-----------------BASIC-STATS-----------------
Realm: Hanseatic League
Head of State: Hanseatic Council
Religion: Catholic
Culture: German, Baltic, Scandinavian
Stats: 2/2(3)/9(10)/10(8)/3(6) --> [2/3/10/8/6]
Provinces: 3
Ports: 3
Owned: Holstein(4), Bremen(4), Götland(1).
+1 Seamil, +1 Technology, -2 Morale Mercenary, Non-Feudal, Naval State
+3 Economy Denmark, Holy Roman Empire and Teutonic Order are tributaries
------------------------------------------------
In the mid-1100s the north German city of Lubeck became the base for trade with Swedish Visby and Novogorod in Russia. The Lubeck merchants acquired a coveted monoploy on trade of the rich herring stocks off the banks of Sweden. Fish was a vital part of the medieval European diet because the Catholic church prohibited the consumption of meat on the frequent fast days and during the season of Lent. But in times before refrigeration fish was extremely difficult to preserve and transport. The Hamburg merchants, who had easy access to the Kiel salt mines, became natural allies of the Lubeck merchants, supplying salt for preserving fish.
Around the same time Cologne and an alliance of towns along the Rhine acquired a monopoly on trade in Flanders and England. In 1265 the Rhenish towns and the Lubeck alliance agreed on a common legislation for the defense of merchants and their goods. This alliance created a powerful trading bloc that controlled the shipping of grain, fur, timber, honey, fish, and flax from Russia and the Baltics to the west, and cloth and guild-manufactured goods from Flanders and England to the east.
Travel in medieval times was a risky business and cargoes were threatened by brigands on the roads and pirates at sea. As tax revenues started to flow from the free towns in the Hanseatic alliance to emperors and dukes, the merchants were in a position to influence the lords to pass laws to protect the Hansa cargoes.
The dukes and kings of the Baltic region saw the riches that resulted from allowing a free Hansa town in their kingdoms and invited German merchants to build towns, granting them independent charters - creating Reichsfree Stadts - so long as activities weren't directed against the empire and taxes were paid regularly. The Germans built numerous Hanse towns in the Baltics - towns like Tallinn in Lithuania and Riga in Latvia are still filled with original buildings and character from their Hanseatic days.
The handsome Hanse towns were often constructed of red brick, with the first public hospitals and Gothic churches in medieval Europe. Germanic guildsmen, or craftspeople, settled in the region and introduced traditional German craftsmanship. The entire town bustled with well-organized enterprise. Surrounded by stone walls, narrow, winding streets led to the central market-place which teemed with trade: merchants flogging spices and expensive cloths; craftsmen selling tools, furniture, or jewellry; and peasants vending poultry, eggs, honey, grains, pigs and sheep. Town festivities were held here, and criminals were publicly humiliated. Watching over all was the Guild-hall in the centre of the square, symbol of the Hanse merchants' administration and the town's independence. The Hanseatic merchants introduced mayors, magistrates' courts and tradesman's associations called guilds into their town structures.
Hanseatic merchants established counting houses - or beurs - in four different cities: Novogorod in Russia, Bergen in Norway, the Steel Yard in London, and Bremen in Flanders. These were the forerunners of today's bourses, or stock exchanges. Merchants that wanted to serve in the counting-houses agreed to live there for at least a year. They had to be of good character and unmarried and their terms of service were very strict - at night they were locked up behind bolted doors watched over by guard dogs.
At the height of its power in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Hanseatic League consisted of around 160 cities who met infrequently in a parliament of sorts called a Diet. Regional diets also took place in the four districts: Westphalia, Wendia, Prussia and Livonia. Larger cities would often speak on behalf of the smaller who didn't send a representative.
Shamelessly stolen from http://www.i-friesland.com/Hanseatic_League.htm
The Treaty of Stralsund (May 24, 1370) ended the war between the Hanseatic League and the kingdom of Denmark. The Hanseatic League reached the peak of its power by the conditions of that treaty. The war began in 1361 with the capture of Visby, a hanseatic town on the island of Gotland, today belonging to Sweden. King Valdemar IV of Denmark took the town and declared it to be Danish.
The leaders of the Hansa in Luebeck, who had the greatest interest in the Wisby "counter", were outraged and pushed for war. The Wendish third was in favor of the war, but the Rhennish third saw no interest to be gained from it and the Prussian third were forbidden to take part by the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, who was a friend of Waldemar's, though they were allowed to give financial support. Despite the lack of support from the other thirds the Wendish third decided to undertake a campaign against the Danes, who they saw as pirates. They picked Johann Wittenborg of Luebeck to lead the expedition and fitted out 52 cogs, each with 100 men-at-arms, and 104 smaller auxiliary vessels to carry out the attack.
The campaign was initially quite successful and the fleet sacked Copenhagen and took with them the bell from the main church. They then went to attack the Danish fortresses on the Scania coastline of the sound. The plan was to meet with an army provided by Magnus Erikson, King of Sweden, who held sovereignty over Gotland in order to besiege the fortress of Halsingborg. When the Hansa fleet arrived there was no Swedish army to be found and Johann Wittenborg made a grave error in taking the men-at-arms off the ships in order to besiege the fortress. Several days later, with the soldiers all on land, the Danish fleet sailed into view, and with only skeleton crews on most of the German vessels most of the German ships and Provisions were either sunk or taken captive. Johann Wittenborg was forced to sue for peace and march home in disgrace. While the merchants in the Hansa tried to save his life the outraged citizenry of Luebeck demanded his death and a year after sailing he was publicly beheaded in the city square. The Hansa, in the terms of peace, was forced to cede most of its revenues from the herring fisheries to the Danish crown.
Waldemar was a cunning man and he felt that since only the Wendish cities had taken part in the war with him he had only made peace with the Wendish cities and not the Prussian ones. Therefore, Danish attacks against the Prussians increased through the next decade causing the Prussians to repeatedly call for a reopening of the hostilities, but the Wendish cities, who had lost so much in the first war without the support of the Prussians and the Rhennish third, were not in any hurry to take the risk again. Finally the situation became totally intolerable and the Wendish cities were persuaded to join into a unified campaign which would include all of the cities. This time the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, who had lost revenues to Danish attacks, did not interfere with the Prussian cities' involvement. Further Waldemar, who had taken the last half decade to try to consolidate his power against his own nobles, found his nobles either unwilling to support him or in alliance with the Germans. Waldemar was forced to flee Copenhagen and stay as a guest of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, who treated him graciously as a guest but gave him no aid against the Hansa, counselling him to sue for peace instead. Waldemar had no choice and agreed to a treaty which gave the Hanseatic merchants sweeping rights.
In the treaty the freedom of Visby was reestablished. Furthermore Denmark had to assure the Hanseatic League of free trade in the entire Baltic Sea. The Germans gained control over the revenues from the herring fisheries, control over the fortresses of the sound, the right to be the only ships allowed to enter the port of Bergen with their tops in place (Haakan Haakanson, the Norwegian King, had allied with Waldemar), and the right to veto any person's ascension to the Danish throne for fifteen years. When that time period was done the Hansa returned the fortresses to Danish control, though popular sentiment was against it.
Shamelessly stolen from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Stralsund & http://members.bellatlantic.net/~baronfum/hansa.html
Wendish and Pomeranian Circle
Hanseatic Trade
http://www.klitzfamily.com/Map_Germany.html
Trade Goods
http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/archaeology/hanse.htm
Realm: Hanseatic League
Head of State: Hanseatic Council
Religion: Catholic
Culture: German, Baltic, Scandinavian
Stats: 2/2(3)/9(10)/10(8)/3(6) --> [2/3/10/8/6]
Provinces: 3
Ports: 3
Owned: Holstein(4), Bremen(4), Götland(1).
+1 Seamil, +1 Technology, -2 Morale Mercenary, Non-Feudal, Naval State
+3 Economy Denmark, Holy Roman Empire and Teutonic Order are tributaries
------------------------------------------------
Short History
In the mid-1100s the north German city of Lubeck became the base for trade with Swedish Visby and Novogorod in Russia. The Lubeck merchants acquired a coveted monoploy on trade of the rich herring stocks off the banks of Sweden. Fish was a vital part of the medieval European diet because the Catholic church prohibited the consumption of meat on the frequent fast days and during the season of Lent. But in times before refrigeration fish was extremely difficult to preserve and transport. The Hamburg merchants, who had easy access to the Kiel salt mines, became natural allies of the Lubeck merchants, supplying salt for preserving fish.
Around the same time Cologne and an alliance of towns along the Rhine acquired a monopoly on trade in Flanders and England. In 1265 the Rhenish towns and the Lubeck alliance agreed on a common legislation for the defense of merchants and their goods. This alliance created a powerful trading bloc that controlled the shipping of grain, fur, timber, honey, fish, and flax from Russia and the Baltics to the west, and cloth and guild-manufactured goods from Flanders and England to the east.
Travel in medieval times was a risky business and cargoes were threatened by brigands on the roads and pirates at sea. As tax revenues started to flow from the free towns in the Hanseatic alliance to emperors and dukes, the merchants were in a position to influence the lords to pass laws to protect the Hansa cargoes.
The dukes and kings of the Baltic region saw the riches that resulted from allowing a free Hansa town in their kingdoms and invited German merchants to build towns, granting them independent charters - creating Reichsfree Stadts - so long as activities weren't directed against the empire and taxes were paid regularly. The Germans built numerous Hanse towns in the Baltics - towns like Tallinn in Lithuania and Riga in Latvia are still filled with original buildings and character from their Hanseatic days.
The handsome Hanse towns were often constructed of red brick, with the first public hospitals and Gothic churches in medieval Europe. Germanic guildsmen, or craftspeople, settled in the region and introduced traditional German craftsmanship. The entire town bustled with well-organized enterprise. Surrounded by stone walls, narrow, winding streets led to the central market-place which teemed with trade: merchants flogging spices and expensive cloths; craftsmen selling tools, furniture, or jewellry; and peasants vending poultry, eggs, honey, grains, pigs and sheep. Town festivities were held here, and criminals were publicly humiliated. Watching over all was the Guild-hall in the centre of the square, symbol of the Hanse merchants' administration and the town's independence. The Hanseatic merchants introduced mayors, magistrates' courts and tradesman's associations called guilds into their town structures.
Hanseatic merchants established counting houses - or beurs - in four different cities: Novogorod in Russia, Bergen in Norway, the Steel Yard in London, and Bremen in Flanders. These were the forerunners of today's bourses, or stock exchanges. Merchants that wanted to serve in the counting-houses agreed to live there for at least a year. They had to be of good character and unmarried and their terms of service were very strict - at night they were locked up behind bolted doors watched over by guard dogs.
At the height of its power in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Hanseatic League consisted of around 160 cities who met infrequently in a parliament of sorts called a Diet. Regional diets also took place in the four districts: Westphalia, Wendia, Prussia and Livonia. Larger cities would often speak on behalf of the smaller who didn't send a representative.
Shamelessly stolen from http://www.i-friesland.com/Hanseatic_League.htm
Treaty of Stralsund
The Treaty of Stralsund (May 24, 1370) ended the war between the Hanseatic League and the kingdom of Denmark. The Hanseatic League reached the peak of its power by the conditions of that treaty. The war began in 1361 with the capture of Visby, a hanseatic town on the island of Gotland, today belonging to Sweden. King Valdemar IV of Denmark took the town and declared it to be Danish.
The leaders of the Hansa in Luebeck, who had the greatest interest in the Wisby "counter", were outraged and pushed for war. The Wendish third was in favor of the war, but the Rhennish third saw no interest to be gained from it and the Prussian third were forbidden to take part by the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, who was a friend of Waldemar's, though they were allowed to give financial support. Despite the lack of support from the other thirds the Wendish third decided to undertake a campaign against the Danes, who they saw as pirates. They picked Johann Wittenborg of Luebeck to lead the expedition and fitted out 52 cogs, each with 100 men-at-arms, and 104 smaller auxiliary vessels to carry out the attack.
The campaign was initially quite successful and the fleet sacked Copenhagen and took with them the bell from the main church. They then went to attack the Danish fortresses on the Scania coastline of the sound. The plan was to meet with an army provided by Magnus Erikson, King of Sweden, who held sovereignty over Gotland in order to besiege the fortress of Halsingborg. When the Hansa fleet arrived there was no Swedish army to be found and Johann Wittenborg made a grave error in taking the men-at-arms off the ships in order to besiege the fortress. Several days later, with the soldiers all on land, the Danish fleet sailed into view, and with only skeleton crews on most of the German vessels most of the German ships and Provisions were either sunk or taken captive. Johann Wittenborg was forced to sue for peace and march home in disgrace. While the merchants in the Hansa tried to save his life the outraged citizenry of Luebeck demanded his death and a year after sailing he was publicly beheaded in the city square. The Hansa, in the terms of peace, was forced to cede most of its revenues from the herring fisheries to the Danish crown.
Waldemar was a cunning man and he felt that since only the Wendish cities had taken part in the war with him he had only made peace with the Wendish cities and not the Prussian ones. Therefore, Danish attacks against the Prussians increased through the next decade causing the Prussians to repeatedly call for a reopening of the hostilities, but the Wendish cities, who had lost so much in the first war without the support of the Prussians and the Rhennish third, were not in any hurry to take the risk again. Finally the situation became totally intolerable and the Wendish cities were persuaded to join into a unified campaign which would include all of the cities. This time the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, who had lost revenues to Danish attacks, did not interfere with the Prussian cities' involvement. Further Waldemar, who had taken the last half decade to try to consolidate his power against his own nobles, found his nobles either unwilling to support him or in alliance with the Germans. Waldemar was forced to flee Copenhagen and stay as a guest of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, who treated him graciously as a guest but gave him no aid against the Hansa, counselling him to sue for peace instead. Waldemar had no choice and agreed to a treaty which gave the Hanseatic merchants sweeping rights.
In the treaty the freedom of Visby was reestablished. Furthermore Denmark had to assure the Hanseatic League of free trade in the entire Baltic Sea. The Germans gained control over the revenues from the herring fisheries, control over the fortresses of the sound, the right to be the only ships allowed to enter the port of Bergen with their tops in place (Haakan Haakanson, the Norwegian King, had allied with Waldemar), and the right to veto any person's ascension to the Danish throne for fifteen years. When that time period was done the Hansa returned the fortresses to Danish control, though popular sentiment was against it.
Shamelessly stolen from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Stralsund & http://members.bellatlantic.net/~baronfum/hansa.html
Hanseatic Cities
Wendish and Pomeranian Circle
Lübeck (Chief City)
Hamburg
Lüneburg
Rostock
Stettin (Szczecin)
Stralsund
Wismar
Saxony, Thuringia, Brandenburg CircleHamburg
Lüneburg
Rostock
Stettin (Szczecin)
Stralsund
Wismar
Braunschweig (Brunswick, Chief City)
Berlin
Bremen
Erfurt
Frankfurt an der Oder
Goslar
Magdeburg
Poland, Prussia, Livonia, Sweden CircleBerlin
Bremen
Erfurt
Frankfurt an der Oder
Goslar
Magdeburg
Danzig (Gdansk, Chief City)
Breslau (Wroclaw)
Dorpat (Tartu)
Elbing (Elblag)
Königsberg (Kaliningrad)
Reval (Tallinn)
Riga
Stockholm
Thorn (Torun)
Visby
Kraków
Rhine, Westphalia, Netherlands CircleBreslau (Wroclaw)
Dorpat (Tartu)
Elbing (Elblag)
Königsberg (Kaliningrad)
Reval (Tallinn)
Riga
Stockholm
Thorn (Torun)
Visby
Kraków
Cologne (Chief City)
Roermond
Deventer
Dortmund
Groningen
Kampen
Osnabrück
Soest
Counting HousesRoermond
Deventer
Dortmund
Groningen
Kampen
Osnabrück
Soest
Principal Kontore
Bergen
Bruges
London
Novgorod
Subsidiary Kontore
Antwerp
Boston
Damme
Edinburgh
Hull
Ipswich
King's Lynn
Kovno (Kaunas)
Newcastle
Polotsk
Pskov
Yarmouth
York
Other cities with a Hanse community
Anklam
Arnhem
Bolsward
Brandenburg
Cesis (Wenden)
Chelmno
Doesburg
Duisburg
Einbeck
Göttingen
Greifswald
Halle
Harlingen
Hannover
Herford
Hildesheim
Hindeloopen
Kalmar
Kuldiga (Goldingen)
Cracow
Merseburg
Minden
Münster
Narva
Nijmegen
Paderborn
Pärnu (Pernau)
Perleberg
Quedlinburg
Salzwedel
Smolensk
Stargard_Szczecinski
Stendal
Turku (Åbo)
Tver
Valmiera (Wolmar)
Ventspils (Windau)
Viljandi (Fellin)
Wesel
Zutphen
Zwolle
Shamelessly stolen from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_LeagueBergen
Bruges
London
Novgorod
Subsidiary Kontore
Antwerp
Boston
Damme
Edinburgh
Hull
Ipswich
King's Lynn
Kovno (Kaunas)
Newcastle
Polotsk
Pskov
Yarmouth
York
Other cities with a Hanse community
Anklam
Arnhem
Bolsward
Brandenburg
Cesis (Wenden)
Chelmno
Doesburg
Duisburg
Einbeck
Göttingen
Greifswald
Halle
Harlingen
Hannover
Herford
Hildesheim
Hindeloopen
Kalmar
Kuldiga (Goldingen)
Cracow
Merseburg
Minden
Münster
Narva
Nijmegen
Paderborn
Pärnu (Pernau)
Perleberg
Quedlinburg
Salzwedel
Smolensk
Stargard_Szczecinski
Stendal
Turku (Åbo)
Tver
Valmiera (Wolmar)
Ventspils (Windau)
Viljandi (Fellin)
Wesel
Zutphen
Zwolle
Hanseatic Trade
http://www.klitzfamily.com/Map_Germany.html
Trade Goods
http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/archaeology/hanse.htm
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