The Hanseatic League, described as Europe's "first great seaborne empire based on commerce" developed and controlled trade in the Baltic region from the 13th to the 17th centuries, according to Edward Von der Porten, in his article, "The Hanseatic League—Europe's First Common Market" (Von der Porten, 58). Led by German merchants, the league's purpose was to promote and protect trade through peaceful cooperation; and was formed as a direct outgrowth of the lack of a central government to protect the trading interests of merchants. Member towns were "bound by a common language, currency, legal system and strong traditions of civic and individual rights" (Von der Porten, 58). The vast trade network of the Hansa played an integral role in the development of the commercial revolution.
During the High Middle Ages, roughly between 1000 and 1300 c.e., several major changes aided the development of the commercial revolution of the Late Middle Ages, and its attendant outgrowth, the Hanseatic League. These changes included the reopening of trade routes with the East, expanding trade in the Baltic region, the development of trade networks via the medieval fair, the specialization of products amongst locales as an outgrowth of this expanding trade and changing mindsets regarding usury.
Dennis Sherman and Joyce Salisbury, in their text, "The West in the World," state most trade during the Middle Ages came from luxury goods (Salisbury, 267). This trade was lead by merchants of northern Italy who reopened trade routes with Muslim bazaars in Baghdad as early as 998 (Salisbury, 267). At the same time a lively trade took place on the Baltic Sea centered on Gotland Island. According to Johannes Schildhauer, in his book, "The Hansa—History and Culture," this island's strategic location caused a web of trade to develop around the 9th century as far east as Novgorod in current day Russia and as far west as the Zuider Zee in present day The Netherlands (Schildhauer, 20). This northern trade was focused on raw materials and necessities, however, not on luxury goods (Cantor, 367).
The burgeoning of the medieval fair in Northern Europe—most notably the Champagne fairs in the early 12th century—provided the most important stimulus necessary for the development of trade networks. At this time, local craftsmen and merchants didn't travel long distances, so the fairs provided an important outlet for trade. Though luxury goods from the East were traded, these fairs were dominated by the trade of day-to-day necessities and raw materials (Cantor, 367). As the fairs and trading networks developed so did entrepreneurial spirit.
Another factor aiding the development of the commercial revolution—so important to the development of the Hanseatic League—was changing attitudes and mindsets. Trade lessened the need for self-sufficiency that was the hallmark of the manor according to Norman F. Cantor in "Western Civilization—Its Genesis and Destiny," (Cantor, 359). Prior to this time, "The farmer was primarily concerned with producing the necessities of life for himself and his family" (Cantor, 365). This was in part due to the church's condemnation of usury—the lending of money at interest. The development of trade created increasing specialization of products amongst locales, thus moving the population away from self-sufficiency. Increasingly, early merchants went to great lengths to circumvent the church's ban on usury due to the enormous cost of their trading expeditions and the resulting need for loans to finance them (Cantor, 365-369).
These early traders struggled against great odds to develop and sustain their trading networks (Cantor, 368). Due to the political instability of the times the "merchant might arrive at his destination only to find war had broken out and he was in hostile territory" (Cantor, 368). In addition, trading channels were so new that there were few reliable sources of raw goods. During the early days of the commercial revolution, "the merchant had to travel to the source, bargain for goods, and then transport them safely to the market," (Cantor, 368). Along the way he could be robbed or subject to exorbitant tolls levied by the local nobility for the use of roadways (Cantor, 369). In the case of river shipping, which was the preferred method due to poor roads and bulky cargo, a merchant could see as much as 60% of his cargo go to the payment of river tolls at Imperial toll stations, according to James Thompson in his book, "The Economic and Social History of Europe" (Thompson, 129). These toll stations monopolized river traffic and were found on every navigable river in the Middle Ages (Thompson, 129). Adding to this, the rivers often swarmed with pirates (Thompson, 129).
Not surprisingly, in response to the lack of a German national government to provide security for trade, German cities in the thirteenth century began to form leagues for the purpose of protection and mutual cooperation in the development of trade, according to Phillippe Dollinger in his book, The German Hansa (Dollinger, xvii). The declaration of the League of the Rhine, dated July 12, 1254, attests to the frustration of these early merchants:
"Since now for a long time many of our citizens….have been completely ruined by the violence and wrongs which have been inflicted on them in the country and along the roads, and through their ruin others have also been ruined, so that innocent people, through no fault of their own, have suffered great loss, it is high time that some way be found for preventing such violence, and for restoring peace in all our lands in an equitable manner. Therefore, we have mutually bound ourselves by oath to observe a general peace for ten years from St. Margaret's Day” (Thompson, 131).
The formation of the Hanseatic League was a direct result to these contributing factors. Its beginning is attributed to a treaty of mutual protection between the cities of Lübeck and Hamburg attested to in 1241, according to Columbia Encyclopedia (Hanseatic1). The purpose of the treaty was to "obtain mutual security, exclusive trading rights, and, wherever possible, trade monopoly" (Hanseatic1). Additionally, the two towns agreed to "share the expense of keeping the roads between them free from brigands" (Dollinger, 46). Over time, other cities joined and the league grew stronger with Lübeck at its head. Though member towns and cities were largely North German, ports and inland towns from Holland to Poland (and later, Russia) entered the league as well (Hanseatic1).
To describe the Hansa as a "league" is somewhat misleading in that the term presupposes a definite organization—which was not the case. It was not a sovereign power but remained under the jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire and the nobles. It was loosely organized, lacked legal status, had no institutions of its own, had neither its own finances nor an army or fleet (Dollinger, xix). The Hanseatic diet, its lone institution, "met rarely at irregular intervals and never at full strength" (Dollinger, xix). So, where did it gain its power? In the realization of the common interests that bound its members together (Dollinger, xix).
The league vigorously expanded its operations with major outposts in London, Bruges, Bergen and Novgorod. German traders from Cologne had an outpost in London before the inception of the league for the purpose of importing Rhenish wine and German metalwork according to David Keys in his article, "City Freeman?" (Keys, 4). In addition, these merchants exported English wool and imported finished textiles from Bruges (Von der Porten, 64). These merchants were "granted special status, paid fewer and lower customs dues and had greater freedom of movement than traders from other countries" (Keys, 5). Later, the outpost came under Hanseatic control. Bruges, as the seat of the valuable Flemish wool cloth industry, was the most important trading center in Northwestern Europe located in its most densely populated region (Schildhauer, 42). The Hanseatic League made itself indispensable to the industry by not only purchasing vast quantities of cloth for trade but serving as its principle supplier of food (Schildhauer, 42). The Norwegians traded cod from the Lofoten Islands, butter, meat and furs via their port city of Bergen in exchange for grain, salt, cloth and metal products, according to John Gade in his doctoral dissertation, "The Hanseatic Control of Norwegian Commerce During the Late Middle Ages," (Gade, 2). The league set up an outpost in Novgorod after introduction to trade with the Russians on Gotland island, asserts Erik Tiberg in his treatise, "Moscow, Livonia and the Hanseatic League" (Tiberg, 13). Trade with the east was centered in the export of raw materials, furs, candle wax and even goods from as far away as China, and the import of finished articles and luxury goods (Von der Porten, 63, 68; Dollinger, 214). Trade agreements in all these outposts were characterized by conditions highly favorable to the Hanseats including the above-mentioned reduction in customs fees and exclusive or monopolistic trading rights.
Hanseatic history was "entirely concerned with the sea," thus shipping and shipbuilding went hand in hand (Schildhauer, 108). The Hanseats plied the seas in their sturdy single-masted cog, a surprisingly maneuverable ship considering its cumbersome appearance. Only one example has ever been found, the result of the dredging of Bremen harbor in 1962. This ship measured 77 feet long and 25 feet wide (Schildhauer, 149). It was built of overlapping planks attached to a framelike substructure with massive crossbeams and was capable of carrying two tons (Schildhauer, 149). The building of the hull alone required 30 tons of solid oak (Hanseatic2). In the 1500's an estimated 1,000 cogs sailed the trade routes of the league, more than any naval power before this time (Hanseatic2).
Around 1400, the trade shifted from bulkier cargoes such as timber, cereals and salt to more compact goods such as cloth, amber (for rosaries) and wax (Schildhauer, 149). To meet this change, the cog was gradually replaced by the holk which had a capacity of 300 tons (Schildhauer, 149). To provide an idea of the amount of trade taking place at this time, in the year 1560 alone, 1,409 ships from a variety of Hanseatic ports and a half-dozen other countries of origin sailed westward from Danzig in current day Poland moving an estimated 422,700 tons of cargo (Dollinger, 439).
To govern all this trade, laws and the legal process became very important. Arguably, the Hanseatic League's greatest export was its law—referred to as Lübeck Law (Von der Porten, 67). According to Johannes Schildhauer, a retired history professor, Lübeck Law was never assembled into a single document and is, as such, just as vague as the organization of the league itself (Von der Porten, 67). These were common laws established by the merchants who travelled the Baltic and applied at every Hanseatic post (Schildhauer, 213). Their overriding theme was to protect commerce, regulate the vessels and discipline the men such that safe passage of the cargo could be guaranteed (Thompson, 175). These laws, fostering "legal unity over a large area were of tremendous economic importance to both the Hanseatic towns and their merchants" (Schildhauer, 214). They governed everything from extra pay for extra work laws for sailors to "good neighbor" laws requiring crews to help one another save their goods in case of danger (Thompson, 175). Over time, these laws "secured the importance of increased protection of commerce in Northern Europe, influenced the development of practices for protection of merchants resident in a foreign country and changed attitudes regarding respect for neutral shipping trade" (Thompson, 177). Thus the significant contribution of Lübeck Law was in the field of international law.
Alongside the merchants, craftsmen were critical to the development of Hanseatic towns. Trading caused the crafts to flourish, the outgrowth of which was the creation of craft guilds. These were co-operative associations organized for protection against competition, perfection of skills and the promotion of technological progress (Schildhauer, 155). A few of their functions were to establish and monitor product quality guidelines in the interest of their customers, train apprentices and journeymen, determine who could be admitted to the guild, provide protection for the town and aid the sick, widows and orphans (Schildhauer, 155). Thus, these craftsmen rightfully earned a reputation for reputability. The guilds also provided social outlets for members such as "celebrating religious holidays, guild festivals and feasts," (Schildhauer, 155). With street names such as Böttchergasse (Coopers' Row) and Weberstrasse (Weavers Street) surviving documents show these guilds formed a close-knit community with members of the same craft living on the same street (Schildhauer, 155).
The guilds were subject to the town council (led by the merchants) who had a say in "the prices the guild should ask for the goods they produced, and reserved the right to keep their activities under surveillance and ultimately to take decisions" (Schildhauer, 156-57). As such, the relationship between the guilds and the town councils were not always amicable and in some events led to uprisings (Schildhauer, 156-57).
A young man seeking to learn a craft could expect to meet a clear criterion of expectations before he could be deemed a journeyman and, ultimately, a master craftsman. The masters and journeymen passed on their skills to the apprentices, with the apprentice living in the house of his master (Schildhauer, 160). A young man wishing to apprentice himself to a master needed to "have been honourably born (of free, married parents) and shall give the guild half a barrel of beer" to be accepted as an apprentice (Schildhauer, 160). There were explicit, written expectations regarding his conduct both in his work as an apprentice and his life as an individual. If the apprentice were to "grumble and answer back" he might expect "someone…to sock [him] in the jaw," (Schildhauer, 161). Workdays were long, often starting at 4 a.m. and ending at 8 p.m. excepting Thursdays and Saturdays when the workday ended at 6 p.m. (Schildhauer, 159-60). The young apprentice could expect his training to take from 3-4 years, after which time he was then free to seek a position as a journeyman (Schildhauer, 160).
The journeyman also worked and lived with his master (Schildhauer, 159). Originally, the journeyman could expect to advance to master once he was capable of demonstrating a master's skills to the guild for review, and proving enough accumulated wealth to set up his own shop. However, due to several contributing factors, these positions increasingly became inherited by sons or sons-in-law (Schildhauer, 155). First, more advanced production technology meant that more money was needed to set up a shop of their own (Schildhauer, 160). Second, membership in the guild assured an income for all members. When the growth in population had slowed to almost a halt in the 15th century, the guilds responded by limiting membership "in order to guarantee "bread" for all members" (Schildhauer, 160). Thus, the prospect of ever becoming a master became quite slim.
During its heyday in the 14th and 15th centuries the Hanseatic League "was as powerful as any monarchy in Europe" (Von der Porten, 75). However, several factors contributed to its decline. One contributing factor was their legal tradition of dividing inheritances among their many children, thus preventing the concentration of capital (Von der Porten, 75). Another factor was their refusal to give government positions to lower-ranking craftsmen, resulting in bloody uprisings within their town walls (Von der Porten, 75). But, perhaps the greatest contributing factor—and the reason for the league's inception in the first place—was the lack of a "centralized power in Germany which left their operations vulnerable" (Von der Porten, 75). The monopolistic, aggressive trade practices in their outposts angered the locals causing Ivan III to seize Novgorod in 1478 and Queen Elizabeth to close the London enclave in 1598 (Von der Porten, 75; Thompson, 177). The Black Death, riding on the backs of fleas through German towns in 1350, the decline of the herring fishery in the Baltic in the 15th century, the silting of the harbor at Bruges cutting the town off from the sea and the Thirty Years' War from 1618-1648 were additional destabilizing factors contributing to the decline of the league (Von der Porten, 78; Thompson, 179). Though the league was never officially dissolved, the last Hanseatic Diet, attended by very few member towns, met in Lübeck in 1669 (Dollinger, xv).
Though town leagues were not unusual in the Middle Ages, none of these associations lasted as long or had as great an impact as the Hanseatic League (Dollinger, xvii). Thus, the League has rightfully earned a significant place in history due to its extraordinary ability to unite far-flung towns in voluntary membership and loyalty for nearly 500 years (Dollinger, 370). This union assured the prosperity of numerous Northern European cities, the benefits of which are seen to this day (Dollinger, 375).