Hanse Towns

A number of towns in Europe which joined in a league for mutual protection of commerce as early as the twelfth century. Amsterdam and Bremen were the first two that formed it, and they were joined by others in Germany, Holland, England, France, Italy, and Spain, till in 1200 they numbered seventy-two. They made war and peace to protect their commerce, and held countries in sovereignty, as a united commonwealth. They had a common treasury at Lubeck, and power to call an assembly as often as they chose. For purposes of jurisdiction, they were divided into four colleges or provinces. Great privileges were granted them by Louis VI. of France, and succeeding monarchs. One of their principal magazines was at London. Their power became so great as to excite the jealousy of surrounding nations, who forced the towns within their jurisdiction which belonged to the league to renounce it. Their number and power became thus gradually reduced, beginning from the middle of the fifteenth century; and at the present day only Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck, and Frankfort-on-the-Main remain.

The collective name of certain German cities, including Lubeck, Hamburg, and Bremen, which formed an alliance for the mutual protection and furtherance of their commercial interests, in the twelfth century. The powerful confederacy thus formed was called the "Hanseatic League." The league framed and promulgated a code of maritime law, which was known as the "Laws of the Hanse Towns," or Jus Hanseaticum Maritimum.

Defined under Hanse in Black's Law Dictionary.

LAWS OF THE. The maritime ordinances of the Hanseatic towns, first published in German at Lubeck, in 1597, and in May, 1614, revised and enlarged.