Bing (above map)
Kievan Rus (862-1242) was a medieval political federation in Belarus, Ukraine & Western Russia. Federation leaders provided for the poor, founded schools to encourage literacy, helped trade flourish, founded cities & built churches.
But the idea of a League probably started with Duke Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony & Bavaria (r1142-80), to physically protect Low German Dutch merchants and their Swedish competitors from Gotland. Under the Artlenburger Privilege 1161, Henry granted duty-free treatment and freedom, to protect foreign traders near the Baltic.
Lübeck in Northern Germany was one of the few Free Cities i.e an imperial city that owed allegiance only to the Emperor. It was already an important trade centre, with enough herring to supply half of Europe. Alas with no refrigeration or canning, the shipping of highly perishable commodities was difficult. Hamburg, on the other side of the Jutland peninsula, had easy access to the salt produced in the Kiel salt mines, ensuring the salting, drying and distribution of meat and fish. Thus the merchants of these two towns built their shared Kiel Canal.
In 1241 Lübeck invited Hamburg to start a partnership, the Hanseatic League/Hansa, because the two cities needed a formal alliance for mutual support against aristocratic rule claims. Danzig, whose port was a gateway to the eastern Baltic, quickly joined, as did most of the important northern cities throughout the C13th.
Lübeck continued as the lead city; its port handled salt, herring, grain, timber, honey and amber. And the Hansa had produced an innovative ship design, the Baltic cog. Other League members traded copper, fish, flax, furs, iron, salt, resin and textiles.
Luneburg in Northern Germany
In the growing C13th economy, towns grew, markets increased and the population grew remarkably. And as trade developed, distant towns needed evidence they were getting a fair deal so they created a system of common regulations; eg a 1259 trade agreement signed by Russian and German merchants stipulated only German weights were to be used. Shared standards avoided conflicts.
Guilds understood the difficulties due to heavy taxation, robbery and maritime dangers, so the Hansa pooled their resources to protect each other and to increase profits. Guild members hired military guards to protect cargo on land and to ensure heavily armed men to accompany their ships at sea. And since insurance didn’t exist, merchants formed partnerships to invest in different ships-cargoes.
There were very bad times. The 1348-9 Black Death killed a third of Europe’s population, leading to severe labour shortages affecting harvests, transport and storage. It didn’t prevent the League working, but it shook Europe badly.
The northern cities also noted the growing competition of English, Italian, Dutch and South German merchants. So in 1356 the Hanseatic League was expanded: c200 towns and cities became members of the League across 7 countries. Major counters/kontors were set up in distant trading posts that were not formally within the Hansa eg in Novgorod NW Russia, Bergen Norway, Bruges Flanders and London.
Painted by Hans Holbein II, 1532,
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
London was crucial. The community of wealthy German merchants who lived on the banks of the Thames were exempt from customs duties! Also in Britain were factories/brick warehouses on the banks of the Great Ouse in King’s Lynn, on Norfolk’s coast. Because this was a port that served 10 counties, Lynn’s factories were run mainly by merchants from Danzig Poland, importing wax and pepper.
The Hansa had NOT promoted free trade; instead it was about freedom to trade. And their network did develop prosperity at a time when the Baltic had been a grim area. The League even intervened occasionally in politics, supporting monarchs, imposing trade boycotts and fighting wars. But the primary objective was always financial.
The Hansa had tight quality control. They had rules about cloth that could be traded; it had to be stamped, sealed and folded rightly, and prized cloth from Bruges or Leiden was trademarked. Issues like counterfeit goods, trademarks and rules of origin rose, and disputes led to some trading partners falling out. But it was a great example of pan-European co-operation. Between 1356-1669 Lübeck hosted 100+ meetings of the Hanse-tag, the assembly which brought agents of Hanseatic towns together. And the League endured because it helped assure quality & created trust.
The C15th Little Ice Age/climate change contributed to the League’s decline since there were fewer people to harvest and transport crops. And poorer quality crops due to a shorter growing season.
The League’s connections with Russian ports became unwelcome when their offices were closed by Ivan the Great in 1494 and all their trading privileges removed. Other nations followed suit, citing the League’s tendency to minimise the profits of non-League traders.
The Reformation (1517–1648) split the cohesion. The Hansa lost its importance in a creeping process from mid C15th until 1669, where the last Hanseatic Day took place. The Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) hastened the League’s decline, and when the League met in Lübeck in 1669 there were only 10 cities represented.
C15th manuscript illustration
Standford.edu
So for hundreds of years, the Hansa had played a major role in shaping economies, trade and politics in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. The long-distance trade had made important Hanseatic cities prosperous, and the merchant class self-confident. It created a network of trusted associates in far-flung parts of the European market, a network that any individual Hanseatic trader could turn to for advice and protection. Because they often lived together in trading bases, or convened at Hanseatic gatherings, members could gain information about goods for trade and their changing market value. Convoys defended shipping against piracy. And the Hansa oversaw the manufacture of new ships ideally suited to Baltic trade.
But the League had diminished in power, and only Lübeck, Hamburg & Bremen continued the alliance. The rise of nation states as centres of political power successfully challenged the League, as did the new global markets and trade routes.
Modernity
A new Hanseatic League was suggested in 1980 in Zwolle Holland, wanting to revive the League as a social & cultural alliance. The Lübeck Hansemuseum opened in May 2015 where their shared history is displayed in the exhibitions.
The New League was founded in 2018 by European Union finance ministers from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Sweden. It now has 192 members in 16 northern countries. While Brexit tragically grinds on, those old links are being revived on a political level within the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union!!