Hanseatic League. The first trade and economic association in European history

Hanseatic League- a strategic trading partner of medieval Novgorod, which united North German cities led by Lübeck in the period from the 14th to the 16th centuries (formally until 1669).

The Hansa was created with the aim of carrying out safe trade on more favorable terms and served as an intermediary between the producing regions of Eastern, Northern, Western and partly Central Europe, receiving enormous benefits from this. There are two periods in the history of the Hansa:

• XI-XIII centuries - the so-called period of the “merchant Hanse”, when the first merchant associations were created with the center in the city of Visby (Gotland island).
• XIV to XVI centuries - the period when, on the basis of the “merchant Hanse”, the “Hanse of Cities” arose (Lübeck, Bremen, Hamburg, Stralsund, etc.), in 1356 it received the name “German Hansa”.

In 1356, a union of cities was finally formalized, calling itself the “German Hansa”. The purpose of the union is to protect the interests of the North German merchants. The highest organ of the Hanse was the congress. Its decisions (adopted by the majority) were binding for everyone (including those Hanseatic cities that, for some reason, did not send their representatives to the next congress). At its peak, the Hansa included up to 100 cities, and the scope of the union was never strictly limited.

The rise of the Hansa is not least associated with its victory in the war with Denmark (1367-1370) for freedom of navigation in the Sound. This strait connected the Baltic with the North Sea and was vital for Hanseatic trade. The Hansa did not have permanent finances, an army or a navy, and its armed forces consisted of troops and fleets of individual cities. Nevertheless, the unification of cities - the Hanse - won this war with the strongest enemy at that time - Denmark, and on May 24, 1370, the Treaty of Stralsund was concluded between the parties, according to which the Hanseatic cities received many trading privileges. Including, 4 fortresses on the eastern bank of the Sound and 2/3 of the duties from them were transferred to the cities of the Hansa. Denmark even agreed to such humiliating conditions - it pledged not to elect a new king without the consent of the Hansa. The resulting treaty led to the Hanseatic trade monopoly in the Baltic.

Novgorod is the largest trading counterparty of the medieval Hanse in Eastern Europe throughout the entire period of its existence. Goods were exported through Novgorod, including those brought from other Russian lands. It was in Novgorod, as well as in London, Bruges (Flanders) and Bergen (Norway), that one of the largest Hanseatic offices was located.

...At the turn of the 11th-12th centuries, a trading post of Gotlandic merchants already existed in Novgorod - the so-called Gothic Court with the Church of St. Olav, which the Novgorodians called the “Varangian Goddess”. It was damaged in a fire in 1152, when the Novgorod market burned down. On Gotland, in Visby, there was also a farmstead of Novgorod merchants, also with a church, the remains of which have been preserved in this city.

Somewhat later, in the second half of the 12th century, German merchants from North German cities, primarily from Lübeck, arrived in Novgorod. They founded the German Court in Novgorod - the Court of St. Peter (after the Church of St. Peter built in 1192).

Now on the site of the Gothic Court in Novgorod there is the Rossiya Hotel, and the German Court, located between the ancient Slavnaya and Ilina streets, could be seen opposite the center. Uspeniya on Torg (modern Bolshaya Moskovskaya Street), but time did not spare him either.

With the formation of the “Hanse of Cities,” which included both Lübeck and Visby, the Gothic and German courts in Novgorod were united under common management. The courtyards were connected by a road that passed through the princely courtyard.

The Hanseatic courts did not have a permanent population. The Germans came to Novgorod twice a year - in summer and winter. The courtyards resembled fortresses. They were surrounded by a wall of thick logs.

Inside the courtyards there were

• the church where the steven (general meeting) gathered and pressing issues in the lives of merchants were resolved, and the most valuable goods were stored,
• two-story houses (dorises), in which merchants lived with their clerks and students,
• premises for trade and storage of goods (cages),
• as well as a large chamber, a clerk's room, a mill, a brewery, a bathhouse and a hospital.

In the evening, the gates of the courtyards were tightly locked, and the dogs were unchained inside and a guard was posted.

The Novgorod authorities had no right to interfere in the internal affairs of the Hanseatic courts. Of all the Hanseatic offices, and they existed in London, Bruges, Bergen and other cities, the Novgorod one was the most isolated from the city in which it was located.

Trade of Novgorod with the Hansa.Export and import

Trade between Rus' and the Hansa was carried out through Novgorod. The most important items of Novgorod medieval export were furs and wax, which were highly valued throughout Europe. Many Western European monarchs and nobles wore fur coats and hats made of precious furs (ermine, sable, marten) brought from Novgorod; candles made of Russian wax illuminated huge Gothic churches.

Of the furs, the most popular product was squirrel skins of various varieties, exported in colossal quantities to Western Europe. Most valuable furs were considered pieces, sometimes “magpies” (40 pieces), and squirrels - hundreds, thousands, barrels (a barrel included up to 12 thousand skins). It is known that only the German merchant Wittenborg sold in the 50s of the 14th century in three years 65 thousand skins (mainly squirrels) that he acquired in Novgorod. In another case, even despite the ban on trading with Novgorod (disagreements between partners sometimes occurred!), the merchant Fekingusen purchased 29 thousand skins in 1418-1419.

According to estimates by A.L. Khoroshkevich, a researcher of ancient Novgorod trade, in the 14th-15th centuries more than half a million skins were exported from Novgorod to the West annually.

Beekeeping (collection of honey and wax from wild bees), widespread in Rus', allowed large quantities export wax abroad. The Volga region, Smolensk, Polotsk, Murom, Ryazan lands and, of course, the Novgorod Pyatina region supplied wax to the Novgorod market. From here it was exported to the West by Hanseatic and Russian merchants. Wax was sold in circles. Each “circle” that went on sale had to have a strictly established weight (in the 15th century - about 160 kg) and be of a certain quality, which was certified by a special official seal, with the help of which the words “God’s goods” were imprinted on wax, that is, not fake, made “according to God’s truth.”

In addition to furs and wax, in the last decades of independence and later, Novgorodians traded with the West in tanned leather, leather products, in particular shoes. Sometimes the items exported were certain types of agricultural products and game birds (falcons).

Many necessary goods were imported from the West to Novgorod, a significant part of which then went to the markets of other Russian cities. First of all, these are different expensive fabrics, especially cloth, as well as non-ferrous metals used in many crafts.

The products of local weavers fully satisfied the residents’ needs for everyday clothing, but for festive clothes, noble Novgorodians often preferred foreign fabrics. Cloths made in the cities of Flanders - Ypres, Ghent, Bruges - were especially popular. Ypres cloth, as well as scarlat (red cloth) are mentioned many times in Russian written sources as an expensive gift to important and powerful people.

Hanseatic merchants brought copper, lead, tin and other materials necessary for crafts to Novgorod, such as alum, which was used for tanning leather and producing parchment. Skilled Novgorod jewelers made a variety of jewelry from imported Baltic amber; Imported mercury, arsenic, and vitriol were also used.

Among the food products imported were Baltic herring, salt, and in lean years, bread. In 1231, the chronicler noted that the Germans brought bread and thereby saved the Novgorodians, who had reached extremes, from starvation.

Hanseatic merchants also brought drinks to Novgorod - French, Spanish, Rhine and Greek wines. In addition, the Germans brewed beer in their Novgorod yards, mainly for themselves, and put some of it on sale.

Despite the prohibitions of their western neighbors, who were often at war with Novgorod, Hanseatic merchants sometimes brought weapons and horses here.

Novgorod merchant unions

Trade in the Middle Ages, especially international trade, was an extremely dangerous business: the elements (storms and storms) lay in wait for the merchant on his way, and the main threat was robbers. Therefore, for long trips, merchants united in large armed caravans, which were not easy for professional warriors to cope with. To protect their interests, merchants formed special corporations and guilds.

As in Western European countries, similar associations existed in Novgorod, where they were called merchant hundreds. The largest association of Novgorod merchants is the so-called “Ivan hundred”. They owned the Church of Ivan on Opoki in Torg, which has survived to this day. The charter of the “Ivansky hundred” has been preserved. The corporation united merchants who traded wax and had the exclusive right to weigh all wax entering the Novgorod market and collect duties on it.

At the beginning of the 13th century, at a trade, “overseas merchants” (an association of Novgorod merchants who traded “overseas”) built the stone church of Paraskeva-Pyatnitsa (a saint considered the patroness of trade). A special tax was paid in favor of the church from visiting foreign merchants.

Corporate culture of Medieval Rus'

One of the attributes of all kinds of medieval associations were common holidays and feasts. In Rus' they were widespread and were called bratchins. The Ivansky Hundred also had its own holiday, which lasted three days - feast of the SaintJohn.

For a large fee, the richest of the Novgorod merchant associations invited three of the most prominent church figures of Novgorod to perform church services in their church. On the first day - the archbishop, on the second - the Archimandrite of Yuryev, on the third - the abbot of the Anthony Monastery.

Relations between Novgorodians and Hanseatics

Trade relations between German merchants and Novgorod were regulated by special agreements (the oldest that reached us dates back to the end of the 12th century), as well as by a special charter of the Hanseatic court (skre).

The most significant were the articles of the agreements on providing a “clean route” to the Germans to the Novgorod land, and to the Novgorodians along the Baltic, that is, guarantees of trade security.

Other articles talked about the conditions for merchants to travel through foreign territory, as well as punishments for causing harm to merchants and the resolution of litigation that arose between Russians and Germans.

The corporatism inherent in the Middle Ages led to the fact that an insult inflicted on a group of merchants in a foreign land, or even one of them, often became the reason for the severance of trade relations between Novgorod and the Hansa for several years.

Hostility was usually accompanied by reprisals against all merchants of the opposing side (arrest, confiscation of goods). Thus, the enmity that arose as a result of the robbery of Novgorod merchants in Narva lasted seven years. In response, the Novgorodians confiscated the goods of the Hanseatic merchants in Novgorod, although they had nothing to do with the Narva crime. In 1392, a peace treaty was concluded (Niebuhr's Peace), as a result of which the parties came to an agreement and trade resumed.

But even the most acute conflicts between trading partners sooner or later ended in a peace treaty: trade with Western Europe was important to Novgorod and German merchants.

The main features characterizing Russian-Hansean trade in Novgorod were the following:

• firstly, the trade was wholesale, they traded not at retail, but in fairly large quantities of goods;
• secondly, it was barter, without the use of cash as a means of payment, that is, what in recent times was called the then fashionable word “barter” (money, of course, played a role in trade, but only as a measure of the value of goods) ;
• thirdly, the trading process did not take place at the Market, but in the Hanseatic courts and Novgorod courtyards, where Russian and German merchants examined the goods they needed and made deals.

According to the statute (skre) of the German Court, Hanseatic merchants are categorically prohibited under pain of a large fine and “deprivation of court rights” (i.e., the merchant was deprived of the opportunity to come to Novgorod for trading purposes in the future)

• trade with Russians on credit,
• and also take goods belonging to them onto their ships.

The last ban was associated with the Hansa's desire to strengthen its monopoly on intermediary trade in the Baltic. There were also restrictions established by the Hansa on the number of goods brought by one Hanseatic merchant during one visit to Novgorod. In the 14th century, their estimated value should not have exceeded one thousand marks (about 200 kilograms of silver), later - one and a half thousand marks.

It has reached this day large quantity written information about the trading activities of Novgorod residents. They led many historians of the 19th and early 20th centuries to the conviction that trade was the basis of the economy of Novgorod. However, it is not. Mainly luxury goods and raw materials for handicraft production were brought from distant countries to Novgorod. Export from Novgorod provided opportunities for the acquisition of imported goods. Modern historians, without denying the importance of trade, have clearly proven that basis of the economy Novgorod land there was agricultural production along with developed crafts.

The Germans sold all their goods in Novgorod; Russian merchants transported Western European goods to other Russian lands for their own benefit.

After the annexation of Novgorod to Moscow, Novgorod retained its position as the leading partner of the Hansa and did not lose its leading trading position in Rus'. But the Hansa gradually began to decline from the middle of the 15th century. This was due to competition in trade from English and Dutch merchants. The Hansa finally lost its dominance in the second half of the 16th century, when new sea routes opened that connected Europe with America and India.

Based on materials from historian Vasily Fedorovich Andreev

German Hanseatic League

Introduction 3

I.Beginning of the Hanseatic League 4

- XIIIV. 4

International contacts of German cities 4

First Congress of the Hansa. Principles of union organization 6

Cities of Hansa 7

Some facts from the life of the Hanseatic people 8

Types of Hanseatic ships 8

Politics of the Hansa 9

II. The rise of the union and its decline 11

Wars against Denmark 11

Hansa's loss of its significance 11

Decline of Lübeck 14

III.Last days of Hansa 16

IV.Conclusion 19

V.References 20

Introduction

By the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. There was a redistribution of economic and political forces in Northern Europe. The development of this region in particular and international relations in Europe in general led, among other things, to the emergence of a historically unique example of interethnic exchange and economic cooperation, to the emergence of the “Hanse of Cities” (Städtehanse). The concept of “Hanse” (“Hanse”) is of Flemish-Gothic origin and goes back to the now extinct East Germanic language, the language of the Gothic tribes. Translated from Gothic, this word means “union, partnership.” The word hanse was often used in northern Europe to designate any guild or association of merchants.

This community of cities has become one of the most important forces in Northern Europe and an equal partner sovereign states. However, since the interests of the cities that were part of the Hansa were too different, economic cooperation did not always turn into political and military cooperation. However, the undeniable merit of this union was that it laid the foundations for international trade.

Start Hanseatic League

German maritime trade to the middle XIII V.

Around 800, Charlemagne laid the foundation for an urban system in German cities, and Henry I, the first king of Saka origin, around 925 further developed this system, founded new cities and granted them a certain independence and some privileges. He strengthened maritime trade and protected it from the Danish sea robberies that were intensifying at that time; he was the first and only German king who did not consider it necessary to go to Rome to be crowned by the pope as Roman emperor. Unfortunately, already the son of Henry I, Otto the Great, deviated from this policy. However, he also rendered an indirect service to the German maritime cause with his campaign against the Danes, during which he invaded Nordmark in 965 and forced King Harald to recognize his suzerainty. This, however, limited the activities of the German kings for the benefit of maritime affairs; Otherwise, the German navigators were left to their own forces.

Despite this and despite the robberies of the Normans, German maritime trade had already reached significant development in those days; Already in the 9th century, this trade was carried out with England, the Northern states and Russia, and it was always carried out on armed merchant ships. Around 1000, the Saka king Ethelred granted significant advantages to German merchants in London; His example was subsequently followed by William the Conqueror. Trade with Cologne - Rhine wines - flourished especially at that time; It was probably at this time, around 1070, that the "Dye Yard" was founded in London on the banks of the Thames, which for many centuries was the meeting place for German merchants in London and the central point for German trade with England; it was first mentioned in the treaty between Germany and England in 1157 (Frederick I and Henry II).

This period was generally extremely important for German navigation. In 1158, the city of Lübeck, which quickly reached a brilliant prosperity due to the increased development of trade in the Baltic Sea, founded a German trading company in Visby, on the island of Gotland; this city was located approximately halfway between the Trave and the Neva, the Sound and the Gulf of Riga, the Vistula and Lake Mälar, and thanks to this position, as well as the fact that in those days, due to the imperfections of navigation, ships avoided long passages, they began to enter it all ships, and thus it acquired great importance.

In the same year, merchants from Bremen landed in the Gulf of Riga, which marked the beginning of the colonization of the Baltic region, which was later lost by Germany when Germany's maritime power declined. Twenty years later, the Augustinian monk Meingard was sent there from Bremen to convert the natives to Christianity, and another twenty years later, the crusaders from Lower Germany arrived in Livonia, conquered this country and founded Riga. Thus, at the very time when the Hohenstaufens were carrying out numerous Roman campaigns with huge German armies, when Germany was fielding armies for the successive Crusades to the Holy Land, the Low German navigators began this vast undertaking and successfully brought it to an end.

International contacts of German cities.

The formation of the above-mentioned trading companies is the beginning of the Hanse. The first Hanse arose in Flanders, where in 1200 in the city of Bruges, which at that time was the first trading city of the north, a partnership of 17 cities was formed, with a certain charter, which conducted wholesale trade with England and was called the Flemish Hanse; This partnership, however, did not acquire political independence.

The first impetus for the formation of the German Hanse came from Visby, where in 1229 German merchants, who were representatives of many German trading cities, including the port cities of Lübeck, Bremen, Riga and Groningen and some inland cities, such as Münster, Dortmund, Zesta, concluded an agreement with the Smolensk prince; this was the first performance of the “society of German merchants”; the word Hansa came into use much later.

Thus, Visby gained an advantage over the German cities, but this advantage soon passed to Lubeck, which in 1226 became a free imperial city and expelled the Danish garrison. In 1234, the city was surrounded by the Danes from sea and land and began to prepare for battle; His fleet attacked and unexpectedly destroyed the enemy. This was the first German naval victory, moreover, won over superior forces.

This major success, by which one can judge the strength and belligerence of the Lübeck fleet, gave the city the right to take a leading place. Soon (in 1241), Lubeck concluded an alliance with Hamburg to maintain a fleet at common expense in order to maintain freedom of communication by sea, that is, to perform the functions of maritime police in German and Danish waters, with police supervision mainly meant the Danes themselves. Thus, these two cities took on one of the main tasks of the navy.

A few years later, during the war with Denmark, the Lübeck fleet devastated the Danish coast, burned the castle in Copenhagen and destroyed Stralsund, which belonged to Denmark at that time. Subsequently, this fleet, in turn, was defeated, but, nevertheless, the peace concluded in 1254 was beneficial for Lübeck.

This was the beginning of that difficult time when Germany was left without an emperor, the time of the long interregnum that came with the end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, during which horrific tyranny reigned in Germany. Until this time, German cities, when disagreements arose with foreign states, always relied on German princes, who, however, had to pay good money for the assistance they provided; from that time on, these cities had to rely only on themselves.

The art and trust earned by the “society of German merchants” created for the Germans in all places where they traded, a leading position and broad privileges - in Flanders (Bruges), in England (London), in Norway (Bergen), in Sweden, and also in Russia, where at that time a very large shopping center arose in Novgorod, connected by water communication with the Neva. It was the most Big city in Russia, which had about 400,000 inhabitants (by the end of the 19th century there were no more than 21,000).

In each of these cities, the Germans had their own office, they owned large farmsteads and even entire city blocks that enjoyed special rights and refuges, with their own jurisdiction, etc. Trade relations between the east and the west and back, mainly from the Baltic Sea to Bruges and to London were very extensive.

In these offices, young German merchants lived and learned from old, experienced merchants, who here acquired skills in trading matters and worldly experience, as well as political and personal connections, which they needed in order to later become the head of a trading house or even hometown and Hansa.

At this time, Lübeck, as the natural head of the union, began to conclude, without special authority, on behalf of “all the merchants of the Roman Empire,” treaties in which equal advantages were negotiated for all German cities. In contrast to the usual selfishness of the Germans, a broad and noble state view of the matter and consciousness of a community of national interests were expressed here. In any case, this success, which the national feeling triumphed over the opposing interests of individual cities, must be explained by a long stay in foreign countries, the population of which always regarded the Germans, whatever their origin, as rivals and even enemies.

At the same time, under the influence of the ever-increasing power of the robber knights, and due to the complete lack of public security, the Rhine city union was formed, consisting of 70 cities located in the area from the Netherlands to Basel; it was an alliance of burghers against the reigning lawlessness caused by the need for self-defense. This union energetically set to work and broke the stubbornness of many knightly castles; however, after the election of Rudolf Habsburg to the kingdom, who took decisive measures against the robber knights, this union ceased to exist.

First Congress of the Hansa. Principles of union organization.

Regarding those negotiations that preceded a closer union of the cities, which later received the name Hanseatic, no information has reached us, except that in 1260 the first general congress of representatives of the Hanse took place in Lübeck, and, however, even the year of this important event not known exactly. Information regarding this union is extremely scarce. The number of cities that belonged to the Hansa is given very differently, with some numbering up to 90. Some cities within the country joined the Hansa for the associated trade benefits, but only nominally, and took almost no part in its affairs.

At the head of the union was the so-called Ganzetag, a kind of parliament consisting of city representatives. At first all this seems self-evident and simple, but the Hanseatic League had no permanent organization - no central authority, no constitution, no common armed forces, no navy, no army, no own bureaucratic officials, no common treasury, but laws on which the community was founded, were just a collection of charters, customs and precedents changing over time.

Moreover, the Hanseatic people did not celebrate any independence day, and in general they did not recognize any general holidays, except perhaps church ones. They had no “great leaders” or leaders to admire, and no “common cause” worthy of laying down their lives for it.

Representation was entrusted to the main city of the union, Lübeck, quite voluntarily, since its burgomasters and senators were considered the most capable of conducting business, and at the same time this city assumed the associated costs of maintaining warships. The cities that were part of the union were removed from each other and separated by those that did not belong to the union, and often even by hostile possessions. True, these cities were for the most part free imperial cities, but nevertheless, in their decisions they were often dependent on the rulers of the surrounding country, and these rulers, although they were German princes, were not always in favor of the Hansa, and on the contrary, they often treated her unkindly and even hostilely, of course, except in those cases when they needed her help. The independence, wealth and power of the cities, which were the focus of the religious, scientific and artistic life of the country, and to which its population gravitated, stood as a thorn in the side of these princes.

Thus, the Hanseatic cities had to defend themselves not only from external enemies, but also from their own princes. Therefore, the position of the union was extremely difficult and it had to pursue a smart and cautious policy in relation to all interested rulers and skillfully take advantage of all circumstances so as not to perish and not allow the union to disintegrate.

It was very difficult to keep cities, coastal and inland, scattered over the space from the Gulf of Finland to the Scheldt, and from the sea coast to central Germany, within the union, since the interests of these cities were very different, and yet the only connection between them could be precisely only common interests; the union had only one coercive means at its disposal - exclusion from it (Verhasung), which entailed the prohibition of all members of the union from having any dealings with the excluded city and should have led to the cessation of all relations with it; however, there was no police authority to oversee the implementation of this. Complaints and claims could only be brought to congresses of allied cities, which met from time to time, to which representatives from all cities whose interests required this were present. In any case, against port cities, exclusion from the union was a very effective means; this was the case, for example, in 1355 with Bremen, which from the very beginning showed a desire for isolation, and which, due to enormous losses, was forced, three years later, to again ask to be accepted into the union.

Cities of the Hansa

From the 13th to the 18th centuries, under the auspices of the Hanseatic League, there were about two hundred cities, stretching from the circumpolar Bergen in Norway, on the shores of the North Sea, and all the way to Russian Novgorod. Here, along with native languages, common German was in use, a single monetary system was used, and residents had equal rights within their class.

In 1293, twenty-four cities became members of the Hansa, and by 1367 their number had more than tripled.

The management was based on charters granted to the cities by the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. They determined the boundaries of cities, gave them the right to conduct trade, mint coins, erect fortress walls, fish, grind grain, organize fairs, and introduce some of their own laws, instead of each time turning to the monarch himself.

The Hanseatic included Liege and Amsterdam, Hanover and Cologne, Gottingen and Kiel, Bremen and Hamburg, Wismar and Berlin, Frankfurt and Stettin (now Szczecin), Danzig (Gdansk) and Koenigsberg (Kaliningrad), Memel (Klaipeda) and Riga, Pernov (Pärnu) and Yuriev (Dorpt, or Tartu), Stockholm and Narva. In the Slavic cities of Wolin, at the mouth of the Oder (Odra) and in what is now Polish Pomerania, in Kolberg (Kołobrzeg), in Latvian Vengspils (Vindava) there were large Hanseatic trading posts that actively bought up local goods and, to the general benefit, sold imported ones.

All Hanseatic cities of the league were divided into three districts:

1) Eastern, Vendian region, to which Lubeck, Hamburg, Rostock, Wismar and the Pomeranian cities belonged - Stralsund, Greifswald, Anklam, Stetin, Kolberg, etc.

2) Western Frisian-Dutch region, which included Cologne and the Westphalian cities - Zest, Dortmund, Groningen, etc.

3) And finally, the third region consisted of Visby and cities located in the Baltic provinces, such as Riga and others.

From the very beginning to the end of the existence of the Hansa, Lubeck was its main city; this is proven by the fact that the local court in 1349 was declared an appellate court for all cities, including Novgorod.

Some facts from the life of the Hanseatic people

The townspeople jealously guarded the independence they had won. A well-known saying was: “City air is freedom.” If a serf managed to escape to the city and live there without leaving its walls for exactly a year and one day, he was no longer someone’s property. So the spread of Lübeck law represented an undermining of the privileges of the nobility and the emergence of the beginnings of the modern middle class, on which a European-style society is now based.

The secret of Hanseatic prosperity was the low cost of mass transportation. The Elbe-Lübeck Canal, dug by the serfs of the Count of Lauenberg between 1391 and 1398, still operates to this day, although it has since been deepened and expanded. It allows one to significantly shorten the distance between the North Sea and the Baltic. At one time, it replaced the old cart route from Lübeck to Hamburg, which for the first time made it economically profitable to transport bulk and other bulk cargo from of Eastern Europe to Western. So, during the Hanseatic era, Eastern European food products and raw materials flowed through the canal - Polish grain and flour, herring from Baltic fishermen, Swedish timber and iron, Russian candle wax and furs. And towards them - salt mined near Luneburg, Rhine wine and pottery, piles of wool and linen fabrics from England and the Netherlands

Old charters contain information that at least twenty ships sailed from Lübeck to Bergen annually. Here they were met by representatives of the Hanseatic “office”, who already knew the demand for the goods they brought and kept ready-made goods in warehouses for the return journey. These "offices" were trading posts with an entirely male population. There was a custom of sending teenagers here from the German Hanseatic cities to undergo a kind of practice and “tanning the skin.”

The Hanseatics were housed here near the harbor itself in three dozen narrow, unheated three-story houses stretching along the water, guarded by watchdogs. In each such house there was a whole labyrinth of warehouses, office rooms, rooms for winches and gates, as well as bedrooms, where two-story bunks rose on a carriage door sliding in grooves. The apprentices slept in a compartment of two on a mattress stuffed with sea grass. Only the “aroma” of fish, blubber and sea grass could somehow resist the smell of people who had been crowded together for a long time. washed people. Visitors smell this mixture flowing from the log walls, which remain today in Bergen's Hanseatic Museum.

Trade was to be firmly in Hanseatic hands. And the senior merchants strictly forbade the younger employees of the “office” not only to settle outside of it, in the Norwegian city, but even to marry local girls. There was only one sentence: death penalty.

Types of Hanseatic ships

“Frede-koggen” was the name given to ships that carried out police service near the coast and harbor; a certain fee was levied for their maintenance. All merchant ships were armed, but in later times the Hansa also had special warships. Here are a few figures that, however, date back to a later time: the Swedish flagship, taken in battle by the Lübeck fleet, was 51.2 meters long and 13.1 meters wide, the armament consisted of 67 cannons, not counting hand weapons; the Lübeck flagship had a keel of 37.7 meters, with its greatest length being 62 meters; there were at the bow and stern tall towers, there were 75 guns from 40 to 2.5 pound caliber on it, the crew included 1075 people.

Politics of the Hansa

The leaders of the Hansa very skillfully used favorable circumstances to take into their own hands trade in the Baltic and North Seas, make it their monopoly, eliminating all other peoples, and thus be able to set prices for goods at their own discretion; in addition, they tried to acquire in states where this was of interest to them, the greatest possible privileges, such as, for example, the right to freely establish colonies and carry out trade, exemption from taxes on goods, from land taxes, the right to acquire houses and courtyards, with representing to them extraterritoriality and their own jurisdiction. These efforts were mostly successful even before the founding of the union. Prudent, experienced and possessing not only commercial, but also political talents, the commercial leaders of the union were excellent at taking advantage of the weaknesses or difficult situations of neighboring states; they did not miss the opportunity indirectly (by supporting the enemies of this state) or even directly (through privateering or open war) put these states in a difficult position in order to force certain concessions from them.

The significance and very existence of the Hanse was based on the fact that it became necessary for the surrounding states, partly through its mediation in the delivery of necessary goods, the hiring of ships, loans of money, etc., so that these states found benefits in their relations with the German coastal states. cities, - partly because the Hansa became a great force at sea.

The conditions of that time were such that when it came to acquiring or maintaining any advantages, both sides did not act particularly scrupulously; The Hansa resorted, first of all, to gifts and bribes, but often directly resorted to violence, both on land and at sea, and often did this even without declaring war. Of course, it is impossible to justify violence, which is often accompanied by cruelty, but those who want to succeed must pursue an energetic policy.

In 1280, Lübeck and Visby took over the protection of trade in the Baltic Sea, that is, maritime police supervision; three years later, the Hansa formed an alliance with the Dukes of Mecklenburg and Pomerania to maintain peace against the Margraves of Brandenburg. When the Danish king Erik Glipping joined this alliance, the Norwegian king Erik unexpectedly seized German merchant ships and all property owned by the Germans on land. As a result of this, Lubeck, together with the Wenden cities and Riga, equipped a fleet that ruined Norwegian trade, devastated the coast and caused such losses to the country that the king was forced to conclude peace in Kalmar on October 31, 1285, pay the Hansa a military reward and provide it with significant trade advantages . When King Christopher II was expelled from Denmark, he turned to Lübeck for help, which was provided to him; he was sent back to Denmark and restored to the throne, for which he had to provide almost unlimited privileges to the German merchants. The same story happened with King Magnus of Norway, despite the fact that he was hostile to the Hansa.

In 1299, representatives of Rostock, Hamburg, Wismar, Lüneburg and Stralsund entered into an agreement that “from now on they will not serve the sailing ship of a merchant who is not a member of the Hansa.” The Hansa became a collective monopolist of northern trade.

As a result of the privileges enjoyed by the Hansa, Scandinavian and Russian trade completely disappeared from the Baltic Sea, and English trade took a secondary place; the Hansa ruled from the Neva to the Netherlands over the sea and over trade.

The rise of the Hansa and its decline

Wars against Denmark

In 1362, the Hansa wars began against Waldemar III, who created the greatness and power of Denmark. In the same year, the island of Gotland was occupied. Visby and the German courtyard in it were plundered, and a lot of blood was shed. Then the Hansa entered into an alliance with Sweden and Norway; at the beginning of May, the Hanseatic fleet appeared in the Sound, but the Hanseatic allies did not appear. Then the Hanseatic admiral Wittenberg alone attacked Copenhagen, took it, and then crossed over to Skonia, which at that time belonged to Denmark, and besieged Helsingborg. Here, however, he was surprised by the Danish fleet and lost 12 large "coggs"; the army had to hastily board the ships and return to Lübeck. Wittenberg was put on trial and executed.

After this, peace followed, which lasted for several years, but in November 1367, at a general meeting of the Hanseatic League held in Cologne, 77 cities, starting from Narva to Zirik-Zee, decided with all their might to wage war against Waldemar. A large fleet was equipped, which began by ravaging the Norwegian coast so thoroughly in April 1368 that the king began to sue for peace; after this the fleet sailed to the Sound and in May took Copenhagen, then Helsingor, and forced Waldemar to leave his country.

According to the peace treaty, in addition to a large indemnity, the Hansa was recognized with the right to confirm the kings of the Northern States. This was a huge success, especially because it was achieved not by the forces of a powerful state, but by the forces of a union of cities.

After this unprecedented success, the Hansa, apparently, began to neglect police supervision on the seas; sea ​​robbery spread to such an extent that the cities of Wismar and Rostock found it necessary to issue letters of marque against the ships of the three northern powers. This, however, made matters even worse, since as a result of this, a large, strong society of “Likendelers” was formed in these cities, which became known as the “Vitaliytsev Brothers,” which equipped entire robber squadrons that robbed everything that did not belong to these two cities. They, however, were not limited to one robbery, but even attacked Bergen and caused such losses to the Hansa that in 1394 Lübeck sent a fleet against them, consisting of 35 cogs, which, however, did not achieve decisive success, and only when the Teutonic Order , who also had great power at sea in those days, sent a fleet against them and took away Gotland and Visby from them in 1398. The Vitalians were forced to leave for the North Sea, where they continued to plunder for a long time.

Hansa's loss of importance

Despite all its commercial and military successes, the Hansa, conservative to the core, gradually created difficulties for itself. Its rules required that the inheritance be divided among numerous children, and this prevented the accumulation of capital in one hand, without which the “business” could not expand. Constantly preventing the guild craftsmen from coming to power, the clumsy senior merchants kept the lower classes silent about a bloody revolt, especially dangerous within their own city walls. The eternal desire for monopoly aroused indignation in other countries where national feeling was growing. Perhaps most importantly, the Hanseatics lacked the support of the central government in Germany itself. There were other troubles: in 1530, the Black Death - the plague - devastated one German city after another. A quarter of the entire population died from her breath. In the 15th century, the herring catch in the Baltic sharply declined. The large harbor in Bruges was covered with silt, so that the city was cut off from the sea.

Thus, at the beginning of the 15th century, the Hanseatic League began to lose its strength. The main Dutch harbors, taking advantage of their position closer to the ocean, preferred to conduct trade at their own expense. The new war of the Hansa with Denmark in 1427-35, during which these cities remained neutral, brought them enormous benefits and thereby caused damage to the Hansa, which, however, retained everything that it had owned until then. The collapse of the union was expressed, however, already in the fact that several years before the conclusion common world, Rostock and Stralsund concluded their separate peace with Denmark.

Of great importance was also the sad fact that, starting in 1425, the annual passage of fish into the Baltic Sea ceased. She headed to the southern part of the North Sea, which contributed to the prosperity of the Netherlands, since throughout the world, especially in the south, there was a strong need for a Lenten product.

Then a war of privateering arose between the Hansa and Holland, which ended only five years later and caused the separation of large Dutch port cities from the Hansa, since with the development of shipping, the terms of trade for these cities began to differ too much from the terms of trade of the Hanse, whose center of gravity was on the Baltic Sea . As a result, a close union of these cities with the Hansa, with benefit for both sides, became impossible. Holland began to develop its world trade.

The policy of the Hansa also gradually lost its original prudence and energy; This was also accompanied by inappropriate frugality in relation to the fleet, which was kept in insufficient numbers. The Hansa, without any opposition, looked at the unification in the same hands of power over the three Northern Kingdoms, to which the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein were also added, and allowed the formation of such a force as had never existed in the north. In 1468, Edward IV, King of England, deprived the Hansa of all its privileges and left them only for the city of Cologne, which was subsequently excluded from the Hanse. In the privateering war that followed, the Hansa suffered heavy losses, despite the fact that England did not have a navy at that time. It was of no use that a squadron of eastern Hanseatic cities helped Edward IV, expelled from his country, to return to it, since Edward continued to be hostile to the Hanseatic League, and only when a strong Hanseatic fleet had devastated the English coast many miles inland did he capture many ships and hanged their crews, Edward IV in 1474 agreed to a peace beneficial for the Hansa, according to which he confirmed all its privileges and paid military rewards. From this it is obvious that the Hansa was saved only by its strength at sea.

The Hansa was powerless against only one state - Russia, since at that time it had absolutely no contact with the sea; Therefore, it was a strong blow for the Hansa when the Russian Tsar in 1494 unexpectedly ordered the plunder of the German compound in Novgorod, chained and imprisoned 49 Germans living there. Under such exceptional circumstances, the Hansa turned to the emperor for help, but the latter maintained his friendly relations with the Russians; This is what the attitude of the head of the empire towards the Hanseatic cities was like in those days! A similar attitude manifested itself a little later, when King Johann of Denmark obtained from the emperor an order to expel all Swedes, which disrupted all trade ties between the Hansa and Sweden.

At this time, the internal connection in the union completely disintegrated. When Lübeck declared war on Denmark at the end of 1509, only Rostock, Wismar and Stralsund joined him. Despite this, the Hanseatic fleet showed its superiority here too, and at the end of 1512 in Malmö, all the privileges of the Hanse were again confirmed.

But nevertheless, the forces of the nobility and clergy were broken, a fief and bureaucratic state arose, as a result of which royal power strengthened and even became unlimited. Maritime trade developed greatly and recently extended to the East and West Indies. Its influence on the state economy, as well as the importance of import duties, became more and more clear; the kings no longer wanted to allow all the trade of their country to be in the hands of others, and, moreover, in the hands of a foreign power, which excluded any possibility of competition. They no longer wanted to submit to the prohibition to increase import duties on their borders and did not even want to allow any restrictions in this regard. At the same time, the privileges granted to the Hanse are sometimes very extensive, such as extraterritoriality, the right of asylum in farmsteads, own jurisdiction, etc. made you feel more and more powerful.

Hostility towards the actions of the Hansa was constantly growing, both among foreign and German princes. Of course, they had the opportunity to create customs outposts against port cities, but then they found themselves completely cut off from sea communications. Tolerating these heavy restrictions, as well as the independence of the rich free cities lying in their possessions, became more and more intolerable as their views on financial matters were formed and the own power and greatness of these princes increased. The times of monopolies in maritime trade were over, but the leaders of the Hansa did not understand the signs of new times and firmly held on to the goals and means that they inherited from their predecessors.

Meanwhile, shipping conditions also changed; the interests of the port cities, scattered along the coast over more than two thousand kilometers, diverged more and more, with the private interests of each individual city acquiring more and more predominant importance. As a result, the Flemish and Dutch cities had already separated from the Hansa, then Cologne was excluded from it, and the connection between the remaining cities became increasingly weakened. Finally, Lubeck was left almost alone with the Wenden cities and the cities of Vorpommern.

These circumstances were also joined by the spiritual revival of those times, caused by the great overseas discoveries, and, thanks to the Reformation, which spread in breadth and depth not only in the religious, but also in the social sphere, so that all relations that had existed before underwent profound changes. This caused the same complications in the internal situation of the Hanseatic cities as the changed political conditions in their international situation.

The Hanseatic League was conceived and created by trading people, but by this word one should not mean merchants in our accepted sense of the word, but only large wholesale traders; Retail merchants who offered their goods on the streets, and who correspond to the owners of modern retail stores, just like artisans, could not enroll in merchant guilds.

All management in the Hanseatic cities was concentrated in the hands of these guilds, but these guilds did not consist of hereditary families alone and were thus not a patrician organization - all newly arriving large wholesale traders could join the guild. In fact, this, of course, did not happen often, and all power was concentrated in the hands of the rich, since the property qualification was decisive.

Such exclusion of the poor classes from business had previously aroused displeasure and unrest in the cities, especially among artisans. The profound spiritual upheaval brought about by the Reformation gave a powerful impetus to significant social and political changes; The peasant war that arose as a result in Upper Germany, accompanied by sad events, is well known. Strong fermentation also began in the free imperial cities, but the explosion followed much later, partly because just at this time events took place in the Northern states that attracted all the attention of the Hansa to external affairs.

Decline of Lübeck

In 1520, Charles V, who was already the Spanish king at that time, was elected German Emperor. During the division with his brother Ferdinand, he retained the Netherlands, to which he also added western Friesland and Utrecht; as a result, Germany lost its rich coastline with the mouths of the Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt. This, of course, was very beneficial for the maritime trade of the Netherlands. At the same time, Christian II, the king of Denmark, who became the son-in-law of Charles V and had an acute hatred of the Hanse, began to patronize Dutch trade in the Baltic Sea. He was a despotic ruler who harbored the most extensive plans - to conquer all of Sweden, to concentrate all the trade of the Baltic Sea in Copenhagen and make of this city a central storage place for the entire east, and thus reduce the activities of the Hansa to local trade alone. This gave the Hanse a reason, despite the fact that its influence had dropped significantly, to once again decisively intervene in the fate of the Northern kingdoms.

In 1519, Gustav Vasa fled from Christian II to Lubeck, who not only refused to extradite him, but even supported him and helped him cross to Sweden; Christian II subjugated Sweden, but aroused strong hatred against himself in the country as a result of the massacre he organized in Stockholm, and when Gustav Vasa rebelled, the Hansa openly began to support him. The Hanseatic fleet devastated Bornholm, burned Helsingor, threatened Copenhagen, and assisted in the siege of Stockholm. On June 21, 1523, the Danish commandant of the city presented the keys to the city to the Hanseatic admiral, who in turn handed them over to Gustav Vasa, who had already become Gustav I. Gustav, as a reward for his assistance, granted the Hanse significant privileges.

Even before this, with the support of Lübeck, Frederick I of Holstein was elected king of Denmark in Jutland, instead of Christian II. The Hanseatic fleet conquered Zealand for him and assisted in the siege of Copenhagen, which surrendered on April 24, 1524; Thus, the Danish king came to his capital and took possession of his kingdom with the assistance of the Hansa.

Christian II had fled even before this, but a few years later, with the help of Holland, he made an attempt to conquer Norway again. He landed in Norway and quickly achieved significant success; Denmark hesitated, but the Hansa immediately sent a fleet against him, which through energetic actions managed to force Christian to surrender, however, he surrendered not to the Hansa, but to his uncle Frederick I, who imprisoned him in Sonderburg Castle, where he kept him captive for 28 years until his death in 1559. Thus, the Hanseatic fleet helped Gustav Vasa ascend to the Swedish throne and brought him into the capital, contributed to the overthrow of Christian II and the accession of Frederick I to the throne in his place, then he overthrew Christian II a second time and helped neutralize him. These were undoubtedly major deeds, but this was the last outbreak of Hanseatic sea power.

Even before this last campaign against Christian II, in 1500 unrest arose in Lübeck, with the goal of overthrowing the patrician city ​​government; both burgomasters fled, and the leader of the movement, Jurgen Wullenweber, became the head of the city, and at the same time took over the leadership of the Hansa. If he had been imbued with new ideas that would help him secure and strengthen, according to the dominant position of Lübeck, which was threatened on all sides, the means to which he resorted for this purpose would probably not have been too harshly condemned. However, all his efforts, after he achieved a leadership role through revolutionary means, were aimed exclusively at restoring Lubeck's maritime dominance and, by eliminating other nations, especially Holland, securing Lubeck's monopoly of trade in the Baltic Sea. The means to achieve this goal were to be Protestantism and democracy. All other Hanseatic cities were supposed to be given a democratic system, which was accomplished; Denmark was to become a Protestant republic, and he himself wanted to become the ruler of the Sound, which at that time was almost the only route of communication between the Baltic and German seas.

Meanwhile, the former burgomasters of Lübeck obtained a decision from the imperial chamber court, which threatened Lübeck's democratic rule with expulsion from the empire; this was enough to frighten the Lübeck people so much that they decided to depose Wollenweber and restore the previous city government. This proves how fragile was the foundation on which Wullenweber built his brief reign.

Wullenweber's plan was not adapted to new circumstances, and he did not take into account the actual balance of forces. He prepared neither alliances, nor army, nor navy and hoped to achieve major successes only through agreements with burgomasters in enemy countries and through popular uprisings against the existing order of things. He himself did not possess any outstanding talents, and his grandiose but fantastic enterprise was devoid of all the data that could ensure success; That’s why it failed, to the great detriment of Lübeck, and Wullenweber himself died.

The importance of Lübeck fell so much that after Gustav I unceremoniously destroyed all the privileges of the Hansa, Christian III, King of Denmark, for his part also ceased to pay any attention to these privileges. In 1560, Germany lost the Baltic provinces, the colonization of which it had begun exactly 400 years earlier, and neither the emperor nor the country lifted a finger about this. The Russian Tsar conquered Narva and Dorpat (1558) and banned the Hanse from shipping in Livonia; Estland was conquered by Eric XIV, King of Sweden, who did not recognize the Hansa at all, and Courland fell under Polish rule.

Last days of the Hansa

Beginning in 1563, Lubeck, in alliance with Denmark, again waged a seven-year war against Sweden, which had recently captured the Hanseatic merchant fleet, in which (which is very significant for the then state of affairs) even Wismar, Rostock and Stralsund remained neutral.

However, Sweden was so weakened by the persistent advance of the Allies and internal turmoil that it left the sea at their mercy. The new king, Johann, concluded on December 13, 1570 in Stetin a rather profitable peace with Lübeck, according to which there was no longer any talk of a trade monopoly and duty-free trade; The military compensation stipulated by the peace treaty was not paid. When Johann felt that his position on the throne was sufficiently strengthened, he declared himself “lord of the Baltic Sea” and the next year forbade the Hanse to trade with Russia. At the same time, he organized a privateer war against the Hansa, and, however, out of respect for Spain, did not touch the Dutch ships. The Hansa did not have a strong enough fleet to successfully oppose it; its trade suffered enormous losses, while the Netherlands grew richer.

Shortly before this, the Hansa once again had the opportunity for a major political performance. In 1657, a revolt broke out in the Netherlands against Philip II, which, after 40 years of struggle, finally freed them from the Spanish yoke; the cause of the war was not only political, but also religious motives; The rebels, who belonged to the Reformed Church, begged the Hansa for help, and the latter thus had the opportunity to return the German people and German land to Germany again, but the Hansa missed this opportunity by refusing the requested help. All the Lutheran German princes did the same, and only some princes of western Germany who belonged to the Reformed confession provided assistance to the Netherlands.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Lubeck again made several attempts to establish relations with Russia and Spain, but without significant results, and the 30-year war finally destroyed the remnants of German supremacy at sea and all German shipping.

The peculiarities of the Hanseatic League, which had neither a strong internal organization nor a definite and permanent supreme control, did not give this alliance the opportunity to create significant fighting forces at sea. Neither the union nor the individual cities had a permanent fleet, since even the Frede Coggs, which were sometimes kept in service for a long time, were intended exclusively for maritime police supervision.

Obviously, as a result of this, it was necessary to reassemble military forces every time in every war. In accordance with this, the conduct of the war itself was limited to actions near the enemy’s coast, and these actions were reduced to unrelated expeditions, attacks and indemnities; there is no need to talk about systematic, scientifically based actions at sea, about a real naval war, and there was no need for this, since the opponents almost never had real military fleets.

In addition, the Hanseatic League, and even individual cities of the league, had at their disposal other means by which they could impose their will on the enemy without resorting to weapons. The Hansa dominated all trade to such an extent, especially in the Baltic Sea, where for many years it was undisputedly the first trading power, that it was often enough for it to prohibit trade relations (a kind of trade blockade) with those who were hostile to it, in order to bring opponents to submission. The monopoly of maritime trade, which the Hansa enjoyed for centuries on the shores of the Baltic and North Seas, was carried out with merciless severity, and for this it did not need a real navy.

However, circumstances began to develop differently when individual states began to grow stronger and the independent power of the princes began to be gradually established. The participants of the Hansa did not understand that, in accordance with the changing conditions and the alliance, it was necessary to change their organization, and also in Peaceful time prepare for war; they made the same mistake as they later

Despite, however, a broad outlook in political, and especially in trade and political affairs, the leaders of the Hansa almost completely did not understand the importance of strong dominance at sea, its acquisition and maintenance; the alliance strained its forces as much as was necessary to achieve immediate goals, and as soon as these goals were achieved, the fighting forces were immediately disbanded. Naval strategy was never used by the Hansa in peacetime.

Having no general leadership and subject only to some generally binding strict laws, Hanseatic merchant shipping nevertheless developed very widely. This shipping, in accordance with the economic and political nature of the Baltic (and partly the North) Sea, from the very beginning played the role of the only route for trade in the entire north-east of Europe; German-Baltic trade reached Goslar and Sest, despite the fact that the latter lay closer to the North Sea: in the latter city there was a “Schleswig company” not so long ago.

Conditions of trade and navigation in the North Sea were freer, not only due to the general geographical location the German coast of this sea, but also due to the fact that on this sea the Hanseatic League was not a complete master, but had to withstand strong competition with other maritime nations. On both seas, the Hansa gradually began to be replaced by the energetic Dutch; The Hansa disintegrated, its forces were fragmented, and, in the end, it was left (at least in the Baltic Sea) with only local coastal trade and coastal shipping. For example, the trading firms of Lübeck were in the end almost exclusively engaged in trade between the Baltic harbors and Hamburg, and Hamburg, in alliance with Bremen, held in its hands almost all trade with western and southern Europe.

Hansa trade for the most part was of the nature of only intermediary transactions, mainly with raw materials, and in this respect, too, the products of the Baltic countries were of predominant importance. In the early days, Hanseatic merchants themselves purchased the necessary goods, transported them themselves, and sold them themselves at the point of consumption; As a result, German merchants traveled all over the world and could personally get acquainted with the matter everywhere and form a correct opinion about it. the most important conditions trade and shipping. However, even this acquaintance with the general course of affairs and the significance sea ​​power did not lead to the creation of a central authority to serve the general national interests at sea, and private interests continued to play a predominant role. This continued when all around the forces of individual princes and peoples began to increase and they all began to organize their naval forces.

The Thirty Years' War almost completely destroyed German trade, and at the same time German shipping; The main routes along which trade was directed to the ocean and to the west of Europe also changed, with the countries of the Middle West acquiring a leading role, which soon spread to the very eastern edges of the Baltic Sea.

The subject of the Hanse's constant claims and the basis of its prosperity were trade monopolies, duty-free trade and other privileges; all this came down to one's own material gain and the exploitation of others, and could not continue with the right state structure. From its very first steps, the Hansa acted oppressively, if not on the governments of those states in which it operated, then on their merchants, armorers and sailors. She could hold her position only by force and precisely by sea power.

The leaders of the Hansa with great skill used both its naval power and other means at its disposal, including money, and knew how to benefit from the information acquired through their agents about foreign countries and about the people who had influence in them. They cleverly took advantage of the constant disputes over succession to the throne and other internal disagreements, as well as numerous wars between individual states, and even themselves tried to initiate and encourage such cases. In general, everything came down to commercial calculations, and they did not show great discernment in their means and did not pursue any more lofty state goals. Therefore, the entire union, in addition to the common national feeling, was held together only by the consciousness of common benefits, and as long as these benefits were truly common, the union represented a major force. With the change in conditions, as maritime trade grew, and states, both domestic and foreign, began to grow stronger, the interests of individual members of the union began to diverge, with private interests gaining predominant importance; the members of the union most distant from the center fell away themselves or were expelled from it, unanimity in the union was broken, and the members who remained loyal to it no longer had sufficient strength to fight the strengthened foreign states.

In order to prolong its existence, the new, smaller union had to base its activities on free trade and navigation, but for this, the coastal cities needed free communications with the interior and strong security.

It should not be forgotten, however, that the northern and southern German city unions, and especially the Hanseatic League, for a long time alone supported German influence, which found its best protection and its main center in the Middle Ages.

German cities, including those that were part of the Hanseatic League, were the only representatives of the idea of ​​further national development of the German people, and partly implemented this idea. These cities almost alone personified German strength and influence in the eyes of foreigners, so the history of urban unions is, generally speaking, a bright page in German history.

Conclusion

What do cities such as London, Bruges and Novgorod, Lubeck and Bergen, Braunschweig and Riga have in common? All of them, as well as 200 other cities, were part of the Hansa. This union enjoyed such enormous economic and political influence that no German state that existed before 1871 had. And in military power, the Hansa surpassed many of the kingdoms of that time.
The Hanseatic League formed the merchants to ensure the protection of their interests and to combat robbery.
The Hansa was a product of its time, and circumstances were especially favorable for it. Trade on the Baltic Sea was very developed and was even more extensive than at present; along the entire coast of this sea there were Hanseatic offices everywhere. To this we must add that the German coastal cities, and Lubeck at their head, perfectly understood the importance of sea power and were not afraid to spend money on maintaining the fleet.

The union of German cities that made up the Hansa fell apart after 270 years of brilliant existence, during which it raised and unthroned kings and played a leading role throughout the north of Europe. It fell apart because for this long term The conditions of state life on which this union was based changed radically.

German cities, including those that were part of the Hanseatic League, were the only representatives of the idea of ​​further national development of the German people, and partly implemented this idea. These cities almost alone personified German strength and influence in the eyes of foreigners, so the history of urban unions is, generally speaking, a bright page in German history.

Bibliography

1) Vipper R.Yu. History of the Middle Ages. Lecture course. - St. Petersburg: SMIOPress. 2001

2) Kappler A., ​​Grevel A. Germany. Facts. – Berlin: Societäts-Verlag. 1994

3) Györffy H-J. Schleswig-Holsteinische Ostseeküste. - München: Polyglott-Verlag. 1997

4) Shtenzel A. History of wars at sea. - M.: Isographus, EKSMO-Press. 2002.

5) HANSA: THE ANCIENT “COMMON MARKET” OF EUROPE. -“KNOWLEDGE IS POWER” No. 1, 1998

The strengthening of the positions of the burgher class, the growth of crafts, and the development of trade provided a chance for the centralization policy of the German royal power, which, due to its commitment to imperial ambitions, it was unable to take advantage of. The ties between the cities and the central government were fragile; the crown was unable to protect the cities from the arbitrariness of the princes, ensure the safety of land and sea trade routes, or protect German merchants abroad.

In these circumstances, cities that had common interests, had something to protect, and had sufficient resources to do so, often sought support and assistance from each other. This led to the formation already in the 13th century. regional unions cities. We emphasize that the movement for the creation of city unions was a direct continuation of the communal movements.

Thanks to the strengthening of their economic and political position, cities were able to defend their interests more unitedly and decisively on a larger scale. In 1256, a union of coastal cities was formed: Lubeck, Hamburg, Luneburn, Wismar, Rostock, which became the basis of the future Great Hanse, which by the beginning of the 15th century. included about 160 cities in Northern and Central Germany.

Among them, Lubeck, Bremen, Hamburg, Rostock, Stralsund, and Wismar stood out. In 1254 the Rhine League of Cities was founded; at the beginning of the 14th century. The Swabian Union arose, which included cities such as Ulm, Regensburg, Augsburg, Nuremberg, Basel, etc., united in 1381 with the Rhineland.

Each of these associations, as well as the cities that were part of them, had their own own interests. The cities of Northern Germany, which initially competed with each other, gradually realized the need to seek dialogue with each other in a joint struggle for foreign markets. The Swabian League, which defended the liberties of its members as imperial cities, conflicted primarily with the emperor, while the Rhine cities fought primarily with small and medium-sized feudal magnates. But common interests also forced us to enter into dialogue.

Thus, at the end of the 14th century, when the impoverished petty knighthood became more aggressive and active and began to unite into knightly societies that openly robbed the townspeople (the Society with the Lion, the Society of St. William, etc.), the Swabian-Rhenish Union managed to defend its interests. A war began, during which the combined forces of the cities won.

The unions defended the common trade interests of the burghers in their struggle with foreign merchants, compensating for the lack of necessary government assistance. This is especially clearly visible in the activities of the Hansa, whose main task was to provide favorable conditions for active intermediary trade, primarily in the Baltic region.

The most favored trade regime created by the Hansa for its members was associated with the security of trade routes, privileges in paying duties, both travel and trade, and the autonomy of German trading settlements in other countries.

The German court of the Hansa in Novgorod was a well-consolidated, self-governing community. At its head was an alderman-sergeant-major, who was elected by the general meeting of merchants even at the moment when the Hanseatic ships entered the mouth of the Neva.

The Hanseatic people were subject to trial by local authorities only if their disputes arose directly with the Novgorodians. The Hanseatic people paid only one travel fee to the Novgorod treasury - on the way to Novgorod, and one trade fee - for weighing goods. Such favorable terms of trade with Novgorod could be achieved due to the fact that German merchants were the most active of Rus''s Western European neighbors, who were able to take advantage of the geographical proximity to its trading outposts.

Almost main role The stability of business traditions and the good knowledge of the German merchants in the intricacies of trading played a role in the consolidation of North German cities here.

The Hansa was guided primarily by the interests of trade of its member cities. Hence the main principle of its “political behavior” - maximum profits with minimal risk. Therefore, the Hanseatic League preferred peaceful negotiations to military action and economic pressure to a head-on collision.

Only in the most difficult situations could the Hansa take such extreme measures as a trade blockade or military conflict.

The gradual strengthening of the positions of the North German cities, the increase in trade turnover, and the increasingly strong involvement of the main members of the Hanseatic League in the general trade and economic activities led to the fact that the strong members of the union were Lübeck and Hamburg, located at the intersection of the most important trade routes between the Baltic and North Seas, began to be burdened by the fact that Denmark had actually turned the Baltic into an inland sea. Military operations lasted from 1367 to 1370. As a result of bloody battles, the Hansa managed to establish a trade monopoly on the Baltic Sea.

In 1370, 23 Hanseatic cities forced Denmark to sign the famous Peace of Stralsund. According to its terms, the Hansa confirmed all the previous ones and received new privileges. She managed to achieve a reduction in duties for her merchants and guarantees of free return to the owners of cargo from ships that suffered disasters off the Danish coast. Vogts of trading posts located on Danish territory received the right of supreme jurisdiction. Denmark was forbidden to crown its rulers without the consent of the Hansa.

The conclusion of the Treaty of Stralsund created an extremely favorable regime for the development of Hanseatic transit trade, which in turn will affect the development of their own crafts and the export of their products to other countries. It was at the end of the 14th century. the range of exported products of German origin will expand - flour, beer, malt, coarse cloth, linen, metal utensils, wooden containers, ropes, etc.

At the end of the 14th century. Germany's economic relations with Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Flanders, England, Prussia, Poland, Livonia and Russian northwestern cities were determined primarily by the trade policy of the Hanseatic League. The Hansa managed to play a dominant role in this region and ensure that the interests of the North German merchants were respected in these countries due to a number of factors.

The Hanseatic merchants were rooted in the traditions of relatively long-established urban structures with extensive experience in trading activities and a developed legal tradition. Belonging to hereditary merchant families, it had the appropriate start-up capital and trade connections.

This favorably distinguished the German merchants from the traders of the countries they penetrated, where the level of urban development was still relatively low and, accordingly, the “trading culture” was undeveloped. And finally, the factor of consolidation of forces also played a big role.

Strong imperial and free cities, city unions are a controversial phenomenon. On the one hand, the largest and most privileged of these cities, in circumstances where there was no urgent need to support each other, could be separatist-minded and sometimes act as bearers of decentralization tendencies no less than the princes.

On the other hand, city unions tried to influence the king in maintaining peace in the country, objectively advocating centralization. The princes demanded their ban, so that after the Melphian Statute of 1231, unions existed virtually illegally.

Using the Internet, prepare a report on the Hanseatic League. Think about what international organizations nowadays they solve the problems that faced the Hanseatic League during its existence.

Answer

Hanseatic League, Hanseatic League, also Hanseatic League (German Deutsche Hanse or Düdesche Hanse, Old German Hansa - literally “group”, “union”, lat. Hansa Teutonica) - a political and economic union that united almost 300 trade cities of northwestern Europe from the mid-12th to the mid-17th centuries. The date of the Hansa cannot be precisely determined because it is not based on a specific document. The Hanseatic League developed gradually as trade expanded along the shores of the Baltic and North Seas.

The reason for the formation of the Hanseatic League was the growth of the population of the territories north of the Elbe as a result of migration, the emergence of new cities and independent communes and, as a result, an increase in the need for goods and an increase in trade. The Hansa began to form in the 12th century as a union of merchants, then as a union of merchant guilds, and by the end of the 13th century as a union of cities. The Hanseatic League included cities that had autonomous city government (“city council”, town hall) and their own laws.

To develop general rules and laws of the Hanseatic League, representatives of cities regularly met at congresses in Lübeck. Hanseatic merchants and companies enjoyed certain rights and privileges.

In non-Hansean cities there were representative offices of the Hansa - offices. Such foreign offices of the Hansa were located in Bergen, London and Bruges. At the easternmost end of the Hansa trading system, an office was founded in Novgorod (Peterhof), where European goods were sold (wine, textiles) and hemp, wax, honey, wood, hides and furs were purchased.

Nowadays, the tasks facing the Hanseatic League during its existence are solved by international organizations: the UN, various economic unions (SCO, OPEC, BRIC, etc.)