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Hanseatic office. Hanseatic League: a superpower that is not on the map

The German Trade Union, which for many centuries controlled most of the trade transactions with London, Veliky Novgorod, Riga, and also signed trade documents on behalf of the Roman merchant empire with special conditions for each German city - as you may have guessed, we will talk about the Hanseatic League, the history of which is outlined in the article.

Brief historical background

There are not many examples in the history of mankind that demonstrate voluntary and mutually beneficial alliances concluded between countries or corporations. But it should be noted that many of them were based on human self-interest and greed. Consequently, such alliances were short-lived. Any violation of agreements or interests always led to collapse, but the history of the Hanseatic League is not like all the others.

This union is a community of cities that represented the most important force in Northern Europe and equal partners of sovereign countries, but it should be noted that the interests settlements, which were part of the Hansa, were too different. And not in all cases economic cooperation became military or political. The importance of the Hanseatic League cannot be overestimated, since it was this phenomenon in the world economy that laid the foundations for international trade.

How did the trade union come about?

Let's move on to studying the issue of the emergence and flourishing of a trade association. The creation of the Hanseatic League dates back to 1267. This was a response of European merchants to the fragmentation of European states in the Middle Ages. This political phenomenon was very risky for business. Robbers and pirates operated along trade routes, and princes, churches and appanage rulers imposed high taxes on all goods that were saved and brought to trade counters. Everyone wanted to profit from the merchant. Consequently, statutory robbery flourished. Absurd trade rules allowed fines to be imposed for improper pot depth or fabric color. But it is worth noting that Germany, using maritime trade routes, achieved certain successes in development at the beginning of the 11th century. The King of Saxony provided German traders with good advantages in London.

In 1143, the city of Lübeck was founded - the heart of the Hanseatic League in the future. Soon the sovereign ceded Lubeck, which became an imperial city. His power was recognized by all the provinces of Northern Germany. A little later, the Lübeck merchant union acquired trading privileges in many countries.

In 1158, the imperial city quickly flourished as it reached the Baltic Sea with trade, and then a German trading company was founded on the island of Gotland. Gotland had a favorable location at sea. Thus, ships entered its ports so that the crews could rest and the ship could be put in order.

100 years later, in 1241, the trade alliances of Lübeck and Hamburg made a deal to protect trade routes between the Baltic and North Seas. Thus, in 1256, the first trading group of coastal cities was formed.

Cities of the Hanseatic League

In 1267, a single union of cities that were part of the Hansa was formed:

Lübeck;
Hamburg;
Bremen;
Cologne;
Gdansk;
Riga;
Luneburg;
Wismar;
Rostock and others.

It is known that in the year the Hanseatic League was founded, it included up to 70 cities. The participants of the union decided that all representative affairs would be conducted by Lübeck, since its senators and burgomasters were considered more capable of managing trade affairs. In addition, it was this city that took on its balance the costs of protecting the ships.

Advantages and disadvantages

The leaders of the Hanseatic League very skillfully used positive circumstances to take control of trade affairs in the North and Baltic Seas. They skillfully made it a monopoly. Thus, they had the opportunity to set the price of goods at their own discretion, and they also sought to gain influence in countries where there was interest for them, as well as various privileges. For example, the right to freely organize colonies and trade; the right to purchase houses and courtyards with representation of jurisdiction.

There were cases when experienced, politically talented and prudent union leaders skillfully used weaknesses and the plight of neighboring countries. They indirectly or directly put the state in a dependent position in order to achieve desired results.

Expansion of the Union. Three main blocks

Despite all the manipulations carried out by the burgomasters and senators, the composition of the Hanseatic League was steadily expanding. Now it began to include other cities:

Amsterdam;
Berlin;
Hamburg;
Frankfurt;
Bremen;
Cologne;
Hanover;
Koenigsberg;
Danzig;
Memel;
Yuryev;
Narva;
Stockholm;
Volen;
Pomorie and other cities.

The union has become big. The newly annexed cities had to be divided into groups. Now all the cities that were part of the Hansa were conditionally divided into three districts:

Eastern: lands of Lübeck, Hamburg, Stettin, etc.
Western: territories of Cologne, Dortmund, Groningen.
Baltic provinces.

Expulsion from the Union

Another effective technique to keep trading partners in the alliance. The thing is that it was extremely difficult to keep coastal cities, as well as various cities scattered from the Gulf of Finland to Germany, in a single union. After all, the interests of the partners were very different, and only a common interest could serve as the connecting element. The only way to keep a partner was to exclude him. This entailed a ban on the remaining members of the union to have any dealings with the exiled city, which inevitably led to the termination of various relations with it.

However, there was no authority in the union that would monitor the implementation of these instructions. Various claims and complaints were brought only during congresses of allied cities, which met from time to time. Representatives from every city whose interests desired it came to these conventions. With port cities, the method of exclusion was very effective. For example, in 1355, the German city of Bremen announced its desire for isolation. As a result, he left the union with huge losses, and three years later expressed a desire to re-enter it.

Additional Hansa ideas

The founders of the union responded flexibly to the challenges of the time. They very quickly and actively expanded their influence. And several centuries after its founding, it included almost two hundred cities. The development of the Hansa was facilitated by a unified monetary system, equality of native languages, as well as equal rights for residents of the cities of this union.

It is noteworthy that the Hansians spread ideas about a healthy lifestyle. They actively implemented the business etiquette they represented. Clubs were opened where merchants exchanged experience and business ideas, and also disseminated various technologies for the production of products and goods. Schools for novice artisans, which opened on the territory of the Hanseatic League, became popular. It is believed that this was an innovation for Medieval Europe. Many researchers note that the Hansa formed the civilized image of modern Europe, which we are seeing now.

Trade relations with Russia

This type of relationship began in the 14th century. Hanseatic League and his connections with Russia benefited everyone. Furs and wax, leather, silk, flax, and squirrel skins were exported from Russian lands, and Russian merchants purchased mainly salt and fabrics. Most often they bought linen, satin, cloth and velvet.

Hanseatic offices were located in two Russian cities - Novgorod and Pskov. Overseas merchants were very interested in wax. The thing is that Europeans did not know how to produce it in the required quantity and quality. It was also customary among Catholics to sculpt from this material the part of the body that is affected by the disease. Trade in weapons and non-ferrous metals has always been considered a stumbling block in trade relations. It was profitable for the Hanseatic League to sell weapons to Russian lands, and the Livonian Order feared the growth of the power of the Slavs. As a result, he interfered with this process. But, as you guessed, commercial interests most often prevailed over Levon’s interests. For example, a trade transaction was witnessed when in 1396 merchants from Revel imported weapons in fish barrels to Pskov and Novgorod.

Conclusion

The time certainly came when the Hanseatic League began to lose its dominance over the cities of Europe. It started in the 16th century. Russia and Spain left the union. The Hansa repeatedly tried to establish relations with these states, but all attempts were in vain, and the war, which lasted for 30 years, ruined the remnants of German power at sea. The collapse of a union is a long process that requires separate consideration.

In modern human history, there is a New Hanseatic League called the European Union. Hansa experience for a long time remained unclaimed, and the Baltic region today is developing very dynamically and is valued for the fact that these lands have everything that is necessary for mutually beneficial relationships European Union and Russia. Experts and economists believe that the New Hanseatic League contributes to the development of Russia's relations with the Baltic countries.

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 of 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

nation states

silver coin

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 belonged to Denmark at that time. Subsequently, this fleet, in turn, was defeated, but, nevertheless, the peace concluded in 1254 was beneficial for Lübeck. This was the beginning of that difficult time when Germany was left without an emperor, the time of the long interregnum that came with the end of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, during which horrific tyranny reigned in Germany. Until this time, German cities, when disagreements arose with foreign states, always relied on German princes, who, however, had to pay good money for the assistance they provided; from that time on, these cities had to rely only on themselves.

The art and trust earned by the “society of German merchants” created for the Germans in all places where they 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 (to end of the 19th century V. there were no more than 21,000 of them). 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. Because no the best remedy in order to awaken and strengthen a person’s national feeling, how 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 not known exactly. 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 had no permanent organization - no central government, no general armed force, no navy, no army, not even general finance; 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.

To maintain within the union the cities, coastal and inland, scattered over the space from the Gulf of Finland to the Scheldt, and from the sea coast to middle Germany, it was very difficult, since the interests of these cities were very different, and yet the only connection between them could only be 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, which, 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 guns, 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 Hansa 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 the Germans. seaside towns, - partly because the Hansa became a great force at sea.

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

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 death penalty. 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 at times did not disdain robbery themselves, oriented their policies towards large-scale international trade, and therefore sought to ensure that, if possible, she 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 Danish queen Margarita and 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 center they didn’t 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, Hansa, Lübeck Hansa or German Hansa are synonymous words, names of the same association. The word “Hansa” comes from the German “Hanse”, which means union, unification.

Hanseatic League in the XIII-XVII centuries it was a union of free cities of the German Empire and cities inhabited by German citizens. Hanseatic League was created with the aim of protecting the merchants from the power of feudal lords and from pirate tyranny.

The Hansa was formed in the 12th century as a union of merchants, then as a union of merchant guilds, and already in the 13th century as a union of cities. The first mention of the Hansa dates back to 1358.

Over the next century, German cities achieved a dominant position in trade on the Baltic Sea, and the city Lubeck became the center of maritime trade, which connected the countries around the Baltic and North Seas.

At different times, more than two hundred cities and towns, which were mainly located in the Baltic and North Seas, were members of the Hanseatic League. To the cities former members Hanseatic League, included: Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Wismar, Hamburg, Cologne, Kiel, Wroclaw, Dortmund, Konigsberg (Kaliningrad), Memel (Klaipeda), Lubeck, Krakow, Riga, Magdeburg, Münster, Rostock, Revel (Tallinn) and others.

To produce general rules and laws representatives of cities Hanseatic League regularly gathered at the congress in Lübeck.

Branches and representative offices of the Hansa also existed in non-Hansean cities, the main of which can rightfully be considered London, Bruges, Bergen and Novgorod. There were also famous offices in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Kovno (Kaunas).

It is interesting that to this day Lubeck, Hamburg, Bremen, Rostock, Wismar, Stralsund, Anklam, Greifswald and Demmin retain the title in their official names “Hanseatic city”. For example, Freie und Hansestadt Bremen – free Hanseatic city of Bremen. Therefore, state license plates of cars in these cities begin with a Latin letter H. For example, HB– “Hansestadt Bremen”.

I've been to some Hanseatic cities. They are extraordinarily beautiful and “good.” The spirit of merchant adventurism and enterprise hovers in them. Perhaps it is in the distant past that it is worth looking for the prerequisites for the formation of the famous “German character” and, as a consequence, the economic prosperity and stability of modern Germany.

In general, delving into history Hanseatic League you can’t help but think that it was probably he who was a kind of prototype of the modern European Union. And behind this thought the question involuntarily arises: “Will modern European Union the same test for centuries as the Hanseatic in its time? Or weak?!”

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.

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

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 cast him into oblivion is repeated in modern history 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.

The emergence and development 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 official registration The Hanseatic 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 held by the Hansa in different countries, were fortified points, and their safety was guaranteed by the highest authority: 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, residents of the cities of the Hanseatic League had equal rights within the union.

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; retailers 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.

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 the feeling self-esteem and they did not change their measures: 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, large quantity 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 reduce the distance between 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.

Meeting at Greiswald, representatives of the cities decided to turn their trading 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.

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