HANOVER COURT HOUSE HANOVER COURT HOUSE, Battle of. See CHICK A.HOMINY, vol. iv., p. 411. HMSEATIC LEAGUE (Old Ger.JIansa, a union), a commercial alliance of certain Germanic cit- ies in the middle ages, for the protection of trade. In the early part of the 13th century society in northern Europe was in a rude stage. The shores of the Baltic were occupied by Slavic tribes. Commerce, wbere it existed, was viewed by the sovereigns as something to supply their own rapacity, rather than as a benefit to the realm. Petty lords followed the example of the sovereigns and levied exactions under the pretence of giving protection. The maritime cities of Germany were the chief sufferers, es- pecially those on the Elbe. The Genoese and Venetians possessed the monopoly of the Med- iterranean and the East, and made those cities the depots of their northern traffic. The rich cargoes continually passing gave birth to swarms of pirates, who infested the Baltic. In 1239 an agreement was entered into between Ham- burg, Ditmarsh, and Hadeln, to take means to keep the course of the Elbe and the adjacent sea free of marauders. This was the beginning of the Hanseatic league, although it is usually dated from the compact between Hamburg and Liibeck, in 1241, to provide ships and soldiers to clear the traffic way between the rivers Elbe and Trave, and the waters from Hamburg to the ocean, and further to promote their mu- tual interests. When this partnership had been in operation six years, the city of Brunswick joined it. Other cities speedily sought admis- sion, with their quota of men and money. The progress of the league was rapid. By 1260 it had so expanded that a convention was sum- moned to regulate its affairs, and thereafter its diet assembled triennially, with an extraordi- nary meeting decennially to renew the league. Lubeck was named the capital of the Hansa, and depositary of the common treasury and archives. Usually the meetings were held at Lubeck, but occasionally at Hamburg, Cologne, and elsewhere. The cities of the alliance were organized for administrative purposes into four circles : 1, the Vandalic or Wendish towns of the Baltic ; 2, the Westphalian, Rhenish, and Netherlandish towns ; 3, the Saxon and Bran- denburg towns ; 4, the Prussian and Livonian. The capitals of these circles were Lubeck, Co- logne, Brunswick, and Dantzic. The number of cities belonging to the league fluctuated, but at the height of its power it comprised the fol- lowing 85 : Andernach, Anklam, Aschersleben, Bergen, Berlin, Bielefeld, Bolsward, Branden- burg, Braunsberg, Bremen, Brunswick, Bux- tehude, Campen, Colberg, Cologne, Cracow, Culm, Dantzic, Demmin, Deventer, Dorpat, Dortmund, Duisburg, Eimbeck, Elbing, El- irg, Emmerich, Frankfort-on-the-Oder, Gol- )w. Goslar, Gottingen, Greifswald, Gronin- Halberstadt, Halle, Hamburg, Hamem^ im, Hanover, Harderwyk, Helmsteclt, Her^ rorden, Hildesheim, Kiel, Konigsberg, Kos- 'eld, Lemgo, Lixheim, Lubeck, Luneburg, Mag- 389 VOL. viii. 29 HANSEATIC LEAGUE 447 deburg, Munden, Munster, Nimeguen, Nord- heim, Osnabriick, Osterburg, Paderborn, Qued- linburg, Revel, Riga, Roermond, Rostock, Ru- genwalde, Salzwedel, Seehausen, Soest, Stade, Stargard, Stavoren, Stendal, Stettin, Stolpe, Stralsund, Thorn, Uelten, Unna, Venloo, War- burg in Sweden, Werben, Wesel, Wisby, Wis- mar, Zutphen, and Zwolle. These cities were represented by delegates. The edicts of the assembly were communicated to the magis- trates at the head of each circle, and were en- forced with the strictness of sovereign power. Besides the ordinary members of the league, other cities were more or less affiliated with it, but without representation or share in the re- sponsibilities. Among the latter were Amster- dam, Antwerp, Dort, Ostend, Rotterdam, Bru- ges, Dunkirk, Bayonne, Bordeaux, Marseilles, Rouen, St. Malo, Barcelona, Cadiz, Seville, Lis- bon, Naples, Leghorn, Messina, and London; but in the 14th century the kings of France and other potentates of the south ordered their mer- chants to withdraw from the association. The objects of the league were in the beginning the protection and expansion of commerce, the pre- vention of piracy and shipwreck, the increase of agricultural products, fisheries, mines, and manufactures. With these views they estab- lished four great factories or depots of trade : at London, in 1250 ; Bruges, 1252 ; Novgorod, 1272 ; and Bergen, 1278. From these centres they were able almost to monopolize the trade of Europe. Their factories were conducted with all the rigor of monastic establishments, the officers being bound, among other things, to celibacy and common board. The London factory, with branches at Boston and Lynn, gave the Hansards, as the merchants of the league were called, command both of the im- port and export market of Britain, while it enabled them to engross much of the carrying trade to the exclusion of British ships. As it was difficult in the state of navigation at that time to make a voyage from the Mediterranean to the Baltic and back in one season, Bruges became the intermediate depot for the rich traffic with Italy and the Levant. Novgorod was the entrepot between the countries E. of Poland and the cities of the league; while Bergen secured to them the products of Scan- dinavia. The league was at its greatest power during the 14th and first half of the 15th cen- tury, but its objects were professedly different from those with which it set out, being now : 1, to protect the cities of the Hansa and their commerce from prejudice; 2, to guard and extend foreign commerce and to monopolize it ; 3, to administer justice within the confederacy; 4, to prevent injustice, by means of assemblies, diets, and tribunals of arbitration ; 5, to main- tain the rights and immunities received from foreign princes, and, where possible, to extend them. Further, the league claimed to exercise a general judicial power, and to inflict the greater and lesser ban. In this change of prin- ciple may be traced the seeds of dissolution.
