: 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. The Hanseatic League was never formally founded, so it lacks a date of founding. The later Hanseatic ports between Mecklenburg and Königsberg (present-day Kaliningrad) originally formed part of the Scandinavian-led Baltic trade-system. 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. : 145 Hanseatic Seal of Elbing (now Elbląg) History Įxploratory trading adventures, raids, and piracy occurred early throughout the Baltic Sea the sailors of Gotland sailed up rivers as far away as Novgorod, which was a major trade centre of Rus'. That it originally meant An-See, or "on the sea", is incorrect. Hanse in Middle Low German came to mean a society of merchants or a trader guild. This word was applied to bands of merchants traveling between the Hanseatic cities - whether by land or by sea. Hanse is the Old High German word for a band or troop. 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. Knowing great diversity in construction, it was depicted on Hanseatic seals and coats of arms. The Hanseatic League used several types of ships that sailed over seas and on rivers. Ubena von Bremen, a replica of the Bremen cog 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. In the 14th century, the Hanseatic League instated an irregular negotiating diet ( Middle Low German: dachvart or dach German: Tagfahrt or Hansetag) that operated on deliberation and consensus. It lacked a permanent administrative body, a treasury, and a standing military force. The collective economic power made the League capable of imposing blockades and even waging war against kingdoms and principalities.Įven at its zenith, the Hanseatic League was never more than a loosely aligned confederation of city-states. Hanseatic merchants, called Hansards, operated in basic private companies and were widely known for their access to a variety of commodities, and enjoyed privileges and protections abroad. It established trading posts in numerous towns and cities across Europe some of these, like the Kontors in London, Bruges, Bergen, and Novgorod, became extraterritorial entities that enjoyed considerable legal autonomy. Hanseatic Cities gradually developed common trade regulations.ĭuring its heydays, the Hanseatic League dominated maritime trade in the North and Baltic Seas. Economic interdependence and kinship ties between merchant families, who held important positions in towns, led to deeper political integration and the removal of obstacles to trade. These arrangements gradually coalesced into the Hanseatic League, whose traders enjoyed toll privileges and protection in affiliated communities and their trade routes. The League originated from various loose associations of German traders and towns formed to advance mutual commercial interests, such as protection against robbers. 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 seven modern-day countries, ranging from Estonia in the north and east, to the Netherlands in the west, and Kraków, Poland, in the south. The Hanseatic League was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe.
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