Hanseatic League: history of foundation, participating cities, significance. The emergence and flourishing of the Hanseatic League Hansa Middle Ages

The Hanseatic League or simply Hanse is an association of medieval North German cities, designed to promote profitable and safe, and most importantly, monopoly trade of its members in the North and Baltic seas, as well as in Southern and Western Europe.

It arose as a result of an agreement concluded between Lübeck and Hamburg in 1241. After 15 years they were joined by Luneburg and Rostock. Gradually, other German cities, not only coastal cities, but those located along the banks of navigable rivers, for example Cologne, Frankfurt, Rostock, appreciated the advantages of the Union. At its peak, the Union included about 170 cities.

Main cities of the Hansa

Lubeck
Hamburg
Bremen
Rostock
Wismar
Cologne
Dortmund
Visby
Luneburg
Stralsund

The incentive for the unification of cities was the possibility of developing a common monetary policy, determining the rules of trade, protecting it from competitors and sea robbers

In the fourteenth century, the Hansa became a monopolist in Northern Europe in the trade of salt, furs, timber, wax, and rye. The offices of Hanseatic merchants were located in London and Novgorod, Bruges and Amsterdam, Stockholm and Dublin, Venice and Pskov, Bergen and Plymouth.
In Europe, they knew and appreciated the fairs organized by Hanseatic merchants in dozens of cities on the continent from Ireland to Poland, where goods were sold that were difficult to obtain in normal times: fabrics, oriental sweets, spices, weapons from Arab countries, Icelandic herring. During the times of power, the Hansa had a powerful military fleet, which performed both police functions and military operations against those states that created obstacles to the Hanseatic merchants, in particular, the wars of the Hansa fleet with Denmark, which went on with varying degrees of success, went down in history; capture of Bruges.

The Hansa did not have any specific governing body; the most important decisions were made at congresses, but they were not binding on the cities, although in the end the Hanse had a flag and a set of laws. In 1392, the Hanseatic cities entered into a monetary union and began minting a common coin

The first general congress of Hansa representatives took place in Lübeck around 1260. The last meeting of the congress was held in Lübeck in 1669, although the beginning of the decline of the Hanseatic League dates back to the first decades of the 15th century

Reasons for the decline of the Hanseatic League

Formation and rise of the Hanseatic League

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 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 imperfection of navigation, ships avoided long passages, they began to enter it all ships call, 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. The formation of trading companies marked the beginning of the Hanse. The word "Hansa" is of Flemish-Gothic origin and means "partnership", i.e. "a union for a specific purpose with certain contributions." 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 their “coggs” for battle; These ships broke the chains that blocked the Trave River, unexpectedly attacked the blockade fleet and completely destroyed it. 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 referring to 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 at that time belonged to Denmark. 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 carried out trade, a leading position and broad privileges: in Bruges in Flanders, in London, in Bergen in Norway, in Sweden, as well as in Russia, where At that time, a very large shopping center arose in Novgorod, connected by water communication with the Neva. It was the largest city in Russia, with 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 London were very extensive and gave great profits. 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. Large merchants and reinforcers also often came here from their homeland, who in those days often personally made larger purchases.

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 selfish particularism of the Germans, a broad and noble state view of the cause and awareness of the 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. For there is no better way to awaken and strengthen a person’s national feeling than to send him abroad.

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.

Regarding those negotiations that preceded a closer union of 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 in accuracy is not known. Information concerning this union is extremely scarce. The number of cities that belonged to the Hansa is indicated very differently, and they number 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.

A peculiar feature of this community was that it did not have a permanent organization - no central authority, no common armed force, no navy, no army, or even common finances; individual members of the union all enjoyed the same rights, and representation was entrusted to the main city of the union - Lubeck, 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 for the maintenance of 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. Therefore, they tried to harm the cities whenever possible and often did this at the slightest provocation and even without it.

Thus, the Hanseatic cities had to defend themselves not only from external enemies, since all the sea powers were their competitors and would willingly destroy them, but also against their own princes. Therefore, the position of the union was extremely difficult, and it had to conduct a smart and cautious policy in relation to all interested rulers and skillfully use 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 power to supervise the execution 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.

The cities of the union were divided into three districts:

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

The Hansa was a product of its time, and circumstances were especially favorable for it. Mention has already been made of the skill and reliability of the German merchants, and their ability to adapt to circumstances. In those days, these qualities were all the more valuable because the Normans who inhabited England and France treated trade with contempt and had no ability for it; Nor did the inhabitants of the Baltic region - the Poles, Livonians, etc. - have them. Trade on the Baltic Sea, as at present, 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 the maintenance of warships.

Very little is known about the Hanseatic ships; the military “coggs” have already been mentioned above; these were the largest ships on the Baltic Sea, with a displacement of up to 800 tons, a length of 120, a width of 30 and a depth of 14 feet; they had three masts with yards and their crew consisted of 250 people, half of whom were sailors; later they were equipped with 15-20 guns, half of which were 9-12 pound guns. “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 m long and 13.1 m wide, the armament consisted of 67 cannons, not counting hand weapons; the Lübeck flagship had a keel of 37.7 m, and its greatest length was 62 meters; there were high towers at the bow and stern, there were 75 guns from 40 to 2.5 pound caliber, the crew included 1075 people.

The leaders of the Hanse 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; At the same time, they did not miss the opportunity to indirectly, by supporting the enemies of this state, or even directly, through privateering or open war, to 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 rental of ships, loans of money, etc., so that these states found benefits in their relations with German coastal 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 associated with cruelty, but those who want to succeed must pursue an energetic policy.

The political situation in the Northern Kingdoms, in Russia, Germany and the Netherlands, that is, in the north, south, east and west, was so unstable in the Middle Ages that we cannot go into a more detailed presentation of it here; wars and alliances succeeded each other, privateering at sea, robberies on the coasts, sometimes in alliance with a famous state, sometimes in war with it, followed each other for a few years, as was the case, for example, between Denmark and Sweden. However, we will briefly describe some outstanding events, especially those that took place at sea.

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 "Pop Hater" suddenly 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 trading 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.

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. At the same time, the Hansa took advantage of the cramped financial situation of Edward III and lent him money, with which he equipped a campaign in France, which ended in victory at Crecy. To secure the loan, Edward pledged wool duties and tin mines in Cornwall to the Hansa. 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 headed for the Sound and in May took Copenhagen, then Helsischer and forced Waldemar to leave his country. On May 24, 1370, a peace was concluded in Stralsund, according to which, regardless of the large indemnity, the Hansa was recognized as having 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 the matter even worse, since as a result of this, a large, strong society of “Lickendelers” was formed in these cities, which became known as the “Brothers of Vitalii” or “Vitaliers”, who gave their bandit brotherhood the loud name “friends of God and enemies of the world.” " The beginnings of the Vitalier organization are hidden in the darkness of centuries, however, given the relations that prevailed in this part of the world at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, it is not difficult to guess the reasons for its emergence. Among the Vitalier pirates one could meet fugitives from Hanseatic, mainly Vendian, cities, from all parts of Germany, Dutch, Frisians, Danes, Swedes, Livonians, Kashubian Slavs, Pomeranians, French and probably also Poles. It was from such desperate heads that a peculiar pirate organization of Vitaliers arose on the Baltic island. In addition to the Hanseatic sailors, this “brotherhood”, which chose the island of Gotland as its location, included fugitives persecuted by the law, individuals who considered themselves offended and were looking for justice, easy money, the opportunity to take revenge on enemies, or simply greedy for adventure.

Following the long-standing traditions of Baltic pirates and Vikings, the Vitalier brothers maintained strict discipline within their organization. There were no other women among them except captives. Pirate skippers demanded unquestioning obedience from their sailors; violation of their orders was punishable by death. On the island of Gotland, which was under the domination of the Vitalier brotherhood, the main headquarters of the pirates was located; Here the loot was stored, here it was divided among the pirates who distinguished themselves during the expeditions, and the base of the entire pirate flotilla was located there. The local population of the island was sometimes forced to pay tribute, but the amount of the latter was relatively moderate, since the Vitaliers obtained all the basic necessities and wealth by robbing ships at sea and attacking coastal settlements. However, the Vitaliers, like all pirates of that time, were also merchants. They traded in looted goods, sometimes selling them even where their rightful owners were supposed to deliver the goods.

The activities of the Vitaliers took on the widest scope in the years when the talented leader Klaus Störtebecker was at the head of the pirate brotherhood. Together with his assistant Godecke Michels, he joined two other sea robbers - Moltke and Manteuffel. Störtebecker himself came from a plebeian family in Rostock. He began his merchant and maritime career in his youth, working in the warehouses of herring merchants in Scania, on ships plying between Reval and Bruges, and finally for large merchants in his native Rostock. Offended by his patron, unable to bear the inhumane treatment, he, like many others in those days, organized at the end of the 14th century. a riot on the ship on which he served, threw the skipper overboard and, taking command into his own hands, went to sea, wanting to take revenge for the insults inflicted on him. For organizing a riot and withdrawing the ship, Störtebecker was outlawed. The pursuit of the newly-minted pirate was entrusted to the noble townsman Wulflam from Stralsund, who, back in 1385, was entrusted with the task of combating maritime robbery by the Hanseatic League.

However, Störtebecker, distinguished by his remarkable seafaring and military abilities, was not only not caught by the Hanseatic tugs, but soon began to thoroughly annoy the merchant ships. He was especially cruel and merciless with the representatives of the ruling patriciate of the Vendian cities he caught, with whom he had personal scores.

But Störtebecker went down in history not because of his pirate outrages, but because he became involved in political activities. An opportunity for this presented itself in 1389, when a fierce struggle for the throne broke out in Sweden. King Albrecht, who ruled there, was not popular among the Swedish feudal lords in Germany, and was captured by Queen Margaret of Denmark and Norway. In this war, only the garrison of Stockholm remained loyal to the king, resisting the Danes. The population of Stockholm at that time consisted mostly of Germans, and in contrast to Margaret, Albrecht supported German merchants in Sweden. If the Danes captured Stockholm, the privileges of German merchants would be abolished, which, in turn, would upset the balance of power in the Baltic and hit the Hansa. The defenders of Stockholm, who had difficulty holding back the superior enemy forces, sent desperate letters to the Hansa with pleas for help.

In this situation, Lubeck turned to... the Gotlandic pirates. Störtebecker agreed to provide assistance to the Stockholm Germans and the Hanseatic League. With his flotilla, he began military operations against the Danes. Having only small and light ships, Störtebecker could not resist the heavy and well-armed Danish warships in open battle and decided to help the besieged in another way.

The assault on the city did not yield results, and the Danes moved on to a siege, trying to force the defenders to surrender by starvation. Having cut off the food supply routes from land and sea, they were already close to their goal. It became clear that only quick and decisive action could save the besieged.

One day at dawn, two groups of pirate ships suddenly appeared near Stockholm. While the first of them boldly attacked the cordon of Danish ships, the second, taking advantage of the confusion caused by the unexpected attack, slipped right next to the Danes and entered the port of Stockholm. The pirates repeated this maneuver several times and almost always with success, each time delivering food to the city’s defenders. Hence the Gotlandic pirates received the nickname Vitaliers (“breadwinners”) and went down in history under this name.

The heroic actions of the Vitaliers, their plebeian origin, the motto proclaiming social justice under which they fought - all this gained the brotherhood sympathy and popularity among the common people of the Hanseatic cities. The best proof of this is the result of the pirate attack on Wismar. In an effort to free several captured comrades and provide themselves with supplies for the winter, Störtebecker and Godecke Michels decided on what seemed like a desperate step by attacking the port of Wismar.

While the city council, taken by surprise, managed to call on other Hanseatic cities for help and mobilize the fleet subordinate to them, the victorious army of the Vitaliers had already sailed far out to sea. They were able to carry out this desperate plan only because the common people of Wismar, who were hostile to the city patriciate, assisted the legendary heroes of Stockholm in this operation. The help of the common people played a similar role when the Vitaliers captured Bergen in 1392, the then trading center of Norway. Pirates captured the local Hanseatic office and burned the city. During this operation, they captured many noble citizens of Bergen, demanding a huge ransom for their release.

At the turn of the XIV and XV centuries. The political position of the Vitaliers became rather ambiguous. On the one hand, they actively opposed the prevailing social system, fighting the ruling circles in the Hanseatic cities - the patriciate and city councils, and on the other hand, they repeatedly, as was the case in Stockholm, entered the service of this or that city, speaking out against its enemy, and often against another Hanseatic city that competed with it. Thus, the Vitaliers often acted as paid condottieri, serving in the service of the very patriciate, which they considered their main enemy.

This situation, paradoxical at first glance, was reflected, in particular, in the text of some Hanseatic acts and regulations. It often happened that the Hanseatic Congress decided to carry out some kind of armed operation in which pirates were to be used more or less openly on the side of the Hanse. At the same time, at the same congress, another decision was made aimed at eradicating piracy in the Baltic, and in particular, the destruction of the Vitaliers. For the Hanseatic merchants, who sometimes themselves did not disdain robbery, oriented their policy towards large-scale international trade, and therefore sought to ensure that, if possible, it did not encounter obstacles.

Despite the decisions taken by the Hansa to mercilessly exterminate the Vitaliers, the activities of the pirates expanded. Over time, things got to the point that not a single ship could pass through the Danish straits and make its way from the Baltic to the North Sea or back without paying a ransom to the Vitaliers. After the burning of Bergen, pirates began to rob even fishermen catching herring in the North Sea. As a result, not only trade navigation stopped there, but also fishing.

This situation began to threaten the existence of states located in the basins of the North and Baltic seas. Then the latter decided to join forces in order to put an end to maritime robbery in the common interests. However, the first expedition against pirates, organized by the Danish Queen Margaret and the English King Richard II, failed.

The Hansa also began to be burdened by pirates. The trade losses that the Hanseatic cities suffered from sea robbery were not compensated for by the services provided by the pirates. The second expedition, this time organized by the Hanseatic cities in 1394, with the participation of thirty-five warships and three thousand knights, also did not produce the desired results.

Over time, the balance of forces in the political arena in the Baltics began to change in a direction that was very unfavorable for the Vitaliers. Unable to cope with piracy on her own, Queen Margaret turned to the Grand Master of the Crusader Order, Conrad von Jungingen, for help. At that time, this order was at the height of its power and had an excellent army and a strong navy.

When the crusaders marched on Gotland in 1398, the Vitaliers were unable to resist them. Having boarded ships, they left the Baltic forever. Expelled from their robber nest, they took refuge in the North Sea, where they captured the island of Heligoland and fortified it. However, there, at the mouth of the Elbe, they found themselves face to face with their main enemy, the Hansa. This time it was no longer just the cities of the Vendian quarter, but two powerful ports - Hamburg and Bremen, which, moreover, were not going to use the services of pirates. Both of these shopping centers did not want to put up with the presence of pirates almost on their doorstep.

In 1401, a large trading ship left the mouth of the Elbe, looking as if it was filled to the brim with valuable goods. The ship headed towards the North Sea, heading straight for Heligoland. The lurking pirates attacked the easy and seemingly defenseless prey, but they cruelly miscalculated. It was a warship - a decoy ship disguised as a merchant ship. His large and well-armed crew began to fight the pirates. The Vitaliers were so absorbed in the battle that they did not notice how the Hamburg flotilla approached.

None of the pirate ships involved in the battle escaped unscathed; One hundred and fifty prisoners were captured, and the Vitalier nest on Heligoland was captured and destroyed. Störtebecker and Michels, who were also captured, were publicly beheaded in one of the squares in Hamburg. All other prisoners, according to medieval custom, were branded with a hot iron and imprisoned or sentenced to hard labor.

As legend has it, the masts of Störtebecker's ship were hollowed out and an alloy of pure gold was poured inside. The wealth captured on the pirate ships and at their base in Heligoland was enough not only to fully cover the costs of the expedition and compensate the Hanseatic merchants for a significant part of the losses they suffered, but also to decorate the towers of the Church of St. Nicholas in Hamburg with a golden crown.

The undead remnants of the Heligoland Vitaliers scattered throughout Germany, stubbornly pursued by the feudal lords and city authorities. However, this brotherhood finally ceased to exist only after it was defeated by Simon of Utrecht in 1432, fighting on the side of the Frisians against the Hansa, and with the conquest of Emden in 1433.

It is necessary to mention some other German naval heroes: the famous Bockelman from Danzig with six ships in 1455 defeated 16 Danish ones, which he attacked one after another, destroying 6 and capturing 6 as prizes; it was a glorious feat that justified the distinctive sign that Bockelman kept on the bow of his mainmast - a broom, which meant that he was sweeping enemies out of the Baltic Sea. In this battle he showed great tactical ability.

Next we need to name Paul Benecke from Danzig, who in 1437 captured English ships from the Vistula, and then, already in English service, fought with great success against Burgundy. His ships "Peter von Danzig" and "Mariendrache" inspired fear in all sailors. One of his many trophies is Hans Memling's famous painting in the altar of St. Mary's Church in Danzig, depicting the Last Judgment.

Hanseatic League

“With agreement, small things grow into big ones;
when there is disagreement, even the great ones fall apart.”(Sallust.)

Dmitry VOINOV

In world history there are not many examples of voluntary and mutually beneficial alliances concluded between states or any corporations. In addition, the overwhelming majority of them were based on self-interest and greed. And, as a result, they all turned out to be very short-lived. Any imbalance of interests in such an alliance invariably led to its collapse. All the more attractive for comprehension, as well as for learning instructive lessons these days, are such rare examples of long-term and strong coalitions, where all the actions of the parties were subordinated to the ideas of cooperation and development.

In the history of Europe, the Hanseatic League, which successfully existed for about four centuries, can fully become such a model. States collapsed, numerous wars began and ended, the political borders of the continent's states were redrawn, but the trade and economic union of the cities of northeastern Europe lived and developed.

How did the name " Hansa"It is not known exactly. There are at least two versions among historians. Some believe that Hanse is a Gothic name and means “a crowd or group of comrades,” others believe that it is based on a Middle Low German word translated as “union or partnership.” In any case, the idea of the name implied a kind of “unity” for the sake of common goals.

The history of the Hansa can be counted from the foundation in 1158 (or, according to other sources, in 1143) of the Baltic city Lübeck. Subsequently, it was he who would become the capital of the union and a symbol of the power of German merchants. Before the founding of the city, these lands were for three centuries the zone of influence of Norman pirates, who controlled the entire coast of this part of Europe. For a long time, light undecked Scandinavian boats, the designs of which German merchants adopted and adapted for transporting goods, reminded of their former strength. Their capacity was small, but maneuverability and speed were quite suitable for merchant seafarers until the 14th century, when they were replaced by heavier, multi-deck ships capable of transporting much more goods.

The Union of Hanseatic merchants did not take shape right away. This was preceded by many decades of understanding the need to combine their efforts for the common good. The Hanseatic League was the first trade and economic association in European history. By the time of its formation, there were over three thousand shopping centers on the coast of the northern seas. The weak merchant guilds of each city could not single-handedly create the conditions for safe trade. In a fragmented country torn apart by internecine wars Germany, where the princes did not hesitate to engage in ordinary robbery and robbery to replenish their treasury, the position of the merchant was unenviable. In the city itself he was free and respected. His interests were protected by the local merchant guild, here he could always find support from his fellow countrymen. But, having gone beyond the city’s defensive ditch, the merchant was left alone with many difficulties that he encountered along the way.

Even having arrived at his destination, the merchant still took great risks. Each medieval city had its own laws and strictly regulated trade rules. Violation of sometimes one, even insignificant, point could threaten serious losses. The scrupulousness of local legislators reached the point of absurdity. They established how wide the cloth should be or how deep the clay pots should be, at what time trading could begin and when it should end. The merchant guilds were jealous of their competitors and even set up ambushes on the approaches to the fair, destroying their goods.

With the development of cities, the growth of their independence and power, the development of crafts and the introduction of industrial methods of production, the problem of sales became more and more urgent. Therefore, merchants increasingly resorted to concluding personal agreements among themselves on mutual support in foreign lands. True, in most cases they were temporary. Cities often quarreled, ruined each other, burned, but the spirit of enterprise and freedom never left their inhabitants.

External factors also played an important role in the unification of cities into the Hansa. On the one hand, the seas were full of pirates, and it was almost impossible to resist them alone. On the other hand, Lübeck, as an emerging center of “comradery,” had major competitors in the form of Cologne, Munster and other German cities. Thus, the English market was practically occupied by Cologne merchants. With the permission of Henry III, they founded their own office in London in 1226. The Lübeck merchants did not remain in debt. The very next year, Lübeck sought from the German emperor the privilege of being called imperial, which means he became the owner of the status of a free city, which allowed him to independently conduct his trade affairs. Gradually it became the main transshipment port on the Baltic. Not a single ship traveling from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea could pass its harbor. Lübeck's influence increased even more after local merchants took control of the Luneburg salt mines located near the city. Salt in those days was considered almost a strategic commodity, the monopoly of which allowed entire principalities to dictate their will.

He took the side of Lübeck in the confrontation with Cologne Hamburg, but it took many years before, in 1241, these cities concluded an agreement among themselves to protect their trade. The first article of the agreement, signed in the Lübeck town hall, read: “If robbers and other evil people rise up against our or their townspeople... then we, on the same basis, must participate in the costs and expenses for the destruction and eradication of these robbers.” The main thing is trade, without obstacles and restrictions. Each city was obliged to protect the sea from pirates “to the best of its ability, so as to carry out its trade.” 15 years later they were joined Luneburg And Rostock.

By 1267, Lubeck had already accumulated enough strength and resources to openly declare its claims to part of the English market. In the same year, using all its influence at the royal court, Hansa opened a trade mission in London. From then on, merchants from Scandinavia began to be confronted by a powerful force in the vastness of the North Sea. Over the years it will grow stronger and increase a thousandfold. The Hanseatic League will not only determine the rules of trade, but often also actively influence the balance of political forces in the border countries from the North to the Baltic Seas. He collected power bit by bit - sometimes amicably, concluding trade agreements with the monarchs of neighboring states, but sometimes through violent actions. Even such a large city by the standards of the Middle Ages as Cologne, which was a monopolist in German-English trade, was forced to surrender and sign an agreement to join the Hansa. In 1293, 24 cities formalized their membership in the partnership.

UNION OF HANSEA MERCHANTS

Lübeck merchants could celebrate their complete victory. A clear confirmation of their strength was the agreement signed in 1299, in which representatives Rostock, Hamburg, Wismar, Luneburg And Stralsund decided that “from now on they will not serve the sailing ship of a merchant who is not a member of the Hansa.” This was a kind of ultimatum to those who had not yet joined the union, but at the same time a call for cooperation.

From the beginning of the 14th century, the Hansa became a collective monopolist of trade in northern Europe. The mere mention by any merchant of his involvement in it served as the best recommendation for new partners. By 1367, the number of cities participating in the Hanseatic League had increased to eighty. Besides London its sales offices were in Bergen And Bruges, Pskov And Venice, Novgorod And Stockholm. German merchants were the only foreign traders who had their own trading compound in Venice and for whom the northern Italian cities recognized the right of free navigation in the Mediterranean Sea.

The offices that the Hansa maintained were fortified points common to all Hanseatic merchants. In a foreign land they were protected by privileges from local princes or municipalities. As guests of such trading posts, all Germans were subject to strict discipline. The Hansa very seriously and jealously guarded its possessions. In almost every city where the merchants of the union traded, and even more so in the border administrative centers that were not part of it, a system of espionage was developed. Any action by competitors directed against them became known almost immediately.

Sometimes these trading posts dictated their will to entire states. As soon as the rights of the union were infringed in any way in Bergen, Norway, restrictions on the supply of wheat to this country immediately came into force, and the authorities had no choice but to back down. Even in the west, where the Hansa dealt with stronger partners, it managed to wrest significant privileges for itself. For example, in London the “German Court” owned its own piers and warehouses and was exempt from most taxes and fees. They even had their own judges, and the fact that the Hanseatic people were assigned to guard one of the city’s gates speaks not only of their influence on the English crown, but also of the undoubted respect they enjoyed in the British Isles.

It was at this time that the Hanseatic merchants began to organize their famous fairs. They took place in Dublin and Oslo, Frankfurt and Poznan, Plymouth and Prague, Amsterdam and Narva, Warsaw and Vitebsk. Dozens of European cities were eagerly awaiting their opening. Sometimes this was the only opportunity for local residents to buy whatever they wanted. Here, things were purchased for which families, denying themselves the necessities, saved money for many months. The shopping arcades were bursting with an abundance of oriental luxury, refined and exotic household items. There, Flemish linen met English wool, Aquitanian leather with Russian honey, Cypriot copper with Lithuanian amber, Icelandic herring with French cheese, and Venetian glass with Baghdad blades.

The merchants understood perfectly well that the timber, wax, furs, rye, and timber of Eastern and Northern Europe had value only if they were re-exported to the west and south of the continent. In the opposite direction there was salt, cloth, and wine. This system, simple and strong, however, encountered many difficulties. It was these difficulties that had to be overcome that fused together the collection of Hanseatic cities.

The strength of the union has been tested many times. After all, there was a certain fragility in him. The cities - and their number in their heyday reached 170 - were far from each other, and rare meetings of their delegates to general ganzatags (diets) could not resolve all the contradictions that periodically arose between them. Behind the Hansa stood neither the state nor the church, only the population of the cities, jealous of their prerogatives and proud of them.

Strength stemmed from a community of interests, from the need to play the same economic game, from belonging to a common “civilization” involved in trade in one of the most populous maritime spaces in Europe. An important element of unity was the common language, which was based on Low German, enriched with Latin, Polish, Italian and even Ukrainian words. Merchant families that turned into clans could be found in Reval, Gdansk, and Bruges. All these ties gave rise to cohesion, solidarity, common habits and common pride, common restrictions for all.

In the rich cities of the Mediterranean, each could play his own game and fight fiercely with his fellows for influence on the sea routes and the provision of exclusive privileges in trade with other countries. In the Baltic and North Sea this was much more difficult to do. Revenues from heavy, high-volume, low-priced cargo remained modest, while costs and risks were unprecedentedly high. Unlike the large trading centers of southern Europe, such as Venice or Genoa, northern merchants had a profit margin of 5% at best. In these parts, more than anywhere else, it was necessary to clearly calculate everything, save, and foresee.

BEGINNING OF SUNSET

The apogee of Lübeck and its associated cities came at a rather late time - between 1370 and 1388. In 1370 the Hanse overpowered the king of Denmark and occupied the fortresses on the Danish straits, and in 1388, in a dispute with Bruges, after an effective blockade, she forced that wealthy city and the Dutch government to capitulate. However, even then there were the first signs of a decline in the economic and political power of the union. As several decades pass, they will become more obvious. In the second half of the 14th century, a severe economic crisis erupted in Europe after a plague epidemic swept across the continent. It entered the annals of history as the Black Pestilence. True, despite the demographic decline, the demand for goods from the Baltic Sea basin in Europe has not decreased, and in the Netherlands, which was not severely affected by the pestilence, even increased. But it was the price movement that played a cruel joke on the Hansa.

After 1370, grain prices began to gradually fall, and then, starting in 1400, the demand for furs also went down sharply. At the same time, the need for industrial products, in which the Hanseatic people practically did not specialize, increased significantly. In modern terms, the basis of the business was raw materials and semi-finished products. To this we can add the beginning of the decline of the distant, but so necessary for the Hanseatic economy, gold and silver mines in the Czech Republic and Hungary. And finally, the main reason for the beginning of the decline of the Hansa was the changed state and political conditions in Europe. In the zone of trade and economic interests of the Hansa, territorial national states begin to revive: Denmark, England, the Netherlands, Poland, and the Moscow State. Having strong support from those in power, the merchants of these countries began to press out the Hansa throughout the North and Baltic seas.

True, the attacks did not go unpunished. Some cities of the Hanseatic League stubbornly defended themselves, as did Lubeck, which gained the upper hand over England in 1470-1474. But these were rather isolated cases; most other cities of the union preferred to come to an agreement with new traders, re-divide spheres of influence and develop new rules of interaction. The Union was forced to adapt.

The Hansa received its first defeat from the Moscow state, which was gaining strength. Its connections with Novgorod merchants spanned more than three centuries: the first trade agreements between them date back to the 12th century. Over such a long period of time, Veliky Novgorod became a kind of outpost of the Hansa not only in the northeast of Europe, but also on the lands of the Slavic peoples. The policy of Ivan III, who sought to unite the fragmented Russian principalities, sooner or later had to come into conflict with the independent position of Novgorod. In this confrontation, the Hanseatic merchants took an outwardly wait-and-see position, but secretly actively helped the Novgorod opposition in the fight against Moscow. Here the Hansa put its own interests, primarily trade ones, at the forefront. It was much easier to obtain privileges from the Novgorod boyars than from the powerful Moscow state, which no longer wanted to have trade intermediaries and lose profits when exporting goods to the West.

With the loss of independence of the Novgorod Republic in 1478, Ivan III liquidated the Hanseatic settlement. After this, a significant part of the Karelian lands, which were in the possession of the Novgorod boyars, became part of the Russian state, along with Novgorod. Since that time, the Hanseatic League has practically lost control over exports from Russia. However, the Russians themselves were not able to take advantage of all the advantages of independent trade with the countries of northeastern Europe. In terms of the quantity and quality of ships, the Novgorod merchants could not compete with the Hansa. Therefore, export volumes decreased, and Veliky Novgorod itself lost a significant part of its income. But the Hansa was not able to compensate for the loss of the Russian market and, above all, access to strategic raw materials - timber, wax and honey.

The next strong blow she received was from England. Strengthening her sole power and helping English merchants free themselves from competitors, Queen Elizabeth I ordered the liquidation of the Hanseatic trading court "Steelyard". At the same time, all the privileges that German merchants had in this country were destroyed.

Historians attribute the decline of the Hanse to the political infantilism of Germany. The fragmented country initially played a positive role in the fate of the Hanseatic cities - simply no one stopped them from uniting. The cities, which initially rejoiced at their freedom, remained left to their own devices, but in completely different conditions, when their rivals in other countries enlisted the support of their states. An important reason for the decline was the economic lag of northeastern Europe from western Europe, which was already obvious by the 15th century. In contrast to the economic experiments of Venice and Bruges, the Hansa still vacillated between barter in kind and money. Cities rarely resorted to loans, focusing mainly on their own funds and strength, had little trust in bill payment systems and sincerely believed only in the power of the silver coin.

The conservatism of German merchants ultimately played a cruel joke on them. Having failed to adapt to new realities, the medieval “common market” gave way to associations of merchants solely on a national basis. Since 1648, the Hansa completely lost its influence on the balance of power in the field of maritime trade. The last Hansentag was hardly assembled until 1669. After a heated discussion, without resolving the accumulated contradictions, most of the delegates left Lübeck with the firm conviction of never meeting again. From now on, each city wanted to conduct its trading affairs independently. The name of the Hanseatic cities was retained only by Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen as a reminder of the former glory of the union.

The collapse of the Hansa was objectively maturing in the depths of Germany itself. By the 15th century, it became obvious that the political fragmentation of the German lands, the arbitrariness of the princes, their feuds and betrayals became a brake on the path of economic development. Individual cities and regions of the country gradually lost connections that had been established for centuries. There was practically no exchange of goods between the eastern and western lands. The northern regions of Germany, where sheep farming was mainly developed, also had little contact with the industrial southern regions, which were increasingly oriented towards the markets of the cities of Italy and Spain. The further growth of Hansa's world trade relations was hampered by the lack of a single internal national market. It gradually became obvious that the power of the union was based more on the needs of foreign rather than internal trade. This tilt finally “sank” it after neighboring countries increasingly began to develop capitalist relations and actively protect their domestic markets from competitors.

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 became one of the most important forces in Northern Europe and an equal partner of 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.

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.

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.

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 largest city in Russia, with 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.

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 Eastern Europe to Western Europe.In the Hanseatic era, Eastern European food products and raw materials flowed along the canal - Polish grain and flour, herring from Baltic fishermen, Swedish timber and iron, Russian candle wax and furs... And to meet 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 crowded people who had not washed for a long time. 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 high towers at the bow and stern, there were 75 guns from 40 to 2.5 pound caliber, 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; At the same time, they did not miss the opportunity to indirectly (by supporting the enemies of this state) or even directly (through privateering or open war) to 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 associated with 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.

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 Lubeck 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 disintegration of the union was expressed, however, already in the fact that several years before the conclusion of a general peace, Rostock and Stralsund concluded their own 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 emerged, 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 reconquer Norway. 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 changed conditions and alliance, it was necessary to change their organization and, even in peacetime, 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 obeying only some generally binding strict laws, Hanseatic merchant shipping nevertheless received very wide development. 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.

The conditions of trade and navigation in the North Sea were freer, not only due to the general geographical position of 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 view of the most important conditions of trade and navigation. However, even this acquaintance with the general course of affairs and the importance of sea power did not lead to the creation of a central authority to serve 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 constant claims of the Hansa 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 under a proper government system. 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 states and 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 collapsed because over this long period the conditions of state life on which this union was based radically changed.

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

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"History of Economics"

"Hanseatic Trade Union"

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Introduction

2.1 Hanseatic League and Pskov

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

In world history there are not many examples of voluntary and mutually beneficial alliances concluded between states or any corporations. In addition, the overwhelming majority of them were based on self-interest and greed. And, as a result, they turned out to be very short-lived. Any violation of interests in such an alliance invariably led to its collapse. All the more attractive for comprehension, as well as for learning instructive lessons in our days, are such rare examples of long-term and strong coalitions, where all actions were subordinated to the ideas of cooperation and development, like the Hanseatic Trade League.

The political relevance of the topic being studied is that the history of the Hanseatic League, its experience, mistakes and achievements are very instructive not only for historians, but also for modern politicians. Much of what elevated him and then brought him down into oblivion is repeated in the modern history of Europe. Sometimes the countries of the continent, in their desire to create a strong union and thus achieve advantages on the world stage, make the same miscalculations as the Hanseatic merchants many centuries ago.

The purpose of the work is to describe the history of the existence of the most powerful medieval trade union in Europe. Objectives - to consider the reasons for the emergence of the Hanseatic Trade Union, its activities during its heyday (XIII-XVI centuries), as well as the reasons for its collapse.

Chapter 1. The emergence and flourishing of the Hanseatic League

The formation of the Hansa, which dates back to 1267, was the response of European merchants to the challenges of the Middle Ages. A fragmented Europe was a very risky place for business. Pirates and robbers ruled the trade routes, and what could be saved from them and brought to the counters was taxed by the princes of the church and appanage rulers. Everyone wanted to profit from the entrepreneurs, and regulated robbery flourished. The rules, taken to the point of absurdity, allowed fines to be taken for the “wrong” depth of a clay pot or the width of a piece of fabric.

Despite all this, German maritime trade had already achieved 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 the year 1000, the Saxon king Æthelred granted significant advantages to German merchants in London; His example was subsequently followed by William the Conqueror.

In 1143, the city of Lübeck was founded by the Count of Schaumburg. Subsequently, the Count of Schaumburg ceded the city to Henry the Lion, and when the latter was declared disgraced, Lubeck became an imperial city. The power of Lübeck was recognized by all cities of Northern Germany, and a century before the official formation of the Hanse, the merchants of this city had already received trading privileges in many countries.

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 1241, the merchant unions of the cities of Lübeck and Hamburg entered into an agreement to jointly protect the trade route connecting the Baltic Sea with the North Sea. In 1256, the first unification of a group of coastal cities was formed - Lubeck, Hamburg, Luneburg, Wismar, Rostock. The final unified union of the Hanseatic cities - Hamburg, Bremen, Cologne, Gdansk (Danzig), Riga and others (initially the number of cities reached 70) - took shape in 1267. Representation was entrusted to the main city of the union - Lubeck quite voluntarily, since its burgomasters and the senators were considered the most capable of conducting business, and at the same time this city assumed the associated expenses for the maintenance of warships.

The leaders of the Hansa very skillfully used favorable circumstances to take control of trade in the Baltic and North Seas, make it their own monopoly, 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; At the same time, they did not miss the opportunity to indirectly (by supporting the enemies of this state) or even directly (through privateering or open war) to put these states in a difficult position, in order to force certain concessions from them. Thus, Liege and Amsterdam, Hanover and Cologne, Göttingen and Kiel, Bremen and Hamburg, Wismar and Berlin, Frankfurt and Stettin (now Szczecin), Danzig (Gdansk) and Königsberg (Kaliningrad), Memel (Klaipeda) gradually joined the number of Hanseatic cities ) and Riga, Pernov (Pyarnu) and Yuryev (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. Hanseatic offices appeared in Bruges, London, Novgorod and Reval (Tallinn).

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.

The offices that the Hansa kept in different countries were fortified points, and their safety was guaranteed by the highest authorities: veche, princes, kings. And yet the cities that were part of the union were distant from each other and often separated by non-union, and often even 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 were not always in favor of the Hansa, and even on the contrary, they often treated she was unkind and even hostile, of course, except in those cases when her help was needed. 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.

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.

The Hansa aimed to organize intermediary trade between the east, west and north of Europe along the Baltic and North Seas. Trading conditions there were unusually difficult. Prices for goods in general remained quite low, and therefore the income of merchants at the beginning of the union was modest. To keep costs to a minimum, merchants themselves performed the functions of sailors. Actually, the merchants and their servants made up the crew of the ship, the captain of which was selected from among more experienced travelers. If the ship was not wrecked and arrived safely at its destination, bargaining could begin.

The first general congress of cities of the Hanseatic League took place in Lübeck in 1367. The elected Ganzetag (a kind of parliament of the union) disseminated laws in the form of letters that absorbed the spirit of the times, reflecting customs and precedents. The highest authority in the Hanseatic League was the All-Hanseatic Congress, which considered issues of trade and relations with foreign countries. In the intervals between congresses, the Rath (city council) of Lübeck was in charge of current affairs.

Flexibly responding to the challenges of the time, the Hanseatic people quickly expanded their influence, and soon almost two hundred cities considered themselves members of the union. The growth of the Hanse was facilitated by the equality of native languages and common German, the use of a single monetary system, and residents of the cities of the Hanseatic League had equal rights within the union.

When a merchant became a Hanseatic, he received a lot of privileges with exemption from several local taxes. In every large city in the Hanseatic settlement, a medieval entrepreneur could obtain any information he needed: about the actions of competitors, trade turnover, benefits and restrictions in force in this city. The Hanseatic League created an effective system of lobbying for its interests and even built a network of industrial espionage.

The Hanseatic people promoted a healthy lifestyle, introduced ideas about business ethics, created clubs for exchanging experiences in business operations, and disseminated technology for the production of goods. They opened schools for aspiring artisans and merchants. This was a real innovation for medieval Europe, which was plunged into chaos. In essence, the Hansa formed the civilizational prototype of the Europe that we know now. The Hanseatic League had neither a constitution, nor its own bureaucratic officials, nor a common treasury, and the laws on which the community was based were just a collection of charters, changing customs and precedents over time.

All work and behavior of the Hanseatic were strictly regulated - from how to train apprentices and hire a qualified craftsman to production technology, trade ethics and prices themselves. But their sense of self-worth and moderation did not betray them: in the clubs that abounded in the cities of the Hanseatic League, they often reprimanded those who threw plates on the floor, grabbed a knife, drank ruff, or played dice. Young people were reproached “... who drinks too much, breaks glass, overeats and jumps from barrel to barrel.” And I bet it was also considered “not our way.” A contemporary speaks condemningly of a merchant who pawned ten guilders on a bet that he would not comb his hair for a year. Whether he won or lost the bet, we will never know.

In addition to strictly regulated rules, a large number of cities in the composition and their free imperial position, the secret of Hanseatic prosperity was the cheapness of mass transportation. The Elbe-Lübeck Canal, dug by the serfs of Count Lauenberg between 1391 and 1398, is still in operation to this day, although it has since been deepened and expanded. It allows you 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 Eastern Europe to Western Europe. 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, fragrant cod oil from the distant northern islands.

At the zenith of its glory in the 14th-15th centuries, the Hanseatic League, this unique merchant federative republic, was no weaker than any European monarchy. If necessary, he could use force and declare a trade blockade on the rebellious. But he still resorted to war in the rarest cases. However, when the Danish king Valdemar IV attacked the Hanseatic base of Visby in 1367 and began to threaten all Baltic commerce, the alliance decided to use weapons.

Gathering at Greiswald, representatives of the cities decided to turn their merchant schooners into warships. Authentic floating wooden fortresses emerged into the sea - at the bow and stern there were tall platforms, from which it was so convenient to repel the attack of an enemy coming to board.

The Hanseatic lost the first battle, but in the end the fleet of Hansa merchants took Copenhagen from the battle, plundered it, and the king was forced in 1370 to sign the Stralsund Treaty of Peace, which was humiliating for him.

Chapter 2. The Hanseatic League and Rus'

In the XIV-XV centuries. The main trade between Rus' and the West was carried out through the mediation of the Hanseatic League. Wax and furs were exported from Rus' - mainly squirrel, less often - leather, flax, hemp, and silk. The Hanseatic League supplied salt and fabrics to Rus' - cloth, linen, velvet, satin. Silver, gold, non-ferrous metals, amber, glass, wheat, beer, herring, and weapons were imported in smaller quantities. Hanseatic offices in Rus' existed in Pskov and Novgorod the Great.

2.1 Hanseatic League and Pskov

What interested the Hanseatic merchants in Pskov? In Russia, the main export product was furs, but Novgorod controlled the fur mining areas, and Pskov accounted for only a small part of the furs sold to the West. And from Pskov, mainly wax was exported to Europe. The place of wax in the life of medieval people was akin to the role that electricity plays in our lives. Candles were made from wax - both for lighting residential premises and for worship.

In addition, it was customary for Catholics to sculpt wax images of diseased body parts. Wax was the most important product until the beginning of the 20th century: even Father Fyodor from “The Twelve Chairs” dreamed of a candle factory in Samara. But in Europe, despite the development of beekeeping, wax was in short supply, and it was imported from the East - from Lithuania and Russian lands. Here in the XIV-XV centuries. there were still quite a lot of forests and beekeeping was widespread - the extraction of honey from wild bees. The extracted foundation was melted down, the wax was purified and went on sale.

The quality of the wax varied; the Hanseatic people were forbidden to buy low-grade wax containing sludge. The rules of trade were regulated by “old times” - customs accepted as the norm. One of these customs was the right of the Hanseatic people to “chop” wax, i.e. to break off pieces from the waxed circle to check its quality, and the broken pieces did not count towards the weight of the purchased wax. The size of the pieces of wax that were allowed to be “chopped” was not determined precisely, but depended on the “antiquity” and the arbitrariness of the merchants. The wax was sold locally and exported to the Baltic states.

Of the imported goods, Pskov residents were primarily interested in salt. The importance of salt in the Middle Ages was determined not only by the fact that it was a food product; salt was one of the raw materials for the leather industry. Salt was mined in relatively large quantities only in a few areas, very remote from each other, was expensive and early became the most important product in trade. In Rus', salt was not mined enough, including in the Pskov land, which is why salt occupied one of the first places in the composition of imported goods.

The need for salt supplies forced Pskov residents to fight to change unfavorable trade rules. Hanseatic merchants in Rus' sold salt not by weight, but by bags. It is clear that this method of trading often led to deception. At the same time, in neighboring cities of the Hanseatic League, salt was sold by weight. At the beginning of the 15th century, Novgorod and Pskov residents reduced their purchases of salt at home and began to travel to Livonia for this product. In response, in 1407 the Germans banned the supply of salt and trade with Novgorod and Pskov. Salt prices jumped and Russian merchants backed down, agreeing to the previous terms of trade. Pskov bought salt primarily for its own needs, but sometimes served as a transshipment point for the transit trade of the Hanseatic people with Novgorod, even in wartime. So, in the 1420s, when Novgorod was at war with the Livonian Order, salt from Narva still came to Novgorod through Pskov.

Trade in weapons and non-ferrous metals has always been a stumbling block in the relations of Russian cities with the Hansa and the Livonian Order. The Hansa was interested in the arms trade, which brought large profits, and the Order, fearing the growth of the power of the Russian lands, on the contrary, hindered it. But commercial gain often took precedence over defense interests, and, for example, in 1396, Revel merchants, including the head of the city council, Gerd Witte, transported weapons to Novgorod and Pskov in herring barrels.

Non-ferrous metals, so necessary in the process of making weapons, were also prohibited from being imported into Russia, apparently at the very beginning of the 15th century. In any case, when in 1420 the Pskovites wanted to make a lead roof for the Trinity Cathedral, they could not find a foundry master not only in Pskov, but also in Novgorod. The residents of Dorpat did not give the craftsmen to the Pskovites, and only the Moscow Metropolitan sent a foundry worker to Pskov. Taking advantage of the monopoly on the import of metals into Russia, the Hansa did not miss the opportunity to profit from trade. So, in 1518, low-quality silver was brought to Pskov, but six years later it was sent back to Dorpat.

A significant part of trade flows in the Middle Ages consisted of alcoholic beverages. But if wines were expensive and were imported to Rus' in small quantities, then alcoholic drinks such as honey and beer were imported very intensively. Moreover, in the Pskov lands, as well as in the Novgorod lands, they produced their own honey, part of which was also exported for sale to Dorpat and other cities. Evidence of active trade in alcohol is the mention of 13 and a half barrels of beer and 4 barrels of mead, taken by Pskov merchants from the property of a murdered German in Pskov in the 1460s. Only once in the history of Pskov-Hanseatic relations was trade in “tavern”, i.e. any alcohol was prohibited: according to the treaty of 1474, Pskov and Dorpat agreed not to import beer and honey for sale within each other’s territories. But 30 years later, in the treaty of 1503, this prohibition was absent. Apparently, the norm of the agreement, which was unfavorable to both parties, died out by itself.

During the war between Pskov and the Livonian Order in 1406-1409. trade relations with the Hansa were interrupted, but were soon resumed. The initiative in restoring Pskov-Hanseatic relations belonged to Dorpat, which was the first to conclude an agreement with Pskov on the safety of travel and trade (1411). Close trade relations also contributed to the conclusion of a union treaty between Pskov and the Order in 1417.

The mutual terms of trade between Pskov and Dorpat merchants were stipulated in the most detail in the agreement of 1474. The merchants of both sides were covered by guarantees of a “clean path”, i.e. free trade both in cities that have concluded an agreement, and travel with goods to other points. By mutual agreement, customs duties were abolished: it was decided to eliminate the “blocks” (barriers) and not take the “gift” (duties). The agreement was unusually beneficial for Pskov, because it granted Pskov merchants the right to retail and guest trade in Dorpat and other cities that belonged to the Bishop of Dorpat. Now Pskov residents could trade in Dorpat not only with its residents, but also with Riga residents, Revel residents, and “with every guest,” which meant not only Hanseatic merchants. Merchants who were in a foreign land were guaranteed equal treatment with the citizens of the country where the merchant was located.

There were no Russian merchant farmsteads in the Baltic cities, and the role of unifying centers for the Russian merchants in Livonia was played by Orthodox churches. In Dorpat there were two Russian churches - St. Nicholas and St. George, which belonged to Novgorod and Pskov merchants. At the churches there were premises where clergy lived and goods were stored. Celebrations and meetings took place here. The houses of German burghers, located around Orthodox churches, had long been rented by Russian merchants, so the urban area of Dorpat in the vicinity of the churches began to be called the Russian End, by analogy with the names of urban areas in Novgorod and Pskov.

In Pskov, German merchants were located on the so-called “German coast” in the rented yards of Russian merchants. The “German Coast” is the coastal strip of Zapskovia, located on the bank of the Pskova River opposite the Kremlin. Unlike Pskov, in Novgorod the Great there has long been a German trading post - the courtyard of St. Peter. The Hanseatic court in Novgorod was governed by elected officials - aldermen - with complete autonomy. The German court had its own charter - the skru, which regulated the internal life of the German court, as well as the terms of trade between the Germans and the Russians. The farmstead on the “German coast” operated until the start of the Livonian War, and in 1562 it was destroyed by fire. The German court in Pskov was restored only after the end of the Livonian War, in the 1580s. across the Velikaya River, opposite the Kremlin. There, in 1588, a courtyard of the main city of the Hanseatic League, Lübeck, arose. But this is already a different era, when the Hansa ceded dominance in the Baltic to Sweden.

2.2 Hanseatic League and Novgorod

The Hanseatic office in Novgorod consisted of the Gothic and German courts. The management of the office was carried out directly by the Hanseatic cities: first Visby and Lubeck, later they were joined by the Livonian cities of Riga, Dorpat, Revel. The organization of the Hanseatic office in Veliky Novgorod, the organization of everyday life and trade in the courtyards, and relations with the Novgorodians were strictly regulated by special regulations recorded in the skru, which was a kind of charter of the office. With changes in the terms of trade, the political situation, and trade relations between Veliky Novgorod and its Western partners, the spark changed.

The main place of trade was the German Court, where Novgorod merchants came to negotiate deals and pick up goods. Hanseatic merchants also purchased Novgorod goods directly from the estates of their Russian partners. Trade was wholesale and barter in nature. Fabrics were sold in packages sealed with special seals, salt - in bags, honey, wine, herring, non-ferrous metals - in barrels. Even small piece goods were sold in large quantities: gloves, threads, needles - dozens, hundreds, thousands of pieces. Russian goods were also purchased in bulk: wax - in circles, fur - hundreds of skins. The barter nature of trade was also strictly observed, i.e. cash goods for cash goods. Trade on credit was strictly prohibited under the threat of confiscation of goods acquired illegally. Only merchants of the Hanseatic cities, who always strived for monopoly trade, had the right to come to Veliky Novgorod and live in the courtyards. In all editions of the secret and in the correspondence of the cities, the prohibition of entering into company with non-Hanseans (especially with the main competitors of the Hansa - the Dutch and Flemings) and bringing their goods to Veliky Novgorod was persistently repeated. The total number of merchants who were simultaneously in both courts reached 150-200 people in the most favorable times. However, due to the decline of the Novgorod-Hanseatic trade in the 15th century, the number of merchants coming to Veliky Novgorod decreased noticeably. A list of merchants compiled when the office was closed in 1494 has been preserved, which included 49 merchants from 18 cities in Germany and Livonia. At first, with a lack of space in the courtyards, Hanseatic merchants could stop to live in Novgorod estates, which was recorded during archaeological excavations of one of these estates in the area adjacent to the German courtyard. Here in the layers of the XIV-XV centuries. Western European household items were found confirming the presence of Hanseatic merchants on the estate.

The Hanseatic merchants who came to Veliky Novgorod from different cities represented a single German (Hanseatic) merchant class, which in all actions was guided by the articles of the spark and general regulations and was headed by elders chosen from among them. The elders were the chief judges in the courtyards; they strictly monitored the implementation of all the secret orders, imposed fines and other types of punishment, and settled all conflicts that arose between the Hanseatic merchants. The responsibilities of the elders also included negotiating with the Russians, checking goods, receiving taxes from merchants, appointing inspectors, i.e. inspectors of various goods. Along with the elders of the courtyards, the elders of the Church of St. Peter, whose main duty was to preserve the rights of the church, all the privileges and messages of the cities. Wardens of the Church of St. Peter, they took an oath from the merchants to observe all the secret orders. In addition, the headmen of the residential premises, the Vogts, were elected. In addition to the administrative ones, there were other officials in the office. The main figure among them was the priest, who conducted services and also wrote official and private letters. The office also had a translator, silver collectors, inspectors (i.e. inspectors) of cloth, wax and wine; tailor, baker, brewer. Until the 15th century The merchants themselves took turns brewing the beer. The main legislative body of the office was the general meeting of merchants, chaired by the elders of the court and the church of St. Peter or the manager who replaced them. The meeting discussed all the most important matters of the office. Here letters from cities, messages from ambassadors were read, and trials in trade and criminal cases took place. Some important decisions were posted for everyone to see, and the names of Novgorod merchants with whom it was forbidden to trade were also posted here.

The history of the Hanseatic office in Veliky Novgorod indicates that it was an isolated, closed settlement of German merchants, in contrast to the Hanseatic offices in Bruges and London. According to researchers, the Novgorod office is a unique phenomenon in Hanseatic trade. In a sense, it was a model for other Hansa offices in organizing closed settlements in all respects (ecclesiastical, legal, economic and social) inside a foreign city. However, this ideal was unattainable and such measures of isolation were only partially applied in the Hanseatic offices in London and Bruges.

The history of Novgorod-Hanseatic relations is replete with trade conflicts, trade bans, and frequent clashes between foreign merchants and city residents. Most often, conflicts arose due to non-compliance by one party or another with trade rules. One of the basic rules was the following: if one of the merchants violated the rules of trade, only the guilty person should be sued. However, judging by the sources, such violations entailed the arrest of all Novgorod merchants in the Hanseatic cities and the arrest of German merchants in Veliky Novgorod. The robbery of Novgorodians somewhere in the Baltic Sea or in Livonia entailed the detention of all German merchants in Veliky Novgorod. Mutual arrests of merchants and goods became especially frequent in the second half of the 14th century, ending with the trade war of 1385-1391, after which Niebuhr’s Peace was concluded in 1392. However, peaceful relations did not last long; a few years later, mutual complaints about the quality of goods and accusations of non-compliance with trade rules began again. A frequent cause of breaks in trade relations were wars and political conflicts between Veliky Novgorod and its opponents (most often the Livonian Order and Sweden). Although the trade agreements stipulated that during the war merchants were guaranteed a “clean path”, i.e. free movement along trade routes, however, in practice, every time a trade blockade began, a trade blockade was declared. Sometimes conflicts arose directly between the residents of Veliky Novgorod and foreign merchants, which often led to the suspension of trade. During periods of particularly acute conflicts, Hanseatic merchants closed the church and courtyards, took their property, all valuables, the treasury and archives of the office and left Veliky Novgorod. They handed over the keys to the courtyards for safekeeping to the Archbishop of Veliky Novgorod and the Archimandrite of the Yuryev Monastery as the highest church hierarchs of Veliky Novgorod, i.e. especially trusted persons. The Novgorodians, in turn, sought to detain the Hanseatic people in the city until their demands were met. The end to Novgorod-Hanseatic relations was put by Ivan III in 1494, when the Hanseatic office in Veliky Novgorod was closed by his decree, 49 Hanseatic merchants were arrested, and their goods worth 96 thousand marks were confiscated and sent to Moscow.

A protracted twenty-year conflict between the Russian state and the Hansa began. In Reval and Riga, Novgorod merchants with goods who were there were arrested. However, Dorpat, which maintained intensive trade relations with Pskov and had a special free trade agreement with it, refused to sever relations with Russian cities. Narva, which was not a member of the Hanseatic League and therefore was not obliged to comply with the decisions of its congresses, continued to trade with Russia. In a word, the united front of the Hanseatic League and Livonia against Russia never took shape.

Both Hansa and Russia repeatedly tried to resolve the conflict. Thus, in February 1498, Russian-Hansean negotiations took place in Narva. The Russian side linked the restoration of normal relations with a number of demands; in fact, the government of Ivan III set preliminary conditions. Russia demanded, firstly, an improvement in the situation of Russian churches and residents of Russian lands in the Baltic cities; The claims made by the Russian delegation cited facts of prohibition for Russians to consecrate churches and live in houses near the church.

The negotiations ended without results, and after their completion Russia dealt another blow to the Hansa: the import of salt into Russian cities was banned. The Pskov merchants tried in vain to persuade the Grand Duke to allow them to import salt into the Russian lands, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

20 years later, in 1514, the Hanseatic office was again opened in Veliky Novgorod, but this was already another page in the history of Veliky Novgorod and in the history of the Hanseatic League.

Chapter 3. Decline of the Hanseatic League

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 1427-1435, 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 disintegration of the union was expressed, however, already in the fact that several years before the conclusion of a general peace, Rostock and Stralsund concluded their own separate peace with Denmark.

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 closure of the Hanseatic offices in Novgorod. 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 somewhat 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.

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. 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 Hansa significant privileges.

Christian II a few years later, with the help of Holland, 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.

Shortly before this, the Hansa once again had the opportunity for a major political performance. In 1657, an uprising broke out in the Netherlands against Philip II, which, after 40 years of struggle, finally freed them from the Spanish yoke. The rebels 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.

In view of this, the Dutch soon banned the Hanse from sailing to Spain; The British also took a hostile position, and in 1589 they captured a fleet of 60 merchant ships in the Tagus River, which brought the Spaniards, among other goods, military supplies. When the English were expelled from the German Empire in 1597, England responded in kind and the Hanseatic League was forced to clear out the "Dyeyard", which had been the center of German trade with England for 600 years.

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 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.

In addition to political events that in one way or another influenced the collapse of the Hanseatic League, there were also events that did not depend on anyone: in 1530, carried by fleas, and there was no shortage of them, 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.

And lastly: with the discovery, exploration and settlement of America, trade routes began to shift westward, into the Atlantic Ocean, where the Hanseatic people were never able to take root. The opening of sea routes to India led to approximately the same thing. The last congress of the union took place in 1669, after which the Hanseatic Trade Union collapsed completely.

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 Hanseatic Trade Union, the history of which was discussed in the work. 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.

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