The Northeast had no textiles to offer to the rest of Europe, but in its furs it had a substitute for them which was most highly prized. The furs included not only the finer varieties, the use of which was restricted to the upper classes, but also common grades that were desired as much for their warmth as for their appearance. Houses were so poorly heated that comfort was impossible without thick clothing. We can understand, therefore, the complaint of a German bishop who said that “we strive as hard to come into the possession of a marten skin as if it were everlasting salvation.”
Other raw materials exported were skins and tallow from animal industry, and forestry products which were destined to be the mainstay of the Baltic trade in later times, various forms of timber and the group of products known later as “naval stores,” including pitch, tar, and turpentine.
117. Exports from the West to the Baltic countries.—In return for its imports western Europe sent to Russia and Scandinavia its manufactures and the raw products which could not be obtained in the Northeast. The list includes wheat, wine, salt, and metals, and, among the manufactures, especially cloth and beer. The merchants of the West conducted the trade not only between their home districts and the less developed countries, but also between these countries; they carried herrings, for instance, from Scandinavia to Russia.
118. Contrast of the history of the commercial cities in Italy and in Germany.—The cities of Germany, which took advantage of the opportunities for trade in the North, were like those of Italy in their freedom from royal authority. There seems, therefore, a chance that they might fight among themselves for the trade, and that one of them might get a commanding position as did Venice in the South. No one of them, however, had the peculiar advantages of the geographical position and the freedom from attacks by land which Venice enjoyed. They were too evenly matched to settle quickly the question of supremacy, and they ran such dangers from the attacks of feudal lords that they could not afford to quarrel among themselves. Instead of competing they united, in the Hansa or Hanseatic League, which was the most remarkable commercial association of the medieval period.
119. Rise of the Hanseatic League.—The word “hanse” meant in early German a society, a band of men, and was applied to a number of commercial associations besides the particular league to which we apply it here. This league grew up gradually in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The merchants of various German cities found it necessary to unite for the protection of their interests abroad, and the beginnings of the association are found in the island of Gotland, in the Baltic and in the city of London, where Germans carried on a considerable trade. After a while the cities at home took up the association which their merchants had started in foreign countries, and in the fourteenth century a great league grew up, centering in the cities at the southwestern corner of the Baltic, of which Lübeck was the chief. Sailors were still afraid to navigate the waters around Denmark, because of the dangerous currents and shoals, so Baltic wares were carried across the isthmus, and cities like Lübeck grew great on this trade and on that which came down the Elbe valley.
120. Extent and organization of the League.—“When the ambassadors of the Hanseatic League in England in 1376 were asked for a list of the members who made up their vast association, they answered scornfully that surely even they themselves could not be supposed to remember the countless names of towns, big and little in all kingdoms, in whose name they spoke.” The league was in fact very extensive, for it included not only the chief German seaports, but also towns in the interior and some towns outside of Germany altogether. The number varied from time to time; in the period of greatest power it was nearly 100, stretching from Dinant in modern Belgium to Krakau and Reval in the East, and including towns as far inland as Göttingen in Germany. The towns never formed a very close union, but sent their representatives every year or so to a meeting-place where they could discuss matters of common interest, decide upon the policy to be followed, and raise what resources they could for carrying the policy through.
121. Control of the commerce of northern Europe by the League.—The aim in general was the protection of commerce from the attacks of pirates and feudal lords and the negotiation of commercial treaties which would extend the privileges of members and preserve their monopoly of trade. The League was so successful that it obtained in the closing centuries of the Middle Ages a predominance in the commerce of northern Europe comparable to that of the Dutch and of the English in later times. In the West it had to share its trade with other peoples. In this direction Bruges was the terminus of many of the voyages; at that port the Hanseatics met the Venetians, coming in the Flanders galleys, and secured also many wares from western Europe. This was by no means, however, the limit of their western voyages. They had an important trading station in England, with a great group of buildings, the “Steelyard” near London bridge, and invested their capital in English tin mines; one of their favorite voyages was to Bourgneuf, south of the Loire, on the western coast of France; and they sent their ships in some periods as far as Spain and Portugal.
THE HANSEATIC COMMERCIAL EMPIRE ABOUT 1400
The North and East of Europe were, however, the field of their greatest success. In Scandinavia (including Iceland) and Russia, they gained a complete monopoly of commerce; the peoples of those countries were so backward that they permitted the Germans to do the most important part of their trading for them, and the governments were weak and were easily forced to grant the privileges desired.