It was inevitable that these unions of German merchants in foreign parts should exercise a marked influence upon the conduct of the towns from which they came. |Influence of trade on the relations of the towns.| The merchants were only occasional sojourners in their foreign abodes; the greater part of their lives was spent at home. And it is important to remember that the councils of most of the north German towns were composed almost solely of merchants. Artisans were jealously excluded and looked down upon, and there are few traces of a land-owning nobility in the German towns such as that which played a prominent part in the history of Florence and other Italian cities. Hence the policy of the town councils was guided by the mercantile interests of their members. And the foreign hansas, if they failed to gain what they wanted, appealed for support to the towns from which the members came. Thus when merchants were closely associated in trade, their towns were naturally drawn into co-operation for common interests. This joint action for the furtherance of trade and the protection of the fisheries gave the first great impulse to the formation of town leagues. As long as the Baltic and the North Sea were fairly distinct units, the tendency was to form two or more separate groups. The towns on the North Sea tended to group themselves round Cologne or Hamburg, while in the Baltic one or two leagues might have been formed under the guidance of Wisby or of Lübeck. But a new era in the development of northern Germany set in when the Baltic towns began to encroach upon the North Sea trade, and when Lübeck undertook to dispute the primacy of Cologne in the west, as she had already disputed the pre-eminence of Wisby in the east. The great struggle took place in London. Here German merchants had been active since the reign of Æthelred II., one of whose laws enacts that ‘the men of the emperor shall be held as worthy of good laws as ourselves.’ These early traders must have come mostly from Cologne, and it was the men of Cologne who formed the first German hansa in England. Other merchants had to obtain admission by payment to the Hansa of Cologne, and gradually it expanded to admit most of the traders from the Rhine and Westphalia. But natives of other districts found it difficult to gain admission, and when the men of Lübeck appeared upon the scene they set themselves to break down the monopoly of Cologne. In this struggle they had the support of Hamburg, already a serious rival to Cologne, and possessed of a more advantageous site for trade with England. When applicants had money and influence behind them, it was not difficult to obtain concessions from the English government, which found a pecuniary interest in the protection of foreign merchants. In 1266 and 1267 Hamburg and Lübeck were allowed to form hansas of their own on the model of that of Cologne. These were not in London, but at Lynn, a favourite port of the Germans on the east coast. In the early years of Edward I. the three separate hansas were fused into a single Hansa Alamanniæ, of which we first find official mention in the year 1282. Its members were known to the English as the Easterlings or Osterlings, a name which they afterwards adopted for themselves.
The combination of all German merchants to form a single hansa in England is in many ways a very significant event. It marks a union between Baltic and North Sea |Alliance of Lübeck and Hamburg.| traders, which for the first time rendered possible a general league of all the towns of northern Germany. It was brought about by the joint action of Lübeck and Hamburg, and there is a well-founded tradition which attributes to the alliance of these two towns the origin of the Hanseatic League. For free trade between the Baltic and the North Sea it was imperative, if possible, to secure the passage through the narrow channels of the Sound and the Belt. But these were dominated by Denmark, which in those days held not only the peninsula of Jutland and the island of Zealand, but also the southern provinces of what is now Sweden. Geography enabled the Danes either to close the straits or to levy a toll upon the vessels that passed through. Moreover, the great centre of the herring fishery in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was the coast of Skaania, on the eastern side of the Sound. Here again the Danes had it in their power to inflict damage upon the German merchants and sailors who flocked to the coast of Skaania during the fishing season. Hence one of the most pressing needs of the north German towns was to protect the straits and the fisheries from Danish aggression, and the lead in this defence naturally devolved upon the two towns which stood nearest to the barrier between the two seas—Lübeck to the east of Jutland, and Hamburg to the west. The two towns were not very distant from each other; and if, at the worst, the passage of the Sound was blocked, a merchant could unlade his goods at either port, carry them overland to the other, and thence renew his voyage either on the Baltic or the North Sea. The earliest alliance between the two towns had for its object the protection of the roads leading from one to the other, and from this they advanced to common action in England and in Flanders.
It was no wonder that other towns tended to ally themselves with the two cities which could and did render such invaluable services to a cause which was common |The origin of the Hanseatic League.| to all. By the end of the fourteenth century we can find sufficient traces of combination among the north German towns to justify the fixing of this as the date of the origin of the Hanseatic League. Lübeck was the more active and enterprising of the two allies, and had the more commanding position through her intimate connection with the Wendish and other Baltic towns, which were already united together by the acceptance of the Lübeck laws. It was an obvious advantage for German merchants to have a common legal system for the settlement of disputes in which any of them might from time to time be involved; and in spite of the opposition of Wisby, Lübeck had succeeded in procuring the adoption of its code by most of the eastern traders. The hegemony which was thus acquired within a limited area both fitted and encouraged Lübeck to undertake the leadership of a larger and more ambitious combination. It was from Lübeck that invitations were issued to the other towns to send delegates for the discussion of matters of common interests, and many of the early meetings were held within its walls. In 1284 a complaint of injuries received from Norway led to a decision of the towns at an assembly at Rostock to close all export and import trade with Norway until redress had been obtained. It was further determined to cease all intercourse with Bremen if that city should refuse to accept the decision of the other towns. In 1293 a meeting of delegates from the Saxon and Baltic towns resolved that henceforth all appeals from Novgorod should be carried to Lübeck. Wisby was supported only by Riga and Osnabrück in opposing a resolution which recognised the ascendency of its rival. In 1300 the consideration of commercial grievances in Flanders was undertaken in a general assembly at Lübeck, to which all the north German towns were invited from the mouths of the Rhine to the Gulf of Riga.
By the beginning of the fourteenth century the unions of German merchants in foreign parts had lost their independence, and had become subject to the control and guidance of the towns. But the combination thus created among the towns was in many ways incomplete. There was nothing like a federation involving permanent obligations upon its members. The meetings were only occasional, when any matter requiring settlement arose, and there was a great variation in the number of towns represented, according as the matter was of general or local interest. Within the large area over which the north German trading communities were spread, there were many smaller combinations of towns, connected by joint action in the past, by agreements as to the use of common laws or a common currency, or merely by local contiguity. These smaller associations were older and possessed more consistency than any general league. In fact, such a general league can hardly be said to have come into existence; and so far as it was beginning to grow up, it was concerned solely with commerce, and had no political significance whatever. Some of the towns were free imperial cities, as Lübeck had become on the fall of Henry the Lion, whereas the majority were subject to a territorial prince. Under such conditions an efficient federation for political purposes was impossible. This is illustrated by the history of the early years of the fourteenth century. In 1307 Lübeck, threatened by the neighbouring |Aggressions of Eric Menved.| count of Holstein, appealed for assistance to Eric Menved, king of Denmark, and actually acknowledged Danish suzerainty. Such an act on the part of the most flourishing German city on the Baltic shows how little any sentiment of nationality existed among the citizens. Eric was emboldened to attempt the recovery of that ascendency over the Baltic coasts which his predecessor, Waldemar II., had for a time established till it was overthrown at the battle of Bornhöved in 1227. In carrying out his aim he had to subdue the Wendish towns. Rostock and Wismar were compelled to submit, and only Stralsund offered a successful resistance to the Danes. But the striking fact is that the towns rendered no assistance to each other. The whole episode proves that their union was limited to the protection of mercantile interests. As long as the Danish king abstained from any attack upon German commerce, there was no machinery for common action. Still it would seem that the loss of political independence brought with it a diminished ability to act together in any way. For some years after the submission of Lübeck we lose any traces of combination among the north German towns, and the foreign merchants were left once more to protect their own interests without any assistance or any control from the municipalities at home.
But this decline of the towns, which amounted almost to a dissolution of the growing league, was as short-lived as the revival of Danish preponderance on the Baltic. |Decline of Denmark.| Eric Menved had attempted a task beyond the resources either of his own ability or of his state. His extravagant and reckless policy forced him to purchase support by lavish grants of lands and privileges, and the consequent growth of a powerful nobility in Denmark proved a serious hindrance to later kings. Eric himself died in 1319, and left his brother, Christopher II., to face the troubles for which he had been responsible. Christopher found it impossible to resist the combination of foreign attack with domestic rebellion. The whole of Denmark was lost, either to the native nobles or to German invaders; while Skaania and the adjacent provinces were seized by Magnus of Sweden, who had also obtained the crown of Norway as the grandson of King Hakon. When Christopher died in exile in 1332 the Danish monarchy seemed for the next eight years to be practically extinguished. The sudden collapse of |Revival of the League.| Denmark restored independence to the Wendish towns, and with it revived the activity of the League. The anarchy and disorder in the north during and after the reign of Christopher II. rendered the duty of defending trade-routes and fishing-stations more imperative than ever. Between 1330 and 1360 we find evidence of more and more regular meetings of the town delegates; and it is in these years that the name of Hansa, hitherto used only for the mercantile unions in England and other foreign countries, came to be applied to the league of towns. In 1358 an assembly was summoned of ‘all towns belonging to the Hansa of the Germans,’ and the invitation was sent to Cologne and Wisby, to the towns of Brandenburg, Saxony, Westphalia, Prussia, and Livonia. Already, in 1352, Magnus of Sweden speaks of ‘the merchants of the sea-towns, called hanse-brothers.’ The decrees of the assembly are binding upon all members, and the penalty is expulsion from the League and its privileges. ‘If any town of the German Hansa shall refuse to observe this,’ says one decree, ‘the town shall remain for ever outside the German Hansa, and shall be deprived for ever of German law.’ About this time Bremen, which had been excluded ever since the quarrel with Norway in 1284, was restored to membership of the League. Within the wider association, which champions the interests of all north German traders, we find distinct evidence of a recognised division into three parts for more local purposes. The Wendish and Saxon towns under the leadership of Lübeck constitute one division. Another is formed of the eastern settlements in Gothland, Livonia, and Sweden, with Wisby as a sort of capital; while a curious and unexplained combination of Westphalian and Prussian towns are grouped round Cologne. In 1347 an agreement was made that each third should elect two elders every year to manage the German depôt at Bruges. Thus by the middle of the fourteenth century we find that the Hanseatic League has gained a definite organisation, although its functions are still limited to matters of trade, and have no strictly political character. But events were soon to occur which were to try the stability of the League and to give it more political importance than it had yet possessed.
For eight years after the death of Christopher II. Denmark was without a king, but in 1340 Waldemar III., Christopher’s youngest son, undertook the task of recovering |Waldemar III and the capture of Wisby.| his father’s dominions. He received the assistance of the Wendish towns, which had no interest in the prolongation of anarchy, while they seized the opportunity to obtain a confirmation of their privileges as the price of their help. They even watched with equanimity when, in 1360, he wrested the province of Skaania from the feeble hands of Magnus of Sweden. But they found that success had rendered Waldemar less easy to deal with than he had been in the days of his weakness, and they had to pay a heavy sum for the renewal of their fishing rights. Still, the relations with Denmark were altogether peaceful when, in 1361, the news arrived that a Danish fleet had sailed to the island of Gothland, and that a Danish army had sacked the ancient town of Wisby, whose wealth gave rise to the current phrase that the pigs ate out of silver troughs. The old tradition assigned greed of plunder as the motive for the raid. Later writers have suggested that it was merely the continuance of the quarrel with Sweden about Skaania, or that Waldemar intended to use the central position of Gothland for the purpose of carrying out the ambitious plans of Waldemar II. and Eric Menved.
The delegates of the Hanse towns were assembled at Greifswald when the astounding news arrived. The action |First war with Waldemar III.| of Waldemar created a wholly novel problem for a mercantile association to deal with. Wisby was subject to Sweden, and it was against Sweden that an act of open hostility had been committed. But Wisby was also a great centre of German trade, its wealth had been created by Germans, and it was one of the chief towns of the Hanseatic League. It was instinctively felt rather than reasoned that it was impossible to allow Waldemar’s action to pass without active resentment, and that the League must justify its existence by undertaking new duties and responsibilities. The assembly passed a decree forbidding all trade and intercourse with Denmark, and then adjourned in order to give time for negotiations with Magnus of Sweden and his son Hakon, who had been since 1350 independent king of Norway in his father’s place. On September 7, 1361, the second meeting was held, and it was decided to go to war with Denmark in alliance with Sweden, Norway, and Holstein. For the first time a federal tax was imposed, in the form of an export duty of fourpence in the pound, which was to be levied by all the towns until Michaelmas 1362.
The Hanse towns had promised to furnish two thousand men with the necessary ships, and Sweden and Norway were to do the same. In April the Hanseatic fleet sailed to the |Disastrous campaign of 1362.| Sound under the command of John Wittenborg, the burgomaster of Lübeck. The Swedish contingent failed to appear, but the Germans were persuaded by their allies to abandon the projected attack upon Copenhagen and to lay siege to Helsingborg, a strong fortress on the coast of Skaania. Too many of the sailors had been taken from the ships in order to press the siege, when Waldemar suddenly appeared with the Danish fleet. He at once attacked the ships of the League—sunk some, and carried off the rest with their cargoes and the remnant of their crews. Wittenborg had perforce to abandon the siege, and returned home to pay the penalty for failure with his life. The disaster was as terrible as it was unexpected, and the towns considered themselves lucky to be able to conclude a truce in November for fourteen months, during which trade was to be resumed and no new charges were to be imposed by the Danish king. But there was no security that Waldemar would observe his promises, especially when he succeeded in depriving the Hanse towns of their allies. Magnus and Hakon had never been eager for the war with Denmark, which was really the work of the nobles in the Swedish Council. The Council had arranged a marriage between Hakon and the daughter of the count of Holstein, but Waldemar seized the lady as she was on her way to Sweden, and kept her a prisoner until the match was broken off. In 1363 he persuaded Hakon to marry his own daughter Margaret, and thus laid the foundation for the future union of the three kingdoms. This marriage was a serious blow to the League, which seemed to be on the verge of dissolution. The Wendish towns had been most active in the war, and would have been the chief gainers by its successful issue. Upon them inevitably fell the chief blame for the disaster. The Prussian towns refused to pay the export duty; they said that they had granted it for the protection of the Sound, but the Sound was now less protected than ever. It was quite useless to make the obvious reply that Lübeck and its neighbours had spent far more and lost far more, and that their losses included men as well as money.
If Waldemar had behaved with statesmanlike prudence and moderation, he might have permanently weakened, if not destroyed, the League, which was the chief |Temporary peace.| obstacle in his way. If once the more distant towns had been convinced that their interests in Danish waters were as secure after defeat as they had been before, they would hardly have adhered to an alliance which proved costly as well as useless. But Waldemar was eager to deprive the German traders of all the privileges they had obtained through the weakness of Denmark since the days of Eric Menved, and this danger served to keep the Hanse towns together in spite of their discouragement and their quarrels with each other. Before the truce had expired, Waldemar set out at the end of 1363 on a long tour to the principal courts of Europe. During his absence the Danish Council agreed to prolong the truce, but it seemed almost impossible to arrange any permanent peace upon terms that the German merchants could accept. It was still doubtful whether the towns would give way or venture on a renewal of hostilities, when events in Sweden compelled the Danes to moderate their demands. The Swedish nobles had long been alienated by the feeble government of Magnus. They had resented the loss of Skaania and the humiliating conquest of Gothland. Their fierce indignation was roused by the change of policy in 1363, when the Holstein alliance was abandoned and Hakon was married to Margaret of Denmark. In 1364 they declared Magnus deposed, and elected in his place Albert, the second son of the duke of Mecklenburg, and of Euphemia, a sister of Magnus. The elder brother was passed over because he had married Ingeborg, another daughter of Waldemar III., and the Swedes would have no connection with Denmark. A civil war followed, in which the forces of Magnus and Hakon were defeated, and the former was taken prisoner. The greater part of Sweden acknowledged Albert. When Waldemar returned from his travels, he found his plans checkmated by this Swedish revolution, and resolved to overthrow the new dynasty in alliance with his son-in-law Hakon. In order to prepare for this new war, he concluded the treaty of Wordingborg in September 1365 with the Hanse towns. Freedom of trade through the Sound and a confirmation of German privileges on the coast of Skaania were granted, but only for a period of six years. It was obviously a truce rather than a real treaty; neither side was satisfied with its terms; and the inevitable struggle between Danish and German interests in the Baltic was only postponed.
That Waldemar, in attacking the new king of Sweden, was influenced by wholly selfish motives, is proved by the treaty |Second Danish war.| which he concluded in July 1366 with the duke of Mecklenburg. In return for the formal cession of Gothland and other considerable territories, he abandoned the cause of Magnus and Hakon, and agreed to recognise and support Albert and his successors in the remaining provinces of Sweden. This unprincipled policy raised Denmark to a greater height of power than it had reached since the days of Waldemar II. Emboldened by success, the king did not scruple to break his recent agreement with the Hanse towns. In the course of 1367 several German ships were seized and plundered in the Sound, and increased tolls were levied upon vessels resorting to the coast of Skaania for the fishing season. Even the distant south-western towns, which had taken hardly any part in the previous war, felt that these outrages were intolerable, and clamoured for active measures in defence of their trade and industry. It is significant of the greater unanimity of the League on this occasion that the decisive meeting was held, not as usual in a Baltic town, but at Cologne. There in November 1367 it was decided to go to war with the Danish king; and if any town should hold aloof from the common cause, ‘its burghers and merchants shall have no intercourse with the towns of the German Hansa, no goods shall be bought from them or sold to them; they shall have no right of entry or exit, of lading or unlading, in any harbour.’ A new export duty was imposed for a year, and the sum raised was to be divided among the towns in proportion to the contingent which each furnished. To avoid the quarrels which had followed the last campaign, it was expressly enacted that no injury or loss on the part of any town should give it a claim upon the others for compensation. All privileges or other advantages which should be gained in the war were to belong equally to all the members of the League.