The German Trade Union, which for many centuries controlled most of the trade transactions with London, Veliky Novgorod, Riga, and also signed trade documents on behalf of the Roman merchant empire with special conditions for each German city - as you may have guessed, we will talk about the Hanseatic League, the history of which is outlined in the article.
Brief historical background
There are not many examples in the history of mankind that demonstrate voluntary and mutually beneficial alliances concluded between countries or corporations. But it should be noted that many of them were based on human self-interest and greed. Consequently, such alliances were short-lived. Any violation of agreements or interests always led to collapse, but the history of the Hanseatic League is not like all the others.
This union is a community of cities that represented the most important force in Northern Europe and equal partners of sovereign countries, but it should be noted that the interests settlements, which were part of the Hansa, were too different. And not in all cases economic cooperation became military or political. The importance of the Hanseatic League cannot be overestimated, since it was this phenomenon in the world economy that laid the foundations for international trade.
How did the trade union come about?
Let's move on to studying the issue of the emergence and flourishing of a trade association. The creation of the Hanseatic League dates back to 1267. This was a response of European merchants to the fragmentation of European states in the Middle Ages. This political phenomenon was very risky for business. Robbers and pirates operated along trade routes, and princes, churches and appanage rulers imposed high taxes on all goods that were saved and brought to trade counters. Everyone wanted to profit from the merchant. Consequently, statutory robbery flourished. Absurd trade rules allowed fines to be imposed for improper pot depth or fabric color. But it is worth noting that Germany, using maritime trade routes, achieved certain successes in development at the beginning of the 11th century. The King of Saxony provided German traders with good advantages in London.
In 1143, the city of Lübeck was founded - the heart of the Hanseatic League in the future. Soon the sovereign ceded Lubeck, which became an imperial city. His power was recognized by all the provinces of Northern Germany. A little later, the Lübeck merchant union acquired trading privileges in many countries.
In 1158, the imperial city quickly flourished as it reached the Baltic Sea with trade, and then a German trading company was founded on the island of Gotland. Gotland had a favorable location at sea. Thus, ships entered its ports so that the crews could rest and the ship could be put in order.
100 years later, in 1241, the trade alliances of Lübeck and Hamburg made a deal to protect trade routes between the Baltic and North Seas. Thus, in 1256, the first trading group of coastal cities was formed.
Cities of the Hanseatic League
In 1267, a single union of cities that were part of the Hansa was formed:
- Lübeck;
- Hamburg;
- Bremen;
- Cologne;
- Gdansk;
- Riga;
- Luneburg;
- Wismar;
- Rostock and others.
It is known that in the year the Hanseatic League was founded, it included up to 70 cities. The participants of the union decided that all representative affairs would be conducted by Lübeck, since its senators and burgomasters were considered more capable of managing trade affairs. In addition, it was this city that took on its balance the costs of protecting the ships.
Advantages and disadvantages
The leaders of the Hanseatic League very skillfully used positive circumstances to take control of trade affairs in the North and Baltic Seas. They skillfully made it a monopoly. Thus, they had the opportunity to set the price of goods at their own discretion, and they also sought to gain influence in countries where there was interest for them, as well as various privileges. For example, the right to freely organize colonies and trade; the right to purchase houses and courtyards with representation of jurisdiction.
There were cases when experienced, politically talented and prudent leaders of the union skillfully took advantage of the weaknesses and difficult situation of neighboring countries. They indirectly or directly put the state in a dependent position in order to achieve desired results.
Expansion of the Union. Three main blocks
Despite all the manipulations carried out by the burgomasters and senators, the composition of the Hanseatic League was steadily expanding. Now it began to include other cities:
- Amsterdam;
- Berlin;
- Hamburg;
- Frankfurt;
- Bremen;
- Cologne;
- Hanover;
- Koenigsberg;
- Danzig;
- Memel;
- Yuryev;
- Narva;
- Stockholm;
- Volen;
- Pomorie and other cities.
The union has become big. The newly annexed cities had to be divided into groups. Now all the cities that were part of the Hansa were conditionally divided into three districts:
- Eastern: lands of Lübeck, Hamburg, Stettin, etc.
- Western: territories of Cologne, Dortmund, Groningen.
- Baltic provinces.
Expulsion from the Union
Another effective technique to keep trading partners in the alliance. The thing is that the seaside, as well as various cities scattered from Gulf of Finland before Germany, it was extremely difficult to keep in a single union. After all, the interests of the partners were very different, and only a common interest could serve as the connecting element. The only way to keep a partner was to exclude him. This entailed a ban on the remaining members of the union to have any dealings with the exiled city, which inevitably led to the termination of various relations with it.
However, there was no authority in the union that would monitor the implementation of these instructions. Various claims and complaints were brought only during congresses of allied cities, which met from time to time. Representatives from every city whose interests desired it came to these conventions. With port cities, the method of exclusion was very effective. For example, in 1355, the German city of Bremen announced its desire for isolation. As a result, he left the union with huge losses, and three years later expressed a desire to re-enter it.
Additional Hansa ideas
The founders of the union responded flexibly to the challenges of the time. They very quickly and actively expanded their influence. And several centuries after its founding, it included almost two hundred cities. The development of the Hansa was facilitated by a unified monetary system, equality of native languages, as well as equal rights for residents of the cities of this union.
It is noteworthy that the Hansians spread ideas about healthy way life. They actively implemented the business etiquette they represented. Clubs were opened where merchants exchanged experience and business ideas, and also disseminated various technologies for the production of products and goods. Schools for novice artisans, which opened on the territory of the Hanseatic League, became popular. It is believed that this was an innovation for Medieval Europe. Many researchers note that the Hansa formed a civilized image modern Europe, which we are seeing now.
Trade relations with Russia
This type of relationship began in the 14th century. The Hanseatic League and its ties with Russia benefited everyone. Furs and wax, leather, silk, flax, and squirrel skins were exported from Russian lands, and Russian merchants purchased mainly salt and fabrics. Most often they bought linen, satin, cloth and velvet.
Hanseatic offices were located in two Russian cities - Novgorod and Pskov. Overseas merchants were very interested in wax. The thing is that Europeans did not know how to produce it in the required quantity and quality. It was also customary among Catholics to sculpt from this material the part of the body that is affected by the disease. Trade in weapons and non-ferrous metals has always been considered a stumbling block in trade relations. It was profitable for the Hanseatic League to sell weapons to Russian lands, and the Livonian Order feared the growth of the power of the Slavs. As a result, he interfered with this process. But, as you guessed, commercial interests most often prevailed over Levon’s interests. For example, a trade transaction was witnessed when in 1396 merchants from Revel imported weapons in fish barrels to Pskov and Novgorod.
Conclusion
The time certainly came when the Hanseatic League began to lose its dominance over the cities of Europe. It started in the 16th century. Russia and Spain left the union. The Hansa repeatedly tried to establish relations with these states, but all attempts were in vain, and the war, which lasted for 30 years, ruined the remnants of German power at sea. The collapse of a union is a long process that requires separate consideration.
IN modern history humanity there is a New Hanseatic League called the European Union. The experience of the Hanseatic League remained unclaimed for a long time, but the Baltic region today is developing very dynamically and is valued because these lands have everything that is necessary for mutually beneficial relations between the European Union and Russia. Experts and economists believe that the New Hanseatic League contributes to the development of Russia's relations with the Baltic countries.
HB, HH, HL, HGW, HRO, HST, HWI - Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck... Why do the license plates of these and three other German cities begin with the "extra" Latin letter H?
Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck, Greifswald, Rostock, Stralsund, Wismar. Car license plates in these cities begin with the “additional” Latin letter H. In the Middle Ages, all of them were part of the Hanseatic League - Hanse, played a key role in it, for which they were awarded special marks of historical distinction. Their car numbers: HB, HH, HL, HGW, HRO, HST, HWI, that is, Hansestadt - “Hanseatic city” - Bremen, Hansestadt Hamburg...
Merchant Hansa - predecessor of the urban Hansa
At its peak in the 14th and 15th centuries, the Hanseatic League united more than two hundred cities. According to some reports - up to three hundred. From the middle of the 12th century, the urban Hanse was preceded by the merchant Hanse - communities of German traders who went to the city of Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland, and then to London, Bruges, Bergen, Veliky Novgorod. They traded in England, Flanders, Norway, Russia... And the geography was constantly expanding.
It was safer to travel in a joint caravan, not to mention the fact that merchant partnerships could finance the purchase and maintenance of their own inns - the so-called "offices", as well as achieve general trading privileges abroad. Each merchant contributed a certain percentage of profits to finance the communities.
At home, that is, on the territory of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, German merchants enjoyed the protection of the emperor. During the years of struggle for power in the empire, and, in essence, anarchy, free German cities themselves began to take care of the safety of their merchants. In the middle of the 13th century, the first regional unions arose and the development of the urban Hanse began. The process was long and gradual. When later the need arose to find an agreement on the creation of the Hansa, such a document, to everyone’s surprise, was not found in any of the archives.
The second reason for the emergence of the urban Hanse was the need to more effectively protect its merchants and its privileges from increasing competition, primarily from Dutch and South German merchants, in particular from Nuremberg.
Free cities and medieval feudal lords
The number of cities that were part of the Hansa was constantly changing, but historians attribute about seventy of them to the core of this community. Most were located in the northern territories of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, that is, near the Baltic and North Seas. Bremen and Hamburg were among the largest members of the Hanse. Moreover, both have still retained their traditional independence: in modern Germany they have the status of independent federal states. In addition to these cities, only Berlin now has this status, but for other reasons. Its heyday and transformation into the German capital occurred in a later period, when the Hansa had already ceased to exist.
Berlin was part of the Hansa, but was forced to leave this union in 1452 under pressure from the Margrave of Brandenburg. In addition to Berlin, several other cities in the margrave's territories tried to jointly strengthen their independence from their land feudal lord, but were defeated. Among them were Frankfurt an der Oder and Stendal.
An illustrative example. German feudal lords, on the one hand, were interested in the economic benefits from the development of Hanseatic cities on their territories, especially since these cities did not receive the status of free and corresponding privileges for free. They often acted as creditors, that is, they gave loans to their appanage princes. They were also approached for financial assistance from abroad. Cologne merchants once even lent English king, for which they received his crown as collateral!
Conflicts of interest
On the other hand, when cities became “too” influential, German secular and ecclesiastical feudal lords began to worry. They were afraid of undermining their own power. Or I just really wanted to gain access to additional financial and other economic resources... Berlin was weak and lost to its Brandenburg Margrave in this conflict of interests, but many other free cities successfully repelled such attempts with the help of economic pressure or during armed conflicts, such as, for example , Cologne.
To combat the appanage princes, Hanseatic cities often created regional unions, financed by a special temporary tax levied on trade transactions (Pfundzoll). The same alliances were created during conflicts between the Hansa and foreign countries. Permanent sources This community did not have funding, nor did it have state sovereignty, officials, its own army and navy, permanent governing bodies, or official seal. Against this background, the trade and political successes of the Hansa look even more impressive. The Hansa, in its power and influence, could be called a superpower, which for some reason they forgot to put on political map Europe.
Lubeck - the mother of the Hanseatic cities
The free imperial city of Lübeck was a kind of capital of the Hansa. Here, in particular, the Hanseatic Court of Appeal was located. Where there is trade, there are disputes. They arose constantly both between individual merchants and between entire cities. If abroad the Hanseatic cities and merchants (with rare exceptions) acted together to achieve their goals, then on the territory of the empire they were competitors, acting on the principle: friendship is friendship, but money is apart.
Lübeck often took on the lion's share of the costs of wars and other conflicts. Members of the city council and burgomasters of Lübeck often carried out sensitive diplomatic missions, defending the interests of the community in negotiations with German princes and neighboring states. The patience and perseverance of the Hanseatic diplomats are legendary...
Lübeck City Law (Lübisches Recht) became widespread in the Hanseatic League. It operated, for example, in Veliky Novgorod, the most important trading partner of the Hansa in the Russian lands. Moreover, Lübeck law itself was at one time developed on the basis of the law of the German city of Soest. Now it is a small district center in North Rhine-Westphalia with a population of only 50 thousand inhabitants, but Soest was once one of the most important members of the Hanse. This is a fairly typical fate of many Hanseatic cities, the development of which virtually stopped with the collapse of this union.
Red and White
Besides Lübeck, Cologne and Hamburg should be mentioned among the most influential and oldest members of the Hanse. Their coats of arms, like the heraldic symbols of many other Hanseatic cities, contain white and red - the traditional colors of the Hanseatic League.
Hamburg is now perhaps the most Hanseatic of all Hanseatic cities and maintains this image in every possible way. However, in terms of tourism, less, if not more, interest may be found in less big cities, in the appearance of which the Hanseatic past is read more clearly. Among them are Stralsund, Wismar and Lüneburg. These cities will be the subject of separate reports in our Hanseatic series.
Unlike Hamburg, in Cologne the Hanseatic past is now remembered relatively rarely. Cologne is a special case. One of the oldest German cities traces its chronicles back to the times of the ancient Romans. It was not a purely Hanseatic city. Its merchants successfully traded throughout Europe long before the birth of this union. In a number of cases, Hansa trade developed along the routes laid by Cologne merchants. The most telling example is the connection with London.
Gdansk and Riga became Hanseatic outposts in the east of the continent... The so-called Warband(Deutscher Orden), who owned lands in East Prussia. Its interests at the general meetings of the Hansa were represented directly by the Grand Master, and one of the most important centers of the order’s trading activities was Königsberg. No other principalities or duchies were included in the Hansa.
Trade
Trade ties and interests of this community extended from Scandinavia to Italy, from Portugal to Russia. On the most important trade route were London, Bruges, Hamburg, Lubeck, Tallinn (in the Hanseatic chronicles - Reval), Novgorod.
Cloth and salt made up the bulk of goods in one direction, furs and wax in the other. This Hanseatic route brought Russian sables to Venice, where they were in special demand. Wheat, rye and barley, herring and dried fish, resin, salted butter, beer, metals and ores, wood, amber jewelry, Rhine wine - everything and wherever Hanseatic merchants traded in medieval Europe...
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Hanseatic League
“With agreement, small things grow into big ones;
when there is disagreement, even the great ones fall apart.”(Sallust.)
Dmitry VOINOV
In world history there are not many examples of voluntary and mutually beneficial alliances concluded between states or any corporations. In addition, the overwhelming majority of them were based on self-interest and greed. And, as a result, they all turned out to be very short-lived. Any imbalance of interests in such an alliance invariably led to its collapse. All the more attractive to comprehend, as well as to extract instructive lessons These days, examples of long-term and strong coalitions are becoming so rare, where all the actions of the parties were subordinated to the ideas of cooperation and development.
In the history of Europe, the Hanseatic League, which successfully existed for about four centuries, can fully become such a model. States collapsed, numerous wars began and ended, the political borders of the continent's states were redrawn, but the trade and economic union of the cities of northeastern Europe lived and developed.
How did the name " Hansa"It is not known exactly. There are at least two versions among historians. Some believe that Hanse is a Gothic name and means “a crowd or group of comrades,” others believe that it is based on a Middle Low German word translated as “union or partnership.” In any case, the idea of the name implied a kind of “unity” for the sake of common goals.
The history of the Hansa can be counted from the foundation in 1158 (or, according to other sources, in 1143) of the Baltic city Lübeck. Subsequently, it was he who would become the capital of the union and a symbol of the power of German merchants. Before the founding of the city, these lands were for three centuries the zone of influence of Norman pirates, who controlled the entire coast of this part of Europe. For a long time, light undecked Scandinavian boats, the designs of which German merchants adopted and adapted for transporting goods, reminded of their former strength. Their capacity was small, but maneuverability and speed were quite suitable for merchant seafarers until the 14th century, when they were replaced by heavier, multi-deck ships capable of transporting much more goods.
The Union of Hanseatic merchants did not take shape right away. This was preceded by many decades of understanding the need to combine their efforts for the common good. The Hanseatic League was the first trade and economic association in European history. By the time of its formation, there were over three thousand people on the coast of the northern seas. shopping centers. The weak merchant guilds of each city could not single-handedly create the conditions for safe trade. In a torn internecine wars fragmented Germany, where the princes did not hesitate to engage in ordinary robbery and robbery to replenish their treasury, the position of the merchant was unenviable. In the city itself he was free and respected. His interests were protected by the local merchant guild, here he could always find support from his fellow countrymen. But, having gone beyond the city’s defensive ditch, the merchant was left alone with many difficulties that he encountered along the way.
Even having arrived at his destination, the merchant still took great risks. Each medieval city had its own laws and strictly regulated trade rules. Violation of sometimes one, even insignificant, point could threaten serious losses. The scrupulousness of local legislators reached the point of absurdity. They established how wide the cloth should be or how deep the clay pots should be, at what time trading could begin and when it should end. The merchant guilds were jealous of their competitors and even set up ambushes on the approaches to the fair, destroying their goods.
With the development of cities, the growth of their independence and power, the development of crafts and the introduction industrial methods production, the problem of sales became more and more pressing. Therefore, merchants increasingly resorted to concluding personal agreements among themselves on mutual support in foreign lands. True, in most cases they were temporary. Cities often quarreled, ruined each other, burned, but the spirit of enterprise and freedom never left their inhabitants.
An important role in the unification of cities into the Hansa was played by external factors. On the one hand, the seas were full of pirates, and it was almost impossible to resist them alone. On the other hand, Lubeck, as an emerging center of “companionship,” had major competitors in the form of Cologne, Munster and other German cities. Thus, the English market was practically occupied by Cologne merchants. With the permission of Henry III, they founded their own office in London in 1226. The Lübeck merchants did not remain in debt. The very next year, Lubeck sought from the German emperor the privilege of being called imperial, which means he became the owner of the status of a free city, which allowed him to independently conduct his trade affairs. Gradually it became the main transshipment port on the Baltic. Not a single ship traveling from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea could pass its harbor. Lübeck's influence increased even more after local merchants took control of the Luneburg salt mines located near the city. Salt in those days was considered almost a strategic commodity, the monopoly of which allowed entire principalities to dictate their will.
He took the side of Lübeck in the confrontation with Cologne Hamburg, but it took many years before, in 1241, these cities concluded an agreement among themselves to protect their trade. The first article of the agreement, signed in the Lübeck town hall, read: “If robbers and other evil people,... then we, on the same basis, must participate in the costs and expenses for the destruction and eradication of these robbers.” The main thing is trade, without obstacles and restrictions. Each city was obliged to protect the sea from pirates “to the best of its ability, so as to carry out its trade.” 15 years later they were joined Luneburg And Rostock.
By 1267, Lubeck had already accumulated enough strength and resources to openly declare its claims to part of the English market. In the same year, using all its influence at the royal court, Hansa opened a trade mission in London. From then on, merchants from Scandinavia began to resist in the vastness of the North Sea. powerful force. Over the years it will grow stronger and increase a thousandfold. The Hanseatic League will not only determine the rules of trade, but often actively influence the balance of political forces in the border countries from the North to the Baltic Seas. He collected power bit by bit - sometimes amicably, concluding trade agreements with the monarchs of neighboring states, but sometimes through violent actions. Even such a large city by the standards of the Middle Ages as Cologne, which was a monopolist in German-English trade, was forced to surrender and sign an agreement to join the Hansa. In 1293, 24 cities formalized their membership in the partnership.
UNION OF HANSEA MERCHANTS
Lübeck merchants could celebrate their complete victory. A clear confirmation of their strength was the agreement signed in 1299, in which representatives Rostock, Hamburg, Wismar, Luneburg And Stralsund decided that “from now on they will not serve the sailing ship of a merchant who is not a member of the Hansa.” This was a kind of ultimatum to those who had not yet joined the union, but at the same time a call for cooperation. From the beginning of the 14th century, the Hansa became a collective monopolist of trade in northern Europe. The mere mention by any merchant of his involvement in it served as the best recommendation for new partners. By 1367, the number of cities participating in the Hanseatic League had increased to eighty. Besides London its sales offices were in Bergen And Bruges, Pskov And Venice, Novgorod And Stockholm. German merchants were the only foreign traders who had their own trading compound in Venice and for whom the northern Italian cities recognized the right of free navigation in the Mediterranean Sea.
The offices that the Hansa maintained were fortified points common to all Hanseatic merchants. In a foreign land they were protected by privileges from local princes or municipalities. As guests of such trading posts, all Germans were subject to strict discipline. The Hansa very seriously and jealously guarded its possessions. In almost every city where the merchants of the union traded, and even more so in the border areas administrative centers, not included in its composition, a system of espionage was developed. Any action of competitors directed against them became known almost immediately.
Sometimes these trading posts dictated their will to entire states. As soon as the rights of the union were infringed in any way in Bergen, Norway, restrictions on the supply of wheat to this country immediately came into force, and the authorities had no choice but to back down. Even in the west, where the Hansa dealt with stronger partners, it managed to wrest significant privileges for itself. For example, in London the “German Court” owned its own piers and warehouses and was exempt from most taxes and fees. They even had their own judges, and the fact that the Hanseatic people were assigned to guard one of the city gates speaks not only of their influence on the English crown, but also of the undoubted respect they enjoyed in the British Isles.
It was at this time that the Hanseatic merchants began to organize their famous fairs. They took place in Dublin and Oslo, Frankfurt and Poznan, Plymouth and Prague, Amsterdam and Narva, Warsaw and Vitebsk. Dozens of European cities were eagerly awaiting their opening. Sometimes this was the only opportunity for local residents to buy whatever they wanted. Here, things were purchased for which families, denying themselves the necessities, saved money for many months. The shopping arcades were bursting with an abundance of oriental luxury, refined and exotic household items. There, Flemish linen met English wool, Aquitanian leather with Russian honey, Cypriot copper with Lithuanian amber, Icelandic herring with French cheese, and Venetian glass with Baghdad blades.
The merchants understood perfectly well that the timber, wax, furs, rye, and timber of Eastern and Northern Europe had value only if they were re-exported to the west and south of the continent. IN reverse direction there was salt, cloth, wine. This system, simple and strong, however, encountered many difficulties. It was these difficulties that had to be overcome that fused together the totality of the cities of the Hansa.
The strength of the union has been tested many times. After all, there was a certain fragility in him. The cities - and their number reached 170 in their heyday - were far from each other, and rare meetings their delegates to the general ganzatags (sejms) could not resolve all the contradictions that periodically arose between them. Behind the Hansa there was neither the state nor the church, only the population of the cities, jealous of their prerogatives and proud of them.
Strength stemmed from a community of interests, from the need to play the same economic game, from belonging to a common “civilization” involved in trade in one of the most populous maritime spaces in Europe. An important element of unity was mutual language, which was based on Low German, enriched with Latin, Polish, Italian and even Ukrainian words. Merchant families that turned into clans could be found in Reval, Gdansk, and Bruges. All these ties gave rise to cohesion, solidarity, common habits and common pride, common restrictions for all.
In the rich cities of the Mediterranean, everyone could play their own game and fight fiercely with their fellows for influence on the world. sea routes and granting exclusive privileges when trading with other countries. In the Baltic and North Sea this was much more difficult to do. Revenues from heavy, high-volume, low-priced cargo remained modest, while costs and risks were unprecedentedly high. Unlike the large trading centers of southern Europe, such as Venice or Genoa, northern merchants had a profit margin of 5% at best. In these parts, more than anywhere else, it was necessary to clearly calculate everything, save, and foresee.
BEGINNING OF SUNSET
The apogee of Lübeck and its associated cities came at a rather late time - between 1370 and 1388. In 1370 the Hanse overpowered the king of Denmark and occupied the fortresses on the Danish straits, and in 1388, in a dispute with Bruges, after an effective blockade, she forced that wealthy city and the Dutch government to capitulate. However, even then there were the first signs of a decline in the economic and political power of the union. As several decades pass, they will become more obvious. In the second half of the 14th century, a severe economic crisis erupted in Europe after a plague epidemic swept across the continent. It entered the annals of history as the Black Pestilence. True, despite the demographic decline, the demand for goods from the Baltic Sea basin in Europe has not decreased, and in the Netherlands, which was not severely affected by the pestilence, even increased. But it was the price movement that played a cruel joke on the Hansa. After 1370, grain prices began to gradually fall, and then, starting in 1400, the demand for furs also went down sharply. At the same time, the need for industrial products, in which the Hanseatic people practically did not specialize, increased significantly. Speaking modern language, the basis of the business were raw materials and semi-finished products. To this we can add the beginning of the decline of the distant, but so necessary for the Hanseatic economy, gold and silver mines in the Czech Republic and Hungary. And finally, the main reason for the beginning of the decline of the Hansa was the changed state and political conditions in Europe. In the zone of trade and economic interests of the Hansa, territorial national states are beginning to revive: Denmark, England, the Netherlands, Poland, Moscow State. Having strong support from those in power, the merchants of these countries began to press out the Hansa throughout the North and Baltic seas.
True, the attacks did not go unpunished. Some cities of the Hanseatic League stubbornly defended themselves, as did Lubeck, which gained the upper hand over England in 1470-1474. But these were rather isolated cases; most other cities of the union preferred to come to an agreement with new traders, re-divide spheres of influence and develop new rules of interaction. The Union was forced to adapt.
The Hansa received its first defeat from the Moscow state, which was gaining strength. Its connections with Novgorod merchants spanned more than three centuries: the first trade agreements between them date back to the 12th century. Over such a long period of time, Veliky Novgorod became a kind of outpost of the Hansa not only in the northeast of Europe, but also on the lands of the Slavic peoples. The policy of Ivan III, who sought to unite the fragmented Russian principalities, sooner or later had to come into conflict with the independent position of Novgorod. In this confrontation, the Hanseatic merchants took an outwardly wait-and-see position, but secretly actively helped the Novgorod opposition in the fight against Moscow. Here the Hansa put its own interests, primarily trade ones, at the forefront. It was much easier to obtain privileges from the Novgorod boyars than from the powerful Moscow state, which no longer wanted to have trade intermediaries and lose profits when exporting goods to the West.
With the loss of independence of the Novgorod Republic in 1478, Ivan III liquidated the Hanseatic settlement. After this, a significant part of the Karelian lands, which were in the possession of the Novgorod boyars, became part of the Russian state, along with Novgorod. Since that time, the Hanseatic League has practically lost control over exports from Russia. However, the Russians themselves were not able to take advantage of all the advantages of independent trade with the countries of northeastern Europe. In terms of the quantity and quality of ships, the Novgorod merchants could not compete with the Hansa. Therefore, export volumes decreased, and Veliky Novgorod itself lost a significant part of its income. But the Hansa was not able to compensate for the loss of the Russian market and, above all, access to strategic raw materials - timber, wax and honey.
The next strong blow she received was from England. Strengthening her sole power and helping English merchants free themselves from competitors, Queen Elizabeth I ordered the liquidation of the Hanseatic trading court "Steelyard". At the same time, all the privileges that German merchants had in this country were destroyed.
Historians attribute the decline of the Hanse to the political infantilism of Germany. The fragmented country initially played a positive role in the fate of the Hanseatic cities - simply no one stopped them from uniting. The cities, which initially rejoiced at their freedom, remained left to their own devices, but in completely different conditions, when their rivals in other countries enlisted the support of their states. An important reason By the end of the 15th century, the economic lag between northeastern Europe and western Europe had become obvious. Unlike economic experiments Venice and Bruges, the Hansa still wavered between barter in kind and money. Cities rarely resorted to loans, focusing mainly on their own funds and strength, had little trust in bill payment systems and sincerely believed only in the power of the silver coin.
The conservatism of German merchants ultimately played a cruel joke on them. Having failed to adapt to new realities, the medieval “common market” gave way to associations of merchants solely on a national basis. Since 1648, the Hansa completely lost its influence on the balance of power in the field of maritime trade. The last Hansentag was hardly assembled until 1669. After a heated discussion, without resolving the accumulated contradictions, most of the delegates left Lübeck with the firm conviction of never meeting again. From now on, each city wanted to conduct its trading affairs independently. The name of the Hanseatic cities was retained only by Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen as a reminder of the former glory of the union.
The collapse of the Hansa was objectively maturing in the depths of Germany itself. By the 15th century, it became obvious that the political fragmentation of the German lands, the arbitrariness of the princes, their feuds and betrayals became a brake on the way economic development. Individual cities and regions of the country gradually lost connections that had been established for centuries. There was practically no exchange of goods between the eastern and western lands. The northern regions of Germany, where sheep farming was mainly developed, also had little contact with industrial southern regions, which increasingly focused on the markets of cities in Italy and Spain. The further growth of Hansa's world trade relations was hampered by the lack of a single internal national market. It gradually became obvious that the power of the union was based more on external needs, rather than domestic trade. This tilt finally “sank” it after neighboring countries increasingly began to develop capitalist relations and actively defend domestic markets from competitors.
Acquisition of land ownership outside the city, etc.It arose as a result of an agreement concluded between Lübeck and Hamburg in 1241. After 15 years they were joined by Luneburg and Rostock. Gradually, other German cities, not only coastal cities, but those located along the banks of navigable rivers, for example Cologne, Frankfurt, Rostock, appreciated the advantages of the Union. At its peak, the Union included about 170 cities.
Main cities of the Hansa
- Lubeck
- Hamburg
- Bremen
- Rostock
- Wismar
- Cologne
- Dortmund
- Visby
- Luneburg
- Stralsund
The incentive for the unification of cities was the possibility of developing a common monetary policy, determining the rules of trade, protecting it from competitors and sea robbers
In the fourteenth century, the Hansa became a monopolist in Northern Europe in the trade of salt, furs, timber, wax, and rye. The offices of Hanseatic merchants were located in London and Novgorod, Bruges and Amsterdam, Stockholm and Dublin, Venice and Pskov, Bergen and Plymouth.
In Europe, they knew and appreciated the fairs organized by Hanseatic merchants in dozens of cities on the continent from Ireland to Poland, where goods were sold that were difficult to obtain in normal times: fabrics, oriental sweets, spices, weapons from Arab countries, Icelandic herring. During the times of power, the Hansa had a powerful navy, which performed both police functions and combat operations against those states that created obstacles to the Hanseatic merchants, in particular, the wars of the Hansa fleet with Denmark, which went on with varying degrees of success, went down in history; capture of Bruges.
The Hansa did not have any specific governing body; the most important decisions were made at congresses, but they were not binding on the cities, although in the end the Hanse had a flag and a set of laws. In 1392, the Hanseatic cities entered into a monetary union and began minting a common coin
The first general congress of Hansa representatives took place in Lübeck around 1260. The last meeting of the congress was held in Lübeck in 1669, although the beginning of the decline of the Hanseatic League dates back to the first decades of the 15th century
Reasons for the decline of the Hanseatic League
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The plague epidemic that broke out in Europe in the mid-nineteenth century, costing the lives of tens of millions of people and thereby causing an economic crisis.
- The fall at the beginning of the 15th century in the demand for wheat and furs, the main goods of Hanseatic merchants
- The gradual decline of the gold and silver mines in the Czech Republic and Hungary necessary for the Hansa economy
- The emergence of national states on the continent: Denmark, England, the Netherlands, Poland, Muscovy, whose governments began to pursue protectionist policies towards their merchants.
- Against this background, the continuing fragmentation of Germany and the loss of independence of the Novgorod Republic
- The conservatism of the Hanseatic merchants, who still used only silver coins in payments, but rejected such concepts as bills of exchange and credit
