Hanseatic League

A number of towns in Europe which Joined in a league for mutual protection of commerce as early as the twelfth century. Associated action and partial union between certain North German towns can be traced to the 13th century. In 1241 LUbeck and Hamburg agreed to safeguard the passage between the Baltic and North Sea. During the following century, the Saxon towns were Joining to protect their common interests; and tow'n confederacies both in North and South Germany became considerable. The formation was more economic than political. The expansion of trade extended from lower Rhine to Flanders and to England. In the 13th century LUbeck was the center of this movement. The merchants of Cologne at one period possessed a gild-hall in London and formed a "Hansa” with the right of admitting other German merchants. The years 1356 to 1377 mark the zenith of the league’s power. In 1380 LUbeck declared that “whatever touches one town touches all.” But the facts are said hardly to have warranted the declaration, and in the next century it became less and less true. LUbeck’s headship was accepted in 1418. The governing body (Hansetage) met there. The league gradually declined till, in 1669, the last general assembly was held and LUbeck, Hamburg and Bremen were left alone to preserve the name and small inheritance of the "Hansa” which, in Germany’s political disunion, had upheld the honor of her commerce. Their buildings were sold — at London in 1852 and Antwerp in 1863. See Encycl. Br. Hamburg and Bremen were incorporated Into the German ZoU-Verein in 1888, and LUbeck some years previously, and are now, in substance, free cities or states constituting part of the German Empire. See Zimmern, The Hansa Towns. See Codb.