented the interests of the North German merchants. However, the exact demarcation between “Kaufmannshanse” and “Städtehanse” is disputed.

The colors of the Hanseatic League (white and red) can still be found today in the city coats of arms of many Hanseatic cities. In the times of its greatest expansion, almost 300 maritime and inland cities of northern Europe were united in the Hanseatic League of Cities. An important basis of these connections was the development of transportation, especially to sea, which is why the cog became the symbol of the Hanseatic League. Through free trade, many Hanseatic cities achieved great wealth, which can still be seen today in numerous important buildings.

Other merchant associations as far away as Austria also called themselves “Hanse” or “Hänse,” independently of the “great” North German Hanseatic League. As a rule, these were not political alliances between cities and territories, but rather brotherhoods that individual merchants joined. Often, such alliances were focused on a specific fair and took over economic control functions during its duration, as they were carried out by the guilds in larger cities.

The name Hanseatic League derives from the Old High German word hansa, which in the High Middle Ages became the translation of the Latin cohors (“retinue, band, group”), the earliest documented proper name of the Hanseatic League. The previous Common Germanic *hanso probably referred to “a community with a total cashier and whereby meals were eaten together.” Compare Gothic hunsl (“sacrificial meal”) and Swiss German hans (“drinking party”). The Finno-Ugric languages also took *hanso from the early Germanic languages, compare Finnish kansa (“people”), Karelian kanža (“gathering”), and Estonian kāz(a) (“comrade, consort”).

For a long time, the Hanseatic League was a political power of the first rank. Although its members were not sovereign – they each remained under the rule of different secular and ecclesiastical powers – it was economically and militarily successful. The beginning and end of the Hanseatic League are difficult to determine.

Also read, biographies – Pope Pius VII

Emergence of the merchant Hanse (until about 1250)

The German Hanseatic League developed in the 12th century from the communities of Baltic and North Sea merchants. Generally, the founding of Lübeck, the first German city on the Baltic Sea, in 1143 is considered decisive for the development of the Hanseatic League. Access to the Baltic Sea enabled trade between the resource-rich areas of northern Russia (e.g. grain, wood, wax, furs, furs) and the countries of western Europe with its finished products (e.g. cloth, wine).

There is no founding date of the Hanseatic League. It grew out of small, local structures and grew into a large organization. Not even contemporaries seem to have had clear ideas about it. In 1418, the council of the Hanseatic city of Bremen, in a dispute with Hamburg, turned to Cologne with a request for a copy of the Hanseatic League”s founding charter. The answer from Cologne was that they had searched in vain for the requested document van der fundatacien der Duytzschen hensze, but would continue to search and send the Bremeners the requested copy as soon as they found it.

The early Hanseatic League was the free association of merchants who sought the protection of the group for the perilous journey and could better represent their interests together at the destinations. To this end, the merchants of a city or region came together to travel in a carpool. The earliest evidence of such organized German trading groups exists for the appearance of Cologne merchants in London. In addition to the Germans, Flemish merchant groups were already present in London.

This form of organization means, among other things, that one cannot initially speak of “the” Hanseatic League or of a “founding” of the Hanseatic League, since it was merely individual groups that pursued their respective particular interests (and would continue to do so in later times).

In older research, the founding year of the Hanseatic League is often cited as the new founding in 1143 or the reconstruction of Lübeck in 1159, as well as the first surviving mention of a German merchants” association in 1157 in a London document. Philippe Dollinger argues for 1159 with the leading position of the Lübeck merchants during the whole Hanseatic period. In favor of 1157 is the fact that the Hanseatic League was initially a protective community of German merchants abroad and the acquisition of a plot of land near London for the construction of the Stalhof by Cologne merchants forms the first evidence of the existence of the community known to us today.

In 1160 Lübeck received the Soest city charter. The most important argument for this position is the Artlenburg Privilege of 1161, in which the Lübeck merchants were to be placed on an equal legal footing with the Gothic merchants who had previously dominated Baltic trade. According to Dollinger, the cooperative of German merchants traveling to Gotland (universi mercatores Imperii Romani Gotlandiam frequentam), to which not only Lübeck merchants belonged, can probably be regarded as the nucleus of the merchant Hanseatic League.

The foundation of Lübeck in 1143 can therefore be seen as a decisive factor in the development of the Hanseatic League, because it was the first German city on the Baltic Sea with secure connections to the hinterland and thus became, as it were, the “gateway” for North German merchants to trade with the East. The background for the great importance of the Baltic Sea access was that Western Europe could in this way conduct trade with Russia and via the Dnieper and Volga all the way to the Orient (Caspian Sea, Persia). At the time of the Golden Horde, trade with Central Asia and China was strengthened. Conversely, the North Russian trade oriented itself to the West via the Baltic Sea, which allowed the development of an East-West trade connection between the raw material-rich areas of North Russia (grain, wax, wood, furs, mainly via Novgorod) and the finished products of Western Europe (including cloth from Flanders and England). Along the way, the Christianization of the Scandinavians, who still dominated Baltic trade in the early 12th century, will have contributed to the integration of the Baltic into European trade. With access to the Baltic Sea for German merchants, they were able to establish a trade route that linked the important trading centers of Novgorod and Bruges almost entirely under their influence.

Incidentally, at about the same time as the Hanseatic League, the Knudsgilde was founded, which spread throughout the Danish-Scandinavian area and subsequently competed with the Hanseatic League.

From the 12th century onwards, the Baltic Sea region was increasingly opened up for German trade as part of the Eastern Settlement.

In Lübeck, the Community of German Gotlanders, also called the Gotland Cooperative, was founded on the model of merchant protective associations. It was an association of individual merchants of North German origin, Saxon legal customs and similar trading interests from Northwest Germany, Lübeckers and from new town foundations on the Baltic Sea, among others.

Trade in the Baltic Sea was initially dominated by Scandinavians, with the island of Gotland acting as a center and “hub”. With the mutual assurance of trading privileges of German and Gotland merchants under Lothar III, German merchants began trading with Gotland (hence “Gotlandfahrer”). Soon the German merchants followed the Gotland merchants also to their ancestral trading destinations on the Baltic coast and especially to Russia, which led to bloody disputes in Visby, by now with a large German community, between German and Gotland merchants due to the steady German influx. This dispute was settled in 1161 through the mediation of Henry the Lion, and the mutual trading privileges were re-invoked in the Artlenburg Privilege, which was considered in older research as the “birth” of the Gothic cooperative. To speak of a “birth” here, however, fails to recognize the structures that already existed.

Visby initially remained the hub of Baltic trade with a main connection to Lübeck, but increasingly came into conflict with Lübeck regarding its role as the protective power of the German merchants in Russia. Visby founded the Peterhof in Novgorod around 1200, after the conditions in the Scandinavian Gothic court, where the Goths initially received the German merchants, were no longer sufficient for the Germans.

The rapid rise, the securing of numerous privileges and the spread of the almost omnipresent merchants of the Gothic cooperative in the Baltic Sea, but also in the North Sea, in England and Flanders (there, incidentally, in competition with the old trade relations of the Rhenish Hanseatic merchants) led historical research to see in this grouping the core of the early Hanseatic League (Dollinger even sees in 1161 the actual birth of the Hanseatic League at all). However, identifying the Gothic cooperative as “the” early Hanseatic League would do injustice to all Low German trade relations (especially with Flanders and London) that did not take place under the seal of the cooperative.

Also read, biographies – David Hockney

Emergence of the Städtehanse, heyday (about 1250 to 1400)

Changes in Europe led to developments for the Hanseatic League that resulted in the so-called Städtehanse. These include the pacification of trade routes, the end of traditional carpooling, the “commercial revolution,” the development of cities, and the end of the imperial protectorate in the interregnum.

The merchant”s status had become relatively well established in European society, and trade routes were becoming increasingly secure, especially in structurally densely networked Western Europe. Thus, car pools, which promised security, became less and less important. It became possible to trade on one”s own and, moreover, to send representatives instead of traveling in person. This was an important factor in commercial development, sometimes called the “commercial revolution.” Along with the development of cities, where a permanent market was possible, the more successful merchants became resident. They regulated their commercial business from one city by sending an agent and were thus able to organize several commercial transactions at the same time from one central point. A multiplication of trading activities became possible. The payment of trade goods via promissory bills, bills of exchange (not quite as common in the Hanseatic area as, for example, in Upper Italy), or other forms of credit freed the merchant from a pure barter system and in turn enabled an expansion of trade. The fair system (i.e. the regular wholesale markets in a region, such as in Champagne or Scania) became less important as cities developed into new centers of trade. Cities, on the other hand, also had quite practical advantages: The heavy, bulbous transport ships (especially cogs), with which particularly large cargoes could be traded with only a few ships, needed deep harbors to dock. Landing on a shallow shore and pulling the ship ashore, as was previously common with the older, shallow trading boats, was no longer possible.

It remains to be remembered, however, that a kind of west-east divide prevailed in these developments. While in the west, commercial agents and credit spread rapidly, in the east, especially in trade with Novgorod and along the Düna, carpooling and bartering were still common. Here, travel was still uncertain and innovations were slow to catch on.

The settling of merchants in the cities quickly led to these economically potent city dwellers rising to the council and to the highest positions in the city. It may not even be necessary to speak of “advancement” within the city, since many merchants were originally persons of the social upper class anyway. The result was that the cities were dominated primarily by merchants.

Merchants in the empire were traditionally under royal-imperial protection; they were the mercatores imperii. With the end of the Hohenstaufen rule in the empire and the following uncertain times of the so-called interregnum, this imperial protection was effectively lost and the princely territorial rulers could not (or did not want to) replace this function. The merchants found a new, locally organized protective power in the cities. Cities began (mostly under strong mercantile influence anyway) to provide security for trade routes and to monitor the observance of their merchants” trading privileges in trade destinations. To this end, they consulted with other cities, formed alliances, and began to coordinate their actions at larger gatherings, the so-called Tagfahrten. Any city that wanted to settle a certain matter together with other cities could invite to a day trip. To this end, it invited the cities concerned, which could send council envoys as representatives to reach an agreement. To put it somewhat casually: If a city wants something, it must take care of it and come to an agreement with the others. Ultimately, this corresponds in essence to the organizational system of the Hanseatic League. One can speak of a first all-Hanseatic day trip, i.e. a first “Hansetag”, in 1356, when the conditions in Flanders necessitated a day trip that ultimately affected all Hanseatic cities.

The Hanseatic League developed from the original merchant Hanseatic League to a city Hanseatic League, in which cities formed a mutual alliance. The founding year is often given as 1241, when Lübeck and Hamburg put their close cooperation, which had already existed for eleven years, on a contractual basis, which later gave rise to the Wendish League of Cities. Five years later, alliances of Westphalian and (Lower) Saxon towns began to form (example: Ladbergen League of Towns). About 100 years later, the confederations of Prussian and Livonian towns were formed (for the affiliation of individual towns to the confederations, see Hansestadt).

A city could be or become a member of the Hanseatic League in three ways. Until the mid-14th century, cities grew into the community through the participation of their merchants in Hanseatic trade. From the mid-14th century onward, cities made formal applications for admission or readmission. A third way into the Hanseatic League was often taken by smaller towns, which accepted one of the larger towns without any special formalities. A special case remained Neuss in the Rhineland, which was elevated to the rank of a Hanseatic city by imperial privilege in 1475.

Hanseatic status was lost through non-use of privileges, voluntary withdrawal from the community or formal exclusion of a town (Verhansung), which could be carried out by the town assembly in the case of serious violations of the principles and interests of the community.

Between about 1350 and 1400, the Hanseatic League stood as a major northern European power, which was related, among other things, to the successful assertion of Hanseatic interests in economic disputes in Flanders. To this end, the first Hanseatic Day met in 1356 (i.e. the first day trip in which almost all Hanseatic cities participated). This was not an official foundation of the Hanseatic League, but it was the first time that almost all the cities coordinated their actions in the interest of their advantages and trading privileges and acted as the Bund van der düdeschen hanse. Before and even after this “moving together”, the German Hanseatic League was rather freely organized, had no constitution and no membership lists, no permanent independent financial management or officials.

The resolutions of the Hanseatic League at the day journeys and, from 1356, also at Hanseatic congresses, were recorded in the Hanseatic diet. Resolutions were not passed by majorities, but were subject to the principle of unanimity (consensus). Discussions and negotiations took place until “agreement was reached”, whereby abstentions were considered as agreement. However, the delegated representatives of the cities, the Tagfahrer, did not have the authority to make a decision on behalf of their city, but returned to their city with the result of the Hansa Convention, where it was up to the city council whether the decision was accepted or not. As a result, there was hardly ever a decision of a Hansa Convention that was actually supported by all the cities of the Hanseatic League. Rather, a city”s approval and participation depended on whether the matter suited its economic interests or not. A trade embargo against England, for example, could well correspond to the interests of Lübeck, but be strictly rejected by Cologne because of its old trade relations with London. It was precisely this freedom of the cities to accept or reject resolutions of Hanseatic assemblies that made the principle of unity at the Hanseatic assemblies necessary. In order to achieve the agreement of as many cities as possible, negotiations continued until most of them could be satisfied with the result.

The core of the Hanseatic League was formed by about 72 cities, with another 130 loosely associated. Thus, the Hanseatic League”s sphere of influence extended over an area that stretched from Flanders to Reval, encompassing the entire Baltic Sea region as far as the Gulf of Finland. The only non-metropolitan member was the Teutonic Order – a territorial state led by knights of the order.

The supremacy thus achieved by the Hanseatic League in the North and Baltic Seas aroused opposition above all from Denmark: in 1361, the First Waldemar War resulted in a battle against Danish King Waldemar IV. Atterdag, who wanted to restrict the rights of the Hanseatic League. The confederation, which originally served only economic interests, gained great political importance through the Cologne Confederation, which was formed against the threat of the Danish king and united the cities in a war alliance with Sweden and Norway against Denmark. The victorious outcome of this Second Waldemar War gave the Hanseatic League an unusual position of power with the Peace of Stralsund in 1370. The election of a king in Denmark was made dependent on the Hanseatic League”s consent – however, the Hanseatic League did not exercise this option.

The Hanseatic League also proved itself in the fight against the pirate league of the Vitalienbrüder, which ended in 1401 or 1402 with the execution (by beheading) of their leader Gödeke Michels in Hamburg.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the city of Emden was in constant conflict with the Hanseatic League, as the pirates around Klaus Störtebeker were supported from Emden (and other places in East Frisia such as Marienhafe). The consequence of this conflict was the repeated occupation of Emden by Hanseatic (mainly Hamburg) forces. The Hamburgers did not finally leave Emden until 1447.

The attempt of the Danish king Erich VII to free Scandinavia from dependence and the introduction of the Sund tariff led to a new war from 1426 to 1435, in which Denmark was again defeated and which ended in 1435 with the (after 1365 second) Peace of Vordingborg.

Also read, biographies – Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Crises and decline (about 1400 to 1669)

The main reasons for the decline of the Hanseatic League were the consolidation of the territorial states, the partial shift of the east-west trade routes of the Nuremberg and Augsburg merchants to the overland route (Frankfurt-Leipzig-Krakow) and the increasing competition in trade and production. With the exception of Hamburg and Bremen, the Hanseatic League was hardly involved in the Atlantic trade that followed from the discovery of America and replaced the previously dominant Baltic-West Sea (now North Sea) trade. Although the absolute trade volume of the Hanseatic League in the North and Baltic Seas did not decrease, but probably even increased, the loss of the previous monopoly position and the entry of strong competitors for many important products squeezed the margins of most Hanseatic merchants. Conflicts of interest within the Hanseatic League increased and prevented a more united approach. An innovative backwardness in commercial and technical matters contributed to a further loss of importance. Walter Eucken, for example, believed that the decline of the German Hanseatic League was caused by the failure of the maritime trading cooperatives to introduce double-entry bookkeeping.

The loss of power of the Hanseatic League began with the strengthening of the territorial powers of the sovereigns in the Baltic region as well. There was a penetration and consolidation of princely power in their respective dominions. England consolidated its position after the end of the Wars of the Roses (1455-85) and the victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 by building a navy and a strong long-distance trade. The Grand Duchy of Moscow extended its territory of power to Novgorod in the “gathering of the Russian soil” after the end of the Tartar rule. Spain, under the rule of the Habsburgs, brought Flanders into greater dependence. The Union of Kalmar (1397-1523) increased the political possibilities of Scandinavia. For Denmark, the enforcement of the Sund tariff was now more attractive than the Hanseatic counterparts for privileges at the Schonian fairs. These developments contributed significantly to the loss of importance, and in some cases even the closure, of the Hanseatic outposts in London, Novgorod, Bruges and Bergen. With the new state power, which was now also present in the area, it was possible to enforce the land peace and secure the land routes. In addition, the territorial states grew their own self-confident merchant classes, so that alternatives to Hanseatic trade emerged. Also, the military power of the Hanseatic League decreased in relation to the territorial powers, so that the Hanseatic League could no longer extort the continuation of its privileges in this way. The only territorial power with which the Hanseatic League had been allied for a long time, the Teutonic Knights, lost its military importance with its defeat at Tannenberg. The consolidation of sovereign power also directly threatened the political freedom of action of the smaller Hanseatic cities that were not free of the empire. Berlin and Kölln were forced to leave the Hanseatic League in 1442 by the rule of the Hohenzollerns. Wismar and Rostock fell more and more under the influence of the dukes of Mecklenburg. Due to the Thirty Years” War, Wismar suffered especially from high tribute demands and from being cut off from its hinterland. With the exception of Lübeck, the Wendish Quarter lost its central importance within the Hanseatic League. In its final phase, the Hanseatic League effectively consisted only of the free cities of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen.

As early as 1441, the Hanseatic League had to recognize the economic equality of the Dutch in the Peace of Copenhagen – the end of the Hanseatic-Dutch War (1438-1441) – after Bruges, the Hanseatic League”s most important trading post, had grown into a powerful competitor in Antwerp and the Netherlands had also allied itself with the Danes as the “Lords of the Sound.” In addition, disagreement arose between the cities about how to deal with the Dutch: While the Wendish cities were more threatened by the strengthening of Dutch trade and pushed for an irreconcilable policy, the Teutonic Order, Cologne and the Livonian cities could better live with a more conciliatory policy according to their own interests.

The Peace of Utrecht (1474) ended the Hanseatic-English War of the Wendish and Prussian Quarter cities against England, which had begun in 1470, and secured the privileges of the London Stalhof and the Hanseatic cloth trade. The turning point to the final decline of the Hanseatic League is considered to be the year 1494 with the closure of the Novgorod Kontor: the Peterhof in Novgorod was destroyed during the conquest of Novgorod by Ivan III. Russian trade increasingly shifted to the cities on the Baltic coast.

Beginning in the 16th century, the Hanseatic League, under the leadership of Lübeck, began to become involved in numerous wars in northern Europe, which reduced the military strength of the Hanseatic League and undermined its internal clout. In time, many of the League”s cities grew tired of raising money and soldiers for the numerous political adventures and wars of Lübeck, the center of the League, as many members saw the League primarily as a trade alliance rather than a political union. The Hanseatic League suffered its first setback in the Danish-Hanseatic War, which ended in 1512. This setback was made up for by the support of Sweden during the Swedish War of Liberation, which resulted in Gustav I Wasa ascending the throne of Sweden in 1524. In the same year, the Hanseatic fleet also conquered Zealand and Copenhagen and installed Frederick I as the new king of Denmark. This marked the last great foreign policy success of the Hanseatic League.

But the conquest of Sweden by Christian II in 1520, financed by Jakob Fugger, who tried to take Bergslagen unfriendly in the competition for the position of the Hanseatic League, was a major challenge. The sharp increase in funding and financial dependence meant that at times the parties were able to keep up with larger numbers of expensive hired mercenaries, which explains the waning of power and rapid changes in the situation during the proceedings. Fugger later withdrew from the project in 1521 after losing the Swedish War of Liberation in the Battle of Västerås (and control of shipping from Bergslagen) to Gustav Vasa”s rebellion. The Hanseatic League largely financed the Swedish War of Liberation and by 1523 had fully restored its privileges in Sweden, making the new king very dependent. But the cost was considerable, and after Christian III”s victory with Gustav Vasa”s Sweden as an ally in 1536 in the count”s feud in Skåne and Denmark, the money was gone and the Hanseatic influence in the Nordic countries was over. The Hanseatic League was seen as an unwanted competitor.

After Frederick I”s death, the so-called Count”s Feud broke out in 1534 over the succession to the throne of Denmark. Now Lübeck, under the mayor of Lübeck Jürgen Wullenwever, supported the once deposed King Christian II against the new King Christian III and thus also made an enemy of Sweden.After the surrender of the Lübeck forces trapped in Copenhagen, the Hanseatic League lost its dominant influence over Denmark. Finally, in 1563-1570, the Nordic Triple Crown War took place, in which Sweden fought Denmark and the Hanseatic League for supremacy in the Baltic Sea. Although the Hanseatic League was able to partially achieve its war aims, the war, which lasted several years, brought trade in the Baltic Sea to a standstill.

With the partial shift of foreign trade to land routes and overseas, the Hanseatic League was already losing an increasing part of its trade volume. The consolidation of the power of the territorial states in the area, allowed the expansion and better protection of trade over land. The fur trade with Russia, in particular, was routed overland instead of by Hanseatic ships across the Baltic Sea, with Leipzig as the most important trading hub. The Hanseatic League was thus hardly able to participate in Leipzig”s development into the central transhipment point for furs in Europe. There were also profound changes in the remaining maritime trade. Larger ships (the three-masted Kraweel) with better rigging and steering (amidships) that could sail higher on the wind than the earlier single-masted cog with rudder, required less time in port and achieved faster travel times. Inventions such as the compass also contributed to the ability to choose more direct routes and avoid having to keep an eye on the coast. It was no longer necessary to call at the intermediate stations controlled by the Hanseatic League. The first to become obsolete was the Kontor in Visby on Gotland, since not only Hanseatic, but increasingly also Dutch and English merchants were able to call at the trading centers in Livonia and Russia from their home ports without having to make a stopover. From the end of the 15th century, English merchants who bought stockfish in Iceland also increasingly bypassed the counter in Bergen. This put an end to the Hanseatic stockfish monopoly. With faster and longer direct trade routes, the Hanseatic intermediate trade had become obsolete. The Hanseatic League had less and less leverage to have its trading privileges confirmed. In addition, the increasing direct contacts of large Hanseatic cities with foreign merchants and of the latter with each other meant that the Hanseatic staple ports lost their monopoly position. Hamburg undermined the Hanseatic ban on guest trading and allowed English merchants to offer their goods directly in Hamburg. The Danzig Sundfahrt undermined the Lübeck stacking right. While the larger maritime cities of the Hanseatic League were able to face the new competition, at least to some extent, with larger ships and the expansion of their ports, the smaller maritime cities of the Hanseatic League were no longer able to do so. Stralsund, for example, was no longer able to make the necessary investments to expand its harbor to accommodate the now larger ships. The traditional corporatist, anti-competitive and “xenophobic” (according to Dollinger, especially about Cologne) structures and regulations, which demanded, for example, that Hanseatic merchants were not allowed to marry foreign women, were no longer a match for international, especially Dutch and English, competition. With the increasing legal security also for foreign merchants in the trading cities, the merchant no longer needed the protection of the Kontor. It became more convenient to rent privately and to enter into intimate relationships than to submit to the strict regulations of the Kontor in an all-male society.

Competition arose for the Hanseatic League not only from trade but also from new production areas. Changing hydrological conditions in the Baltic Sea altered its salinity, which led to a decline in the herring shoals in the Baltic. The importance of the Hanseatic-controlled Schonian fairs therefore declined, while strong competition arose from the development of English, Flemish and Dutch herring fishing. Competition from Western European herring production became possible after salt (Baiensalz) obtained from the Atlantic coasts could be processed better than before and challenged the Lüneburg salt monopoly. The Dutch, in particular, made great progress in extracting the by-products from sea salt, which enabled Western European herring production to shorten its qualitative lag. At the same time, the Lüneburg salt works suffered from an increasing shortage of firewood. Cloth production, which began in England at the end of the 14th century, contributed significantly to the formation of a separate English merchant class and harmed the Hanseatic cloth trade between Flanders and England.

The Hanseatic cities lost their leading position in shipbuilding to the Dutch. Through strong rationalization (standardized components, use of wind-driven saws), Dutch shipbuilding achieved a leading position. The lease of the Stockholm shipyard in 1600 to a Dutch shipbuilder underlines this. Subsequently, it was also this technological backwardness that prevented the Hanses from participating in the developing global maritime trade. The Hanseatic League also fell behind in commercial matters. Although double-entry bookkeeping existed in the late Hanseatic period (in Lübeck since 1340, Stuart Jenks), it became established later than in Upper Italy and Southern Germany. Previously, the accounting of companies of several Hanseatic merchants took place only when the company was liquidated (on average after 20 years). Therefore, a regular overview of the available equity was not possible for the Hansen. Accounting was based on total purchase prices and revenues, not on individual transactions (Carsten Jahnke). In Augsburg and Nuremberg, double-entry bookkeeping according to debit and credit had already become established in the large trading groups at this time, which allowed better calculation and book money creation. The Fuggers, on the other hand, had already been using the principles of their chief accountant Matthäus Schwarz since 1511. Banking transactions were thus much easier for the Hanseatic League”s southern German competitors. Large banks, stock exchanges and trading companies on the scale of the Fuggers in Augsburg, the Dutch East India Company and the major banks in the northern Italian cities were therefore unable to develop in the Hanseatic region, or only at a much later and weaker stage. The Hamburg Stock Exchange was founded in 1558, the Bremen Stock Exchange in 1620. In Flanders (Bruges, 1409, Antwerp, 1460) and southern Germany (Augsburg and Nuremberg 1540), stock exchanges had already established themselves. While the Hamburg bank was founded in 1619, the Medici bank in Bruges had existed for almost 150 years (1472). The liquidity of the Hanseatic merchants was also not high. Exemplary are Veckinchusen”s difficulties in the 15th century to raise 500 marks for a wedding, while the Fuggers were able to influence the emperor”s election in 1519 with more than 500,000 guilders, of which only one third had to be refinanced through sub-participations. After the failure of Veckinghusen”s Venice Company, therefore, there was hardly any Hanseatic trade in southern Germany. Nor did the Hanseatic merchants succeed in extending the value chain along the lines of the Fuggers by acquiring mines. In Antwerp, the great competitor in Flanders to Bruges, the Fuggers established themselves against the Hanses.

Nevertheless, the Hanseatic League attempted to reorganize itself, appointing Heinrich Sudermann from Cologne as its syndic in 1556 and thus giving itself its own spokesman and representative for the first time. Sudermann was succeeded from 1605 to 1618 by Johann Domann, a syndic from Stralsund who was born in Osnabrück. However, it was not possible to overcome the internal conflicts of interest among the member cities. This applied not only to the competition between the large maritime cities of the Hanseatic League, but also to the fundamental differences between the rich maritime cities and the comparatively poor inland cities of the Hanseatic League. Since the inequality in the law of staples, which existed to the detriment of the inland cities, was never sustainably balanced, the inland cities also did not see the Hanseatic League as their central alliance system, but only as an option that was only used on a case-by-case basis when it directly benefited the city.

After a brief interlude during the Spanish-Dutch War, since the beginning of the 17th century the proud and powerful Hanseatic League of cities was an alliance in name only, although some cities of the closer core resisted this development. Thus, not only did these cities form joint defense alliances, but in addition to employing the syndic Domann, they also hired a joint military leader in the person of Colonel Friedrich zu Solms-Rödelheim, who also had to supervise the jointly employed fortress builder Johan van Valckenburgh from the Netherlands. The Thirty Years” War brought about its complete dissolution. A proposal by Spain to establish a “Hanseatic-Spanish Company” to conduct trade to the new Spanish colonies in Central America failed because of the political antagonisms between the “Catholic” and “Protestant” power blocs.

At the Hanseatic Days of 1629 and 1641, Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck were charged with upholding the best for the good of the Hanseatic League. In 1669, the last remaining cities in the Hanseatic League, Lübeck, Hamburg, Bremen, Gdansk, Rostock, Brunswick, Hildesheim, Osnabrück and Cologne held the last Hansa Convention in Lübeck, with the first three taking over the protection of the continents abroad.

In 1684, Emperor Leopold called on the Lübeck Hanseatic League to provide monetary aid for the war against the Turks.

The Bergen Kontor was sold in 1775, the Stalhof (Steelyard) in London in 1858. The Bruges Hanseatic Kontor, moved to Antwerp in 1540, passed into the hands of the Belgian government in 1863.

The three cities of Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck continued to stick closely together later on and, if only for reasons of cost, had joint diplomatic missions at Europe”s courts and joint consulates in important ports. The minister-residents Vincent Rumpff in Paris and James Colquhoun in London concluded modern trade and shipping treaties on behalf of the North German city-republics, based on reciprocity and most-favored-nation treatment, which were adopted by the North German Confederation in 1867 and continued for a long time by the new empire.

Lübeck was considered unchallenged as caput et principium omnium (German: Haupt und Ursprung aller) since 1294 and was confirmed as hovestad of the Hanseatic League several times in the 14th and 15th centuries. However, Lübeck could not derive any special rights vis-à-vis the other cities of the Hanseatic League from this function.

Lübeck usually invited to the Hanseatic Days and, according to an edict of Emperor Charles IV, was the court of appeal for all Hanseatic cities, which had to judge according to their own Lübian law.

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Thirds and quarters

The Hanseatic League was organized into groups of cities. Initially there were three groups, so-called thirds, and from 1554 four groups, so-called quarters.

In 1347, the existence of thirds was mentioned for the first time in the statutes of the Hanseatic Kontor in Bruges. The London Kontor also had such an administration by thirds, but other Kontors did not. The Kontor was administered in thirds by each of the Lübeck-Saxon, Westphalian-Prussian and Gothic-Liveland cities. It is assumed that this division corresponded to the distribution of power within the Hanseatic League at that time, because a division based purely on regional considerations would certainly not have organized the widely separated cities from Westphalia and Prussia together.

Each third was led by a city called Vorort. Obviously, it was advantageous to be the leading city within a third, because soon there were intra-Hanseatic disputes about the division and leadership of the thirds. In the beginning, the main cities were Lübeck, Dortmund and Visby. In addition, the Thirds held Third Days to discuss especially Flanders issues and supplemented the Hanseatic Days. Cologne replaced Dortmund in the leadership of the Westphalian-Prussian Third. Between Visby and Riga, the leading role in the Gothic-Livish third changed several times. The importance of Lübeck at that time is also shown by the fact that the leading role of the city in the most powerful Lusatian-Wendish third was never challenged.

At the Hansa Convention in 1554, the thirds were made into quarters. From then on, Lübeck led the Wendish quarter, Brunswick and Magdeburg the Saxon quarter, Gdansk the Prussian-Liveland quarter and Cologne the Cologne quarter.

Hansa Convention

The General Hansa Convention was the highest governing and decision-making body of the Hanseatic League. The first Hansa Convention was held in 1356, the last in 1669. Hanseatic congresses were held as needed, usually at the invitation of Lübeck. Between 1356 and 1480, 54 Hansa Conventions were held there, ten more in Stralsund, three in Hamburg, two in Bremen, and one each in Cologne, Lüneburg, Greifswald, Brunswick (1427), and Uelzen (1470).

The items on the agenda were announced months in advance in order to give the individual cities or groups of cities sufficient time for consultation. In the end, Lübeck was not able to enforce a fixed order as to which cities were to be invited, and accordingly invited different cities to the days – probably following the respective problem.

All issues concerning the relationship of merchants and cities with each other or relations with trading partners abroad were dealt with at the Hansa Convention. Examples include:

According to the idea, the decisions were to be binding for all members. However, the Hansa Convention had no authority over the cities. The implementation of the resolutions depended on the will of the cities; it was solely at their discretion to support the resolutions of the Hansa Convention or to go their own way. They therefore felt bound only if the resolutions coincided with their own local interests, otherwise they refused to cooperate. One example is Dortmund”s refusal to join the war alliance of the Wendish, Prussian and some Dutch cities against the Danish King Waldemar IV, which was concluded in Cologne in 1367 and was so momentous for the history of the Hanseatic League. In a letter to the council messengers gathered in Lübeck, the city stated that it had never supported the wars of the maritime cities and did not want to do so now. Conversely, in 1388 the other Hanseatic cities, even the Westphalian ones, left Dortmund alone when its sovereignty was at stake in the Great Feud and it was threatened by the assembled armies of the Archbishop of Cologne and the Count of the Mark. Similar examples abound.

By and large, the cities had to bear their own travel and accommodation expenses. To minimize the expenses, they tried to appoint syndici to represent their interests. However, at the Hansa Convention of 1418, it was determined that only the councillors of a city were entitled to represent their interests.

In July 1669, the last Hansa Convention was held in Lübeck, after the revival of the Hanseatic League had failed due to the Thirty Years” War or the inability of the League of Cities to develop viable power structures. Only nine delegates came, and they left again without passing any resolutions. The Hanseatic League was thus never formally dissolved, but ended “gently”.

(For other Hanseatic Days: see Hanseatic Days of the Modern Era.)

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Regional Day

In addition to the Hanseatic and Third Days, so-called regional days were also held, at which the representatives of neighboring towns met and also discussed non-Hanseatic matters. These regional days were organized by the councils of the participating cities. They were also responsible for implementing the decisions of the assemblies in the respective cities.

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Trade goods

Economic goods with a high Hanseatic trade volume were mainly wax from Russia, stockfish from Norway, herring from Scania, salt from Lüneburg, grain from Prussia and Livonia, beer mainly from Wismar. Particularly lucrative was the triangular trade which was carried out mainly by Lübeck Hanseatic merchants in the North Sea until 1467: Beer, grain, wine and cloth was exported to Bergen. Stockfish and wood were bought there and sold in England. From England the Lübeckers took wool, which was sold in Flanders. The cloth bought in Flanders was also sold in Lübeck.

Shipping

The combination of land and sea transport in one organization was, along with the granting of privileges, one of the decisive steps into the future that would eventually bring the Hanseatic League monopoly-like dominance in trade and transport on the North and Baltic Seas. Until well into the 14th century, however, the Hanseatic League did not open up new transport routes on the water; rather, it took over the transport routes opened up by the Frisians, Saxons, English and Scandinavians. Trading partners and skippers were displaced, often under the appearance of fair contracts among equal partners. An example of this is Henry the Lion”s privilege to the Gotlanders in 1161. When the Gotlanders refused to accept the merchants from the newly refounded Lübeck (1159) as trading partners, Henry mediated and conceded the same rights to the Gotlanders in his territory as the Gotlanders were to grant to the Germans on their island. Now the merchants from Visby, who until then had dominated the intermediate trade on the Baltic Sea, could at best bring their goods as far as Lübeck; the direct route further inland remained blocked to them.

Another advantage of Hanseatic shipping was a certain legal certainty vis-à-vis competitors, a developed maritime law that regulated issues of chartering, manning, conditions on board, conduct in the event of a maritime emergency, etc. Legal security for Hanseatic ships, especially abroad, was fundamental for the smooth functioning of the transport organization. Issues of technical ship safety and seaworthiness of ships were also taken very seriously, as was the protection of merchant ships against piracy. The ships therefore usually sailed in convoys of two and three ships, and from 1477 larger Hanseatic ships were required to have 20 armed men on board each. However, these measures did not always protect against capture. In local legends, the following Hanseatic ships achieved fame: Peter von Danzig (Gdansk), Bunte Kuh (Hamburg), Adler von Lübeck, Jesus von Lübeck, Löwe von Lübeck.

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Traffic routes and flow of goods

During the Hanseatic period, the volume of trade increased across the old transport routes throughout Europe and new trade routes emerged. Of greatest importance for the Hanseatic League were the South-North route via the Rhine and Weser to London and the West-East route from London through the North and Baltic Seas to Novgorod. Another important connection was the route from Magdeburg via Lüneburg, Bremen or Lübeck to Bergen.

Hamburg and Lübeck worked closely together: While Hamburg covered the North Sea region and Western Europe in particular, Lübeck”s maritime traffic was oriented towards Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea region from the Bergen Kontor Bryggen to Novgorod (Peterhof). Politically, Lübeck”s influence has also been of outstanding importance for the development of Hanseatic trade in the Hanseatic Kontor in Bruges and in the London Stalhof. Trade between the two Hanseatic cities was mainly carried out over land, for example via the Old Salt Road, but also by barge through the Stecknitz Canal, which was also used to transport salt from Lüneburg, one of Lübeck”s most important exports to the north and east. The salt was needed in the Baltic region to preserve fish. In the Middle Ages, herring was a tasty and affordable alternative to the more expensive meat for all classes of the population. In addition, people ate fish as a fasting food on Christian fasting days and every Friday.

Along the old Rhenish traffic line, wine from the Cologne area in particular was traded since Roman times, and wool from England. Metal goods were traded in both directions, but products from Italy and France also reached northwestern Europe along this route. With the emergence of the Hanseatic League, German merchants increasingly brought their goods to the British Isles on their own ships and used the services of the Frisians for this purpose less and less. The cities of the Rhenish and Westphalian League of Cities, led by Cologne and Dortmund, respectively, were located along this traffic route.

This trade route went from London and Bruges to the Baltic Sea region, initially mainly to Scandinavia. The trade was stimulated by the Christianization of Scandinavia and the southern Baltic region and was initially dominated by the Goths. They traded eastern goods, furs and wax from the northeastern Baltic region as well as foodstuffs from northwestern Europe (butter, grain, livestock and fish) along this route, bypassing Jutland. Frisian traders were also active, often bringing goods from the North to the Baltic region and vice versa via the Eider and Schlei rivers. After the (re)founding of Lübeck, German merchants intensified the exchange of goods via the Elbe, Alster and Trave rivers. In the Baltic Sea, the displacement of the Gotlanders by Germans began with the Gotland Peace in 1160. The increasing demand for goods by the newly founded and rapidly growing German cities or states (Prussia and Livonia) in the Baltic Sea region as part of the Eastern Colonization further stimulated trade along this route. In addition to the strong eastern colonization, German colonization in Scandinavia took place on a smaller scale: German craftsmen and merchants settled in Visby and Bergen, for example, and later participated in the city government on a parity basis for decades. Unlike in the southern Baltic region, however, the native population was not dominated in the process. This sea route gained additional importance because there were no fortified (Roman) roads along the Baltic coast and the area away from the cities was very sparsely populated. Along this line were situated the Wendish, Prussian and Livonian towns. Lübeck, Gdansk and Riga were the leaders of the city alliances of the same name.

This route was also very old and connected the Harz mines and the Lüneburg salt works with the fish resources in southern Sweden and Norway. Herring caught by the Gävle fishermen in northern Sweden was also preserved with Lüneburg salt and sold to the Hanseatic League. The towns on the South-North route belonged to the Saxon League of Towns with the suburbs of Braunschweig and Magdeburg, as well as the Wendish League.

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Kontore

Within its sphere of influence, the Hanseatic League established countless branches. Of even greater importance, however, were its outposts at the most important trading centers abroad, the Kontore. The Hanseatic offices were the Peterhof in Novgorod, the Tyske Bryggen in Bergen, the Stalhof in London, and the Hanseatic Kontor in Bruges, headed by elected oledermen and assessors. Their task was to protect the interests of merchants vis-à-vis foreign powers, and at the same time to supervise the observance by the merchants themselves of the freedoms granted to them, which they had to swear to observe when they joined the Kontor community. Furthermore, there were statutes that regulated the coexistence of the merchants and issues of local trade. They had their own treasury and kept their own seal, but they were not considered independent members of the Hanseatic League.

The so-called Novgorod Schra is the only completely preserved collection of regulations of one of the four Hanseatic gates.

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Hanseatic merchants

The merchant on his own, bearing the full risk, trading only on his own account, was the exception in the Hanseatic League of the 14th and 15th centuries. The typical Hanseatic merchant of the late Middle Ages was a member of one or more trading companies. From the 12th century onward, the simple selschop, a short-term occasional company in which a merchant contributed capital or goods on the trading trip and shared risk and profit, and the Sendeve, the commission business in which the commissioned merchant”s profit was replaced by fixed wages or a commission and the principal bore the sole risk, have survived. In the most common type of free partnership, two or more partners contributed capital in equal or different amounts; distribution of profits and allocation of losses were made according to their share. There were often several silent partners in addition to the active partners. Usually the duration of the partnership was limited to a few years. Especially the larger Hanseatic merchants with trade relations between East and West were represented in several such companies in order to better distribute the risk. Family relations always played a major role in the choice of partners.

Philippe Dollinger highlights some of these merchants: The Hamburg merchant Winand Miles; Johann Wittenborg from Lübeck for the tragedy of his biography; the Dortmund merchant Tidemann Lemberg for his unscrupulousness; the German-born Stockholm merchant Johann Nagel for his power of assimilation; the brothers around Hildebrand Veckinchusen, who were active all over Europe, for the different variants of success of an interfamilial commercial cooperation; Hinrich Castorp from Lübeck as an example of the almost classical Hanseatic merchant of his time and the Mulich brothers as an example of the break-in of the Hanseatic merchants in Upper German trade. In the contemporary art scene, the portraits of the Hanseatic merchants in the London Stalhof depicted by Hans Holbein the Younger stood out. Jacob van Utrecht portrayed the successful merchant of the early 16th century in his working environment and with the necessary utensils. King Ludwig I of Bavaria included the Lübeck mayor Bruno von Warendorp in his Valhalla as a representative of the Hanseatic merchants and their leadership.

An example of the successful Hanseatic merchant of the 17th century is certainly the Lübeck merchant Thomas Fredenhagen, who, despite changing trade flows, still operated very successfully from Lübeck in competition with Bremen and Hamburg merchants worldwide.

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Trustees and heirs

Wherever the Hanseatic League is invoked as a reference point for urban traditions, the Hanseatic people are seen as cosmopolitan, urbane, sober and reliable, aristocratically reserved and stiff. Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen are readily associated with such clichés. However, the cities did not include the term “Hanseatic city” in their state title until the 19th century – more than a century and a half after the Hanseatic League had already ceased to exist. After reunification, Rostock, Wismar, Stralsund and Greifswald also prefixed the term “Hanseatic City” to their city names. Even today, the Hanseatic League can be seen in the license plates of all these cities. Demmin has had the additional name Hanseatic City since 1994, and Warburg has also been allowed to use the addition Hanseatic City since 2012.

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Hansaplatz and Hansaport

The Hanseatic League is counted among the positive phenomena of history. Wherever a city once belonged to the Hanseatic League, this seems to enhance its reputation, and it can be advertised as such. Squares, streets and buildings remind us of this: Hansaplatz, Hansastraße, Hanseatenweg, Hansahof, Hanseatic Quarter, Hansaport, to name just a few examples from Hamburg and Lübeck. Numerous public and private buildings and companies evoke a supposed Hanseatic tradition and use terms such as Hanseatic, Hansa, Hanseatic or Hanseatic as part of their name. This often indicates their location or jurisdiction, as in the case of a Hanseatic Higher Regional Court, a Hanseatic Insurance Company of 1891, Hansa Park, Deutsche Lufthansa or the Hansa Rostock soccer club. For the most part, however, it serves as a kind of seal of quality, which can only be protected under trademark law to a very limited extent, mostly only as a figurative mark, with the Hansa-Pils from Dortmund being an exception.

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Hanseatic League of the Modern Era

In 1980, the New Hanseatic League was founded in Zwolle as a living and cultural community of cities across borders. Its goal, in addition to promoting trade, is to promote tourism. Since then, a Modern Hanseatic Day has been held every year in a former Hanseatic city.

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European Hanse Museum

The European Hanse Museum was opened in Lübeck”s old town in 2015. During the demolition of the previous buildings at the future location of the museum, extensive archaeological finds were made. These finds were integrated into the museum”s exhibition. In addition to the history of the Hanseatic League, events in the city”s history and the history of the spread of Lübian law are also shown.

Hanseatic Museum and Schötstuben

In Bergen on Bryggen, Norway, you can find the Hanseatic Museum and the Schötstuben.

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Linguistic meaning

The Middle Low German language of the Hanseatic League, which was the lingua franca of the Middle Ages in Northern Europe, clearly influenced the development of the Scandinavian languages.

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History of individual Hanseatic cities

The history of the Hanseatic League as a loose confederation of cities is inextricably linked to the individual histories of the main member cities, which, since they were not always united and certainly pursued their own interests, evaluate the Hanseatic League quite differently in the light of its history:

Sources