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Hanseatic League Hanse Hansa
Hanseatic pennant
Northern Europe in the 1400s, showing the extent of the Hanseatic League
Informal capital	Lübeck (Free City of)
Lingua franca	Middle Low German[1][2]
Membership	Various cities across the region of the Baltic and North Seas
Today part of	Germany  Poland  Netherlands  Belgium  Sweden  Latvia  Estonia  Russia

The Hanseatic League^[a] was a medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 12th century, the League expanded between the 13th and 15th centuries and ultimately encompassed nearly 200 settlements across eight modern-day countries, ranging from Estonia in the north and east, to the Netherlands in the west, and extended inland as far as Cologne, the Prussian regions and Kraków, Poland.

The League began as a collection of loosely associated groups of German traders and various towns aiming to expand their mutual commercial interests, including protection against robbery. Over time, these arrangements evolved into the Hanseatic League, offering traders toll privileges and protection on both affiliated territory and their trade routes. Growing economic interdependence and familial connections among influential merchant families led to deeper political integration and the removal of trade barriers. This gradual process also saw the emergence of standardized trade regulations among Hanseatic Cities.

During its zenith, the Hanseatic League dominated maritime trade in the North and Baltic Seas. It established a network of trading outposts in numerous towns and cities, notable among them the Kontors in London (known as the Steelyard), Bruges, Bergen, and Novgorod, which became extraterritorial entities that enjoyed considerable legal autonomy. Hanseatic merchants, commonly referred to as Hansards, operated in basic private companies and were widely known for their access to a variety of commodities, and enjoyed privileges and protections abroad. The collective economic power made the League capable of imposing blockades and even waging war against kingdoms and principalities.

Even at its peak, the Hanseatic League was never more than a loosely aligned confederation of city-states. It lacked a permanent administrative body, a treasury, and a standing military force. In the 14th century, the Hanseatic League instated an irregular negotiating diet (Middle Low German: dachvart or dach; German: Tagfahrt or Hansetag) that operated based on deliberation and consensus. By the mid-16th century, these weak connections left the Hanseatic League vulnerable, and it gradually unraveled as members became consolidated into other realms or departed, ultimately disintegrating in 1669.

The Hanseatic League used a variety of ship types for travel across the seas and along rivers. The most emblematic type was the cog. Knowing great diversity in construction, it was depicted on Hanseatic seals and coats of arms. By the end of the Middle Ages, the cog was replaced by other types like the hulk, which later gave way to larger carvel types.

Etymology

Hanse is the Old High German word for a band or troop.^[4] This word was applied to bands of merchants traveling between the Hanseatic cities — whether by land or by sea.^[5] Hanse in Middle Low German came to mean a society of merchants or a trader guild.^[6] That it originally meant An-See, or "on the sea", is incorrect.^[7]: 145

History

Exploratory trading adventures, raids, and piracy occurred early throughout the Baltic Sea. The sailors of Gotland sailed up rivers as far away as Novgorod,^[8] which was a major trade centre of Rus'. Scandinavians led international trade in the Baltic area before the Hanseatic League, establishing major trading hubs at Birka, Haithabu, and Schleswig by the 9th century CE. The later Hanseatic ports between Mecklenburg and Königsberg (present-day Kaliningrad) originally formed part of the Scandinavian-led Baltic trade-system.^[9]

The Hanseatic League was never formally founded, so it lacks a date of foundation.^[10]: 2 Historians traditionally traced its origins to the rebuilding of the north German town of Lübeck in 1159 by the powerful Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, after he had captured the area from Adolf II, Count of Schauenburg and Holstein. More recent scholarship has deemphasized the focus on Lübeck, viewing it as one of several regional trading centers,^[11] and presenting the League as the combination of a north German trading system oriented on the Baltic and a Rhinelandic trading system targeting England and Flanders.^[12]

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 and Baltic seas. The hegemony of Lübeck peaked during the 15th century.^[13]

Foundation and early development

Well before the term Hanse appeared in a document in 1267,^[14] merchants in different cities began to form guilds, or hansas, with the intention of trading with towns overseas, especially in the economically less-developed eastern Baltic. This area could supply timber, wax, amber, resins, and furs, along with rye and wheat brought down on barges from the hinterland to port markets. Merchant guilds formed in both hometowns and destination ports as medieval corporations (universitates mercatorum),^{[15]: 42–43} and despite competition would increasingly cooperate to coalesce into the Hanseatic network of merchant guilds. The dominant language of trade was Middle Low German, which had significant impact on the languages spoken in the area, particularly the larger Scandinavian languages,^{[16]: 1222–1233 [17]: 1933–1934} Estonian,^[18]: 288 and Latvian.^{[19]: 230–231}

Visby, 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 called Gutagard (also known as Gotenhof) in 1080.^[20] In 1120, Gotland gained autonomy from Sweden and permitted traders from its southern and western regions.^[15]: 26 From then on, under a treaty with the Visby Hansa, northern German merchants began to make regular stops at the island of Gotland.^[21] Later, in the first half of the 13th century, they established their own trading station or Kontor in Novgorod, known as the Peterhof, up the river Volkhov.^[22]

Lübeck soon became a base for merchants from Saxony and Westphalia trading eastward and northward; for them, because of its shorter and easier access route and better legal protections, it was a more attractive port than Schleswig.^[15]: 27 It became a transshipment port for trade between the North Sea and the Baltic too. In addition, Lübeck granted extensive trade privileges to Russian and Scandinavian traders.^{[15]: 27–28} It was also the main supply port for the Northern Crusades, improving its standing with the Pope. Lübeck gained imperial privileges to become a free imperial city in 1226, under Valdemar II of Denmark during the Danish dominion, as had Hamburg in 1189. Also in this period Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund and Danzig received city charters.^{[15]: 50–52}

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 between 1173 and 1175 (but commonly misdated to 1157) in London. That year, the merchants of the Hansa in Cologne convinced King Henry II of England to exempt them from all tolls in London^[23] and to grant protection to merchants and goods throughout England.^{[24]: 14–17}

German colonists in the 12th and 13th centuries settled in numerous cities on and near the east Baltic coast, such as Elbing (Elbląg), Thorn (Toruń), Reval (Tallinn), Riga, and Dorpat (Tartu), all 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,^{[needs copy edit]} after the league's most prominent town.^[25] The law provided that they had to appeal in all legal matters to Lübeck's city council. Others, like Danzig from 1295 onwards, had Magdeburg law or its derivative Culm law.^[26][27][28] Later, the Livonian Confederation of 1435 to c. 1582 incorporated modern-day Estonia and parts of Latvia; all of its major towns were members of the Hanseatic League.

Over the 13th century, older and wealthier long-distance traders increasingly chose to settle in their hometowns as esteemed trade leaders, their retirement transitioning from the previous role as landowners. The growing number of settled merchants afforded long-distance traders greater influence over town policies. Coupled with an increased presence in the ministerial class, this elevated the status of merchants and enabled them expand to and assert dominance over more cities.^{[15]: 44, 47–50 [29]: 27–28} This decentralised arrangement was fostered by slow travel speeds, going from Reval to Lübeck took between 4 weeks and, in winter, 4 months.^[30]: 202

In 1241, Lübeck, which had access to the Baltic and North seas' fishing grounds, formed an alliance—a precursor to the League—with the trade city of Hamburg, which controlled access to the salt-trade routes from Lüneburg. The allied cities gained control over most of the salt-fish trade, especially the Scania Market; Cologne joined them in the Diet of 1260. 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. Over the period, a network of alliances grew to include a flexible roster of 70 to 170 cities.^[31]

In the West, cities of the Rhineland like Cologne enjoyed trading privileges in Flanders and England.^[12] In 1266, King Henry III of England granted the Lübeck and Hamburg Hansa a charter for operations in England, initially causing competition with the Westphalians. But the Cologne Hansa and the Wendish Hansa joined in 1282 to form the Hanseatic colony in London, although they didn't completely merge until the 15th century. There were blockades against Novgorod in 1268 and 1277/1278.^{[15]: 58–59} Nonetheless, Westphalian traders continued to dominate trade in London and also Ipswich and Colchester, while Baltic and Wendish traders concentrated between King's Lynn and Newcastle upon Tyne.^[15]: 36 Much of the drive for co-operation came from the fragmented nature of existing territorial governments, which failed to provide security for trade. Over the next 50 years, the merchant Hansa solidified with formal agreements for confederation and co-operation covering the west and east trade routes.^{[citation needed]} Cities not only from the east modern day Low Countries, but also Utrecht, Holland, Zealand, Brabant, Namur and modern Limburg joined in participation over the thirteenth century.^[32]: 111 This network of Hanseatic trading guilds is called the Kaufmannshanse in historiography.

Commercial expansion

The League succeeded in establishing additional Kontors in Bruges (Flanders), Bryggen in Bergen (Norway), and London (England) beside the Peterhof in Novgorod. These trading posts were institutionalised by the first half of the 14th century at the latest (for Bergen and Bruges)^{[15]: 62 [33]: 65} and, except for the Kontor of Bruges, became significant enclaves. The London Kontor, the Steelyard, stood west of London Bridge near Upper Thames Street, on the site now occupied by Cannon Street station. It grew into a significant walled community with its own warehouses, weigh house, church, offices and homes, reflecting the importance and scale of trading activity on the premises.

In addition to the major Kontors, individual ports with Hanseatic trading outposts or factories had a representative merchant and warehouse. Often they were not permanently manned. In Scania, Denmark, there were around 30 Hanseatic seasonal factories for salted herring, these were called vitten and were granted considerable legal autonomy to the extent that Burkhardt argues that they resembled a fifth kontor and would be seen as such if not for their early decline.^{[34]: 157–158} In England, there were factories in Boston (the outpost was also called the Stalhof), Bristol, Bishop's Lynn (now King's Lynn, which features the sole remaining Hanseatic warehouse in England), Hull, Ipswich, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich, Scarborough, Yarmouth (now Great Yarmouth), and York, many of which were important for the Baltic trade and become centres of cloth industry in the late 14th century. Hansards and cloth manufacturers coordinated to make fabrics meet local demand and fashion in the traders' hometowns. Outposts in Lisbon, Bordeaux, Bourgneuf, La Rochelle and Nantes offered the cheaper Bay salt. Ships that plied this trade sailed home in the salt fleet. There were also trading posts in Flanders, Denmark-Norway, the Baltic interior, Upper Germany, Iceland and Venice.^{[34]: 158–160}

Hanseatic trade was not exclusively maritime trade, or even overwater trade. Most Hanseatic towns did not have immediate access to the sea and there were many that were linked to partners by river trade or even generally expensive land trade. These combined into an integrated network and many smaller Hanseatic towns had their main trading activity in subregional trade. Internal Hanseatic trade was in fact the Hanse's quantitatively most voluminous and important business.^{[34]: 153, 161} Trade over rivers and land was not tied to specific Hanseatic privileges, but sea ports like Bremen, Hamburg and Riga managed to dominate trade on their rivers. This was not possible for the Rhine where trade retained an open character. Digging canals for trade routes was very uncommon, but the Stecknitz Canal was built between Lübeck and Lauenburg from 1391 to 1398.^{[35]: 145–147, 158–159}

Major trade goods

Imports and exports, 18 Mar 1368 – 10 Mar 1369
(in thousands of Port Lübeck marks)

Imports		Origin, Destination	Exports		Total	%
150		London/Hamburg	38		188	34.4
44		Livonian towns:	51		95	17.4
	10	Riga		14
	34	Reval (Tallinn)		14.3
	-	Pernau		22.7
49.4		Scania	32.6		82	15
52		Gotland, Sweden	29.4		81.4	14.9
19		Prussian towns:	29.5		48.5	8.9
	16	Danzig		22.8
	3	Elbing		6.6
17.2		Wendish & Pomeranian towns:	25.2		42.4	7.8
	5.5	Stettin		7
	4	Stralsund		7.5
	2.2	Rostock		4.6
	5.5	Wismar		6.1
4.3		Bergen	–		4.3	0.8
3		Small Baltic ports	1.2		4.2	0.8
338.9		Total	206.9		545.8	100

Starting with trade in coarse woollen fabrics, the Hanseatic League brought an increase of both commerce and industry to northern Germany. 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 league primarily traded beeswax, furs, timber, resin (or tar), flax, honey, wheat, and rye from the east to Flanders and England with cloth, in particular broadcloth, (and, increasingly, manufactured goods) going in the other direction. Metal ore (principally copper and iron) and herring came southwards from Sweden, the Carpathians were another important source of copper and iron, often sold in Thorn. Lubeck also had a vital role in the salt trade; salt was acquired in Lunenburg or shipped from France and Portugal and sold on Central European markets, taken to Scania for salting herring or exported to Russia. Stockfish was traded from Bergen in exchange for grain; Hanseatic grain inflows allowed more permanent settlements further north in Norway. The league also traded in beer, with beer from Hanseatic towns the most valued, and Wendish cities like Lübeck, Hamburg, Wismar and Rostock developed export breweries for hopped beer.^{[36]: 45–61  [37]: 35–36  [38]: 72 [39]: 141 [30]: 207–233}

Economic power and defense

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The Hanseatic League, at first the merchant hansas and eventually its cities, relied on power to secure protection and gain and preserve privileges. Bandits and pirates were also persistent problems, during wars these could be joined by privateers. Traders could be arrested abroad and their goods could be confiscated.^[12] The league sought to codify protection; internal treaties established mutual defence and external treaties codified privileges.^[15]: 53

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.^[33] Most foreign cities confined the Hanseatic traders to certain trading areas and to their own trading posts.^{[34]: 128, 143} The refusal of the Hansa to offer reciprocal arrangements to their counterparts exacerbated the tension.^{[40]: 105–111}

The merchants of the Hanseatic League succeeded in using their economic power to pressure cities and rulers. It could call embargoes, redirect trade away from towns and even boycott entire countries. There were blockades against Novgorod in 1268 and 1277/1278.^[15]: 58 Bruges was pressured by temporarily moving the Hanseatic emporium to Aardenburg from 1280 to 1282,^{[15]: 58 [41]: 19–21} from 1307 or 1308 to 1310 ^{[41]: 20–21} and in 1350,^[29]: 29 to Dordt in 1358 and 1388, and to Antwerp in 1436.^{[33]: 68, 80, 92} Boycotts against Norway in 1284^[29]: 28 and Flanders in 1358 almost caused famines there.^[33]: 68 They sometimes resorted to their military might, several Hanseatic cities maintained their own warships and in times of need merchant ships could be repurposed. But military action against political powers often didn't involve the entire league. Instead an ad hoc coalition of stakeholders, called an alliance (tohopesate), was often formed.^{[29]: 32, 39–40 [33]: 93–95}

As an essential part of protecting their investment in ships and their cargoes, League members trained pilots and erected lighthouses,^[42] like the still working Kõpu Lighthouse, and other lights.^[43][12] Lübeck also erected in 1202 what's claimed to be the first lighthouse proper in northern Europe in Falsterbo. There were by 1600 at least 15 lights erected along the German and Scandinavian coasts making it the best lighted sea area then in the world, largely thanks to the Hansa.^[44]

Zenith

The weakening of imperial power and imperial protection for merchants under the late Hohenstaufen dynasty forced the Hanseatic League to institutionalise into a cooperating network of cities with a fluid structure, called the Städtehanse in the historiography,^[29]: 27 but it never became a closely managed formal organisation and the Kaufmannshanse continued to exist by its side.^{[29]: 28–29} This development was delayed by the conquest of many Wendish cities by the Danish king Eric VI Menved or by their feudal overlords between 1306 and 1319 and the restriction of their autonomy.^{[15]: 60–61} Assemblies of the Hanse towns met irregularly in Lübeck for a Hansetag [de] (Hanseatic Diet) – some argue from about 1300 onwards,^[15]: 59 while others date the first diet to 1356.^[33]: 66 But many towns chose not to attend nor to send representatives, and decisions were not binding on individual cities if their delegates were not included in the recesses; representatives would sometimes leave the Diet prematurely in an attempt to give their towns an excuse not to ratify decisions.^{[29]: 36–39 [b]} Only a very small number of Hanseatic cities were free imperial cities or enjoyed comparable autonomy and liberties, but many cities temporarily gained limited autonomy from local nobility.^[45]

Between 1361 and 1370, members of the league fought against Denmark in the Danish-Hanseatic War. Though initially unsuccessful with a Wendish offensive, towns from Prussia and what's now the Netherlands, and eventually joined by Wendish towns, allied in the Confederation of Cologne in 1368, sacked Copenhagen and Helsingborg, and forced Valdemar IV, King of Denmark, and his son-in-law Haakon VI, King of Norway, to grant considerable tax exemptions and influence over Øresund fortresses for 15 years in the subsequent peace treaty of Stralsund in 1370. It extended privileges in Scania to the wider Hanseatic League, too, including the towns of Holland and Zeeland. The treaty marked the height of Hanseatic influence; it was for this period that the Hanseatic League has in the past been called a "Northern European great power". The Confederation of Cologne lasted until 1385, the Øresund fortresses were returned to Denmark the same year.^{[33]: 64,70–73}

After Valdemar's heir Olav died, a succession dispute erupted over Denmark and Norway between Albert of Mecklenburg, King of Sweden and Margaret I, Queen of Denmark. This was further complicated when Swedish nobles rebelled against Albert and invited Margaret. Albert was taken prisoner in 1389, but hired privateers in 1392, the socalled Victual Brothers, who took Bornholm and Visby in his name. They and their descendants threatened maritime trade of the league between 1392 and the 1430s with their raids. Under the 1395 release agreement for Albert of Mecklenburg Stockholm was ruled from 1395 to 1398 by a consortium of 7 Hanseatic cities, and enjoyed full Hanseatic trading privileges. It went to Margaret in 1398.^{[33]: 76–77}

The Victual Brothers still controlled Gotland in 1398, when it was conquered by the Teutonic Order with support from the Prussian towns and its Hanseatic privileges were restored; later Gotland was transferred to Denmark in 1408. The grandmaster of the Teutonic Order was often seen as head of the Hanse (caput Hansae), both abroad and by some members of the league.^{[33]: 77–78 [29]: 31–32}

Rise of rival powers

Over the 15th century, the League would become more formally institutionalised, though not through central control. This was in part a response to challenges in governance and competition with rivals, but also the result of changes in trade. A slow shift occurred from Hanseatic cities' loose participation to formal recognition (and revocation) of membership.^{[32]: 113–115} Another general trend of the 15th century was Hanseatic cities' increased legislation of their kontors abroad. Especially after 1474. Only the Bergen kontor grew more independent in this period.^[34]: 136

In Novgorod, after extended conflict since the 1380s, the League regained its trade privileges in 1392, agreeing in turn to Russian trade privileges for Livonia and Gotland.^{[33]: 78–83}

In 1424, all German traders of the Petershof kontor in Novgorod were imprisoned and 36 of them died. Although rare, arrests and seizures in Novgorod were particularly violent.^[46]: 182 In response, and due to the ongoing war between Novgorod and the Livonian Order, the Hanseatic League blockaded Novgorod and abandoned the Peterhof for six years, from 1443 to 1448.^[47]: 82

English traders, after extended conflicts with the League ever since the 1370s, gained trade privileges in the Prussian region in the treaties of Marienburg (the first in 1388, the last in 1409).^{[33]: 78–83} Their influence in the region increased, while the importance of Hanseatic trade in England decreased over the 15th century.^[33]: 98

Over the 15th century, tensions between the Prussian region and the "Wendish" cities (Lübeck and its eastern neighbours) would increase. Lübeck was dependent on its role as centre of the Hansa; Prussia's main interest, on the other hand, was the export of bulk products like grain and timber to England, the Low Countries and later on Spain and Italy also.^{[citation needed]}

Frederick II, Elector of Brandenburg, tried to assert authority over the Hanseatic towns Berlin and Cölln in 1442 and blocked all towns of Brandenburg from participating in Hanseatic diets. For some but not all Brandenburg towns this was the end of their Hanseatic involvement. In 1488, John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg did the same to Stendal and Salzwedel in the Altmark.^{[48]: 34–35}

Until 1394, the cities of Holland and Zeeland actively participated in the Hansa, but in 1395, their feudal obligations to Albert I, Duke of Bavaria, who warred against the Frisians, prevented further cooperation. Consequently, their Hanseatic ties weakened, and their economic focus shifted. Between 1417 and 1432, this economic reorientation became even more pronounced when Holland and Zeeland gradually became part of the Burgundian State.

The city of Lübeck got into financial troubles in 1403, leading dissenting craftsmen to establish a supervising committee in 1405. This then led to a governmental crisis in 1408 when the committee rebelled and put a new town council in place. Similar revolts broke out in Wismar and Rostock, with new town councils established in 1410. The crisis was ended in 1418 by a compromise.^{[33]: 83–88 [undue weight? – discuss]}

Eric of Pomerania succeeded Margaret of Denmark in 1412 and sought to expand into Schleswig and Holstein levying tolls at the Øresund. Hanseatic cities were divided initially; Lübeck tried to appease Eric while Hamburg supported the Schauenburg counts of Holstein against him. This led to the Danish-Hanseatic War (1426–1435) and the Bombardment of Copenhagen (1428). The Treaty of Vordingborg renewed the League's commercial privileges in 1435 but the Øresund tolls continued.

Eric of Pomerania was subsequently deposed and in 1438 Lübeck took control of the Øresund toll, which caused tensions with Holland and Zeeland.^{[33]: 89–91 [49]: 265 [50][51]: 171} The Sound tolls,^[c] and a later attempt of Lübeck to exclude the English and Dutch merchants from Scania, harmed the Scanian herring trade in the long term when the excluded regions began to develop their own herring industries.^{[34]: 157–158}

In the Dutch–Hanseatic War (1438–1441), a privateer war mostly waged by Wendish towns, the merchants of Amsterdam sought and eventually won free access to the Baltic. Although the blockade of the grain trade hurt Holland and Zeeland more than Hanseatic cities, it was against Prussian interest to maintain it.^[33]: 91

In 1454, the year of the marriage of Elisabeth of Austria to King-Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon of 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, (from 1466 to 1569 referred to as Royal Prussia, region of Poland) by the 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, then the capital of Poland, had a loose association with the Hansa.^[52]: 93 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 10,000 short tons (9,100 t) per year, in the late 15th century, to over 200,000 short tons (180,000 t) in the 17th century.^[53] 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 Polish kings soon began to reduce the towns' political freedoms.^[48]: 36

The Griffin dukes of Pomerania beginning with the middle of the 15th century were in constant conflict over control of the Pomeranian Hanseatic towns. While not very successful at first, Bogislav X eventually subjugated Stettin and Köslin curtailing the region's economy and independence.^[48]: 35

A major economic advantage for the Hansa was its control of the shipbuilding market, mainly in Lübeck and Danzig. The League sold ships throughout Europe.^{[citation needed]}

The economic crises of the late 15th century did not spare the Hansa. Nevertheless, its eventual rivals emerged in the form of the territorial states, whether new or revived. New vehicles of credit were imported from Italy.^{[citation needed]}

When Flanders and Holland became part of the Duchy of Burgundy, Burgund Dutch and Prussian cities increasingly excluded Lübeck from their grain trade in the 15th and 16th century. Burgund Dutch demand for Prussian and Livonian grain grew in the late 15th century. These trade interests differed from Wendish interests, threatening political unity, but it also showed a trade where the Hanseatic system was unpractical.^{[30]: 198, 215–216} Hollandish freight costs were much lower than those of the Hansa, and the Hansa were excluded as middlemen.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

King Edward IV of England reconfirmed the league's privileges in the Treaty of Utrecht despite the latent hostility, in part thanks to the significant financial contribution the League made to the Yorkist side during the Wars of the Roses of 1455–1487.^{[54]: 308–309} Tsar Ivan III of Russia closed the Hanseatic Kontor at Novgorod in 1494 and deported its merchants to Moscow, in an attempt to reduce Hanseatic influence on Russian trade.^[55]: 145 At the time, only 49 traders were at the Peterhof.^[56]: 99 The fur trade was redirected to Leipzig, taking out the Hansards;^[36]: 54 while the Hanseatic trade with Russia moved to Riga, Reval and Pleskau.^[56]: 100 When the Peterhof reopened in 1514, Novgorod wasn't a trade hub any longer.^{[54]: 182, 312} In the same period, the burghers of Bergen tried to develop an independent intermediate trade with the northern population, against the Hansards' obstruction.^[39]: 144 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.

End of the Hansa

The development of the Transatlantic trade after the discovery of the Americas caused the remaining kontors' decline, especially in Bruges, because it centred on other ports. It also changed business practice to short-term contracts and made the Hanseatic model of privileged guaranteed trade outdated.^[34]: 154

The trends of local feudal lords asserting control over towns and suppressing their autonomy, and of foreign rulers repressing Hanseatic traders continued in the next century.

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^[57] (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. After the war, Gustav Vasa's Sweden and Frederick I's Denmark pursued independent policies and didn't support Lübeck's effort against Dutch trade.^[40]: 113

However, Lübeck under Jürgen Wullenwever overextended in the Count's Feud in Scania and Denmark and lost influence in 1536 after Christian III's victory.^[39]: 144 Lübeck's attempts at forcing competitors out of the Sound eventually alienated even Gustav Vasa.^{[40]: 113–114} Its influence in the Nordic countries began to decline.

The Hanseatic towns of Guelders were obstructed in the 1530s by Charles II, Duke of Guelders. The strict Catholic Charles objected to the Lutheranism, in his words "Lutheran heresy", of Lübeck and other north German cities. This frustrated but did not end the towns' Hanseatic trade and there was a small resurgence later.^[58]

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 had become effectively moribund because the Zwin inlet was closing up.^[34]: 132 Finally, the growing political authority of the German princes constrained the independence of the Hanse's towns.

The league attempted to deal with some of these issues: it created the post of syndic in 1556 and elected Heinrich Sudermann to the position, 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 in 1520^{[34]: 140–154} and the Hansa attempted to pioneer new routes. However the league proved unable to prevent the growing mercantile competition.

In 1567, a Hanseatic League agreement reconfirmed previous obligations and rights of league members, such as common protection and defense against enemies.^[59] The Prussian Quartier cities of Thorn, Elbing, Königsberg and Riga and Dorpat also signed. When pressed by the King of 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 Pautzke (Puck).

The Antwerp Kontor, moribund after the fall of the city, closed in 1593. In 1597 Queen Elizabeth I of England expelled the League from London, and the Steelyard closed and sequestered in 1598. The Kontor was returned in 1606 under her successor, James I, but it could not recover.^{[54]: 341–343} The Bergen Kontor continued until 1754; of all the Kontore, only its buildings, the Bryggen, survive.

Not all states tried to suppress their cities' former Hanseatic links; the Dutch Republic encouraged its eastern former members to maintain ties with the remaining Hanseatic League. The States-General relied on those cities in diplomacy at the time of the Kalmar War.^[32]: 123

The Thirty Years' War was destructive for the Hanseatic League and members suffered heavily from both the imperials, the Danes and the Swedes. At the beginning, Saxon and Wendish faced attacks because of the desire of Christian IV of Denmark to control the Elbe and Weser. Pomerania had a very strong population decline. Sweden took Bremen-Verden (excluding the city of Bremen), Swedish Pomerania (including Stralsund, Greifswald, Rostock) and Swedish Wismar, preventing their cities from participating in the League, and controlled the Oder, Weser and Elbe, and could levy tolls on their traffic.^{[40]: 114–116} The league became increasingly irrelevant despite its inclusion in the Peace of Westphalia.^[29]: 43

In 1666, the Steelyard 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, without any of the parties knowing it would be the last. This date is often taken in retrospect as the effective end date of the Hansa, but the Hansa was never formally disbanded. It simply disintegrated and petered out silently.^{[60]: 192 [10]: 2}

After disintegration

The Hanseatic League, however, lived on in the public mind. Leopold I even requested Lübeck to call a Tagfahrt to rally support for him against the Turks.^[60]: 192

Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen continued to attempt common diplomacy, although interests had already diverged by the Peace of Ryswick.^[60]: 192 Nonetheless, the Hanseatic Republics were able to jointly perform some diplomacy, such as a joint delegation to the United States in 1827, led by Vincent Rumpff; later the United States established a consulate to the Hanseatic and Free Cities from 1857 to 1862.^[61] Britain maintained diplomats to the Hanseatic Cities until the unification of Germany in 1871. The three cities also had a common "Hanseatic" representation in Berlin until 1920.^[60]: 192

Three kontors also remained as, often unused, Hanseatic property after the League's effective disbandment, as the Peterhof was already closed in the 16th century. Bryggen was sold to Norwegian owners in 1754. The Steelyard in London and the Oostershuis in Antwerp were long impossible to sell. The Steelyard was finally sold in 1852 and the Oostershuis, closed in 1593, was sold in 1862.^{[60]: 192 [54]: 341–343}

Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck remained as the only members until the League's formal end in 1862, on the eve of the 1867 founding of the North German Confederation and the 1871 founding of the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm I. Despite its collapse, they still cherished the link to the Hanseatic League. Until German reunification, these three cities were the only ones that retained the words "Hanseatic City" in their official German names. Hamburg and Bremen continue to style themselves officially as "free Hanseatic cities", with Lübeck named "Hanseatic City". For Lübeck in particular, this anachronistic tie to a glorious past remained important in the 20th century. In 1937, the Nazi Party revoked its imperial immediacy through the Greater Hamburg Act.^[62] Since 1990, 24 other German cities have adopted this title.^[63]

Organization

The Hanseatic League was a complex and loose-jointed constellation of protagonists pursuing their own interests, which coincided in a shared program of economic domination in the Baltic region, and by no means a monolithic organization or a 'state within a state'.^{[64]: 37–38} It gradually grew from a network of merchant guilds to develop a more formal association of cities and was never even formed into a legal person.^[56]: 91

The members of the Hanseatic League were Low German-speaking, with the exception of Dinant. 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, Hansards 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.^{[65]: 10–11}

Decisions and actions of the Hanseatic League were the result of a consensus-based procedure. If an issue arose, the league's members were invited to participate in a central meeting, the Tagfahrt (Hanseatic Diet, "meeting ride", sometimes also referred to as Hansetag), that some argue already happened around 1300^[15]: 59 but were formalised since 1358; some date the first diet to 1356.^{[33]: 66–67} The member communities then chose envoys (Ratssendeboten) to represent their local consensus on the issue at the Diet. 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.^{[65]: 70–72}

The Hanseatic League was characterised by legal pluralism and the diets could not issue laws. But the cities cooperated to achieve limited trade regulation, like measures against fraud, or worked together on a regional level. There was also interest in harmonising maritime law, a long series of ordinances on maritime law was issued in the 15th and 16th centuries. The most extensive maritime ordinance was the Ship Ordinance and Sea Law of 1614, but it's dubious that it was ever enforced.^{[66]: 31, 37–38}

Kontors

A Hanseatic Kontor, which operated like an early stock exchange,^{[67]: 443–446} was a settlement of Hansards organised in the mid-14th century as a private corporation that had its own treasury, court, legislation and seal. Burkhardt suggests that kontors were first established to provide security, but would also serve to secure privileges and engage in diplomacy.^{[34]: 128–130, 134–135} The quality of goods was also examined at kontors, increasing the efficiency of trade, and the kontors served as bases to develop connections with local rulers and as sources of economic and political information.^{[56]: 91 [d]} Most kontors were also physical locations containing several buildings, that were integrated and segregated from citylife to different degrees. The kontor of Bruges was an exception in this regard; it didn't acquire any buildings until the 15th century.^{[34]: 131–133} Like the guilds, the Kontore were usually led by Ältermänner ("eldermen", or English aldermen). The Stalhof, as a special case, had a Hanseatic and an English alderman. In Novgorod the aldermen were replaced by a hofknecht in the 15th century.^{[54]: 100–101} The kontors' statutes were read aloud to the present merchants once a year.^{[34]: 131–133}

In 1347 the Kontor of Bruges 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 "): the Wendish and Saxon Drittel, the Westphalian and Prussian Drittel as well as the Gothlandian, Livonian and Swedish Drittel). The merchants from their respective Drittel would then each choose two aldermen and six members of the Eighteen Men Council (Achtzehnmännerrat) to administer the Kontor for a set period of time.^{[56]: 91, 101 [34]: 138–139}

In 1356, during a Hanseatic meeting in preparation for the first Tagfahrt, or one of the first, the league confirmed this statute. All trader settlements including the Kontors were subordinated to the Diet's decisions around this time, and their envoys also received the right to attend and speak at Diets but they lacked voting power.^{[56]: 91 [e]}

Drittel

The league gradually divided the organisation into three constituent parts called Drittel (German thirds), as shown in the table below.^{[65]: 62–63 [68]: 55 [69][70]: 62–64}

Drittel (1356–1554)	Regions	Chief city (Vorort)
Wendish-Saxon	Holstein, Saxony, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Brandenburg	Lübeck
Westphalian-Prussian	Westphalia, Rhineland, Prussia	Dortmund, later Cologne
Gothlandian-Livonian-Swedish	Gotland, Livonia, Sweden	Visby, later Riga

The Hansetag was the only central institution of the Hanseatic League. However, with the division into Drittel, the members of the respective subdivisions frequently held a Dritteltage ("Drittel meeting") to work out common positions which could then be presented at a Hansetag. 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 the Diet's decisions.^{[71]: 55–57}

Quarters

From 1554, the division into Drittel was modified to reduce the circles' heterogeneity, to enhance the collaboration of the members on a regional level and thus to make the League's decision-making process more efficient.^[72]: 217 The number of circles rose to four, so they were called Quartiere (quarters):^[68]

Quartier (since 1554)	Chief city (Vorort)
Wendish and Pomeranian[73]	Lübeck[73]
Saxon, Thuringian and Brandenburg[73]	Brunswick,[73] Magdeburg[citation needed]
Prussia, Livonia and Sweden[73] – or East Baltic[74]: 47, 120	Danzig (now Gdańsk)[73]
Rhine, Westphalia and the Netherlands[73]	Cologne[73]

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 Stalhof 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 Cleves, Mark, Berg and Dutch towns, while Danzig merchants represented the Prussian and Livonian towns).^{[75]: 38–92}

Hanseatic ships

A number of different types of ships was used in the Hanseatic League for transport over sea and inland waters.

The type that was the most used by the Hansa, and the most emblematic, was the cog. The cog was a multi-purpose clinker-built ship with carvel bottom, a stern rudder and a square rigged mast. Most cogs were privately owned merchant ships, but they were also used as warships. It was built in a variety of sizes and specifications and was used to navigate seas and rivers. They could be outfitted with castles starting from the thirteenth century. The cog was depicted on many seals and several coats of arms of Hanseatic cities, like Stralsund, Elbląg and Wismar. Several ship wrecks of cogs have been found. The most famous one is the well preserved Bremen cog.^{[37]: 35–36} It could carry a cargo of about 125 tons.^[76]: 20 The hulk began to replace the cog by 1400 and cogs lost their dominance to them around 1450.^[77]: 264

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Hanseatic_cities
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